I think Reggie may have Cushings disease...

[wolf_Q]

I think was upset over the death of my friends dog so I probably overreacted when reading about the disease. He has been to a vet, last monday, I did not ask about cushings then because I did not know about it. But as I said before my mom called and talked to the vet after that and the vet remembered Reggie and he did not think he had it.

Are the tumors pink and kind of "bubblish"? Those usually occur in older dogs and are benign. They can be removed by a groomer in some cases.

I know what you are talking about, Smokey had them all over and I am a groomer and so I see dogs with those all the time. Reggie has a few of those but other ones that are different as well as some larger fatty cysts. The vet looked at them and said they were nothing to worry about.

The dog's reaction to the other dog may be a reflection of this. They have less of their normal senses and other dogs can sense this. Your dog is just trying to maintain it's dominance or place in the pack. Hence the aggressiveness. Just understand your dog is getting older and is going to go through changes.

He does not react this way to our other dog but she's female and smaller and so probably not seen as a threat. Reggie has never liked Nebo but I swear its worse...or maybe it's just driving us more crazy, he always growled but now he's jumping and biting at Nebo if he even walks past. Nebo does not do anything to provoke this.

Just for the record he's not on prednisone and has not ever been on it to my knowledge.

Cushings would have been diagnosed at a younger age if it was the disease. Atleast by the age of 10 the symptoms would have been prominent enough for the vet to test for it.

He's over 13 and the symptoms did not seem prominant to the vet. When looking at pictures he looks nothing like the dogs with cushings either except for a bit of a sagging belly.

I called today to get an estimate on the tests the receptionist didn't know she's going to call back. Reggie is not my dog he is my parents dog. It is up to them to decide if they are going to do the test. I hope I am not judged on what they decide to do.

I'm sorry I'm really depressed right now and this thread is just making it worse.

[Scooby4]

I didn't want to scare or depress you on my post. Sorry. I just thought it might be better to accept the dog is OLDER than having a disease. I think with a "disease" or "condition" we can accept the issues we see in our dogs. However, when we know it is "old age" and just the "natural" course of a healthy life, it's harder to accept. A disease we can "cure", old age, we can't ignore!
My gut feel is the dog is going through the "change". It's no longer the young youthful puppy it was. It now needs a little more time and effort to do things. It's not time to panic. It may be a time to discuss "plans". Put some energy in deciding how to handle the final decision and when it may be appropriate. If it is cushings, would you consider putting the dog down or do you want to pursue treatments at it's age? These are things you and your family need to think about. How do you want the dog to live out the rest of his life?