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I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal.

There you go.

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Stabilizing Sammie

February 18th 2010 - Update

Sammie has been doing well for the last few weeks since his diagnosis of Cushings syndrom.  His foster mom has been checking his urine with Diastix, feeding him his prescription dog food and giving him his insulin 

Unfortunately,Sammie was getting too much insulin and had a seizure.  Everything was normal until dinner time.  He was getting excited about the food ritual and then he started foaming at the mouth and biting at the air.  This is one of the classic symptoms of a seizure.  The next step was him going stiff, arching his back and his feet jerking about.  Lastly he urinated.  The seizure lasted about 2 minutes.  It was very frightening for Sammie's foster mom.  All was well with Sammie's until around 3 AM the next morning when he had another seizure!  The seizures started to cluster.  His last seizure was once again during the feeding ritual in the morning.  Thanks to Dr. S's team, it was uncovered that even though Sammie did not have any sugar in his urine, his foster mom was still giving him a little bit of insulin.  Sammie's foster mom got the green light to hold back on the insulin if he had no sugar in his urine! 

We are hesitant to say that Sammie is currently Stable, with these recent set backs have triggered more concern and clearly an ongoing medical evaluation.

We will keep you posted on Sammie's progress and prognosis, the one thing we do know is that Sammie is a very gentle sweet soul.

January 25th 2010

Upon intake to his foster home Sammie was on 5 units of insulin after every daily meal. Sammie's insulin levels were never correct because of the Cushing’s syndrome, which made him go from too much insulin, leading to seizures or not enough insulin leading to hypoglycemia where he would be weak and stumbling around.  Sammie also had chronic diarrhea which led him to be undernourished and skeletal.  Once the Cushing Syndrome was confirmed, Curly Tail had to handle the fact that it could be dealing with one or two possible scenarios:

Scenario A.

Primary Cushing syndrome where there is a small tumor on his pituitary gland that is manageable with medicine

Scenario B

Secondary Cushing syndrome where there are tumors on the adrenal gland and is almost always malignant. 

Further tests were performed: Sammie's first test was a cortisol stimulation test to confirm the diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome. Sammie had to have three different shots staggered throughout the day and his levels of cortisol needed to be measured.  Unfortunately the test did not go well and Sammie had to spend the night in the hospital.  During that visit he also had his glucose levels checked. 

This latest visit was very costly at upwards of $1000. They confirmed the diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome and as a next step he will need an ultrasound to determing if his Cushing’s syndrome we are dealing with are the Primary or Secondary scenario’s noted above.

 We will know more about Sammie’s diagnosis and prognosis shortly. Please stay tuned..

In addition to his diabetes and Cushings, Sammie also has cataracts in both eyes which have left him virtually blind.


Thank you for all of your support! It is only with the kindness, compassion and generosity of supporters like you that allow us to be able to help pugs like Sammie who would otherwise be facing grim alternatives.


Stabilizing Sammie


Future updates and posts can be found on his personal rehab page:  Stabilizing Sammie





January 19th 2009

Sammie came to Curly Tail because the family who owned him wanted to 'retire'.  They felt that Sammie was a heavy burden to take care of in the future.  Curly Tail was aware of his diabetes and took him in regardless of his condition.  Upon further examination of his previous vet records Curly saw vet notes listed as a  'guarded condition'.   We did not know what that guarded condition was but we set off to find out!  We knew pretty quickly we had our next big rehabilitation case with Sweet Sammie.

Upon first exam of the vet, where Sammie had a full set of blood work done, it was concluded that Sammie could possibly have Cushings Syndrome.  Cushing's Syndrome (also called hyperadrenocorticism or hypercorticism) is a hormone disorder caused by high levels of cortisol (hypercortisolism) in the blood.  Because of the Cushing Syndrom, Sammie's diabetes had not been under control.  We will keep you updated on Sammie's condition as we work to stabilize this sweet boy with the cutest overbite ever.

He will need several rounds of blood work, daily insulin shots, COSTLY medication for the Cushings Syndrome and an ultrasound.  Curly supplied his foster mom with urinalysis test strips so in addition to administering his insulin shots 2x/day, she can gauge his levels on a daily basis at home.  He is also on an Rx diet to help maintain further balance.

We have already started providing Sammie with the care he needs...it will be a costly endeavor but this sweet boy with the big personality is worth it!

Please help us, help Sammie and Chip In: 

Stabilizing Sammie


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