Our pets share a large water bowl but for some reason it always seemed to be empty. We weren't sure who was drinking so much water but began to suspect that, too, was Maggie because when she'd go outside the first thing she would do was head straight for our pond and drink, drink, drink. We put the two together and began to suspect that it was more than our sweet girls aging process, but something more serious.

My husband and I were going away for a week's vacation and a very good and trusted friend always takes the dogs for us. ( She calls them her "grandpups"). Right before we left we took Maggie to the vet..we knew something was NOT right but didn't know what it was. By this time she seemed to be much more lethargic, depressed, panted a lot and simply wanted to be left alone...again, very out of character for her! Our regular vet who we love and completely trust was out on maternity leave so Maggie saw a fill in. She diagnosed a Urinary Tract Infection, put her on an antibiotic for 2 weeks and said we'd see improvement in a day or so. With that prognosis, we left on our vacation thinking all was fine or soon would be. We'd check back every day with our sitter and she said she seemed a bit better, not remarkably so, but a bit but she was still having accidents and drinking a lot. She also called and touched base with the vet while we were gone and this same vet told her to continue the antibiotics, it was all related to the UTI.

After we returned home I began researching her symptoms on line and found two common denominators..diabetes and Cushing's disease. I decided not to wait for the 3 weeks when the vet wanted  to see her again and called and asked to speak with one of the other senior doctors in the practice. I'm not making any judgment on the "fill in" doc, but it seemed to me that she was missing something very obvious in simply treating her UTI. After talking with him, he wanted to see her immediately..like in an hour . He, too, felt that there  was more  going on and felt sooner was more crucial than later so off we went. He had her the entire day and on picking her up he said he sent some of her tests to a large Veterinary Hospital a few hundred miles from here and wouldn't have conclusive results for 24 hours. He didn't want to give me anything(other than she still had her UTI) until he had everything conclusively and entirely. He called the next afternoon and confirmed what I already knew. My sweet baby had diabetes and Cushing's. 

In the meantime, I had been talking to a friend(?), explaining what I suspected and she told me of 2 dogs that she knew of with Cushing's that had to be euthanized within a month or so of diagnosis. Both dogs went blind and deteriorated very quickly and that was the only thing left to do. When I heard the test results, I completely lost it, thought my precious Maggie had just received a death sentence. My head was spinning and couldn't imagine what was next. Although the vet assured me both conditions were manageable I felt my girl was only on borrowed time. I had never heard of Cushing's and had no idea animals could have diabetes so figured first and foremost I needed to educate myself and network with others who have been on the same journey . My husband and I agreed that we would do any and everything possible to keep her healthy and happy for as long as we could but if that became a losing battle we would let her go. I talked to the vet about this and asked him if he felt we should let her go at this point rather than prolonging the inevitable. He told me as in anything there are never any hard and fast guarantees but felt if we could get the Cushing's under control first we could also get the diabetes under control and MagPie should have any where from one to five more years of quality life. Hearing that was almost as good as a winning lottery ticket!!! Speaking of which, we sure could have used one of those because, I'll be honest, all the tests/screens/etc. darn near broke the bank! We had to be realistic and take that aspect into consideration also. We never wanted money to be a factor on our decision but had to keep every aspect in mind. The vet explained that once we got things under control the cost should not be prohibitive. Between her Cushing's meds, her insulin, syringes, "dip sticks" etc. we broke it down to be @ $25.00/ month! Certainly do-able!!! I told him about the dogs I had heard of that had to be put down and he suspected that they may also have had diabetes that went untreated.
The vet explained to me that she would be on Lysodren for the Cushing's every day for a week( the "loading" phase) and then after another ATCH screen we would determine the dosage for the maintainance phase  which would most likely be one pill a week. He taught me how to give her the insulin injections that she would need every morning. She was such an angel baby as they had me practice on her with saline solution! He explained that we needed to check her urine every morning with a "dip stick" and explained how to read it and dose her accordingly. He also put her on a strict diet of W/D..no treats, no people food..W/D ONLY!  The first morning I tried to test her pee I wasn't very bright! I stood behind her, held the "dip stick" under her hoping she'd pee on it for me..well, I got a few drops, enough for a reading  but she wasn't very happy with me. I was telling a friend about it and she suggested, " Why not hold an old soup ladle under her and catch it?" DUH!! How obvious! After that, we used a small flat measuring cup, sort of slid it under her and she used it as her own little Doggy Bed Pan...sure works much better!!!!!
After just a few days on the Lysodren and insulin we noticed a HUGE improvement in her. She began to get perkier again, played with Murphy more and wanted to be with us like in the past. She was drinking less and the basement puddles were becoming less and less. 
After a week on the Lysodren her ACTH test showed she was in a normal baseline range and he didn't want her to take anymore Lysodren at all and be retested in 4 months. Her insulin needs were all over the map however..she'd level off at 9 units for a few days and then began to climb to a high of 15 units then go back down again . She will be going in for a blood glucose test in three weeks. Throughout all of this she seemed to be getting better. She would, of course, have days when she'd be more lethargic than others but on a whole she really seemed better to us.

I found a Cushing's group and a diabetes group on line and at first was very overwhelmed by it all. I didn't understand the terminology, felt everyone there knew what they were doing and we were still fumbling trying to get a handle on it all. 

Some of the Cushing's people told me NOT to treat her with Lysodren, others told me it was the best treatment..some told me the W/D was NOT the best food for her, others told me it was very good. Some people felt I shouldn't be giving her HumilinL (insulin) and the dipstick wasn't very accurate, some of the Cushing's people told me that some dogs only needed the initial loading of Lysodren and that was it, others told me she should always be on some sort of maintenance dosage.My head was swimming.  What was right? What was wrong? I am so very grateful for the advice and experience and friendship I've gained from others but finally concluded that what ever is working  for each individual pet is RIGHT. I have very much confidence in our vet and believe we are on the right path in treating Maggie. The accidents have stopped, she is eating and drinking normally again. She tires out quicker than she used to and sleeps a lot, but her coat is looking better, she smiles at us again and we feel very confident she is on the right track. 

 A few short weeks ago we thought she had received the kiss of death and talked about letting her go. We know now she will always have issues, she will always have special needs and the commitment we've made to do all we can to make her healthy and happy is for her entire lifetime...a commitment we have more than willingly made.

If I were to give anyone in our shoes a bit of advice..and admittedly, I'm a novice at all of this...it would be step back, take a deep breath, educate yourself as thoroughly as possible and reach out to others who are on the same journey. There are so many good people out there who understand and are willing to help you along the path. Neither Cushing's or Diabetes is a death sentence..scary at first, yes..... overwhelming at first, undeniably, but manageable DEFINITELY!