# Addisons Disease



## peppersb (Jun 5, 2011)

Oh I am so sorry. I have no personal experience with Addison's, but I have heard that dogs can do very well and have a normal life after they recover from the initial crisis. However, they do need to be on medication for the rest of their life, and that, along with vet monitoring can be expensive. In the US anyway, I have heard that shopping around for meds can reduce the cost. Stress can aggravate the Addison's, so the more you can give your dog a routine, predictable happy life, the better. If you do need to put your dog in a potentially stressful situation (e.g. boarding the dog), make sure that the caregivers know about the Addison's and can get in touch with your vet.

If you have not done so already, you should inform the breeder and register the dog with Poodle Health Registry.

Here is a link with more information:

AddisonDogs | What Is Addison's Disease

Also, I first heard about Jack Sparrowe on PF a few years ago. Here's his blog. Looks like he is still doing well.

http://jacksparrowead.blogspot.com/

Best wishes to you and your spoo.


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

As I have talked about on this forum before, I had a male Portuguese Water Dog with Addison's who was diagnosed at the age of 8. He had all sorts of digestive issues and stopped eating many times before he went into an Addisonian crisis and was hospitalized as your Olly was. They kept him 3 days and he was MUCH better when I picked him up.

The worse thing about Addison's Disease is that it goes undiagnosed so often until there is a chance that your dog may die. The best thing about Addison's is that once it is diagnosed, it can be managed and your dog can have a good life. Dasher lived to 14-1/2 years. So your dog can have a long and happy life. 

It takes a while to get the dosage right on the daily prednisone. I finally asked the vet to prescribe a liquid form of it so that I could be precise on how much I gave him. I picked up children's liquid prednisone from the pharmacy that she prescribed for me. Then I gave him the minimum dose on unstressed days and increased the dosage when I knew he was getting groomed, going the vet, or other stressful conditions.

I found a vet that would let me be with him when he was treated so that I could ease his stress. I had to shop around because a lot of vets want to take the dog away from you to take blood, give injections, do anal glands (which Dasher needed done often), etc.

I did not board my dogs. Instead I used a pet sitting service (Fetch) which I have been very happy with.

I just found out that Neeka, my 4 yo PWD, also has Addisons but it is not as bad as Dasher's was. There are 2 kind of cortisols that can be affected by this disease, one is a mineral cortisol that can upset the electrolytes of the dog and cause the Addisonian crisis. A lack of mineral cortisol requires injections every 25 days. They do have a daily pill for this problem but I found Dasher was not as stable on it and the injections worked much better for him. 

The other cortisol that is affected is a glucocortisol that just requires prednisone supplementation. That is what Neeka has. So I don't have to worry about injections every 25 days.

If your dog requires injections, those can be pricey. That is why I get pet insurance on my dogs now. But, again, your dog will be so much better now that you know what is wrong and you can take care of it.

Let us know how things go with you. And don't dispair. It will be okay.


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## lizzy_8 (Mar 21, 2014)

Thank you both so much for your reassurance in dealing with this. It is good to know that once stabilised on meds he should be ok. We really thought we were losing him and that was unbearable to lose such a young pup. I am going to Florida for two weeks in September and my husband wanted to stay at home and look after Olly but as I am leaving my dogs with my dog trainer who knows Lulu and Olly well I feel and hope it will be less stressful. I discussed this with the vet and she suggested giving him something for the stress before he goes so hopefully he will be ok. I have plans to leave consent, cash and Insurance docs with my trainer in the event of any issues. Thank goodness I have insurance as the vet fees have already been in 4 figures. I am sure my insurance will also cover the ongoing meds. I contacted the breeder as soon as Olly was Diagnosed but was not aware of the registry so I will look into that. Thank you again


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

I just want to add that another stressor for dogs with Addisons can be their flea/tick meds and heartworm meds... so if he is on them, try to time them so not too much else is going on at the same time. My nine year old tested out as borderline at six months, and has been monitored his whole life. We have been very fortunate that he only tests out at borderline, but you can bet I know all the warning signs. Best of luck.


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## lizzy_8 (Mar 21, 2014)

I use Advocate monthly which he had applied on the Thursday evening, and took unwell late Friday into Saturday. I have used this many times before so I don't know if it was connected or just, coincidence.


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

Have you set up a schedule for injections and discussed with your vet how much prednisone to give him daily?

Whatever the daily dose, you would increase it the morning you take him to the breeder and depending on how he acts at the breeders (stressed or not, eating or not eating), the breeder could increase his daily dose if needed. If the dog is borderline Addison, he might not get pred everyday. But if your dog was so sick to have almost died, I would think he would get a daily dose.

When you mentioned giving him "something" before you take him to the breeder, I just wondered if your vet had talked about medication guidelines with you.


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

Charmed said:


> I just want to add that another stressor for dogs with Addisons can be their flea/tick meds and heartworm meds... so if he is on them, try to time them so not too much else is going on at the same time. My nine year old tested out as borderline at six months, and has been monitored his whole life. We have been very fortunate that he only tests out at borderline, but you can bet I know all the warning signs. Best of luck.


Charmed makes a good point. Whatever medication you give your dog has the possibility of stressing him. I believe I gave Heartgard every 5 weeks instead of 4 and made sure it was on an unstressful day. I stopped using flea medication but continued it on other dogs.

You might want to consider what vaccinations you give him and how often. Some people do titers to make sure the vaccinations are necessary.


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## lizzy_8 (Mar 21, 2014)

The vet hasn't discussed meds in any detail as yet but he has been out on Prednicare 5mg - one and a half tablets a day and Florinef 0.1g - two tablets a day and has to go back next week to have bloods checked. I took it that she meant that before I go away I would go to her and get tablet to hp with stress. All very knew to us all so not clear at moment husband will ask next week when he goes back.


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