In every dog with Cushing’s syndrome there is an opportunity to bring back health and restore life. Through effective treatment it is possible to improve your dog’s quality of life and reduce the risk of your dog developing other, potentially life-threatening conditions for which treatment can be intensive and costly.
Cushing’s syndrome has a widespread, negative impact on your dog’s quality of life and if left untreated your dog runs a greater risk of serious conditions such as:
Treatment of hyperadrenocorticism (HAC) may be achieved by surgery (adrenalectomy or trans-sphenoidal hypophysectomy), pituitary irradiation, or medical treatment. Surgery and radiotherapy are complicated procedures available only at a few specialty centers, therefore medical treatment is often the most practical and approachable treatment choice. Trilostane is the only approved treatment available in Canada for both pituitary-dependent hyperadrenocorticism (PDH) and adrenal-dependent hyperadrenocorticism (ADH). Although the daily administration of trilostane does not offer a medical cure for Cushing’s syndrome, it may allow the disease to be managed successfully, enhancing the dog’s vitality and quality of life.
Your veterinarian will assess your dog’s response to treatment by:
In most cases you can expect to see a decrease in your dog’s appetite and the amount they drink within the first couple of weeks on treatment as well as an improvement in their level of energy. Other symptoms may take 3 to 6 months to improve.
The results of routine blood tests and an ACTH stimulation test are used to assess the effectiveness of Vetoryl treatment at 10-14 days, 4 weeks, 12 weeks and every 3 months after starting treatment.
