Bad News At The Vets With Phil! Cushing’s Disease Overdose!!

Hey everyone, so we took Phil to the vets recently because we noticed he had runny poos and are starting to see some weight loss. We ran his regular test that we usually do every 3-6 months it was last performed at the end of October it’s called an ACTH stimulation test. ACTH is a hormone naturally produced by the pituitary gland (a gland located in the brain). The purpose of ACTH is to tell the adrenal glands when and how much cortisol to produce. As the blood level of cortisol increases, it causes the pituitary gland to decrease its production of ACTH, which results in a lowering of the cortisol level. The ACTH simulation test mimics this natural stimulatory pathway and demonstrates the capacity of the pet's adrenal glands to produce cortisol in response to an injection of synthetic ACTH.

This test requires two blood samples. The first blood sample is taken, then an injection of synthetic ACTH is given, and the second blood sample is taken 2 hours following the injection. When the levels of cortisol in the two samples are compared, they may show a normal response, an exaggerated response, or very little response.

With pituitary origin Cushing's disease, we normally see a markedly increased cortisol level following the synthetic ACTH injection. This exaggerated response occurs because the adrenal glands have been over-stimulated with naturally occurring ACTH secreted by the diseased pituitary (pituitary origin Cushing's disease). These adrenal glands are therefore highly responsive to stimulation by the synthetic ACTH. With adrenal origin Cushing's disease, an exaggerated cortisol level after the synthetic ACTH injection may also be seen.

Overdoses of Vetoryl can cause severe suppression of the adrenal glands. Symptoms of an overdose may include:
* Lack of appetite - Phil didn’t have this
* Lack of energy (Lethargy) - Phil didn’t have this
* Weight loss - he did have this
* Diarrhea - he did have this

We also did a further blood test for his nutrient absorption levels due to the diarrhoea and they found he had a B12 deficiency which he is now having weekly injections for. While we were there we also tried a new medicine for his arthritis he’s currently on a pill twice a day called gabapentin 300mg but we have added in an injection called Librela this month to see if it adds any extra pain relief!

Will keep you updated as always! The overdose is serious but we caught it early with regular testing and he will resume treatment as soon as he can with very close monitoring!

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