Getting your Dog Evaluated for Cushing’s Disease

If you believe your dog may have Cushing’s disease you need to have him or her tested. If your veterinarian isn’t willing to do so, find one that will. In order for a full diagnosis to be determined tests for blood count, chemistry profile, and a urinalysis will all need to be completed. All of these types of testing are necessary to discover if Cushing’s disease is present or not. If there are abnormalities found further testing including those to test liver enzymes, cholesterol, and kidney function will be performed as well.

With the information out there known about Cushing’s disease these days, most veterinarians understand the importance of doing these types of tests. They will also take a close look at the medical history of the dog in order to come to a good diagnosis. Many veterinarians will check the amount of Cortisol in the urine, check the cratinine ratio, offer a Dexamethason suppression test, and conduct an ultrasound.

The test for finding out how much Cortisol is in the urine often starts at home. The owner is asked to collect a urine sample and then to take it to the veterinarian office. Most of them don’t test it in the office but label it and send it out to another resource. This is often the first test that will be done and if the levels come back abnormal then the next phase of determining if he or she has Cushing’s disease will be performed.

The low dose Dexamethasone suppression test is very useful for this type of diagnosis. Most healthy dogs that are given a low dose of it will have a decrease of Cortisol in the blood within a period of 8 hours. Research has shown 90% of dogs that do have Cushing’s disease will not see that reduction though when they are tested at that 8 hour mark. That statistic is why this particular test is so commonly used when Cushing’s disease is possibly present.

There are several reasons why an ultrasound of the abdominal area is very useful. This allows the veterinarian to evaluate the shape of all the internal organs in the abdominal area. They can see the size and the shape of the adrenal glands as well. They may be enlarged or of different sizes if a tumor is present. Should there be a tumor, it can be located with an ultrasound as well.

Sometimes a veterinarian will go a step further and perform a high dose Dexamthason suppression test. This is done so that they can determine if the Crushing’s disease has to do with the pituitary glands or the adrenal glands. One test that isn’t used very often anymore is the ACTH stimulation test. It is very expensive and so not many veterinarians go to the trouble to do it when there are so many other methods they can use for an accurate diagnosis. It can be done though when the diagnosis has thus far been inconclusive with the other forms of testing available.