Senior dog's dead fur, excessive thirst. What are treatment options?

My biggest concern is that your vet is talking about hyperadrenocorticism also known as Cushing's disease. This is what I think of when you discuss those symptoms, liver enzyme elevations and adrenal issues. Cushings is where they produce too much cortisol in their system. You can do a test to rule this in or out. You can have your vet do a low dose dexamethasone test OR a ACTH stimulation test. If it comes up positive then you can treat with the disease with a daily medicine called trilostane to help the symptoms. But you cannot cure cushings. I hope this helps and will help guide you in a conversation with your vet if this is actually what your vet thinks is going on.

Just based on the information you described, I would probably consider testing for Cushing’s disease first, but it is possible to have both conditions so I would do the additional thyroid testing at the same time or soon after. Good catch!

I'm glad to hear that Charlie is still playful and eating well despite these changes. With his excessive drinking and urination, hair loss, and skin discoloration, my main concern is that he may have Cushing's disease, which is an endocrine disease in which the adrenal glands produce excess quantities of steroids. Other possible causes of his increased drinking and urination could be related to diabetes, kidney disease, urinary tract infection, among other issues. At this point, I strongly recommend taking Charlie to his vet for an exam and blood testing to try to get to the bottom of this issue so that treatment can be started. I hope this helps and that all goes well!

Hair loss and increased appetite are common causes of an endocrine disorder called Cushings disease. This is a common problem in older dogs and they usually are drinking more water then normal as well. I would highly encourage you to consider having Diamon evaluated by a veterinarian soon. They may recommend blood work to help determine the diagnosis. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. The ALP is quite high but this also depends on their reference ranges there. The symptoms you are describing could be consistent with a condition called hyperadrenocorticism (Cushing's disease) which is when there is excessive steroid production in the body due to a pituitary tumor or adrenal gland mass. There is treatment for the disease but it needs to be confirmed first. If you want to know for sure, testing such as an ACTH or low dose dexamethasone test should be performed. You can try using melatonin and flaxseed lignans to treat cushings disease naturally. I have had some cases respond to this treatment but not 100%. Also, I see that cre is 18. If this is creatinine, this is very high. Again, this depends on the machines reference range, calibration and unit of measure. Creatinine elevates typically with renal disease, which could also explain the increased thirst. If you attach a picture and repost to the forum here, it may help us better guide you. I hope this helps! You can visit a website called lignansforlife.net and order the holistic medications that I spoke of earlier. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

This could be a sign of disease when the hair coat changes. You can use things like Krillex Shed Free chews to see if the coat improves. These chews can be found online quite easily. If the hair coat continues to worsen or does not improve, I would recommend having her blood tested and see if there are any abnormalities. Thyroid level can oftentimes affect how the hair coat appears. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

I am sorry your dog is not feeling well. The information provided and picture don't really match. If a patient is drinking more and losing weight I would be concerned about endocrine diseases like diabetes and cushings disease. However the picture looks more like possible skin mites or an underlying autoimmune disease I would recommend taking her to a veterinarian to help you resolve the issues. They most likely will need to run basic bloodwork and possible a skin scrape to determine if mites are present.