Addison disease in Labradoodles

[Karina]

Our dog Rosie was extremely sick and we took her to the emergency pet hospital on Friday evening. She tested positive for Addison disease. We found out the following at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labradoodle

 

"A significant number of Mutigenerational and Australian Labradoodles have also been found to suffer from Addison's Disease.^[25] The Australian Labradoodle Association of America is currently conducting a study to try and determine how widespread the problem has become." (footnote url - http://www.goldendoodles.com/health_hereditary/addisons_disease.htm)

 

Our breeder was not part of the Australian Labradoodle Associaion of America. Breeders should test their dogs for Addison and not breed them. Girls are effected twice as much as the boys and both parents have to be carrier for the dog to have it.

 

It has been heartbraking to see Rosie so sick and with daily drugs and a shot every 25 days she should be ok. This makes me think twice about which breeder I will pick for our next doodle.

[Adina P]

"I do think breeding a dog as much as you are saying is not fair to the dog"

 

I'm not sure what you're referring to as I didn't suggest any amount of breeding...can you clarify?

[Jennifer and Jack]

Sure I put my response in the wrong area LOL. Sorry.. I am still sort of new in working the boards.  Karina said that the dogs where Rosie came from were being bred consistently twice a year. I was referring to that comment. I don't think any dog should be an endless breeding machine.. I just wrote it in the wrong spot.

[Karina]

It always bothered me how often Rosie's mom has puppies. I keep tabs on the breeder online and it always brakes my heart to see that she is obvious overbred.

[Karina]

great ideas.

 

it would be great to have a recomended breeders list and a health questionare in your profile so that data could be collected and provided to a research facility like UC Davis where the Addison's disease is being studied and the Labradoodle Organizations for statistical tracking.

[Stella]

I think you would be surprised by how many DK members would respond to a health survey, so many memebers here are passionate about their doodles!  Just think how much interesting data we could come up with!!

[Adina P]

Maybe we need to start a new discussion on this...but perhaps I could get a few volunteers to help create such a survey as well as some text to convince people to participate! I mean even our most popular threads and contests have NOT gotten even half the site to participate.  That's typical of most social networks.  There are the frequent participators, those that come out of the woodwork for big things, those that will ALWAYS just lurk, and those that sign up and NEVER come back.

[Stella]

Yep, a new discussion or a group.  I for one would be interested in what we could come up with.  Even if only half (or less) of the members responded, many of them have more than one doodle so we could still collect a fair bit of information.  It could be sometheing that could be repeated periodically to see what conditions develop as our doodles age.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think a discussion or a group may not be the way to go. People will be hesitant to get involved with these things perhaps. But a health questionnaire, with a promise of anonymity may be somewhat successful. It should be for only veterinary diagnosed disorders. There should be an emphasis that we hope this can lead to a betterment of the breeds. It would need to be limited to goldendoodle and labradoodle only since the other crosses are to few in number. I suppose, just because there is some assurance of background, it should be limited to dogs purchased from breeders since rescue dogs do not have enough background information. Those are just my first thoughts. I promised myself recently I would not volunteer willy nilly but I would be willing to help with this. However, in order to get useful data it really needs to be carefully thought out. We also should, I think, get some of our more active breeders involved in the thinking.

[Adina P]

No I meant a discussion to discuss what we are contemplating so we don't take up THIS thread with our tangent.  The survey would be anonymous.  So if you want to discuss this more someone needs to start a discussion somewhere else.

[Bonnie and Kona]

Karina, I am so sorry to hear that Rosie is sick. May you see her recover and do well on the medications the vet prescribes. Heartbreaking.

[Karina]

thank you so much. i am going to train myself on shots and keep a closer eye on Rosie. may be i should keep a log, that is a good idea. thank you for the support.

[Tara and Dublin]

OMG!  I have been in your shoes and I am so very sorry.  Paddington my springer spaniel from childhood had Addison's and it was not easy.  He would be doing so well and then all of a sudden he would go downhill. It was a rollercoaster for sure.  The good news is it sounds as though the maintenance for this disease has come along way from 20 plus years ago and that is a positive.  Hugs to you and your family and of course sweet Rosie too. xo.  Does Rosie get to come home today?