Adult Saluki growth spurt is this possible?

[firefly]

My beautiful saluki Ollie who I rescued about 7 years ago, had to stay with my parents for several months when I was very ill. I picked him up on Saturday and I'm horrified to discover that not only did their vet say he was underweight and needed feeding up, this means he is now significantly overweight- he has put on almost 8kilos - his hair and skin is dry and lustreless, his teeth don't look right, his nails are long and splitting, he seems to have no energy- I realise I was lucky to have my parents to look after him temporarily but their vet seemed to think he was a lab. 
I've put him straight back on the correct amount of barking heads food, I'll be gradually increasing his exercise back up to the hour a day he used to have, and he is going to the vet on weds for a full health check, thyroid and liver tests etc.
The thing that's really really odd, and honestly I thought I was going crazy until I double checked his measurements from last winter when I bought his last coat- he's 2 inches longer!!!! And nearly 2 inches taller!!! I haven't got measurements for this but both myself and my close friends are certain his feet are bigger and his skull bigger!! How on earth is this possible? He was on a very low dose prednisone for a skin condition, as far as I knew that's all he's had but I'm beginning to wonder. 
My mum won't give me full details of all he's been eating, she denied he'd had anything except his kibble but eventually told my boyfriend that he'd been 'stealing chocolate digestives', and I know back in Sept when his vacs were due she'd said the vet wasn't going to give them until the steroids had kicked in. I was very ill at the time and unable to get to see him, I kept asking questions but all she'd tell me is that it was the same steroids he'd always had but this makes no sense.
please has anyone got any ideas, I'm so worried! He looks several years older in the space of a few months. How is it even possible for him it have got taller? He was in top health when they took him, now I'm terrified of what the vet will find.

[vickyb]

How long has he been on the steroids? obviously their effects can be responsible for some things, I assume they increased his appetite making the weight gain easy as I know Salukis tend to be very hard to get weight on and are usually picky eaters making 8 kilos a huge amount to put on. Did he actually get any exercise do you think? sounds as if he didn't.

Did he have vaccs while he was on the steroids? that really shouldn't happen if so. It does all sound very strange that he can change so much in a few months. We adopted an abused lurcher who was around 15 mths and he definitely grew in height and length over the next year despite his age but he'd been starved so we always assumed that was why.

Hopefully your vet can find out what if anything has happened and I hope you are better now

Humans can develop a condition that suddenly causes them to grow, especially nose and ears but all over too, can't remember the name of it, not heard of anything like it in dogs.

[greybeard]

Acromegaly Vicky - due to excessive production of growth hormone.Apparently cats and dogs can develop this condition.Cath

[vickyb]

Dec 15, 2014 6:59:12 GMT -5 greybeard said:

Acromegaly Vicky - due to excessive production of growth hormone.Apparently cats and dogs can develop this condition.Cath

Thanks Cath! I knew it had 'megaly' somewhere in it and tried googling it to no avail! I worked with someone whose husband had it.

[Lisa]

If he is fat then that will bulk out his body length and height wise to! His frame wont have actually grown but he will have grown all over in inches the same as us humans do when we get overweight

[lurcherlot]

I believe steroids will automatically put weight on your dog - they are often given for lack of apetite, although it depends whether he was given anabolic steroids or not.

[firefly]

He was on very low dose prednisone for about a year before my parents had him. He was small for a male saluki and yes definitely a picky eater- wouldn't eat dog treats, just stuck to his main food and the occasional piece of meat for a treat- stayed at the same weight and build the whole time, in fact in 6 years never really put on or lost any weight. I called my parents vet yesterday and asked what they had put him on- it was medrone 4mg every day for a month then down to every other day. He's definitely put on fat around the haunches and chest/ ribs, but he hasn't got extra fat on his face or legs, his skull is definitely longer- the muzzle we had for him is now too short, and his feet are much larger, that's not fat. His legs are thicker but again it's definitely bone, there's no extra fat there.
I think the growth hormone idea makes a lot of sense, I'll ask the vet for her ideas. She's very used to sighthounds and she knows Ollie well so I am guessing shell spot the changes as well.
It's very strange- I can only think the huge amounts of extra protein that my parents were feeding him combined with the steroids gave had some odd effect. I'm just praying it hasn't affected his internal organs adversely.
Interestingly, now he's back with me and no longer has access to human food, he's back to being a picky eater- but as soon as anyone here rustles cellophane he comes running - I think that's pretty suspicious! He's out of breath after 15 minutes so we'll be walking little and often to get him back to a healthy weight.

[vickyb]

Very strange, that is a small dose and my dogs get less side effects on medrone compare to pred. Saphy was on a far higher dose for longer without any changes.
You'll feel better once the vet has had a good look at him x