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Cushings Disease In A Dog

by drpennyjacobs - November 3, 2025 View Case Report

Luna is a sweet 12 year old female spayed lab mix. She had a cough about a year ago, so we xrayed her and the radiologist believed there was a bulge suspicious of a heart based tumor. She received an echo from a cardiologist who confirmed the suspicion with reasonable certainty, but admitted she could not say for sure. Many months later, her muscle loss became more profound, her hair was thinning and she was drinking copious amounts of water, but was still alive. A colleague rechecked her heart with the ultrasound and did not find a heart based tumor - however, she tested for Cushings Disease and confirmed it with a LDDST and saw bilaterally enlarged adrenal glands.

The client is going to pursue Trilostane treatment, but wondered what herbal support we could also incorporate into her plan. I am not great at tongue and pulse diagnosis, but here is my best try...
Tongue: Pale pink - slight lavender tone and wet
Pulse: R stronger than left / medium depth, low tone

She has started a re/dehydrated food called Paradigm and home cooking. Could you advise for good herbal and other herbal and support options?
Thank you,
Penny Jacobs, DVM

by naturevet

November 5, 2025

Hi Penny,

I've created a Playlist on YouTube that you can steer owners toward to help understand where Cushing's is coming from and how to resolve it holistically. Here is the link:

You'll see I rule out Dampness first, since it is the pre-eminent cause of Cushing's in my experience. The diet change she is making to a dehydrated food is still too processed, but a home cooked diet that is not too high in starch (i.e., is meat and vegetable-based) should be fine.

For very clinical dogs, I pair that with Si Miao San. Note that the diet HAS to be changed for SMS to CURE her dog. Even if you don't see improvements, if she was committed, then we know what to do next. For dogs that don't respond at all to real food diets, they are usually Shao Yang dogs. I think you would have found a stronger pulse, though, if that were the case. The tongue and the toneless pulse suggest Dampness is the thing to rule out first.

Hopefully this helps you out!

Steve

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