Addison's Disease

[Rae]

Anyone else out there with a Doodle that has Addison's Disease? If so we'd like to hear about it and how you and your dood are doing. Bella was 14 months old when she had her Addison's Crisis. She'll be on Predisone daily and having monthly injections for the rest of her life - so this is no small thing.

[Karina]

My Rosie had an Addison crisis and Friday night we took her to the emergency pet hospital. We hope to get her back tonight after 3 days. We are just learning about it and my wonderful husband did so much research in the last 72 hours that he was able to tell the vet info that he didn't know specifically about Rosie's enlarged heart / heart murmur (which go away and a drug can help). There is also water in the lungs because Addison can cause and enlarge trachea which get liquid into the lungs.

 

We have been so heartbroken and will do everything to stay on top of this. She is all skin and bones and we had to beg each shift of the emergency room to remember to feed her because she didn't really want to eat for 8-9 days. We contacted the breeder earlier today and no response yet. I posted something on the Labradoodle Association and we will submit Rosies swab and or blood to UC Davis for the Addison research. Any tips of the dosage of the daily steroid would be appreciated. I ran out and bought wee wee pads because I remember last time Rosie was on a steroid she wanted to pee several times an hour. I am setting up her crate in my bedroom so accidents will be contained.

[Rae]

Karina-  Hang in there!  It does get better.  Bella was only 14 months when she had her crisis and are so lucky to have a great vet that picked up on the blood work that we just might be dealing with Addisons - we'd never heard of Addison's Disease.  We've learned so much since then.  A great support and information group is AddisonDog.com.  They can help and answer so many of your concerns and questions.  The pred will make her drink and wet like crazy but once she gets stablized it will get so much better.  Get her to eat anything she wants and spoil her like crazy.  We baked chicken breasts and chopped them up and gave her that mixed with a little of her dry dog food and organic no salt chicken broth.  Spoon fed her for four days before she started eating on her own.

Our breeder was GREAT and we're lucky there because I have heard of breeders that claim it isn't an inheritted condition.  She notified all pups related to Bella and stopped breeding both parents.  Once Bella got her first injection of Percorten plus the predisone she got better pretty fast considering how sick she was.  Please keep us updated on how Rosie is doing and also how you and your husband are doing.  It's hard but they are so worth it.

[Karina]

thank you so much, we just joined AddisonDog.com we got some great emails with info and support. It is wonderful to have a virtual community with such great support and feedback. Thank you for your kind note.

[Jennifer and Jack]

This is so interesting.. I as a human have addison's disease, all the things you are describing about your dogs, applies to me.

 

There is better support groups for dogs with the disease then humans. I can't tell you for sure how a dog feels with addison's but I certainly can tell you the effects on a human, From the sounds of it we have a lot in common

 

[Karina]

Rosie is doing so much better. She is home and is taking all her meds several times a day. Her cough from fluid in her lungs is getting better as well and I hope her heart murmur will reverse itself as well. Her appetite and energy are returning and i can finally breath easier. Several people kindly asked to see Rosie's test results while she was at the hospital. I am attaching them here.

[Kathy Hoppe]

Your in good hands being on the A-dog's list. You'll be learning alot from this group which is the best thing you can do right now for your baby. I know what your going thru. Kathy & Lauscha

[Karina]

My husband and I both joined another wonderful support group at - [e-mail]. We added Rosie to their Addisons list.

[Karina]

I received an email from a member on international labradoodle association website with an link to a very interesting article on Addison's in poodles - http://www.poodlehealthregistry.org/docs/Standard/PHR_Standard_Addi...

 

It sounds to me that labradoodle breeders are actively dedicated to reducing Addison's in labradoodles.

[Karina]

Here is some latest information

 

AKC Canine Health Foundation Grant No: 589A & B

Research Objective:

This abstract was pulled from the internet in jan 2011
http://www.pwdfoundation.org/html/researching.html

Identifying Genes Regulating Addison's Disease in the Portuguese Water Dog (PWD)

Principal Investigator:

K. Gordon Lark, PhD
University of Utah

Elaine Ostrander, PhD
National Human Genome Research Institute (NIH) (Government)

Abstract:

Addison's disease, or primary adrenocortical insufficiency, is characterized by destruction of the adrenal cortex, resulting in the inability to produce cortisone when stimulated with the hormone ACTH. In Portuguese Water Dogs (PWDs), this disease occurs with a frequency of 1-2 percent, and is a heritable autoimmune disease of low penetrance, caused by several interacting genes. Using both new and existing data, we propose to identify regions of the PWD genome that contain genes regulating the frequency of Addison's disease. Within those large regions we propose to identify the specific DNA sequence variants that are associated with Addison's. To date we have obtained DNA from about 90 Addisonian PWDs, as well as a number of unaffected PWDs, for which no family history of Addison's is reported. We have already identified two genomic regions, on canine chromosomes 12 and 37 that appear to be associated with the disease. To identify candidate genes, we will make selections using the newly available canine genome sequence, as well as the more detailed human genome sequence. Once affected gene disease frequency is identified, our long term hope is that prognostic tests can be developed that will aid breeders in selecting the most genetically compatible dogs for future breeding.