SUNDAY 15 DECEMBER

  For the last few nights Dora has been crying during the early hours a couple of times, and I've had to get up to let her out to toilet. Each time there was always one or two puddles of pee and several small black sausages. After cleaning up and replacing the pads with clean ones I've gone back to bed only to be woken a couple of hours later by her crying again to go out. 

Since starting her Vetoryl a week last Saturday her symptoms seem to have got worse. Whether this is just coincidence or not I'm not sure, I take her in to see the vet in the morning (Monday) for the physical examination re side effects etc. So will bring this up with the vet when I see him. 

She's drinking gallons of water now so the urination is more frequent and larger quantities. The hunger seems about the same, she can't get enough even after swallowing the last mouthful of a meal. So I'm trying out a different tack. 

She weighed 11Kg the last time she saw the vet, she should weigh around 8Kg or less. So she had been having 1 x 390g tin and 1 x 150g of Butchers Lean and Tasty wet food which normally would have reduced her weight, but now it doesn't.  I divide the food, so the tin makes 3 meals and the tray another meal. 

To see if I can keep her more satisfied I am now dividing the tin into 4 meals and the tray either whole or divide it into half. Some days she is even more hungry than ever so she gets an extra tray or half a tray.  She would still want more and this is the risk with a Cushings dog, until the Vetoryl is adjusted to the right dose it's easy to overfeed them and it's also easy to give them too extra meals because you feel sorry for them. 

Comparing Dora to Bonnie, Bonnie never woke me in the night for the toilet and would never bark or make a fuss to get fed. In fact she was very quiet and subdued throughout her Cushings. Whereas Dora is highly vocal and in your face when she needs the toilet and when she wants food. The continual barking within seconds of being fed for instance is very wearing. You feel like shouting "Be Quiet" but of course you mustn't because they can't help the urge to pee as their bladders are full to bursting or they're dinner they just swallowed has not satisfied their hunger at all. 

The Vetoryl should kick in I think from memory in about another week, I will check with the vet tomorrow. I feel totally wasted to be honest. I am retired but if I was younger and had to get up to work in the morning I'm not sure how I'd cope with very little sleep every night. It is very hard in the beginning. But it's also very hard on your dog too. Lethargy is one of the symptoms of Cushings, and I think one of the reasons, but not the only one, is that they get exhausted from their symptoms and so crash out to recharge their batteries when they're not peeing or eating. 

I'll post again tomorrow after the visit to the vet and update you on the situation. In the meantime I'm trying to snatch a few catnaps before I turn into a zombie.