Addison's Disease

[JeepinDog]

Sadie, have you checked out the Addison Dogs website? They have alot of info.

[SadiesHuman]

Yes I have. I've done a lot of research with my grandmother with Murphy was first diagnosed.

And she IS going on 7 years old.. . "not" should have been a "now".

[JeepinDog]

Shadow's 1 year Addison's Anniversary is coming up on June 10.

[tia_leigha]

yay for shadow! <3

[JeepinDog]

I just realized that I posted the wrong date...it was June 8.

Thanks Tia.


There's not too much to update on Shadow's condition. Only that I have moved his injections up, from every 35 days to every 30 days now. The last 5 days were just to hard for him. His Prednisone is still the same, 5 mg a day.

He's still enjoying his walks in the park, and whenever we can, the hikes out at Split Rock.

[blackbear219]

I thought Beau had Addison's for a long time. When he was 1 or so, he had a couple seizures so I took him to the vet. They did a "general blood screening" and the vet said it looked like a 99.9% chance he had Addison's but they would have to give him the special stim test to find out for sure.

Either way, the seizures were minor and there was no long term benefit to treating them so we just let it go and I went on this assumption for years.

When he had his ACL fixed a couple weeks ago, they did the stim test and discovered that he actually does not have Addison's. So now they just attribute his seizures to epilepsy.

Very good post...it kinda reminds me of Diabetes in that it can be a really nasty disease if you do not stay on top of it.

[JeepinDog]

I'm surprised that your vet had Beau on the treatments without doing the ACTH stim test. There's no way to confirm that it's Addison's without that test. I know it's an expensive test, but the cost of 1 year's meds was more expensive.

I'm glad Beau is getting the correct treatments now.

[urbanwolf]

I'm glad I found this topic. I work at a vet clinic and have met a few Addisonian dogs. Reading this helped me understand it better. My newest boy, Hank, might be an Addisonian dog according to my vet. We did the pre-anesthetic bloodwork for his neuter last month and his potassium was really high. She said to wait a month and re-test him but there was a possibility that he has Addison's. We shall just have to wait and see.

[JeepinDog]

Are there any other signs? Hopefully you can catch it before he goes into Addison's Shock. Good luck, and please keep up updated.

[JeepinDog]

Ok, Sunday was Shadow's 2nd A-Day anniversary. He's doing great and not letting it kick his butt. We haven't had an Addison's crisis since August, which makes both of us very happy. End of the month he'll be coming with me to a 2 day 4 wheeling event which we'll be camping. This will be his first camping/wheeling trip in over a year.

Medications are still the same: 2cc of Percorten-V ever 30 days and 5mg of Prednisone daily.

[heatherb]

Thank you for posting this! Our Capone was just diagnosed yesterday with Addison's. After many tests and multiple days at the vets he is now home with us and recooping. He seems to be much better already, although I just want him to rest for a couple of days until his strength comes back. It is a great feeling to have our puppers back at home and know that he has a few years ahead of him. Thanks again for posting this Jeepin!

[airwalk]

Great Information. My 12 year old Dobie is at the vet right now and they are conducting the tests to potentially confirm Addisons diagnosis.

[xaverysxmamax]

I've read this quite a few times. But never replied in it.

YAY Shadow, being a big boy and getting through all of this. What a strong boy..

And Mike, looks like you've done alot of homework.

Glad everything has been okay.





Dezaree

[judyjoy]

Hey everyone, My staffie K-os has had Addisons for over a year. He also has to have a shot each mt. and it also on predsone, 1/4 pill per day.

He was less than one yr. old when he was diagnosed. We were out walking and he collapsed. He had seemed healthy and normal and all of a sudden went into shock/coma. Even the vet didn't think he would live.

We were a few days late with the shot a few months after that and the same thing happened, he just collapsed. So now it's every 30 days, on the dot. But otherwise is very healthy and active.

I pay $75. per mt for the DOCP shot, 2.5 mm. I think this is a very good price as I called around only to find out the other vets were charging up to $150 for the shots. What are you paying for Shadow? I'm glad to hear he's doing so well. God Bless!

[JeepinDog]

Hey everyone, My staffie K-os has had Addisons for over a year. He also has to have a shot each mt. and it also on predsone, 1/4 pill per day.

He was less than one yr. old when he was diagnosed. We were out walking and he collapsed. He had seemed healthy and normal and all of a sudden went into shock/coma. Even the vet didn't think he would live.

We were a few days late with the shot a few months after that and the same thing happened, he just collapsed. So now it's every 30 days, on the dot. But otherwise is very healthy and active.

I pay $75. per mt for the DOCP shot, 2.5 mm. I think this is a very good price as I called around only to find out the other vets were charging up to $150 for the shots. What are you paying for Shadow? I'm glad to hear he's doing so well. God Bless!

I inject Shadow myself. He gets 2 mL every 28 days. Up until this month I was paying $167 per vial. But, now Novartis just had a huge price increase on Percorten - V, the price jumped up to $214. I get 2 injections per vial.

Also some news: Novartis has enacted a temporary restriction on all Percorten - V medications. They are limiting the amount a vet can order. So call ahead and make sure yours has some on hand.