Today I had put my 3rd cairn, Badger, to sleep, because her health (& mental/emotional health by association) deteriorated within three days of being diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease.
Now, I am skeptical it was CD that pushed her body over the edge. She tested positive for CD, but...
Badger’s history: she was 9, arthritis & luxating patellas at age 2-3. She’s been on 6monthly pain killer injections since then. Other than that, she was relatively healthy. Extremely active & hyper! She’s always had random bouts of diarrhoea & external tumours, but the vets always dismissed it as benign with needle biopsies (fatty tissue).
A week ago she suddenly started drinking like she was dying of thirst; emptying 3 litres of water every 2 days, drinking water every 15-20 minutes. She lost appetite & became very lethargic, depressed, lost 4 kgs, random very rare bouts of her typical energy but never 100%.
Tuesday she crashed, & that day the vet diagnosed Cushing’s, adrenal glands, but with no ultrasound or biopsies, no radiation or x rays. She had urinalysis & the all-day baseline blood tests. That following Friday (today) we put her to sleep as she worsened to be sleeping almost 24/7, throwing up food, little urination, hid under the bed, losing her balance, difficulty running, fell down, & looking groggy/delayed/confused or no reaction to her name or noises/cues like snapping fingers, whistling, etc. She was restless when she rarely showed more energy than needed walking to her water bowl & back to bed.
But, her tumours had suddenly tripled in size, & was rockhard.
She never had any other CD symptoms like toilet problems, ravenous hunger (turned her nose up at food), bloating, hair loss, bruises.
Has anyone had similar experiences? Was your cairn misdiagnosed? My second cairn 11 years ago had been diagnosed with brain cancer, so Badger’s final day symptoms were eerily similar.
