Addison's Disease Doodle

[Rae]

Hi - Anyone out there with a doodle that has Addison's Disease? Our youngest Goldendoodle (14 months at time of Dx - now 16 months) has Primary Addison's and it would be wonderful to discuss issues with owners helping their furkids live with this. Older Goldendoodle (2 1/2 years) is extremely healthy and never had a problem, so this has been a real shock to us.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Hi Rae,
Our Doodle, Samantha, is not an Addisonian but our Bearded Collie was. She was diagnosed at a year (and that was 1988) and lived until she was 13. She was a gorgeous happy and healthy (95% of her life) Beardie. She was diagnosed 20 years ago and I am sure medicine has made much progress in that time. She took meds 2xs a day.
Adrianne

[Rae]

Hi Adrianne- Thanks for your reply. We'd never heard of Addison's in dogs until Bella was diagnosed during her crisis. it was really a shock to us but now she is now on monthly injections plus daily prednisone and doing great. I'm so glad to hear that your girl lived a good and long life and reading this gives us great hope for the same with Bella. Thank you again for your reply!

[Adrianne Matzkin]

"Back in the day" Maggie was on corticortisones and salt pills. Each twice a day. Stress is the BIG factor in Addisons. I would speak with the vet when a stressful (whether happy or sad stress) time may be approaching (grooming, vacation, etc) to see what they suggest. We always gave Maggie more salt and added potassium for those times. Remember, ithas been lots and lots of years and I am not 100% sure of the specifics. Good luck!!

[Rae]

Adrianne- Thanks so much for the info. Bella has Primary Addison's which means that her adrenal glands have completely shut down. She doesn't produce any cortisol nor aldosterone and that's why she has to have the prednisone (or replace the cortisol) and the injections of Percorten (to replace the aldosterone). The prednisone is pretty cheap but the Percorten is very expensive (around $200 per vial). With her injections every 28 days and daily pills she's doing great. But you are 110% correct about the stress - it can put her into crisis even with the meds. So we baby her to no end and try to keep the stress out of her life as much as possible. For grooming we give her an extra prednisone the day before and morning of and she does fine. Again, thanks so much for passing on your experience and knowledge and for caring.

[Rae]

Just a quick update on Bella. She's 19 months old now and doing great. We have been able to reduce the dosages of both the Percorten injections and the prednisone. We're having her next blood test done tomorrow and if all her levels look good I'm hoping we can further reduce the amount of the injection scheduled for Friday. She's one happy active girl and seems to handle stress very well. Of course, being the overly protective parents, we're always keeping a close eye on her. We're hoping she'll make it to the wonderful age of 13 just like Adrianne's Bearded Collie!