Does anyone have experience with addington's disease in their doxie? My foster, Chippy, has some blood test results that point to possible addington's. The rescue I foster for is debating whether to fund further testing recommended by the vet (the vet told me it will be expensive - not sure exactly what that means). They are also trying to determine whether Chippy is "adoptable or not".
Any info/advice would be appreciated.
Janet
I looked up the disease on google. I found a forum site that had a posting on it. This is the most informitive one of the group. I don't know if it will help but it does give you something to work from. From the sounds of it, it is not pretty if this is what Chippy has. - Mel
Addisons Disease only appears in mature dogs often with very vague symptoms which eventually lead to total collapse before it is diagnosed. Once stabilised on medication dogs can have a sudden relapse, known as a 'crisis' when they are presented with extra stress - eg illness, accident, a fright - because the disease means that they have no adrenaline to help them cope (flight or fight syndrome).
The stress of mating/whelping could kill an addisons [censored] and in those circumstances a crisis could not be treated as the emergency treatment is high doses of steroids. So in no circumstances should she be bred from.
This is also thought to be an inherited disease although the mode of inheritance is unknown (in our case - Poppy was not related in any way to the only other known addisons dog in our breed) so it can also be spontaneous.
Our Poppy had already had 2 litters (8 progeny in all - of which I own two) as she was nearly 7 when diagnosed. I had the unfortunate task of informing the owners of her puppies just in case it happened to them. They are all aged 9 yrs and 7 years now so hopefully we should have found out by now and they have escaped.
I have made sure that all her progeny have been neutered (including my 2 boys = who I planned to breed from) and thus have made sure that this disease will not, through my doing, devastate the lives of anyone else.
Poppy is no longer with us, partly due to Addisons. Her very sad story is on my site - hankies at the ready !!
Thalice=Malice's Mother
In a nut shel its the opposite to Cushings.
It can also be found in younger dogs. Sadie has been tested but it came back negative. There are supplements out there that support adrenal function - you might want to check that out.