I had mentioned it in a post last week that the vet suspects that Boomer might have some health issue and he wants to test him for Cushing’s. I didn’t post it in health the last time but I thought I’d post it here now and see if anyone can give me some info or just give Boomer some well wishes. The vet said that Boomer is young to have Cushing’s but he might be at an early stage of the disease.
Boomer’s going in tomorrow to get a Low Dose Dexamethasone Suppression Test, where they inject him with a tiny dose of dexamethasone. He’s there all day because they have to take blood samples through out the day, in 3 occasions, to see if his cortisol level will decrease or remain the same. I was originally going to get him tested during his teeth cleaning but someone made me realize that the anesthesia might alter the results, though the vet doesn’t think it would. Anyway, I’m digressing……
Here are some symptoms we see in him. Last year his hair started to thin out dramatically, just on his torso, hair on head, ears and legs are normal. When I brought up my concerns last year to the vet, he said it could just be a case of alopecia – male pattern baldness-. This year his hair is worse, still only his torso, and it's very think (you see his skin) and what he does have doesn’t grow long. He may have a few strands that grows here and there but that’s it. It’s also very brittle and his skin is scaly with dark patches. You can scrape the dark patches and it will come off. His skin is also very wrinkly in appearance, you notice it a lot on his belly. Also his skin has no elasticity at all, almost as though he’s dehydrated. You notice it when he sits down, he looks part Shar Pei. He’s appetite is very good and I haven’t notice a change in drinking habits. He does have bouts where he urinates more then normal, he’s woken me up during the night just to go pee a couple times in one evening.
Here’s a picture of what his hair looked like when it looked healthy.
Here’s one taken last year. It started to think out.
This is a close picture of his back that I just took today. Sorry for the poor quality, my camera isn’t the best. It’s hard to tell but where you think you see dark fur is actually his skin. You can also see the dark patches of skin almost in the middle of the picture.
Here’s a picture to show how his skin has lost the elasticity in it. Again, sorry for the poor quality.
I was just wondering if anyone here at Chaz can give me more insight to Cushing’s disease. He may not have it, the vet also mentioned that it could be a thyroid problem. We’ll see what will do next after the Cushing test results come in.
Boomer’s going in tomorrow to get a Low Dose Dexamethasone Suppression Test, where they inject him with a tiny dose of dexamethasone. He’s there all day because they have to take blood samples through out the day, in 3 occasions, to see if his cortisol level will decrease or remain the same. I was originally going to get him tested during his teeth cleaning but someone made me realize that the anesthesia might alter the results, though the vet doesn’t think it would. Anyway, I’m digressing……
Here are some symptoms we see in him. Last year his hair started to thin out dramatically, just on his torso, hair on head, ears and legs are normal. When I brought up my concerns last year to the vet, he said it could just be a case of alopecia – male pattern baldness-. This year his hair is worse, still only his torso, and it's very think (you see his skin) and what he does have doesn’t grow long. He may have a few strands that grows here and there but that’s it. It’s also very brittle and his skin is scaly with dark patches. You can scrape the dark patches and it will come off. His skin is also very wrinkly in appearance, you notice it a lot on his belly. Also his skin has no elasticity at all, almost as though he’s dehydrated. You notice it when he sits down, he looks part Shar Pei. He’s appetite is very good and I haven’t notice a change in drinking habits. He does have bouts where he urinates more then normal, he’s woken me up during the night just to go pee a couple times in one evening.
Here’s a picture of what his hair looked like when it looked healthy.
Here’s one taken last year. It started to think out.
This is a close picture of his back that I just took today. Sorry for the poor quality, my camera isn’t the best. It’s hard to tell but where you think you see dark fur is actually his skin. You can also see the dark patches of skin almost in the middle of the picture.
Here’s a picture to show how his skin has lost the elasticity in it. Again, sorry for the poor quality.
I was just wondering if anyone here at Chaz can give me more insight to Cushing’s disease. He may not have it, the vet also mentioned that it could be a thyroid problem. We’ll see what will do next after the Cushing test results come in.
I hope everythings going to be OK....Keep us posted 
