Addison's Disease....

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Permalink Reply by Carolyn & Scooter on May 9, 2009 at 5:08pm

You need to know with the proper meds Miffin will be Muffin again. It has only been the past 2 weeks Scooter is back to Scooter. She would have termors up to a week ago, but only when she would get tired on our walks. One time I even ended up carrying her home. Please join the group write to the them. Scooter is on 1mg of Predinsone every morning and a Percorten-V injection every 28 days. I'd like to get her down to .5 mg of Pred a day. That is our goal. Did they run a lytes test? That would of told you 3 things. What her levels of Sodium and Potassium are. Then it will give you a ratio. That number should be between 30:1 and 32:1. If your vet ran that tell him you want a copy. Start a journal of what has been done, any meds changes, and the results of any test done. Also ask the vet what kind of AD she has. There are 3 kinds~Primary Addison's~Secondary Addison's~ and Atypical Addison's. All this I found out on the website I sent you. Believe me when I say it is a wonderful place and wonderful people. If I were you I would get the results from the lytes test and write in as being newly diagnosised and include what you vet has Muffin on at this point. They will also need to know Muffin's breed, age and weight and spayed or not.The ladies who run the site will write back with their IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) what you and the vet should be doing for Muffin at this point. They Are Good!! Here is my email address if you want to write me direct! cjd_jammer@yahoo.com Please feel free to write me any time with any of your concerns.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on April 30, 2009 at 6:47pm

Gosh I'm so glad to hear she's doing better. Yes, I know what you mean, though, about not wanting to upset the delicate balance with a trip. Good luck, and keep us posted and your progress with the steroid decrease.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on May 9, 2009 at 8:49pm

I'm glad you guys found each other. How is Scooter doing? And I wish you the best of luck with Muffin, I'm sure it will be okay once you can get a handle on it.

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Permalink Reply by Carolyn & Scooter on May 10, 2009 at 12:01am

Hi Susan, Scooter is back to her old self! Thank goodness~~ I have started lowering her Pred. She is now down to 1mg in the mornings. Do you know anything about Percorten-V? The vet started Scooter with 1 mg IM. I want to change her to SubQ. I wonder if I will have any problems if I do this.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on May 10, 2009 at 7:42pm

I don't know how different that would be -- I'm sure the K9/Addisions Dogs guys would know, though. That's nice that you could lower the dose, good to hear. When I saw the post on Muffin, I just knew you two needed to speak, thanks for helping them.

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Permalink Reply by Carolyn & Scooter on May 15, 2009 at 11:00am

Scooter is feeling 100% back to her old self. We are in Morro Bay now. She is running on the beach, chasing seagills and swimming in the tide pools. I have lowered her Predinsone to 1 mg and will start next week lowering it again to .75 mg. She got her DOCP shot yesterday and we lowered it by 10%. So far so good!! She has gained back all the weight she lost. I just wish she would get her old haircoat back. People ask me if she is a fluffy. Not that there is anything wrong with being a fluffy but she had sure a pretty coat before. But as long as she is happy and feeling good I can put up with the long coat for sure!
I haven't heard from Muffin. I wonder how she is doing?

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Permalink Reply by Ivy & Bryson on June 8, 2009 at 12:13am

I'm so glad to find the support here as well as on Addisondogs.com since Bryson's also just been diagnosed with Addison's...

As "rare" as it's supposed to be, there're now at least 3 of us here (Scooter, Muffin and Bryson) suffering from the same thing, makes me wonder how common this really is? And since Bryson's diagnosis last week, I've been reading everything I can find online, and sounds like in certain breeds (like poodles), there's a definite genetic component to it. This worries me since as Bryson used to be a show dog, he's sired a few litters of puppies, and both of his parents are still breeding... I asked the breeder about it and she said she hasn't seen Addison's in any of the dogs in their line (or even in any corgis she know of).

Does anyone know if Addison's just an unlucky incident in corgis, or if there's any genetic/ environmental component to it? I just want to make sure that in addition to treating him with steroid supplements, if there's anything else we can do to help him live healthier, or help others in his family prevent it or identify it early, that we don't miss it..

By the way, Bryson's pulled an almost miraculous recovery with just 4 days of treatment! We were so worried when he wasn't eating or responding to us, thank goodness his competent team of vets correctly diagnosed him at this early stage.

To check up on Bryson's battle with Addison's, you can always visit him on our blog here :)

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Permalink Reply by Kellie & Sera on July 2, 2009 at 3:02pm

Hi, All! Hope it's okay to jump in here... add 8YO Sera to the list of ADog Corgis here. She was diagnosed in June of 2007 and we've managed her Addison's nicely at home ever since. We take her in to check her lytes every few months, and we always make sure she's in the middle of her Percorten cycle when we do it. Offhand I can't recall her numbers last month but she fell dead center of normal.

Ivy & Bryson: from what I have read and picked up, Corgis do seem to be prone to Addison's. The curious thing to me is that Addison's stats will say it affects mostly middle-aged spayed females (of any/all breeds) but I have heard of at least as many male Corgis with Addison's as females. Mind, this is just my personal observation and I have nothing scientific to back it up. :)

Sera gets 1 ml Percorten every 28 days, and 1/4 of a pred tablet 1 x a day. We were giving her pred only when she was "stressed" but as a rule, Sera doesn't "stress." So we were guessing at it and usually failing miserably. We decided to just give her pred every day when it became obvious that she just didn't feel well and her coat started looking rough and ratty. We let the vet know what we were doing, and we watched her lytes carefully and so far it has worked well for us for over a year. She does go for the water bowl more frequently, though, so we stay on top of that.

Sera travels with me a lot, in all weather and in all seasons. I am somewhat reluctant to take her on long car trips with me if it's very hot out because my worst fear is a breakdown on the highway and having to wait hours for help. She has her own "suitcase" with bottled water, bowl, leashes, and whatever she might need.

She has a "veterinary alert" tag on each of her collars that has the vet symbol and ADDISON'S DISEASE on one side, and our phone numbers on the other. And we have little fobs that hold a few 1/4 pred tablets that we keep on our keyrings, in the glove compartment of all our vehicles, and in her bag.

We try to stay prepared for anything and if I had to suggest one thing to ALWAYS have on hand for an ADog it would be fresh water.

The day Sera was diagnosed, our vets handed me tissues and patted my hand as I cried, and promised me that within days I'd have my dog back. They were right. It's horrible to be told your sweet Corgi has something that ends in " - Disease" but seriously, if your dog HAS to have a "disease," this is the one to have. It's definitely manageable and Sera has as normal a life with it as I think she'd have without it.

If anyone with an Addison's Corgi needs a shoulder to cry on, let me know. :) I'm here for ya!

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Permalink Reply by Kellie & Sera on July 2, 2009 at 3:30pm

I just uploaded some photos of Sera taken before, sort of during, and after her Addison's diagnosis. I am new here, so I'm not sure how to share them :) but they are in an album on my page. It's the only album I have as yet so should be easy to find. :) Feel free to share them with anyone you like.
~Kellie & Sera

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Permalink Reply by Ritamarie Cavicchio on July 2, 2009 at 8:58pm

Hi-
I just found out my dog Gus has this, too. The vet said it was due to adrenal failure. I'm at a loss for what to do about feeding, etc. She did give us a steroid and said this would help control the problem.

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Permalink Reply by Kellie & Sera on July 2, 2009 at 9:42pm

Ritamarie, did your vet suggest monthly meds for Gus's condition? Yes, Addison's is an adrenal-failure disease and when the adrenals fail, we *have* to supplement the dog. As for feeding, we've not really changed anything we were doing. Our dogs tend to get bored with one food so we change occasionally. Right now, we're feeding a chicken/oatmeal food they love. It's Purina, so readily available in most supermarkets which we love because we live in the sticks!

Check out the two Addison's groups on Yahoo: K9Addisons, and AddisonDogs. Both are excellent sources for information and education and wonderful support. I joined them both when I found out about Sera, and I lurked - never posted, but honestly, if it hadn't been for those groups I would have been at a loss as to what to do. My vet is wonderful and I have adored him for almost 30 years but I needed support from people who had been there, done that, had the shirt.

Good luck! Let us know how Gus is doing, and please check out the two Yahoo groups as soon as you can.

~Kellie & Sera

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Permalink Reply by Kellie & Sera on July 2, 2009 at 9:47pm

As an equine (and pretty much canine too) massage therapist, I meet lots of people in my continuing education courses. Last week I had the extremely good fortune to meet a lovely lady who is a small animal vet in Charleston, South Carolina. She is very holistic and well-trained in a number of modalities. I mentioned Sera's Addison's disease to her and she immediately started asking questions that told me straight up that she knew what she was talking about. I just threw up my hands and said, "you know what? Sera and I will see you within the next few weeks."

So - within the next couple weeks, Sera and I are traveling to SC. I'll let you all know what we find out and if Dr Cone has any words of wisdom I can pass on. If you live in the Charleston area or nearby, I'll be happy to share her contact info with you.

~Kellie & Sera

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