Addison's Disease

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Postby mnp13 » February 12th, 2006, 9:25 pm

My parent's 8 year old Standard Poodle just got diagnosed with it...

anyone have any experience with it?
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Postby Romanwild » February 12th, 2006, 11:29 pm

I'm so sorry!

I just spoke with you! Did you find out after?

I love that big poodle! :(
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Postby cheekymunkee » February 12th, 2006, 11:43 pm

I know nothing about it but I hope your parents poodle has a looong happy life.
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Postby mnp13 » February 12th, 2006, 11:53 pm

I found out about 3 minutes before I posted.
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Postby Jesseca » February 13th, 2006, 1:00 pm

I haven't heard of it either, I hope he's ok
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Postby Emi » February 13th, 2006, 3:26 pm

Michelle , i'm sorry to hear this, here is a article on it ...


http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/deaddisons.html

Addison's disease (Hypoadrenocorticism)

Addison's disease is also known as hypoadrenocorticism. It is an insufficient production of adrenal hormones by the adrenal gland. Since these hormones are essential for life, this is an extremely serious disease and it must be treated as such.

Adrenal insufficiency can be primary or secondary. Primary adrenocorticism affects salt/potassium balance in the body and glucorticoid as well. Secondary adrenocorticism usually only affects the glucocorticoids. It is not known why primary adrenocorticism occurs but it may be an immune mediated process. Secondary adrenocorticism probably occurs most often when prednisone or other cortisone being administered for medical reasons are suddenly withdrawn. It can occur as a result of pituitary cancer or some other process that interferes with production of hormones that stimulate the adrenal glands.

Most dogs with Addison's disease initially have gastrointestinal disturbances like vomiting. Lethargy it also a common early sign. Poor appetite can occur as well. These are pretty vague signs and it is extremely easy to miss this disease. More severe signs occur when a dog with hypoadrenocorticism is stressed or when potassium levels get high enough to interfere with heart function. Dogs with this problem will sometimes suffer severe shock symptoms when stressed, which can lead to a rapid death. When potassium levels get high heart arrythmias occur or even heart stoppage which also is fatal. In some cases, especially secondary Addison's disease, there are no detectable electrolyte changes.

This disease can be picked up by changes in the ratio between sodium or potassium by accident at times. When this happens it is still extremely important to treat for it. It is confirmed by an ACTH response test -- administration of this hormone should stimulate production of adrenal hormones. If this does not occur then hypoadrenocorticism is present. In cases in which the electrolyte levels are normal this is the only test for the problem and it will be missed unless it is looked for specifically. At times this disease can be hard to differentiate from renal failure because the symptoms and even the bloodwork can be similar ---- so the ACTH response test may be necessary to differentiate them.

Treatment for this disease is usually done by oral administration of fludrocortisone acetate (Flurinaf), salting the food, and administration of corticosteroids like prednisone. In a crisis situation this disorder must be treated more aggressively with intravenous fluids, IV glucocorticoids and correction of acid/base balances.

You have to pay close attention to a dog with this problem. Don't ignore any changes in appetite, GI disturbances or anything else that makes you think your dog is ill. If you work with your vet and are careful about following his or her directions this disease has a good prognosis when it is discovered before a crisis occurs.
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Postby CinderDee » February 13th, 2006, 6:33 pm

No experience here, but sending good thoughts. :)
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Postby Maryellen » February 13th, 2006, 7:00 pm

from what i have heard mostly poodles get it, and sometimes the water dogs (they also get cushings too). it is treatable from what i was told.
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Postby CinderDee » February 13th, 2006, 7:32 pm

Maryellen wrote:from what i have heard mostly poodles get it, and sometimes the water dogs (they also get cushings too). it is treatable from what i was told.


That's interesting, ME. My Affenpinscher had Cushings.
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Postby Karen » February 20th, 2006, 8:56 am

mnp13 wrote:My parent's 8 year old Standard Poodle just got diagnosed with it...

anyone have any experience with it?


Live with it every day. Poodles have high incidences of Addisons for some reason. The best site out there and your parents might want to join the mailing list is http://www.addisondogs.com . the people on this list have been great about helping newly diagnosed people get a handle on tests, meds, costs, and moral support.

Cuddles is on .54 of percorten-v every 25 days and 1 mg (I think it is mg) of Prednisone. The trouble is your parents dog's adrenal glands don't work so the body can't produce the cortisol it needs to function. There are cheaper meds than percorten but Cuddles can't have the florinef it turns her into a quiverring mass of fear aggressive dog. One of the main sideeffects of Florinef is drastic temperment changes. I guess to heck.

Don't give the meds on an empty stomach because the pred can cause ulcers in the gastrointestinal tract. Many people give the dogs Pepcid to help with that.

If the dog has stopped eating it is important to just feed it anything it will eat to jumpstart the appetite. Hemolytic Anemia is a nice thing that goes with Addison's and it is Cuddles' main issue. Her hematacrit has been as low as 18 and borderline blood transfusion. 24 hours of force feeding pureed liver and spinach go me puked on, her killer gas, and blood count up to 25. This latest Anemic crash she was down to 22 and at day 14 she was back up to 28. Normal is 37 for a dog her size fyi.
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Postby mnp13 » February 20th, 2006, 10:00 am

Oh... I forgot to post an update...

it turns out she doesn't have addisons, she has corn cob.

That would be an entire corn cob lodged in her stomach. apparently her being sick from that had a lot of the symptoms of Addisons. It was surgically removed last week. she goes home from the vet tomorrow.
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Postby cheekymunkee » February 20th, 2006, 3:36 pm

Damn dog.....glad it wasn't a disease.
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Postby mnp13 » February 20th, 2006, 10:52 pm

Yeah, I think she is in the running for most expensive dog at this point. I think she likes being in ICU at the vet's office
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Postby Malli » February 20th, 2006, 11:38 pm

Corn cobs are killer! I think they simply don't break down!?
You'd never think, but this is the 3rd dog I've heard of since I started at work 4 months ago!
One of them, a BT, they thought had Severe Pancreatitis, the dog was a wreck, stomach tube, puking everywhere, doing terribly, I guess there wasn't a concern with a Foreign Body intially. After about 4 days of hospitalization the Dr's convinced the owner to xray, and sure enough, corn cobb. All that money for an ear (or less) or corn!

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Postby turtle » February 20th, 2006, 11:49 pm

Wow, a corn cob? Who would have thought....

But I did read somewhere about a dog who swallowed one and died of starvation. The corn cob blocked the entrance to the intestines so any food the poor dog ate could not go thru.

Did it show up on x-rays? Good thing they found it!
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Postby Malli » February 21st, 2006, 12:17 am

or maybe the Dr. convinced the owner to do exploratory surgery... :| lol, now I can't remember....

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Postby CinderDee » February 21st, 2006, 12:20 am

Wow! A corn cob! :shock: I'm glad it's not Addisons.
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Postby panda » February 21st, 2006, 4:51 am

:mindblowing: Corn Cob.......... wow. I hope she is on the mend soon. I bet your parents are relieved.
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Postby mnp13 » February 22nd, 2006, 8:39 pm

Emma is home and doing well. they gave my parents the corn cob.
Michelle

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Postby Jesseca » February 22nd, 2006, 8:44 pm

Well, I'm glad to hear she's doing ok. Are your parents going to keep the cob? That is kind of funny.
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