I admire your working to get to the physical issue your dog has.
I really to think its medical, and not all "in his head".
good luck and keep us posted.
Well, I left a message at the vet's office just after posting that at 12:30am on Saturday. They called me back on Saturday afternoon and said Cushing's was not included in the tests they had run before, and advised I could drop off a urine sample anytime this week. I was planning to wait until this Friday, as I have the day off and could take Tana out and get that potent first pee of the morning :rolleyes:
Monday, I went to work at 6:30am and my boyfriend called at 7:30, said he had taken Tana out, discovered he'd pooped in his kennel over night. He took him outside, and brought him back in. He had him leashed in the house while he cleaned the kennel and Tana proceeded to poop and pee on the floor, and appeared to be straining to pee. I immediately called the vet's office, left a message, as they didn't open until 9:00. They called me at about 8:30, said that they were concerned that maybe he had a blockage and would need to be catheterized. So, I rushed home, grabbed the dog, ran him over to the vet's office. They looked at him and determined there was no blockage. They took another urine sample to test for UTI and a preliminary test for Cushing's (a urine cortisol:creatinine ratio test.) The UTI test they did in-house and it was negative. The sent the UCCR to an outside lab.
Today, there was a message from the vet's office. It was from the head vet himself, so I immediately knew they found something. They did find elevated levels of cortisol in his system and they want to do the full blood work to further determine what's going on.
I think high cortisol can just mean he has a thyroid problem, right? I found out that my co-worker's late dog had Cushing's. I'm concerned because she said it got expensive. Not the medicine necessarily, but you have to consistently get lab tests done to monitor their levels. I'm not sure if the same kinds of tests are done with thyroid problems or not.
My boyfriend and I are not the kind of people who break up with animals- we both grew up with pets and never did our families put one down because they became inconvenient. Neither of our families had a lot of money, but we took care of our pets through all sorts of health problems and keeping them alive and comfortable until it as no longer humane to do so was how we were raised. It's really breaking my heart right now that I'm not sure I can do the same for our dog. I'm trying not to dwell on it too much until we know what's wrong and hear from the vet what the course of treatment will be and cost, but I think I'm going to be a wreck until that happens. 
Harley (my dalmation mix) who had Cushings, I had when I was in high school so I didn't actually pay for the medication but I do remember that about every 2-3 months he had a check up with blood testing. I will contact my parents (who paid for all that back then) and find out what the costs were for Harley's meds and testing so in case Tana has Cushings, you can have an idea of cost.
Just as an FYI, Harley was diagnosed when he was 10 and he lived pretty happily until about 2 months before he died at 12. He actually died from a GI cancer which probably wasn't related to the Cushings so if Tana has the disease, he has several years of happy life ahead with treatment and it certainly isn't a death sentence. Hopefully, Tana likes your vet though because I remember that Harley went a lot - like every 2-3 months to get blood testing done to make sure the dosage was correct.
I agree with a couple other posters too that you might want to have some thyroid testing done as well if the Cushings test is negative.
Don't make yourself a wreck over this. Just waiting can be tough but go hug Tana and he will always make you feel better. Don't forget he knows you love him no matter what winds up happening.
My previous beastie had a thyroid problem and it took several trips to the vet to figure it out. So I understand what you are going through. Hang in there and don't throw in the towel yet – an answer will come.
So we got the confirmation this weekend that Tana has Cushing's.
The vet prescribed a medication called Trilostane, which is supposed to not have the nasty side effects (like, oh, death) that the other drug, Lysodren, has. Only catch is that it's hard to get in the US- it's not approved by the FDA and it's not exactly illegal, but you have to order it through special pharmacies and they get it from Europe. It will be about $73/month. It's expensive for us, but not horrible. I'm probably going to get a second job (I work just under 40 hours a week, but over the course of 4 days, so I have an extra day anyway) to supplement the costs a little. I found another message board for people with dogs who have Cushings, http://www.caninecushings.net/ to get some more specialized advice if I need it.
Thanks for all the advice and support- we would have just gone on not knowing what was wrong with him, assuming it was just behavioral or old age.
Good luck in the future. Whatever happens, I know you have the best interests of everyone at heart.
I'm glad you finally have confirmation of what troubling your boy. I checked with my parents and our vet had Harley on Lysodren (wasn't aware at that time of any other drug) and they were paying about $55 a month for it. The biggest expense for them was the vet visits and blood draws every 2 months, which our vet wanted to make sure that the dosage was correct and not overly limiting cortisol output. Because of the potential for cortisol levels to drop like crazy and other nasty, possibly fatal side effects, our vet wanted to keep tabs on the bloodwork often.
Hopefully the new drug your dog will be on, although a bit more expensive, won't require so many vet visits and blood draws to check the status. If you want to know anything else or to keep tabs as you go along, please post that you want to contact me via email and I am sure the forum admin can help us figure out contact info.
So, an update. He's been on medication (trilostane- we found a less expensive pharmacy, so it's only $40/month) and his cortisol levels have gone down, but he's still having symptoms. His fur and skin is very thin. He's drinking and urinating a lot. We'll take him outside every 45-60 minutes, he'll pee a little bit; then you bring him back inside and in 10 minutes, he pees twice as much on the floor without any indication that he needs to go out again. We stop giving him fluids in the evening and take him out at least two times after then. Somehow, overnight, he'll pee in his kennel again. He drinks it (yuck!) and then just keeps peeing over and over again until morning. We got him one of these Ugodog things in hopes that he'll use it, but no luck. We just bought a new kennel that the Ugodog will fit inside of so that he'll use it in there and not be able to "clean up", so that at least it will break the cycle. I've talked to our vet and he just suggest wants to run more tests; I can afford the medicine he needs and the occasional blood test to monitor his cortisol levels, but we're not working with an endless supply of money, here.
Today, I took him out of his kennel and he has a quarter-sized spot on his side that's completely bare. No fur, but it's not quite raw (moist) looking yet. I gave him a bath to clean him off and put neosporin on the sores.
We're at the point where we're thinking of re-homing him in the near future. We talked to our friends who we got him from about what they thought. The breeder they got him from was, from their description, running what was essentially a puppy mill, or at least just not good conditions. Our friends admit they were young and naive when they got him, but don't want to see him go back to her (and she's moved a few times since then, so it would be hard to track her down.)
I just feel like we're running out of options. I want to find out what's wrong with him, but even if we do, my fiance and I both work 8 hours a day and we live in a condo. While he could get better for awhile, eventually he's going to need to be in a home where he's out of the kennel for more time and has someone to let him outside more often.
lets think about some basic things that are not related to Cushings but may help quality of life.
1 - on the bare spots on the skin - go to Target, Walmart etc and in the health food suppliment section get some liquid E to rub into the bare spots (if they only have a cream find the one that has the most E - or you can get E liquid capsules and break them open - it will stimulate hair growth.
2 - Have to tried a Belly Band when he is out of the crate? A Belly Band is about 4-6 inches wide and velcroes around the back to contain 'parts'. You actually put a 'pad' in the area - so 1 it absorbs urine and IF there is some 'habit' part of the frequent urination - they get to live with it. Probably won't work in the crate verywell but will help a lot when he is loose in thehouse.
Thanks for the advice- I should rub the vitamin E right on there? Giving him the pill orally won't help?
I haven't tried the belly band. I'll keep it in mind, though.
The Ugodog in the kennel with him has been helpful. He, nor our house, no longer reek of urine, and that's made a difference for all of us.
Does Tana have a pituatary tumor which is inoperable or does he have an adrenal tumor? Some adrenal tumors are operable and after removal the dogs can recover and return to normal cortisol production. You may have to seek a specialist but it may be worth looking into.
