Hello everyone.

It's been a while since I wrote.  Leo and Chelsea are doing alright.  Chelsea is about 5 years old and Leo entering 7.

Chelsea still has a bouncy ball of coat, but Leo, unfortunately not.

Leo had been shedding alot of fur last year, and the vet advised us to take it all off, yes right to the skin, because his undercoat was coming out in clumps right against the skin, and the rake/matt splitter would get stuck and cause him too much pain, so I had to shave it all off.

It has been almost a year, and only the hair on his mane, shoulder blades, and a small section on either side of his body has grown.

The hair on his entire back section of this body - tail, hind legs are completely bald, as well as the sides of his body toward the front.  His diet is Hills Science Diet, we also put him on Hill z/d prescription diet, but it's not the food.

His hair growth/loss is very symmetrical.
He does not scratch or itch at all.

We have taken him to a specialist, and have done blood tests as well as hormone tests to check the cortizone levels.

The blood test revealed that his overall health looks good, except a slightly medium to high reading on the liver.

The vet also took a skin biopsy, and we are awaiting the results of that together with the hormone test results.

He suspects it could be Cushings Disease / Hyperadrenocortism.

Leo's appetite has increased, although he's not sluggish or tired and usually Hyperthyroidism cases show very tired dogs, so the vet suspected that he may not have a thyroid problem.

Has anyone on the forum experienced a similar situation with their Chow, where the dog shed alot and after complete shaving, the hair grows back in patches with some completely bald spots even after a year?

I've heard of Post-clipping Alopecia in certain Nordic breeds like Chows, Keeshond, Pomeranians, were the hair growth is stunted after shaving to the skin.

Did anyone experience this?
What treatment was given, and did the hair eventually fully grow? How long did it take?

Poor Leo, I just want him to have a full coat again

Best wishes for Leo's recovery and in dealing with his problem!  Poor boy!   

Thanks so much guys for your support.

I just want to add to the symptoms that Leo was experiencing over the past 2 years, as alot of owners do misinterpret it as being old-age, but Cushing's can be treated if diagnosed early:

- Very first symptom - abnormal amount of hair being shed throughout the entire body including the snout.

- Hair never grows back in the shedded spots and skin will darken very quickly. Hair gets very dry.

- Hind limbs have weakened and struggles to climb up stairs / get up and jump into the car.  We have to lift his back legs everytime.

- Area underneath his body behind the front legs - I think the liver region, protrudes slightly

- Begs for food throughout the day and wants to eat all the time.

- Drinks alot of water

- In some cases the dog will want to urinate alot, but Leo seemed normal in this regard.

Leo was neutered at 6 months old, and I have heard that higher cases of Cushings were reported in spayed/neutered dogs.  I'm beginning to wonder if neutering possibly tampers with certain hormone production in the long-term....who knows...

As I've mentioned, the drug Trilostane was only available in the UK since 2001 and been very promising with Cushing's and now that it has been FDA approved, its available worldwide.

The previous drug Lysodren was more of a Chemotherapy drug that dissolved layers of the adrenal gland, thus reducing the production of cortisol hormone in the blood but had other side-effects, whereas Trilostane inhibits the function of the enzyme that produces cortisol, and has less damaging effects on the body.

But even with Trilostane, if you do not have follow up tests with the vet, it could also be detrimental.

Too much Trilostane can lower the coritsol level to such an extent, that it could cause the opposite disease - Addisons Disease.

I really have spent hours researching this just to have an idea as to what Leo is going to go through.

I just want him as good as new, and I'm praying that he reacts positively to this drug.

He will start his treatment on Saturday......lets see how it goes......

I have a bitch that has Cushings. She'll be 9 years of age in February 2011 and she was diagnosed in the spring of 2009. We don't treat her for this, because she also has severe spondylosis, so we decided to let her live as long as she enjoyes life. NOw, 1,5 years later she still enjoys life! When the spondylosis is giving her pain you will see the light in her eyes go out, she will be low and won't eat. For those very rare occassions we have Rimadyl at home to give her, an within 1-2 days she's back on track!

Her symptoms of Cushings are:
• Big big belly
• Very poor coat and black skin where the coat is gone
• Muscle tone is all gone espacially in the rear. She still likes to go for walks now and then and has no problems climbing the stairs in our house
• She's crazy about food and will dance for you when it's time for food.

This bitch was very tiny at birth and has been very tiny thoughout life. Up until she was 7 years she was all healthy. She is still our sunshine and we love her to bits! When she doesn't enjoy life anymore we will help her over the rainbow bridge.

Merlin wrote on Oct 27^th, 2010 at 3:06pm:

Because my girl is having a very mild type of Cushings I am curious to know why MeiMei didn't make it despite being on drugs? I just want to know what might happen to my girl in the end...

Hello.

I'm very sad to hear to hear about Mei Mei, and I pray that your girl, Gurkan, lives many more happy chow years.

With Leo's Cushings, I really don't know what type it is.  I have read about the pituitary tumour and the adrenal gland type.  The vet said that there would have to be a whole set of other tests to establish which one it is.

Usually the pituitary tumour requires surgery in the brain, which most owners don't opt for.  But the end result of both cases, is that there is an over-production of the cortizone hormone, which can be treated by using drugs that can bring it down to the normal levels.

Trilostane acts at the very last stage of the process inhibiting the enzyme that produces cortizone.  Since it's not a chemotherapy drug like Lysodren which eats away layers of the adrenal gland, it has less damaging side-effects.

Whether Leo takes to this well, only time will tell.
So far he has been on the drug for 10 days.
I feed it to him at 7am in the morning with concealed in a piece of chicken.

He did vomit the first day, as well as on the day he had the first ACTH test.  But he was back to normal afterwards.

He still has a very good appetite.  Still his bubbly, energetic self.  No lethargy.  So this was a good sign for me.
However, he was only put on the minimum dosage of 2mg/kg.
His weight is about 27kg.  And each capsule is 60mg.
He doesn't eat as often, but his appetite is still there.

I took him in today for his first ACTH test after his 10 days of treatment, and I will post the results as soon as I receive them.

I have some pics to show you.  Mind the quality.  It was taken at the spur of the moment with a mobile phone.

Here's a picture of Leo at around 4 years old with full coat:



Here's how he looked when he started losing alot of his coat:



Here's Leo completely shaven by vet's orders to investigate the skin.  Leo wasn't very impressed



Here's Leo with first regrowth after the shaving approx. 4 months later.  Notice how certain areas symmetrical areas have grown, whilst other symmetrical areas where his skin has darkened, has not grown at all:



Here's how he looks as at 27/10/2010.  Hair on darkened skin areas, have still not grown.




I've read that Trilostane has successfully treated Alopecia X in dogs like Pomeranians, Keeshonds, Alaskan Malamutes...
Leo was also diagnosed with this as well through the skin biopsy.

But lets see if it helps with the hair growth as well....if it does, it's a bonus, well at least on his tail.  His tail looks really sad even when it wags when his happy.  Poor boy.

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You're so right! Give hugs to your precious girl!

Wow phenomenal news!
The hair might take a while, but I'm sure you are in no hurry right?  Great news!