Addison's Disease - Anyone have a dog with it?

[andersonjk4]

My 3.5yo female GSP just got diagnosed with Addison's Disease (under producing adrenal glands).  She took a dive in her health over a week ago and is slowly recovering now that we have her on steroids.  She will need to be on steroids for the rest of her life in order to replace the natural ones produced by the adrenal glands.  So I am wondering if anyone else has had to deal with this and has any advice?

[andersonjk4]

Also, for dog owners, if your dog ever experiences an unexpected crash: extreme lethargy, no appetite, etc.  Addison's should be considered. We have had a dog get severe pancreatitis/gastroenteritis  that presented similar symptoms.  Except with the Addison's dog there was very little vomiting/diarrhea where as the pancreatitis/gastroenteritis there was a lot of throwing up and diarrhea.     

Pic of Remi and link to Addison's Disease info if anyone is curious.

https://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/outreach/Pet-Health-Topics/categories/diseases/addison's-disease

[jrebel]

We had a pup that was diagnosed......prognosis was poor long term and the vet said she would never grow to be an active dog.  Her breed said otherwise so we were in quite the quandary.....long story short we didn't have the means or the money (for meds) at that point in our life to take care of her properly.  An older retired lady adopted her, which was awesome.   Good luck and hopefully the price of meds has come down a little.   

[AspenBud]

I know a gal who owns a shorthair that has had it for years. The dog does very well in NBDC (Bird Dog Challenge) events.

[quadrafire]

Sorry to hear that. Good looking pooch. 
Was she diagnosed by symptoms or testing? Addison's can be treated effectively long term for a great quality of life. Not a cheap disease to treat, but it is treatable.

[andersonjk4]

I know a gal who owns a shorthair that has had it for years. The dog does very well in NBDC (Bird Dog Challenge) events.

That's very good to hear. I am worried about it affecting her stamina and drive for hunting all day and then being able to recover.  That is if I can get her to be more comfortable around shooting, so we can go out hunting all day.

[andersonjk4]

Sorry to hear that. Good looking pooch. 
Was she diagnosed by symptoms or testing? Addison's can be treated effectively long term for a great quality of life. Not a cheap disease to treat, but it is treatable.

It took several vet visits over about 2 weeks to get to the diagnosis. One day she just quit eating and became very lethargic. That just so happened to be the day my wife shot her late buck and the dog had been stealing some little scraps as I skinned the deer. We just assumed she got a chunk of bone or a big chunk of fat and had gastroenteritis and/or pancreatitis. The vet agreed at first and put her on anti-nausea mess and antibiotics. But she still wouldn't eat several days later and was getting worse. So we took her back to the vet and the suggested x-rays to check for a blockage. So after the x-rays came back negative for a blockage and showed slight gastroenteritis we were told to give it a few more days. When she started to really take a dive health wise a couple days later, we took her back in and his time hey wanted to get an ultrasound. So we did that and that came back inconclusive other than the vet noticed her adrenal glands were on the small side. This was the first clue that it could be addisons. With the ultrasound not showing anything the next step was blood work. This came back with super low sodium levels and elevated potassium levels. Typical of Addisonian cases. At this point the vet was sure it was Addison's but needed to do one more blood test (ACHT test) to conform 100%. In the mean time they put her on prednisone and waited for the tests. The test came back positive. Unfortunately this all happened right at Thanksgiving. So it took us until Friday to get the prescription for the other replacement hormones. Thanksgiving day she continued to get worse and that night she was so weak that she could barely walk. We took her into the vet first thing Friday morning and they put her on an IV and got the prescription pills into her. They kept her all day on the fluids and by that evening she had turned the corner and was much improved and actually ate some food that night when we got her home (2 weeks after her last meal). Now that she is on the replacement hormones she is improving everyday and putting weight back on.

Very long answer to your question, but I thought that this info could possibly help someone in the future.