Cushings Disease

[kristyannhenry]

Our dog, Mija, suddenly went blind this weekend. After a vet visit, the vet feels it is Cushings … but sadly we just aren’t in a place to do all the testing. I am fearful of the medications and the side effects (and cost). We want to do everything possible to limit the issues she might have and give her the best possible life.

I have seen your page: http://pathwithpaws.com/blog/2011/06/25/managing-cushings-disease-in-dogs-holistically/

I would like to do a more holistic approach to helping her. I think we could afford to feed her a better diet and some supplements to help ease the symptoms a bit.

What would be a suggested diet for a 14lb dog… how do I break down some of these smaller amounts?

Dog (approximately for a 40 lb dog per day)

1 1/2 cups cooked or raw meat including liver and organ meat (if you use fish or pork make sure it is cooked)

1 cup cooked vegetables

1/4 cup yam, sweet potato or pumpkin, cooked or canned

1/8 cup nuts such as almonds, walnuts, or cashews

2 T yogurt with live cultures

1 egg

1 teaspoon Nordic Naturals Pet Cod Liver Oil

a calcium supplement (see below)

[Lena]

Hi ,

You may want to do some research on SARDS

http://www.michvet.com/library/ophthalmology_SARDS.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_acquired_retinal_degeneration

as this sounds like what Mija has. Usually it is not from Cushings although they show all the signs of Cushings plus sudden blindness. There is not a great treatment for it but antioxidants and anti-inflammatory diet can help. Some vets have also had success with Si Miao San. For the diet make a full batch and then you will have about three meals.

[kristyannhenry]

Interesting! When I had originally found out about this, I assumed SARDS. But the vet told me that SARDS is most of the time caused by Cushings? I believe it sounds like you feel they are two separate issues, not related, but similar?

I realize there is some varied opinions on this.

She is potbellied, has had an a ravenous appetite. I think thats where she got cushings as the cause of the SARDS? We have noticed her begging more for food/water. She asked if we wanted to do the testing, but we weren’t fans of the treatment method or the testing that had to be done to even continue on the treatment.

I realize that we really can’t do much about the SARDS … and we will cope with the blindness.

Is it safe to continue down this path of the raw foods and the Si Miao San even if we dont get the official test for Cushings?

(I appreciate that you took the time to answer my post … its so hard to process this and we just want to do the very best we can for our Mija)

[Lena]

From my experience all dogs with SARDS I have seen do not have Cushings and Cushings does not normally cause blindness. There is still a lot we don’t know about SARDS including what causes it.

I think raw food is great for any dog unless they can’t tolerate it and esp those with inflammatory disease. You should check with your vet on the Si Miao San but dogs with symptoms of Cushings do well on it even if they do not have Cushings. The exception is the dogs that are very wasted – very thin, low energy, very old, etc.

[kristyannhenry]

She is pretty thick (heehee) and still has the ability to play and wags her tail.

Are you local to me? I am in the Seattle Wa area.

She is just in shock from losing her vision so quickly. I will educate myself on SARDS & Cushings. Maybe it would benefit us to have the testing done for Cushings to see what we are dealing with. I just felt like the testing was a bit harsh also.

[Lena]

I am in Seattle but have a closed practice right now. There is a good list of veterinary acupuncturists in Seattle on the resources and links page.

[emobella]

Hi There,
Our dog Bella was diagnosed with Cushings Disease a year and a half ago. We were not comfortable with the side-effects of western drugs, so after extensive research we found a holistic vet.

We were devastated when Bella got sick because we have always made home-made food for her and taken very good care of her. She had been improving slowly with the Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments, but her improvements really changed dramatically within weeks of starting acupuncture treatments.

Under the guidance of the vet, we’ve been giving her a Custom Herbal Formulation (by KPC Products Inc.) and Pituitrophin PMG (By Standard Process). An ultrasound showed no tumours on her adrenal glands.

We are always looking for ways to improve how we’re treating her, which brought us to this website. After reading the diet recommendations we have some questions:

1) Why do you recommend cooked vegetables? We have always fed Bella raw vegetables (grated or chopped in the food-processor).

2) Do you also recommend cooking apples (which are also a main part of her diet)?

Best,
Teresa & Bella

[Author]

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