Luke's Medical

Luke's years of suffering could have been prevented by a simple culture and a simple cure. His needless death was the result of a series of Dumb Veterinarian Mistakes committed by busy, important "professionals".

Luke was killed by his veterinarians.

The most common symptoms of Cushing's Disease include:

      a• increased/excessive water consumption (polydipsia)
      a• increased/excessive urination (polyuria)
          • urinary accidents in previously housetrained dogs
      a• increased/excessive appetite (polyphagia)
      a• appearance of food stealing/guarding, begging, trash dumping, etc.
      a• sagging, bloated, pot-bellied appearance
      a• weight gain or its appearance, due to fat redistribution
      a• loss of muscle mass, giving the appearance of weight loss
      a• bony, skull-like appearance of head
      a• exercise intolerance, lethargy, general or hind-leg weakness
      a• new reluctance to jump on furniture or people
      a• excess panting, seeking cool surfaces to rest on
      a• symmetrically thinning hair or baldness (alopecia) on torso
      a• other coat changes like dullness, dryness
      a• slow regrowth of hair after clipping
      a• thin, wrinkled, fragile, and/or darkly pigmented skin
      a• easily damaged/bruised skin that heals slowly
      a• hard, calcified lumps in the skin (calcinosis cutis)
      a• susceptibility to infections (especially skin and urinary)
          • diabetes, pancreatitis, seizures [unknown]

Luke had a definite 18 of the 20 symptoms defining Cushing's Disease. I've put a check mark in front of the symptoms Luke had. All of these symptoms were reported to Dr. Timothy Ness, who personally examined Luke on several occasions. Dr. Ness missed the diagnosis, even after I told him it sounded like Cushing's! Instead of exploring the probability of Cushing's, Ness stated that Luke's symptoms were prednisone side-effects. Dr. Ness continued to treat Luke for allergies and chronic ear infections only. He prescribed ear cleaner and ear drops, as well as medicine to rub into Luke's bloody elbows, belly, and toes. He also prescribed more pills. He neglected to read Luke's test results or look at Luke's chart.

Timothy Ness DVM failed to accurately diagnose the dog, neglecting to read the dog's chart, which actually stated the correct diagnosis. He was even told the correct diagnosis by the dog's owner, whose opinion he plainly disregarded without consideration, sacrificing his patient's life instead.

There is no excuse for Dr. Ness' neglect.

Had the tumor been removed surgically in the early stages before the cancer metastasized to the liver, before months of Dr. Ness' negligence, it is possible that Luke would have lived. But of course, we never had the chance to find out.

By the age of 6 years, Luke looked like a very old dog. Besides drastic changes in his skull, he developed a swollen distended pot-belly and muscle deterioration, especially in the hind end, ("old dog butt"). Luke had the classic appearance of Cushing's Disease.

This "mystery" rash developed after Luke got out of the hospital from his FCE episode, a couple of months before he died.

Luke's hair began to thin a few months before he died: most noticeably on his belly and armpits. Although another classic symptom of Cushing's, this too was ignored. It was just another "mystery".

Luke came home from the U of M (after the FCE hospitalization) with bloody, puffy elbows. His dermatologist (Timothy Ness) could not explain what had happened to cause this, but blamed the persistent on-going elbow problem on us - as if we were non-compliant. Although I faithfully applied the medicine the vet prescribed, I don't think he believed that I did. He insistently urged me to follow directions (even though his treatment was not working).

This picture doesn't do justice to the paw problem. There were many hard nodules between the pads on Luke's feet. It felt like gravel beneath the skin. The hair between the pads was very thin. I eventually trimmed what hair he had to allow the medicine to work better. It didn't work at all. Although the skin appears pink in this photo, it was actually quite red. It looked "scraped".