My German Shorthair was recently diagnosed with Addisons. Its not real common in dogs BUT this is my 2nd dog with it. Good news is its treatable but can be expensive for bigger dogs like mine.
The woman who owns my barn has a saint bernard with it. He is about 10 or 11. She is treating him holistically.
my childhood lab was diagnosed with it at 4. We put her on an experimental drug that gave her a good long life until cancer took her from us.
My rottie was diagnosed at about 7ish with it. He then developed thyroid disease on top of it, which made for a very elaborate pharmacy for him. We just lost him last summer at almost 12. It is manageable.
I never tried treating holistically, but he was a very picky eater, so the last thing I needed was for him to get funny about food or anything else he consumed.
Addison’s is very treatable. Even more so if caught early, finding it out during an addisonian crisis is not so good, which happened recently at our clinic. We have two or three dogs that come in for a monthly Percorten-V injection, there are oral meds you could opt for as well.
I was lucky to get him to the vet before he really crashed. When you have a gut feeling that something is wrong it usually is. My vet checked his electrolytes and their ratio screamed Addisons. He spent the night at the ER vet and is now on the oral meds(florinef) and doing well. Not sure yet if I’ll keep the pills or go the the monthly percorten. I sort of helps that I had an addisons dog many years ago
How do you treat that disease holistically? I’d be scared to try anything other than the accepted drug protocol, but good for them if it works!
I had a dog with it about 10 years ago, he too developed hypothyroidism, then congestive heart failure. Talk about a walking pharmacy! He was on 41 or 42 pills at the end.
Despite all his conditions he did really well up until the moment of his death (heart attack). Once his meds were stable he seemed to be totally healthy. His afflictions didn’t seem to affect his quality of life at all.
Good luck with your GSP!
great food
I have a dog with addison’s, in addition to meds make sure he gets a great diet!!! Stay away from the cheap kibble. I do feed the raw diet or barf diet, if you need any info pm
I had one that developed Cushings at an old age and was treated for that for 4 years until she moved all the way through that and into Addisons. We treated that with percortan for two years until her death at a very old age.
I’ll say that treating the Addisons was way easier and less expensive than treating the Cushings.
Good luck with your GSD.
Addison’s is more common than we think. It is the great pretender!!
And yes, it is treatable. Sometimes pretty reasonable. Some times a bit more expensively. Depending on the degree of adrenal gland dysfunction.
Prednisone, at LOW DOSES, is the critical mainstay of treatment. Emphasis on low doses. The goal is to replace physiological levels, not give alot.
Other dogs may need flourinef or Precortin if they can’t maintain their sodium and potassium levels with just the pred. Monitoring their electrolytes is the most important thing to watch for.
When the dog is “stressed” you do need to increase the dose of pred some since the dog can’t make his own cortisone.
Good luck. It is one of my more favorite endocrine diseases to treat.
I lost a wonderful whippet to it. He was only three. Diagnosed at 2, he was on pred., and flurinef and was doing really well. But I came home from work one day and he looked a little rough. I called to vet right away who said to bring him in in the morning, but by the time I got off the phone he was lying on my bed, dying. It was awful. I know it is very treatable, and most dogs live long lives. I just wonder if, because of the whippet’s lack of body fat and the way they metabolize meds slightly differently, if that could have been part of the problem. I really miss him.
[QUOTE=Brooke;5587478]
I lost a wonderful whippet to it. He was only three. Diagnosed at 2, he was on pred., and flurinef and was doing really well. But I came home from work one day and he looked a little rough. I called to vet right away who said to bring him in in the morning, but by the time I got off the phone he was lying on my bed, dying. It was awful. I know it is very treatable, and most dogs live long lives. I just wonder if, because of the whippet’s lack of body fat and the way they metabolize meds slightly differently, if that could have been part of the problem. I really miss him.[/QUOTE]
I am so sorry for your loss.
Whippets don’t metabolize drugs differently than other breeds. Contrary to popular breeder myth.
Addisons is treatable. Not curable. Unfortunately. It is too bad your dear whippet only survived a year or so with treatment. But it was a year more than he would have without it. So keep the good thoughts.
Thanks. I do think about his silly self and smile. I guess that the fact that they are more sensitive to anesthesia (sp?) made me think that they might be the same with other drugs.
wow…
My GSP was diagnosed with Addison’s today… She’s at the e-vet over night but we caught it before crisis and she’ll be home in the morning.
I’m thankful for the diagnosis b/c it explains so much, and I’m glad to read about so many addison’s dogs who live healthy happy lives.
What should we expect in the first few weeks post-diagnosis?
Whippets are NOT “more sensitive to anesthesia” than other breeds. That was Meghan’s point. 
