Cushings Test?

[lovemycat444]

Hi! I've copied a post I did yesterday.
It gives facts and health background for my sweet cat Taco.

He has a terrible, insistent over grooming problem. It started gradually since around last May.

Since it's a skin condition, I'm very scared but want to catch any secondary diseases ASAP so I don't see Symptoms when it's too late.

Please I'm really distraught
Has anyone had their cat tested for
Cushings, he doesn't have thin skin but he does growl and over groom lick the same spot on his lower stomach

The vets think it's because he has a lifelong very serious chronic constipation.

Please let me know your experiences and if with these symptoms you would suggest I pay for him to have a Cushings test?

Thank you so much!!

Hi! I'm fairly new to this forum. Grateful it & everyone is here! I'm completely distraught. My orange tabby Taco (diabetic) has had this problem: for over 8 months now has an overgrooming problem. He grooms licks his fur incessantly. It's strange he does this robotically & doesn't stop. He also lick bites at his ankles, front paws all over his body. Then his routine is to lick bite all over his body & then growl attack bite his lower stomach, always the same spot. The vet has had him on hydrolized food, (potential food allergy), checked for fleas, & skin issues at cat dermatologist vet, amitriptalyne for potential anxiety, Gabapenten for pain, etc! Temeril P is the only medicine that relieved some of his itching over grooming. But his blood glucose was close to 500 so I told the vet & she took him off this. He has also had a life long problem with constipation at one time it was very severe. Vet thinks it's his serious constipation that is making him feel terrible and the over grooming, biting attacking & growling at his stomach is a how he is showing his discomfort from the constipation.
Has anyone had this?

 

[Tuxedo Mom]

Welcome to the forum. I had a Cushing's kitty. I gave some information on another thread about Cushing's and basic testing for it.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...ht-be-allergic-to-lantus.188670/#post-2097952

This was my first response about testing for Cushing's..sorry to copy and paste but it is still early for me and this is so much easier

"Loss of hair is sometimes a potential sign of Cushing's. Often there is a overall generalized hair loss/hair thinning. although you can get certain areas that are more pronounced than others. My Tuxie had patches of hair that thinned out more than other areas and had no hair regrowth. He was shaved for an ultracound and still had not regrown the hair after 2 1/2 years. Sometimes the skin can become very thin and in some cases of the disease it can begin to tear with little or no pressure on it.

Cushing's is considered a rare disease in kitties ( common in dogs) but personally I feel that is from under-diagnosing. The easiest. least invasive test you can do to test for Cushing's is the UCCR (urine cortisol creatinine ratio) test. This involves collecting a urine sample at home so there is no stress involved. The sample is taken to your vet and sent to an outside lab, such as IDEXX for testing. If the results are negative then no further testing is necessary. If the tests are positive or borderline then further testing is needed to determine if it is pituitary or adrenal based Cushing's. I can't find my receipt, but I believe the UCCR test was about $125 Cdn when I did it 2 1/2 years ago.


I had started Tuxie on Lantus originally but changed to Levemir a few months later since I found that he flinched a lot with the Lantus. Lantus is more acidic than Levemir and some kitties can "feel the sting" more with Lantus. However with the hair loss and open sores appearing it may be prudent to run the UCCR test to rule out Cushing's as well.

If you need more information please tag me and I will reply when I am on."

However over grooming can be a sign of a food allergy. Trying either novel proteins or food with only one protein source can be useful to determine whether the food type is a problem.

If you need more information on Cushing's testing just tag me.