{"id":4163,"date":"2016-09-12T12:48:54","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T19:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/petcarefacts.com\/?p=4163"},"modified":"2018-05-03T19:31:50","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T02:31:50","slug":"cushings-disease-in-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/health\/cushings-disease-in-dogs","title":{"rendered":"Cushing\u2019s Disease in Dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cushing\u2019s Disease, or hypercortisolism, in dogs is the result of a non-cancerous pituitary tumor which causes excessive production of cortisol (a stress hormone).<\/p>\n<h2>The Symptoms of Cushing\u2019s Syndrome<\/h2>\n<p>The condition usually effects middle-aged or older dogs; however, it has been known to occur in young adults as well. There are certain symptoms which might indicate the onset of the disease, and include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increase in water consumption without any other explanation for doing so<\/li>\n<li>Increased appetite without increase in activity or as a result of other factors such as pregnancy<\/li>\n<li>Increase in urination and even indoor lapses of housebroken pets<\/li>\n<li>Loss of fur, and a sluggishness in hair growth (in breeds with medium or long hair)<\/li>\n<li>Sluggishness and lack of energy<\/li>\n<li>Excessive panting<\/li>\n<li>Frequent skin infections &amp; apparent thinning of the skin<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are no definitive tests for the disease, so veterinarians use a variety of indicators, as well as the dog\u2019s health history to make a diagnosis with. The doctor will utilize blood and urine tests to check for certain indicators, such as high cholesterol, or urinary tract infection. If there is a strong suspicion that a dog may have Cushing\u2019s Disease, these test and observations will be followed by an abdominal ultrasound to determine whether there is a tumor on the adrenal gland.<\/p>\n<h2>Types of Cushing\u2019s Disease<\/h2>\n<p>There are two types of the Cushing\u2019s Disease, the pituitary dependent variety, and the adrenal dependent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pituitary Dependent<\/strong>: The more common type of the disease, occurs when the above-mentioned disease appears on the pituitary gland.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Adrenal Dependent<\/strong>: This type of Cushing\u2019s occurs in 15-20% of dogs diagnosed with the disease, and occurs when the tumor is on the adrenal gland.<\/p>\n<h2>Treatment<\/h2>\n<p>If the diagnosis is for the adrenal dependent Cushing\u2019s Disease, then there is the possibility of having the tumor removed by surgical means, which will cure the syndrome. This option only works if the tumor has not metastasized.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, if the disease is of the pituitary dependent type, then there is no surgical solution, and the symptoms will have to be controlled through the use of medication.<\/p>\n<p>If your dog is diagnosed with Cushing\u2019s Disease, the most important thing to do is follow your veterinarian\u2019s advice closely, and keep and even closer eye on symptoms, and general health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cushing\u2019s Disease, or hypercortisolism, in dogs is the result of a non-cancerous pituitary tumor which causes excessive production of cortisol (a stress hormone). The Symptoms of Cushing\u2019s Syndrome The condition usually effects middle-aged or older dogs; however, it has been known to occur in young adults as well. There are certain symptoms which might indicate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[85],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-4163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-dogs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5xKys-159","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}