Cushing’s disease (or hyperadrenocorticism) strikes older dogs, and is usually taken wrongly for the process of aging itself. The victim loses hair, gains weight, loses bladder control and urinates inside your home. Sometimes the dog owners think of euthanizing the dogs affected on this Cushing’s disease. However the disease is simply treatable.

Cushing’s disease, really not like pancreatitis in dogs, is characterized by a chronic excessive cortisol hormone within the system of the dog. Cortisol (cortisone-like) hormones are produced by the dog’s adrenal glands in reply to chemical signals from the pituitary gland. It’s an important bodily regulator, managing reaction into stress, fat metabolism, kidney function, as well as essential nerve and muscle functions, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your dog’s temperature. An oversupply of this hormone brings all these things out of balance, inducing the signs and symptoms of Cushing’s disease.

There are various reasons for Cushing’s disease in dogs, which the most frequent is a tiny (usually less than 3 millimeters in diameter) benign pituitary tumor, as well as the second most usual is a tumor in the adrenal glands.

You can find three different test for Cushing’s disease that is usually used by the veterinarians. The low dose dexamethasone suppression test is considered the most reliable test of all, in which the dog is provided with a dose of dexamethasone (a cortisone-type drug) which, in a healthy animal, will send out signal to pituitary so as to stop the adrenal glands from secreting cortisol hormone. In case the dog is experiencing a pituitary-tumor type of Cushing’s disease, the dexamethasone will not induce this response. About 90 % of dogs having Cushing’s disease tests positive with this particular method.

The 2nd type of test is named the ACTH stim test. This involves giving the dog a dose of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), the hormone produced by the pituitary gland which induces the adrenal response. A high output of cortisol for two hours will point out the Cushing’s disease. Even though this test is much less precise than the dexamethasone test, you can use it for non-pituitary-tumor types of the disease.

The third frequent test is an easy urine screening to test for cortisol concentration. A positive result of this test is not enough to have the Cushing’s diagnosed, however a negative result is enough to rule it out.

Removing the reason for the condition (the tumor in the pituitary or adrenal glands) is rarely ever showed in the case of an adrenal tumor and, provided current surgical methods, not an alternative in the case of a pituitary tumor. For this reason, Cushing’s disease is normally cured with medication. You will find 4 commonly prescribed medications: Lysodren, Ketoconazole, Trilostane, as well as L-Deprenyl. Lysodren is the oldest of these and it is about equally effective for both pituitary and adrenal types of the disease. However, Lysodren also has relatively severe negative effects. One other alternative medication in whose side effects are more gentle than that of the Lysodren yet in the same nature is the Trilostane. L-Deprenyl is far better to prescribe, but simply will work with the pituitary type of the illness.

Veterinarians do not always advise treatment of Cushing’s disease. It depends on the age of the dog as well as on other medical conditions that might either make the drug treatments more dangerous or show a likely death from other causes. Also, the signs and symptoms of Cushing’s disease differ in seriousness, and milder form s of the disease could be judged not worth the risks involved with treating them. The side effects of the drugs are really dangerous in animals having a heart condition, hypothyroidism, and also diabetes, and at least these conditions should be stabilized before begin the drug treatment for Cushing’s disease.

Rare forms of Cushing’s disease may be caused by the usage of cortisone-type medications rather than from tumors in either the pituitary or the adrenal glands. In such instances, where it is medically possible, cessation of the medication or lowering of the dosage should eliminate the Cushing’s symptoms in a month. But then again, it’s not possible always, since the medication could be a treatment for serious condition. For this reason, even just in cases where medication is at fault, veterinarians at times carry on the cortisone treatment and prescribe medications for the Cushing’s symptoms as well.

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