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Question

My husband and I are racked with guilt over our Beagle's death last week. She was an 8 1/2 year old Cushings dog who was undergoing Lysodren treatment. In August, she took a 1 week course of it with no noticable effect on her. ACHT test came back great. She still was moving a bit slower than in the past but we just thought that was what it was going to be like for her. We moved to a 1 x a week pill after this until she died last week. 2 weeks ago, she was eating less, moving slower, bothered by fleas. We took her to the vet 1 week into it. They sent her home with a flea treatment, expelled her anal glands, and gave her Temaril P. Told us to discontinue the Lysodren for the week. She was still not doing so hot - only eating people food but I was able to get her to eat. We went away the following weekend, came back and she didn't look great. On Sunday, I thought that things weren't great and I left a message for the vet. Monday morning they called - our regular vet was not in so I opted not to take her in and wait till the next day. Monday nite I did get her to eat a full meal and felt good about that. I never got to take her in the next day as that nite she died. She had both feces and vomit next to her. I have spent a week crying and trying to figure out what happened. I suspect that the Lysodren became too much for her and her Cushings turned to Addison's. Our vet warned us that this could happen but when her first test came back so well... I thought that she was over the hump. And when we took her in the last Saturday, Cushings was not mentioned (we were unable to see our regular vet then though). Is there anything that can be said to make us feel better? We both feel as though we killed our dog and are racked with guilt. Could a dog die that quickly from Addision's disease if that's what it was?

Submitted: 32 days and 15 hours ago.
Category: Dog
Value: $9
Status: CLOSED

Accepted Answer

Hello,

 

I don't think there is anything that can be said to make you feel better about the loss of your beloved pet since even if you knew what it was that ultimately caused her death, it was so fast that you had no time to even accept it. My heart goes out to you.

 

I do think that Addison's is a possibility as even for vets, it is sometimes missed. It is often referred to as "the great imitator". Many dogs that are affected have signs that wax and wane as well, so the owner (and their vets) think they are getting better an then they crash again. It is possible her cortisol levels were low due to the Lysodren and the stress of everything in the past week was too much for her. A normal dog's system could handle that, but if they have no way of producing even a normal amount of cortisone, they are at a loss. One thing that doesn't make sense however is that she did receive Temaril -P which has steroid in in so it should have helped her.

 

It is also possible that there was another disease going on. Kidney failure can have similar signs. I have also seen dogs with Cushings that had a large enough pituitary tumor that they had central nervous system signs like seizures. Unfortunately, you will never know.

 

What you have to focus on is the fact that while you had her, you gave her your love and the best care possible. I have many clients that wouldn't have even treated their Cushing's dog. You didn't give her that disease and once you found out she had it, you did the best you could to keep that disease from killing her, accepting the risks involved. Think of how terrible you would feel if she would have died from a blood clot to her lungs ( a life threatening complication in Cushing's dogs). I think she knew you were doing the best you could for her.

 

I am certain you will continue to have uneasy feelings, but hopefully with time, you will be able to look back on the years of great memories you have and not the way things ended. Please accept my condolences and let me know if you have any other questions.

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Expert: Dr Z
Pos. Feedback: 100.0 %
Accepts: 
Answered: 10/20/2009

Dog Veterinarian

Over 20 years experience treating dogs and cats

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