Our Stories

Hi there, A-peeps. For Addison’s Awareness Week, I thought we would share a little bit about our Addison’s journey.

It all started sometime in June 2018. Ghost wouldn’t eat, and for a Bully not to eat, something is definitely up. At first, it was thought he had a bad back. Five days on and he still hadn’t eaten anything, so it was time for a blood test. The blood test was going to take about 20 minutes, so whilst we waited, we took Ghost for a walk down the street. When we got back into the vet’s, he pretty well took the lead out of my hand and said Ghost’s kidneys weren’t working. My world stopped there and then. I don’t have any 2-legged children, my 4-legged furry children have always been the centre of my world, so as you can imagine, this was devastating. Anyway, I will try and keep this as short as I can. I left him at the vets, got a phone call within the hour, and was told that it was likely he had Addison’s disease. I’m like WTF is Addison’s disease!!! Ghost’s breeder’s parents bred Bullies before her and she hadn’t heard of it, so this must be bad. So as is the way these days, straight onto Google. There was so much information to try and make sense of, it was pretty tough. Eventually, we were put onto the CARE Facebook group and as far as Addison’s goes, it was the best thing ever. We started on tablets, had another crisis, and eventually changed to the monthly injection and haven’t looked back. While I am still very vigilant about Ghost’s health, I am so much more comfortable with how Addison’s can be controlled with the right medication. I read everything I could get my hands on trying to understand how to make the most of my boy having this disease. CARE’s document page is THE place for all this information. Then, if I had any queries or questions, I would post it to the group, and what can I say about my Addison’s family, well words can’t describe how wonderful they all have been. This journey would have been so much harder and I am 100% sure we wouldn’t be where we are today if it hadn’t been for them and the low dose protocol. So, the low dose protocol, well that’s a learning experience in itself but once you get your head around it, it is without a doubt the way to go in my opinion. Ghost started, according to his weight on 1.3 ml of Zycortal and is now on 0.45 ml. My vet has been awesome with coming to terms with this, and he says, “I know the manufacturer says that he should be on a higher dose, but I can see in his behavior and in his blood test that the results don’t lie.” If I had any advice for anyone new dealing with Addison’s, I would say go to this group with any questions you have, learn how to read the blood test results, and adjust the medication accordingly (if I can do it anyone can) and you’re A-dog will be back to normal in no time.

Speaking of back to normal, just before Ghost was diagnosed, he had just started to ride on the back of my Canam 3 wheeled motorcycle. Obviously, this stopped for a while during the first part of his diagnosis, but now there’s no stopping him. If it wasn’t for his medical tag and if you didn’t tell anyone, they would never know he has a disease. As well as our normal frequent rides, we have been on the Pink Ribbon ride, the Bikers against Bullies ride, and the latest was the fundraising ride for the Country Fire Service. As always, Ghost is a massive hit with everyone, takes everything in his stride, and laps up all the attention he gets. Late last year, we were also accredited with Therapy Dog Services as a Community Visiting Dog Team. At this stage, we have had half a dozen visits to a nursing home, but this year promises to be awesome and we can’t wait! We are anticipating on being used for some special visits, special events and appearances to places like Ronald McDonald house, The Cancer Council lodge, universities around exam times, the Youth Courts, and wherever else we can put smiles on faces. It’s a huge win for everyone involved from Ghost himself, the people who we come across, the Addison’s community, and the Bull Terrier breed (which is quite often and unnecessarily very misunderstood).

Ghost is very much a part of our family and participates in most things we get up to. We go up the river, which he absolutely loves, and he even gets invited to Christmas lunch with the rest of our extended family. He is such a sweet gentleman.

So on finishing up, I suppose my message is this, if you have a dog that’s been diagnosed with Addison’s, you will shit yourself at first, I know I did, but take a deep breath and with the right frame of mind, taking note of all the information available, trusting this wonderful group, asking loads and loads of questions, you WILL get through this and you and your dog can do anything and be anything that you want to be. Look at Ghost, a goggle wearing, community visiting Bull Terrier who rides on the back of a motorbike and puts smiles on the faces of everyone he meets. I reckon that’s a pretty good thing. A-dogs rock!!!

Anyways I hope this has put a bit of a smile on YOUR face and don’t worry, there is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel.

Lots of love and big Bully hugs to you all.
Jarrod and Ghost

Ghosty Rider - Typical Addison's
Click image to enlarge

 

! Scroll down and you will also find her story auf Deutsch and en Español!

In February 2016, I lived in Cholula, México, with my three Shepherds (German and Belgian, all rescued) when a friend called me that she had found a small puppy in a closed garbage bag, close to suffocation. So, I went, picked the tiny bundle up, and presented her to my vet.
Four weeks old, something about one kilo. We immediately found a family willing to adopt her, so she just would stay some days until this family would go for her.

Yes…just that it never happened.

She adapted quickly to the life in between the large Shepherds and grew rapidly. My students named her ‘Piña’ and she won the hearts of everyone, but nobody adopted her. She was a really brave, fearless, and intelligent puppy, so I started her training. She was brilliant in obedience, and as small as she was compared to the Shepherds, she was brave and ‘strong’ in protection work as well. After 6 months with me, I declared her mine officially and we started her search and rescue training, as we had noticed her very capable of nose work.

She was the only cross-breed in the training but after some negative experiences, we finally found a trainer from the Red Cross who saw her potential. She grew stronger and demanded her a lot of skills. She learned quickly and we saw impressive results. After a heavy training session, at night I noticed that she was leaking urine and she appeared more tired than usual, so the next day I went to my vet to check her for an infection. Negative. We gave her some days of rest and she was back to normal. A week later, she got back to training and the same happened: tired, leaking urine. There, my vet noticed her heart rate was very low, so she asked me to go to a large clinic for a heart check. They did an echo of her heart, abdomen, blood work, the complete program.

When I went back to pick her up, the cardiologist said that her heart was heavily ‘overworked’, as well as her kidneys, so this would be the reason of her leaking urine and fatigue. She told me she was suspecting Addison’s, as her electrolytes were a little bit off, but not as strong as it could be. Piña had a shot of Dexamethasone two weeks ago because she got stung by some bees, so the definitive test for Addison’s we couldn’t do until four weeks later. But she was very sick and we decided we would try to stabilize her with IV fluids as long as possible to do the test.

After some days with the fluids, her situation got worse and all the vets at the clinic, together with my vet, decided to start treatment for Addison’s as Piña was weaker each day. When we started with the Prednisone and the Fludrocortisone (Astonin), she was herself few days later, with all the side-effects of the Prednisone, but active, strong heart rate, and her happy self.
Over the weeks, we reduced the Prednisone and she went back to the search and rescue training, happy happy happy. She was one and a half year old at that time. She got stable, I got used to managing her medicine, and finally, we had our first search and rescue events, where she gained attention because of her incredible happy nature and strong will to work.

We specialized in high mountain rescue and collapsed houses, where her weight (18 kilos) is a huge advantage compared to Shepherds or Labradors and their usual weight. So, Piña and I learned rope work as well.

Last summer we moved from Mexico to Ecuador, where we kept training, but suddenly (and unexpectedly), I got the permission to work with my dogs at my college, with the students. Piña is a search and rescue dog, but not a therapy dog as two of my older ones, so she was just like a backup. But, due to a heat wave, one of the therapy dogs could not go to classes with me sometimes and we took Piña…and she adapted quickly. Now, some months later, she is adored by the students and a huge part of the college and a favourite on school excursions and events.

In the 2 years since her diagnosis we had to adjust her medication just twice, I always carry around Prednisone everywhere I go but besides of that she is a normal search and rescue and soon-to-be-therapy dog. In our free time we go hiking in the mountains, go swimming in the river, or just go around by bike. She does absolutely everything a non-Addison’s dog would do, just with an excess of energy.

My Ecuadorian vets use her as an example for their vet students as they have never seen an Addison’s dog before.

Deutsche Übersetzung

Im Februar 2016 lebte ich in Cholula, Mexiko, mit meinen 3 adoptierten Schäferhunden (deutsch und belgisch), als eine Freundin mich anrief, dass sie einen winzigen Welpen in einer geschlossenen Mülltüte am Straßenrand gefunden hatte, kurz vor dem Ersticken. Ich fuhr hin, holte das kleine Bündel ab und stellte sie meiner Tierärztin vor. 4 Wochen alt, ungefähr ein Kilo. Wir fanden ziemlich sofort eine Familie, die sie adoptieren wollte, sich aber noch ein paar Tage organisieren musste bevor sie sie abholen. Nunja, das ist leider nie passiert.
Sie gewöhnte sich rasend schnell an das Leben mit den großen Schäferhunden und wuchs fröhlich vor sich hin. Meine Schüler gaben ihr den Namen PIÑA (also Ananas), weil wir da gerade die Früchte durchnahmen. Sie gewann alle Leute für sich, aber niemand adoptierte sie.

Sie war ein sehr mutiger, starker und extrem intelligenter Welpe/Junghund, also begann ich, sie zu trainieren. Sie war großartig in Gehorsam/Unterordnung und —obwohl so klein im Vergleich zu den Schäferhunden— war sie auch sehr mutig und forsch im Schutzdienst.

Nach 6 Monaten bei mir wurde sie ganz hochoffiziell ‘meine‘ und schließlich begannen wir auch ihr Rettungshundetraining, da wir ihren hervorragenden Naseneinsatz bemerkt hatten. NATÜRLICH war sie der einzige Mix beim Training, und wir gerieten leider auch an einen Trainer, der sie für nicht fähig hielt, das können nur bestimmte Rassehunde. Schließlich fanden wir ‘unseren‘ Trainer, der ihr Potential sah und so ging es sehr schnell aufwärts und sie überraschte uns oft mit ihren Fähigkeiten.

Im August 2017, nach einem sehr intensiven Training, bemerkte ich, dass sie deutlich erschöpft war, ein bisschen undicht und einfach nicht die fröhliche Wildsau wie sonst. Ich ging am nächsten Tag zu meiner Tierärztin mit dem Verdacht auf eine Blasenentzündung, negativ. Sie bekam ein paar Tage Pause und war weitestgehend wieder normal. Beim nächsten Training passierte dasselbe: totale Erschöpfung, Urininkontinenz. Diesmal bemerkte meine TÄin eine extrem niedrige Herzfrequenz und überwies uns an eine Klink zum kardiologischen Check. Dort machten sie einen Herzultraschall, Bauchultraschall, Blutbild, EKG usw., das volle Programm. Als ich sie dort nach der Arbeit abholen wollte, sagte mir die Ärztin, dass Herz und Nieren total überlastet seien, das sei der Grund für die Erschöpfung und die Inkontinenz. Die Ärztin vermutete Addison wegen einer leichten Elektrolytverschiebung, aber auf Grund einer Bienenattacke knapp 2 Wochen vorher konnten wir den ACTH-Test nicht machen, wir müssten 4 Wochen warten…also beschlossen wir, sie soweit mit Infusionen zu stabilisieren um den Test machen zu können. Leider ging es ihr trotz der Infusionen zunehmend schlechter, so dass alle beteiligten Tierärzte beschlossen, dass sie auf Addison behandelt würde. Wir begannen mit Prednisolon und Fludrocortison (Astonin) und nach wenigen Tagen war sie wieder fast die Alte. In den Wochen darauf reduzierten wir das Prednisolon, dadurch verschwanden auch die Nebenwirkungen, aber das Herz war stabil und sie wieder aktiv. Ich gewöhnte mich ans das Medikamentenmanagement und lernte, selber ihr Herz abzuhören und schließlich kehrten wir zum Rettungstraining zurück und hatten bald unsere ersten Einsätze, wo sie immer im positiven Sinne Aufmerksamkeit bekam, weil sie so fröhlich ist aber zeitgleich auch extrem professionell und zuverlässig bei der Arbeit. Wir spezialisierten uns auf Hochgebirgsrettung und Trümmerarbeit, wo ihre kompakte, aber sportliche Statur (18kg) ein großer Vorteil gegenüber größeren und schwereren Hunden wie DSH oder Labradoren darstellt. Also lernten wir gemeinsames Abseilen, Aufstieg in Seilen, Seilbahn fahren und vieles mehr.

Sommer 2019 zogen wir von Mexiko nach Ecuador, wo wir weiterhin trainieren, aber sehr plötzlich bekam ich von meiner Schule die Erlaubnis, mit meinen Hunden an der Schule mit den Kindern und Jugendlichen zu arbeiten. Nun ist die kleine Wildsau ein Rettungshund, aber kein Therapiehund, und so war sie erst nur als Reserve gedacht, falls einer meiner richtigen
Therapiehundesenioren ausfällt. Bei einer extremen Hitzewelle, wo die beiden Senioren nicht arbeiten konnten, kam also ihr großer Tag, und wie vorher bei allem anderen auch, sie lernt rasend schnell. Jetzt, ein paar Monate später, wird sie von den Schülern (und Kollegen und Chefetage und Service- und Sicherheitsleuten der Schule) angebetet und wir werden zu jeglichen Events und Exkursionen eingeladen, führen alle ihre coolen Tricks vor und lassen sie mal einen Schüler suchen…

In den knapp 2 Jahren seit ihrer Diagnose mussten wir ihre Medikation nur 2mal anpassen, einmal fiel sie aus uns unbekannten Gründen in eine Krise und musste einige Tage in der Klinik am Tropf bleiben, aber davon abgesehen ist sie ein normaler Rettungshund und ein baldiger Therapiehund. Das einzige, was ich beachten muss, ist, immer Prednisolon dabei zu haben, weil sowohl Sucheinsätze als auch Arbeitstage an der Schule stressig sind. Im positiven Sinne, aber eben dennoch stressig.

In unserer Freizeit wandern wir im Hochgebirge, gehen schwimmen oder fahren auch mal Fahrrad. Sie macht absolut alles (oder noch mehr), was ein nicht-Addison-Hund machen würde, nur mit einem Überschuss an positiver Energie.
Nebenbei: meine ecuatorianischen Tierärzte benutzen sie als Beispielfall für ihre Vetmedizinstudenten, da die allermeisten nie zuvor einen Addisonpatienten zu Gesicht bekommen haben.

En español

La historia de Piña
En febrero de 2016, vivía en Cholula, México con mis tres pastores (alemánes y belgas, todos rescatados) cuando una amiga me llamó que había encontrado una cachorra en una bolsa de basura cerrada en la banqueta de la calle., a punto de asfixiarse. Entonces fui, recogí la cachorra y le presenté a mi veterinaria. 4 semanas, alrededor de 1000gramos. Inmediatamente encontramos a una familia que le quiso adoptar, solo que necesitaban organizarse antes de llevarla. Pero…nunca pasó y se quedó conmigo más tiempo que esperábamos.

Se adaptó rápido a la vida entre los pastores grandes y creció sanamente. Mis alumnos le llamaron PIÑA porque en ese tiempo estuvimos viendo las frutas. Ella enamoró a todos pero nadie la adoptó. Estaba una cachorra muy valiente, segura e inteligente, así que empezamos a entrenarle. Brillaba en obediencia, trucos y –a pesar de ser chiquita comparada con los pastores– aún se lanzó a guardia y protección. Cuando llevaba 6 meses conmigo le declaramos ‘mía’ oficialmente y también empezamos su entrenamiento de búsqueda y rescate, como le notamos muy apta para trabajo de olfato.

Claro que estaba la única cruza callejera y a principio nos encontramos con un pseudo-entrenador que dijo que no sirviera y blabla, pero por fin encontramos a un entrenador que vio su potencial y pronto vimos resultados impresionantes.

En agosto 2017, después de una sesión fuerte de entrenamiento, ella pareció exhausta, triste y le salió orina cuando durmió. El día siguiente le checamos por infección de las vías urinarias, era negativo. Le dimos algunos días de reposo y pronto estaba como normal. Cuando volvió al entrenamiento pasó lo mismo: cansancio extremo, incontinencia. Esa vez mi veterinaria notó su frecuencia cardíaca muy baja y nos mandó a una clínica para un chequeo cardiológico. Hicieron un eco cardíaco, sonografía de corazón y abdomen, tomaron la presión, análisi de sangre…todo. Cuando fui por ella, la cardióloga me dijo que tanto el corazón como los riñones tienen una sobrecarga y por eso estaba tan cansada. La doctora sospechó Addison por una leve desbalance de los electrolitos y el problema cardíaco. Por un ataque de abejas dos semanas antes Piña había recibido una inyección de cortisona, así que no pudimos hacer el test de estimulación del ACTH. Los doctores dijeron que se tendría que esperar 4 semanas para poder hacer el test, a lo mejor se podría estabilizarle con sueros de cloruro de sodio por algún tiempo y finalmente hacer el test.
Desafortunadamente, aún con los sueros su situación empeoró y después de algunos días todos los veterinarios involucrados decidieron juntos empezar el tratamiento por Addison. Empezamos con Predisona y pastillas de Fludrocortisona (Astonin) y en pocos días estaba fuerte y alegre como antes. Su frecuencia cardíaca se normalizó u poco a poco pudimos bajar la dosis de la Prednisona, con eso desaparecieron los efectos secundarios.

Piña tenía un año y medio cuando le diagnosticaron.

Ella estaba estable, yo me acostumbré a manejar sus medicinas y por fin pudimos volver al entrenamiento. Pronto tuvimos los primeros operativos de búsqueda y rescate y ella ganó los corazones con su carácter amigable y alegre y su profesonalismo en cuanto al trabajo de búsqueda. Nos especializamos en rescate de alta montaña y escombros/estructuras colapsadas donde ella por su estatura compacta y atleta (18kilos) tiene ventajas con los pastores o labradores más pesados. Así, aprendemos hacer rappel, subida en cuerdas, andar en teleféricos y cualquier tipo de vehículo.

En verano de 2019 nos mudamos a Ecuador, donde seguimos entrenando, pero de repente recibimos el permiso de mi colegio, a trabajar con los perros en el colegio. Piña como perra de búsqueda y rescate solo era planeada como reemplazo para mis dos perros de terapia. En una fuerte ola de calor, cuando los dos perros de terapia por su edad no podían trabajar, llegó la hora de Piña y…aprendió rapidísimo. Ahora, meses después, es adorada por todo el colegio (alumnos, colegas, jefes, padres de familia, empleados) por su alegría permanente, por saber hacer tantos trucos y por brindar seguridad a excursiones.

En los dos años de su diagnosis solo dos veces tuvimos que ajustar sus medicamentos, siempre llevo algo de Prednisona conmigo (tanto la búsqueda como el trabajo en el colegio le exigen mucho y tengo que darle más Prednisona en los días de trabajo) pero al lado de eso es una perra de búsqueda y rescate normal y perra de terapia futura.
En nuestro tiempo libre hacemos senderismo, escalamos montañas, andamos en bici o vamos a nadar. Piña hace absolutamente todo (o más) que hace un perro sin Addison, solo con exceso de energía.
Mis veterinarios ecuatorianos le usan para enseñanza de Addison a sus estudiantes de medicina veterinaria como la mayoría nunca ha visto un caso de Addison antes.
Por ganar tantos corazones, mis amigos me regalaron un tatuaje en forma de Piña y la mitad de mi casa tiene decoración en forma de Piña. Su apodo es “la cola inquieta” por ser tan alegre, y cuando la ven, nadie sospecha su enfermedad.

Piña - Typical Addison's
Click image to enlarge

 

This is Ozzie! We adopted him as a 6-month-old rescue. Border Collie/Australian Terrier mix according to the DNA test. His weight is 48 pounds. We started noticing changes in him when he was about 3.5 years old (early 2016). The first indication (missed by me as a medical issue at that time) was a drastic change in his coat. His hair grew longer and turned from black to brown. He looked like a little bear!

Then in June, we went camping and I noticed he was peeing a lot. Copious amounts and very dilute. Then also occasional diarrhea.

Still energetic, we continued agility all this time. Then one morning, he didn’t want to eat. That was my indication that something was wrong. He always loved food. I also noticed that he would pant a long time after playing ball. Too long.

To the vet that day in June 2016, just before his 4^th birthday. They asked me what his symptoms were because he looked like such a happy camper. I told him about the not eating and the panting. I could pick him later that day and was told to give him chicken and rice. They had taken blood and results would be back the day after.

I just went to agility training that next morning, and when I came back the vet had called to bring Ozzie in ASAP. They suspected Addison’s disease. They did the ACTH test and he didn’t stim at all. Diagnosis was in!

He was on fluids for a day, was given Percorten (1.75 ml at regular dose), and Prednisone. I soon learned about low dose; I did learn so much in just a few days. It was worth my time, because I have been able to lower his Pred to only 0.25 mg per day and we went with low dose of Percorten (0.6 ml) for his second shot. It took 3 months for his K level to go up to 4.9! Then after several months of electrolyte tests, we have him now on 0.25 ml of Percorten every 28 days. That is lower than many other dogs, but he does really well on this.

Then the best part: after three months of healing, I went back to Agility, Treibball, started Nosework, and started Trick training. I had my sweet boy back. Like nothing happened. He still runs Agility at the highest levels, received his Excellent Treibball title plus his Trick Dog Champion and Stunt Dog Professional title in 2018. He is close to getting his Masters Jumpers and Standard titles in AKC agility and I hope to attend the Nadac Championships in September this year. He earned his Nosework 2 title a few months ago. Going for level 3 this year!

I am so proud of this boy; he really loves life and he keeps me busy! Here is a link to one of his Treibball runs he so loves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTC1jBJR_jM

Ozzie - Thyra P.
Typical Addison's
Click image to enlarge

 

Stirling is my sweet, amazing Border Collie. His fancy AKC registered name is Premiere’s Stirling Status, UD, P-UTD, FDC. From the start, I believed he was supposed to be my dog. I have been training and showing dogs in competition obedience for nearly 20 years and I was ready for my first Border Collie. I drove out to California to pick up my black and white ball of fluff. The puppies were running about like little chickens, this way and that. Since they were interested in running about the room, the puppies were not paying much attention to the new stranger (me). Then the puppy pack ran past me and one scooted to a stop and attempted to jump right on me; he was enthralled with me. He was adorable and I loved him at very first sight, but this puppy was already promised to another home. I was a bit disheartened but trusted our breeder and her matching of the dogs. She picked up this other adorable puppy and placed him in my lap; this was the puppy picked for me. He was cute and wiggled directly out of my arms to go play. The breeder put the puppies in the crate and we chatted a bit. She took the puppies out at least four more times. All the puppies would run directly past me to play and this one little puppy would run past me and put on the brakes to try to jump in my lap, as I said earlier, he was enthralled and I was starting to have heartbreak as this was not my puppy. Finally, the last time the breeder took the puppies out and they all ran past me but the one, she picked him up and shared she’d not seen anything like this, and well; he was my pup. That puppy, as you likely guessed, is my amazing Stirling.

Stirling and I went off to enjoy our busy, active life together, training and running. I loved having my first border collie.

Around the time he was a year old, I noticed he seemed to have periods when he did not feel well. He would have loose stool and seem tired; not as active. I would take him to the vet and he would get some medicine to calm his stomach. His labs were fine. I would notice he would have loose stool after a training session. The next symptom Stirling demonstrated was a full body rash. Stirling had pus like lesions all throughout his body. It was so scary! Off to the vet we went. At this point, as I am a nurse, I started to put together this seemed like an autoimmune or autoinflammatory condition. As quickly as the rash developed, it went away. From there, Stirling would go on to have periods of loose stool, lethargy, and high fever. I would rush him to the vet for treatment and part of the treatment was steroids. After treatment, Stirling would be back to his amazing self and off we would go running and training until the next episode. There were a number of these episodes. Finally, after one of the episodes, we saw a different vet as we were on holiday. I shared our story and I was so upset. She blurted out, “I think he has Addison’s disease!” She ran the tests, gave him steroids, and fluids to stabilize him. For this final episode, Stirling’s blood glucose was low; he had an atypical presentation of Addison’s. At least now we knew! Stirling’s presentation of Addison’s was an atypical presentation making an already challenging diagnosis even more challenging. We returned to Arizona, ran more tests to discover Stirling has primary Addison’s disease, but remains with glucocorticoid deficiency —or with Atypical Addison’s disease. Stirling has remained in Atypical Addison’s since 2012. Since he tested for primary Addison’s we follow his labs every 4 months.

After the initial stabilization period, which was hard, Stirling has been feeling wonderful, running and competing. Our team for Stirling is amazing. Our Vet is very supportive of our treatment and we work together for the best treatment plan for Stirling. She is supportive of low dose prednisone and our feeding plan.

For brags, Stirling and I run together and recently we ran a 6-minute mile! We show in competitive obedience and are almost always in the ribbons. The UD (Utility Dog title) is one of the top obedience titles. Stirling is my first obedience dog to achieve the UD title. I adore every minute we have together. Strangely enough, I believe we enjoy a stronger bond because of the Addison’s.

Outside of the difficulty of diagnosis, and the initial stabilization period which was scary; we have an amazing life together. I am forever grateful for our medical care and our Canine Addison’s Resources & Education group (C.A.R.E). I do not believe I would have gotten through this without the expertise and guidance of our C.A.R.E group. The support and knowledge C.A.R.E provides is critical. I cannot count how many times I have reached out for guidance and support. The group also brings friendship and encouragement. I remember second guessing if I should be running and showing Stirling. Then I saw dogs in our C.A.R.E group doing agility. I was touched by a wonderful Border Collie named Idgie in our group. Watching Idgie’s brags gave me the encouragement I needed. At that moment, I decided Stirling was always supposed to be my dog and we would live the life we were intended. You will see me singing Team Stirling’s praises occasionally, in case someone needs just a little encouragement.

Stirling is well loved by both me and my wonderful, supportive husband who is also critical in supporting Stirling in his care. Our Addison’s dogs rock and can do it all!

Stirling - Candice V.G.
Atypical Addison's
Click image to enlarge

 

Time to tell our story, and to share some good news. When we joined the CARE Facebook group, it was following a suggestion by a friend in another Facebook group about the Belgian Shepherd breeds. I had no idea that we needed help and that I could improve Ali’s care. Ali had her Addison’s crisis over 5 years prior, and she had been stable with 2.5 ml of Prednisolone daily and a monthly shot, at the vets, of 2.5 ml of Percorten – carefully calculated according to her weight (which I later discovered is not the way to adjust the medication).

My husband and I more than once had ‘that talk.’ Were we really doing the kindest thing treating her illness, keeping her alive? Bless, she was so ‘wired,’ jumpy, and nervous of everything. My brave fearless girl no more. She was ravenous! Starving hungry the whole time. It was painful to see. I was so sorry for her I used to buy her big shells of lettuce leaves to try and fill her up. Anything to put something in her stomach without fattening her up. She wolfed them down.

Despite giving her cranberry capsules everyday, she had countless bladder infections. Seemed like she was never clear of them and was constantly getting antibiotics to control them. Her fur had gone very sparse and coarse. Belgian Shepherds have a double coat, but she no longer had any soft warming undercoat of fur. Just the outer fur, with bald spots even in that. Neither of us ever got a full night’s sleep. Every night she needed to go out twice, some nights as many as three times.

But then I read the documents here and the advice which was helping others to reduce their dogs from the therapeutic dosage level which Ali was on to the biological replacement level of both Prednisolone and Percorten V. I’m a life scientist by training and it all made such good sense that I decided to give it a try. I just quietly got on and reduced Ali’s prednisolone, gradually and gently. And what do you know, she did great. It took a while, but she is now stable on 0.5 ml daily – one-fifth of her original dose!

As soon as I could see that she was doing better on a reducing dose of Prednisolone, I started telling our lovely veterinarian I wanted to reduce her Percorten and to base her dosage on her electrolytes, not her weight. We had quite a tussle to start with, but once he realized I wanted her treatment to be based on the results of her ‘lytes, he was fully supportive. We’ve been gradually reducing her dosage, and her last shot was 0.5 ml Zycortal (we switched from Percorten). Maybe down to 0.4 ml this time, but we’ll soon know. A few months ago, I started doing her shots myself. Partly to mitigate the additional costs of the monthly ‘lytes tests, but more to avoid Ali having to go to the vets so often. She’s very brave, but she’s been to the vets far too often in her little life.

Why am I telling you this now? Well, we’ve just come back from Ali’s 28 day ‘lytes blood draw and our vet proudly told me that he has convinced the owner of another Addison’s dog in his care to start the same reducing treatment regime. And, bless him, he has suggested that they could start doing the monthly shot themselves to help offset the initial costs, citing me as an example.

So, apart from being chuffed to bits that another dog will soon be feeling a lot less wired, I’ve learned another lesson. In convincing our veterinarians to treat our dogs the way we have learned is what they need, with just a replacement dosage, they will then take that knowledge and use it with other Addison’ dogs in their care. Having said it, that seems blindingly obvious that they would do so, but it honestly had not occurred to me.

Update: Another two years have passed since I wrote this. Thank you to everyone here at CARE for all they do to help our precious A-dogs and us, their anxious helicopter pet parents. I’m honored to have been asked to update it for the Canine Addison’s Awareness Week 2020.

My darling Ali continues to flourish. For over 2 years now, she has been stable on 0.5 ml of Prednisolone daily. I continued reducing her monthly Zycortal, guided by monthly ‘lytes tests, until we reached the level that kept her stable for 28 days. My poor girl, who had been given 2.5 mls of Percoten V every month for 5 years only needs the tiny monthly dose of 0.3 ml.

Last year we got a male Belgian Shepherd puppy. I thought Ali might appreciate not having the responsibility of being top dog in our little pack of two. What did we know! Having just celebrated his first birthday, Shadow is now a strapping big boy, taller, and heavier built than Ali. But my darling brave fearless girl is still determinedly top dog. Her coat is full, soft, and shining with health. I have to admit that she still bolts her meals, but that desperate hunger resides only in my memory. We both sleep through most nights. Nowadays, it’s me who needs to get up, not her. And she’s happy. Bright eyed and bushy tailed. She’s beside me now, cuddling up on the sofa, making typing very difficult.

Even I forget she’s ill. It’s just part of my routine to give her meds with her breakfast, quick, easy, and not a big deal at all. Her monthly shot is now routine. Collar off the night before. Draw up her meds into the syringe while she’s elsewhere, and then quickly give it to her while she’s enjoying her breakfast. But let her get sick, with anything, and I’m immediately that anxious A-dog mom again. Some things never change!

Ali - Shirley C.
Typical Addison's
Click image to enlarge

 

Simba was born on Feb 23, 2007. He was trained as a Service Dog for an autistic boy and was loved very much by his “brother.” Just before his 2nd birthday, he fell down some stairs. He ended up at the vet, described as extremely lethargic and unable to walk. Bloodwork led to a diagnosis of “presumptive Addison’s” (no ACTH test). He was given a shot of Dexamethasone and some IV fluids, then sent home to take Florinef, “for 2 months, then stop and keep Prednisone on hand if he starts to crash at home.” His medical file reads like a horror story. In November of 2010, he had a “possible” Addisonian crisis, with his potassium at 5.6 (range up to 5.8). Simba apparently had a total of 3 crises while with his first family, and then suffered a 4th at the time of surrender to the Standard Poodle Rescue.

At the age of 6, Simba arrived in the rescue & foster care. The rescue and members of the Addison’s community helped to get Simba on the right path, switching him from Florinef to Percorten and he started on the next phase of his life, which is much happier!

Keith and I were looking for a sibling for our River, who absolutely does not like being an “only dog”. I had been following a lot of the dogs available at the rescue, and then Simba appeared. He was like a clone of River in appearance, only even more beautiful. I just couldn’t take my eyes off this lovely boy. We had just lost 2 dogs in a couple of years, one from cancer, the other due to complications from inoperable multiple liver shunts. My contact at the rescue tried to talk me away from Simba, saying we deserved one with no issues, but somehow we felt we were the right people for Simba and he was right for us. Simba arrived in our family on March 23, 2013, not long after his 6th birthday, with an assortment of spreadsheets, pills, and instructions. My head was spinning. I knew nothing about Addison’s, except that it was a very scary word. His foster mother, Katey, assured me that we would have her full support along with that of the Addison’s community. I joined a support group fairly quickly but waited awhile before posting. Being a shy person, it was difficult to speak out to a bunch of strangers, even if they were only online. Well, it was the best thing I did. For Simba, it was good because I got instant help dealing with him, and for me it was good – I made many new valuable friends, people with whom I have one thing in common – we all love our Addison’s dogs. Simba had been “advertised” all over the continent and even in the UK, so he came with his own group of admirers, and Keith and I slipped into the group with him.

At the end of June 2013, just 3 months after we adopted him, Simba jumped out of Keith’s truck in the garage and broke his leg. What next for this darling boy! It was a very bad break and he ended up with a steel plate in his arm plus wire wrapped all around his wrist. We were told that it was a 90% chance that it was cancer, so were prepared for possible amputation followed by chemo treatment. Simba was lucky and fit into the 10% clear! He was such a trooper with his splint and wearing his “bonnet,” and then just when he was healed, had to go back 6 months later to have the plate removed.

So we are coming up to 2 years since we adopted Simba – he has been such a joy. He is “his own person,” not like other dogs. He’s a loner, and is “exercise intolerant.” His list of meds has almost disappeared – once properly medicated, previous skin issues disappeared, shedding stopped. Simba watched other dogs play but never really learned how to participate when he was younger. He gave up a lot of his “fun youth” by being an Autism Service Dog, and by being so very sick. But his time has come – he has an 8th birthday about to happen – and he has a Mom & Dad who love him dearly and would do anything for him, a brother River who enjoys having him here, and a new sister Pinot who hasn’t quite forgotten that he growled at her the first day she was here, but she’s loosening up. Simba means “Prince” and that’s what he is!

Pinot is a cocker spaniel/mini poodle mix, born on May 4, 2009. She lived for 5 years in a family of which I know nothing. But just before her 5^th birthday, she was brought to the Emergency Clinic with urine blockage and once they got her strong enough, she had a urinary cystoscopy. She was sent home but returned in a day or two in crisis. The vet wanted to test for Addison’s but by then her family had reached their breaking point and requested that she be put to sleep. The vet arranged to have her surrendered to him and she was diagnosed with an ACTH at the beginning of May. She then lived for the next 4 months in the clinic. We were at the clinic with River one day and they told us about Pinot and brought her in to meet us. She bounded in, bounced up on the bench, and just couldn’t control her energy. She was a ball of fluff and cuteness. Moving along, SPIN (Standard Poodles In Need) took control of her and Keith and I fostered her. Pinot is brilliant! Her first day, she literally latched onto both Keith & River, and to this day they are both her main squeezes. At the clinic, they had been giving her 1.0 mg of Prednisone every day and she weighed about 14 pounds. So, Pinot had severe incontinence problems. We worked at lowering her Pred but even when it was down to 0.2mg, she was still leaking. We tried giving her Propalin (Proin) with only some success. But once she started taking Stilbestrol (DES) daily, she has been completely dry.

You can imagine that SPIN wasn’t exactly rushed off their feet with people who wanted to adopt this absolutely darling creature. Some were interested enough to learn about Addison’s & consider her, but the leaking was a deal breaker. All the time, I was writing about how wonderful she was, I was falling more and more in love with her myself. We will be moving shortly which will require a 7 day road trip and since we already had 2 standard poodles, we didn’t think we could adopt a 3^rd. We finally decided to “wing it” – Pinot was far too special to let anyone else enjoy her. She belongs with us, and we belong with her. And besides, how could we even think of taking her away from River! So, on Dec. 21, 2014, Pinot became ours forever. She is such a delight. She hands you a slipper when you come in, although it may NOT be yours, but it is presented with such a darling bum wiggle that you just have to take it anyway. She is totally addicted to squeaky toys – the bigger and the squeakier the better – this is an addiction that she shares with River and they do have a few squabbles over the “best” one. Pinot has captured our hearts and will keep them forever.

 

Klara was born on the 12th of August 2009. She was always a cheerful and lively puppy, a tomboy with a great curiosity for everything new. Changes came after her first heat. She became a picky eater, which I thought was related to the hormonal changes. She became quiet and reacted aggressively when dogs came too close, even her best dog buddies. The black fur on her front legs turned grey.

Then again were long periods when everything seemed to be okay. Shortly after her 3rd birthday, everything worsened. She had a very bad ear infection with multi-resistant bacteria. To get the inflammation controlled, the ear canals were cleaned under general anesthesia. The landslide began. She started to refuse her food. Sometimes, she ate nothing for 3 days. Sometimes, she had diarrhea or vomited. In desperation, we started to joke that soon we would get our own entrance in the clinic. The ear infection was still causing trouble and Klara got her second ear cleaning under general anesthesia.

Meanwhile, she repeatedly had diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation. We spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve in the clinic. Tests for parasites were negative. The bloodwork was excellent. The ear infection kept coming back.

Winter 2012/2013, we had wonderful weather. Lots of snow and sun. My dogs love snow and Klara dragged herself through the snow. She had no fun. You could see that she was not doing well. Most of the time she slept. The vets found no cause.

In February 2013, it was even worse. Diarrhea, vomiting, she seemed to be in pain, refused her food, but drank lots of water. The vets said, “We should wait. It could be because of her heat.” The next day when I came home, I had a strange feeling – something went very wrong here. I drove again to the hospital and the vet wanted to send me away, “We can´t find anything. I think it’s her heat!”

This was too much. I was angry and requested further investigation. “Something is wrong with Klara. I will not go!! Do your job!” They did a complete blood test and then, the vets were very worried. Her potassium was 7.6 in a range of 3.5-5.8. Her sodium was 139 in a range of 144-160. The bloodwork told us her life was in danger. She was completely dehydrated. Finally, they looked for the cause. Poisoning, renal ultrasound, leptospirosis. She was given an IV with infusion bags. I could take Klara home. We went every day to the clinic and they did further tests. They spoke of renal failure but found no cause. Klara’s blood values were held only by the infusions but even that did not help much. The blood values were worse. For days, she was force fed, but she lost more and more weight. She was taken to the ICU and we were prepared to lose her. The vets said they wanted to test one last thing. They said it could be Addison´s Disease and wanted to do the ACTH test. The cause was discovered. Klara had Addison’s and treatment was started. The next day, I could take her home.

She recovered quickly and everything seemed to be fine. However, she was not as strong as healthy dogs. That’s why I’ve switched from Florinef to Percorten.

With the help of the group, we worked to find Klara´s best dose. Now, she weighs 27 kg and receives 0.40ml of Percorten every 28 days and 1mg of Prednisone daily. For me, it is like a miracle to see how she enjoys her life without any restrictions. Now, almost 2 years later, Klara feels better than ever. Switching to Percorten was the best decision ever. Klaraismentallybalanced,cheerful, bold, and courageous. And after along day at work(she is my assistant trainer, I am a dog trainer) she still has energy left to play joy fully with her brother and me!

I am Annet and I live in The Netherlands. We have 4 dogs, two English Cocker Spaniels, a Boomer and a Belgian Griffon. One of the cockers – his name is Flip and he is 4 years old – has Addison’s since April 2014.

He drank tons of water and wasn’t his exciting self for a few weeks. So when the dogs had to have their annual shots, I asked if the vet could check his total bloodwork, because he was not well. When we got home, Flip disappeared under the table and stayed there, he didn’t even come out for a treat. And that is something that is completely NOT Flip…. After a few hours the vet called and said that his potassium was dangerously high and his sodium very low. So he said I suspect he has Addison’s disease. After travelling in ‘Addison’s world’ for almost a year now, I know that my vet did wonderful by diagnosing it this early! He wanted to confirm with the ACTH test, but it turned out that the test was not available in Holland at that time, not at a vet nor at a veterianarian school! So Flip was never definitively diagnoses with the ACTH test because it simply wasn’t possible. He got fludrocortisone and hydrocortisone and after a little while in ‘Addison World’ I weaned him off of the hydrocortisone completely. The Dutch protocol for Addison is ‘Fludrocortisone and high dose of hydrocortisone for the rest of the dog’s life’. My vet said Okay to wean him off the hydro, but afterwards he said to me that he feared it, because of this protocol. Addison’s is of course a rare disease so that is what he knew and never questioned.

But it went very well so Flip only had fludrocortisone. The only thing is that Flip didn’t do his best on it and we ended up adjusting his dose almost every two weeks. Flip weighs 18 kg and he had 0.8175 mg fludro. He had too much glucocorticosteroids in his medication, that was for sure! He has always been an outgoing dog, but this was ridiculous, whining when he got a little bit excited (so by going out for a walk, getting a treat, getting dinner, thinking we were going out etc), poor Flip…….
Luckily I found a person who could provide Percorten (or rather that person found me) and this resulted in a memorable event on 5 January 2015: Flip was the first dog in Holland to get an injection of Percorten!

He is doing great on it, his personality is normalising, his hair is becoming red again (instead of becoming blonder and blonder) and it is growing again.

I love to write, but I sit here staring at a blank screen, afraid that I can’t do Pepsi’s story justice. I share this story with all of you in hopes that it will help someone else. We adopted Pepsi when she was about 6 months old in December of 2003. She was such a unique and amazing dog, but aren’t they all in their own special way?

Pepsi had a mostly normal puppy-hood, but did suffer from more illnesses than most dogs do. After she turned three, she developed sores in her vulva. After several trips to the vet, and then switching vets, and trying some more options, we were considering surgery to reconstruct her vulva. However, she started going downhill quickly. She was losing weight, shaking, and most of all, I just knew something was wrong. We went to vet after vet where they all dismissed me saying that she was “just getting older and settling down.” By this time I had her at the vet’s office every week for months. We even tried switching vets a couple times. Her energy was diminishing quickly. Soon, she couldn’t even walk out of the yard without having to lay down and take breaks. She was having trouble having a bowel movement. I took her to the vet’s office again, where they diagnosed her with colitis. We got home, and she couldn’t get out of the car.

I knew this was it, so I just got back in the car and drove to Chicago – the big city. Within 10 minutes of us entering the emergency hospital in Chicago, she was preliminary diagnosed with Addison’s Disease, and I was told she probably would not have made it another night without treatment. She stayed there 3 or 4 days while they got her fluids up, and her strength back. She had an ACTH test done to confirm her Addison’s Disease. As relieved as I was to pick her up from the hospital, I was also devastated to learn that her treatment would cost almost $400 a month. I had no idea how I was going to afford it, but we were going to figure out a way.

That’s when I started researching myself, and found a K-9 Addison’s group that I owe Pepsi’s life to. They helped me understand the disease, how to interpret her tests, and get her on the right dose of medications. After that, we never looked back.

In addition to 1.4 ml of Percorten-V every 28 days and 1 mg of Prednisone daily, Pepsi also took several supplements. She ended up living 7 more wonderful years on the correct doses of her medications which, by the way, only cost me less than $80.00 per month. Pepsi lived to be 11 ½ years old, which is pretty great for a 130 pound dog. Pepsi died of cancer the day before Thanksgiving in 2014.

Getting a diagnosis of Addison’s Disease can be scary and frightening, but Pepsi was proof that you can live a happy meaningful life with the correct medications. Because of Pepsi, everyone that touched her learned so much about life and love and friendship. She will be greatly missed.

 

Valentino came into my life in Feb 2007 when he became my foster after a close call at a high kill shelter. He was half an hour from being euthanized. He was an emaciated stray missing most of his hair on his sides (his skin was a bright shiny pink!) and a strip of blond hair like a mohawk down his back, weighing barely 30lb – he is now a healthy 55lb. It took 3 months to restore him to health, and gain weight. By that time, I had become a foster failure, and Valentino was all mine! He slept most of those first 3 months between meals and going potty before he seemed to have recovered. He started having symptoms of lethargy, lack of energy and inability to get in/out of the car for a couple of months and while he never lost his appetite completely, he started picking at his food trying to eat, I knew something was wrong, but our vet at the time (the last time!) dismissed his behavior as “acting out”. Then he collapsed in Dec 2007 and our journey with Addison’s Disease began. His vet couldn’t “fit” Valentino in for another week and we went to a friend’s vet who managed to fit us in. It’s hard to know if his AD might have been waxing and waning prior as he had been so ill when I first got him. His collapse was on Dec 19, he spent 2 days at the specialty hospital, and by Dec 25, felt well enough to try to abscond with the Christmas duck that was draining in the kitchen sink – luckily he was nabbed en flagrante and the duck survived to be served for Christmas dinner as intended!

Valentino was started on Florinef/compounded fludrocortisone at .4mg (lower than recommended for his weight) and 2.5mg Prednisone in 12/07 – but his electrolytes were perfect (!) for a year. After a year, his electrolytes went out of control, and he had weekly increases in his Florinef, until he arrived at 2mg but his electrolytes were still not under control.

We found a vet 1.5 hrs away who was willing to work with us and start Valentino at 1.8ml, which was considered the “low dose” in 2009, the standard dose was a bit over 2ml (I remember thinking I wouldn’t even get 2 doses out of each vial at a monthly cost of about $100 just for the Percorten-V!) Over the years, we slowly reduced by 10-20% at a time. We started at 1.8ml in 7/09 and did not even get to 1ml til 9/10, .75ml in 6/11, .5ml in 10/13, current .4ml in 9/14. We were all a lot more conservative back then and we did not have enough info on going to lower doses………except through the experiences of other members of the group. It was all new territory! If the low dose study had been available in 2009, we could have started at .95ml and gotten to Valentino’s lowest effective dose that much sooner and saved a lot of money on Percorten-V and monthly electrolytes testing as a bonus. I can’t say enough about the difference being on lower doses has made in how Valentino feels throughout the month with his electrolytes staying pretty close to the mid-range between doses. He spent years doing “ok” – mopey, lethargic for 2 weeks after each shot, feeling a little more perky about a week before his next shot was due, then feeling lethargic again when he got another shot – but now he’s doing “great” all month long on a much lower dose of Percorten-V! Along with the most recent Percorten-V reduction, I’ve also been able to reduce his Prednisone to .5mg – he’d been hovering between .75mg in the winter to 1.25mg in the summer for years. We have also switched to liquid Prednisolone as his liver enzymes became elevated and he was shedding a lot……….

PS – Valentino’s plight as a sick, unwanted stray was the inspiration for my deep commitment and involvement in animal welfare issues in San Antonio! How many dogs just like Valentino have died because there was no one to step up for them before the mandatory 72 hr stray hold period expired?

 

The rescue had all the pups spayed or neutered before being taken home. Argus was neutered at two months old, and we brought him home later that day. Two days later he was ice cold and shivering very hard. We watched his incision site for signs of infection and wrapped him in blankets to try to warm him. That afternoon we took him into the vet that had done the surgery (45 minutes away). The vet said he was having a reaction to the surgery and would be fine. He gave him a shot and handed me some pills to give for the next few days. By the following morning, he was much better. We went to see our own vet for the new puppy check. They immediately took away the pills that we were given and said a puppy should never be given these. I don’t remember what the pills were, but the shot was Dexamethasone and I now believe that is what pulled him out of what was happening.

He was a very different pup than any we’ve had before him. He was much mellower than any pup I had ever known. Looking back, it is clear he was showing signs of his Addison’s from day one. He waxed and waned for almost two years. During this time, we lost his “big brother,” fostered two puppies for a couple of weeks each, and then brought another puppy into our home. On December 6, 2010, Argus quit eating. Each day progressed to another symptom (hind end weakness, shivering, ice cold, etc.). Our vet said it was bacteria in his tummy – he’ll get over it – feed him boiled rice (no tests were run). A couple days later, we went to a different vet who said his organs are shutting down and he’s dying – let him go!!!! As I carried Argus, draped over my arms to the third vet, I thought I would never bring him home. The vet gave him fluids and ran a blood test, stool tests, x-rays, the whole works, and kept him there. That night she called and said, “I suspect something that I want to test for in the morning.” By that night she explained the whole thing to me. He stayed on fluids and got his first shot. Up until this point, while my husband and I took turns sitting with him, he gave us little response. The vet didn’t want to let him go home because he still wouldn’t eat. The following day, I walked in and told her I wanted to take him home. She finally agreed if I promised to bring him in if I hadn’t gotten him to eat in the next 12 hours. When she brought him out, he jumped all over us and the vet said, “Yep, he needs to go home!” So he slowly came around to eating and we moved Christmas celebrations to my sister’s house and were quiet and careful with everything we did. Now this vet told me to bring him in every 28 days for his shot, give him his Prednisone every day and he will live a normal life.

Argus is 60 lbs, and was given 2ml of Percorten every 28 days for nine months by the vet tech. He got 5mg of Prednisone for a couple of months. The first thing I found was information on Prednisone. We were giving it at night and I found he should be getting it in the morning, so we changed that. Then I read an article about the dosing and we got that down to 2.5mg. By the eighth month I saw that Argus’ life was not normal. He had no spunk. He seemed lethargic. He had more of an existence than a life! That is when I finally found an Internet group. Blood tests and electrolytes – WHAT? None of this was being done. It was time for another shot and I went in to speak to the vet (whom I hadn’t seen in several months). She had moved up north to open her own practice. I asked to speak to one of the other vets. The vet that owns the facility told me these tests are done once a year and the dose of Percorten would only change if his weight changed and I could never do the shot myself. He would not listen to one word I said nor look at the info I tried to present to him. His attitude told me I had to get strong and start making phone calls. I phone interviewed several vets over the next couple of days. They all knew everything about Addison’s. One vet finally called me and before I could ask her anything, she asked me when the electrolytes (“lytes”) were last tested. When she told me that we needed to do that first to see if he was ready for another shot and if it needed to be lowered, I knew this was the vet I needed to try. After getting the lytes results the vet told me, “We have a long wait, it’s no wonder he hasn’t felt well, he is very over medicated.” Little did she know just how long of a wait! We tested his lytes once a week for over three months. It was a little over 100 days when his K finally got up to a bit above mid-range. She started him at 0.5ml at that time and for the next several months, it was lowered until we reached 0.3ml. After several months, we needed to bring it back up to 0.32ml. That dose has been working great for many months now. This vet was great with the Percorten, but didn’t really think the Prednisone should be lowered. I asked her if she would let me try, knowing that I would watch him closely, and she agreed. He is now getting 1mg daily.

And now, here we are, with the medications optimized, at almost 6 years old, we have the puppy that he should have been in the first place!

 

We adopted Lexie from our local shelter in July 2010. She was estimated to be about 4-5 months old at the time. My husband and I brought her home on a “trial” while our 2 daughters were away at summer camp, as my husband has allergies and needed to see how he would react. Well, I knew the moment we had Lexie in our care that she was not going back to that shelter – hubby would just have to live with his allergies!!

Within days of being with us, Lexie had an episode of vomiting and diarrhea, and a panicked trip to the vet where she tested negative for parvo and was sent home with instructions to withhold food for a day and then start a bland diet. She bounced back fine, and over the next 2 years would go on to have occasional bouts of vomiting and diarrhea but it didn’t seem to be anything too serious. She was happy and active, and seemed to be mostly healthy. During the spring and summer of 2012, we noticed other symptoms, including goopy eyes, ear infections, and skin and fur issues. She began licking her paws excessively, to the point of rawness. The stomach issues continued and were getting worse. She fatigued easily with exercise and would sleep in during the mornings, not even bothering to get up to eat breakfast. One Saturday in early December, 2012, we attended the local Christmas parade and then made a visit to the dog park. Lexie just laid there as other dogs came around and sniffed at her – so unlike Lexie. Later that evening, I made an after-hours visit to the vet with her, as she was shaking and smelled funny (like ammonia). The vet examined her and didn’t see anything obvious of concern, and said to come back the next day for bloodwork if she seemed to be getting worse. Well, that night was horrible, with Lexie shaking at my feet as we tried to sleep. Back to vet the next day for bloodwork. Thankfully, my vet suspected Addison’s when she saw the bloodwork. By this time, Lexie was very ill and was admitted to hospital for fluids and the ACTH test, which came back positive.

Picking Lexie up to bring her home was an amazing, emotional time, as she ran to us with such happiness and there was not a dry eye in the vet clinic!! By this time, I had found help through the online Addison’s community and had a great vet who was willing to try something new – Low Dose Percorten. Today, Lexie is 70 lbs and takes 0.4 ml of Percorten, along with her daily dose of Prednisone.

I believe that Lexie came into my life for a reason. Staying at that shelter would have meant certain death for her, I am convinced, and our family is able to provide her with the special care she needs. Because of her, I have new “friends” all over the world. I can honestly say that Lexie has never been better – Addison’s diagnosis was by no means a death sentence, but instead was a new lease on life!!

 

I adopted Dharma from the county shelter when she was 8 weeks old. She was one of 7 puppies, living in a foster home. I named her for her pensive nature; her eyes reflected deep waters. I often joke she has a personality only a mother could love; she is just so…uh, odd. She’s the opposite of all things stereotypically dog. When she was 5 years old, I came home from work, on a Wednesday, to find 7 vomits, and 4 diarrheas. I took her to the vet the next morning. Over the next 3 weeks(and few hundred dollars), my vet of 10+ years ran blood tests and, ultimately, sent us home with a diagnosis of cancer (based on “25 years of vetting”), a bottle of 20mg prednisone tablets, and a sympathetic pat on the head. I went for a 2nd opinion. Two weeks and several hundred dollars (more) later, we landed at a hospital full of specialists. After work, on a Wednesday night, they did a sonogram. Still no answers; as the “expert” would be in the next day. Someone mentioned testing for Addison’s (for another $250). The sonogram was $500+, and I admit, I was at my wit’s end, wondering how I could keep paying for endless test with no answers. I told them I’d sleep on it, and wait for further interpretation of the sonogram, the next day.

The following morning, at 4:20 a.m., I felt an odd sensation on my neck. It was Dharma’s breath, barely. Her head was on my shoulder, and it took me a bit to realize that her breathing was weak and erratic. Suddenly, I realized her body was contorted horribly, like a pretzel. Her eyes were completely blank. I leapt out of bed, threw on clothes, scooped her up with a blanket, and ran to the car. I raced across town, to the place we’d been the night before. Thankfully, I’d happened to notice they were a 24 hour facility. I made the 45 minute trip in 25. As I sprinted through the door with Dharma in my arms, her heart stopped. And so did her breathing. I handed her to the attendant and said, “Please help her”.

The emergency vet on duty performed a miracle, and brought Dharma back to life, without any permanent damage. But we still didn’t know what was wrong with her. The ACTH test was performed, but the results would take 24 hours. They weren’t sure she would last that long. They did exploratory surgery, based on what they saw in the sonogram. They suspected a blockage. All they found was abnormally small adrenal glands. I don’t know how she survived the surgery. Two miracles in one day.

Next, we waited. I was told that, if it wasn’t Addison’s, then there was virtually nothing they could do, as we’d already tested for, and surgically searched for, all but the most obscure.

The next day, when I got the call telling me it was, in fact, Addison’s disease, I cried uncontrollable happy tears. In that moment, the entirety of the stress and anguish of our ordeal washed over me in a flood of relief. It was finally over. We finally had an answer.

I’ve since reflected on that sequence of events. The insane amount of money it cost to get to the diagnosis (let’s just say the final tally was more than I spent on my car) is enough to cause anyone to reflect. My only regret is the horrible suffering that Dharma endured. My only challenge is forgiving the original vet for sending us down that path. This experience taught a mother of two grown children about a new kind of love. One that prevails, even though it doesn’t necessarily HAVE to.

 

Gracie is a 10 year old 134 pound English Mastiff. Gracie was abused until she was 6 months old. At that time she then went to a loving family. Unfortunately, that life ended all too soon with the tragic accident. The husband and the child of her family were killed in an automobile accident. Gracie comforted the mother for the next 6 months. The mother then had to move and could not take Gracie with her. This pained her so much. She looked into a rescue group.

The foster mom promised her that she would wait for the perfect family to adopt Gracie. Gracie stayed in foster for much longer than normal.

I had a mastiff who was diagnosed with Addison’s at 7 months old. She was the runt of her litter and was on death’s door when I rescued her. Once we found out she had Addison’s, she lived to 4 ½ years old. Her kidneys, which were never formed correctly finally gave out on her. She was my first mastiff and I fell in love with the breed despite the issues she had. I decided that I needed to rescue another one.

I found Gracie on the website of the rescue group I had started helping with. I was just drawn to her and her story. I talked to her foster mom for hours about her. We both knew that she was going to come to her forever home with me. She was several hours away so the foster mom and I met halfway.

Right away Gracie came up to me and my daughter and she leaned on my leg and sat on my foot. The lean is everything for a mastiff. If they lean on you they like you. It was love at first sight for me and my kids.
Fast forward to 7 months later, Gracie crashed and could not get up my stairs. My son carried her up and into the car and we rushed her to my wonderful vet. I will never forget that day. Gracie was on IV’s and in a kennel with me sitting on the floor next to her. My vet walked in and sat on an empty kennel. He told me that he was going to do the test for Addison’s or that she could have some type of cancer.

The next day all four of my vets came into the room and told me that she indeed did have Addison’s. One of them said he stayed up half the night looking for mastiffs with AD and there just were not too many (at that time he could find none). They told me they were sorry that I now had my second Addisonian Mastiff.

I told them I was happy that it was indeed Addison’s. I already knew Addison’s was manageable and a dog could live a full and normal life with it. I even had some meds left over from my first girl. My first girl took .8 mg of Florinef 2 times a day. We started Gracie on that dose and kept playing with it over the next year. She finally ended up on 1.5 mg Florinef 2 times per day. She has been on that dose for 7 years now.

No one can tell me that this girl was not meant to come to live with me. Her foster mom had turned down other potential adopters because of the promise she made to Gracie’s owner former owner to find the perfect family.

When Gracie was 4 she somehow got out of my yard by going under my fence. I never thought a 134 pound dog would go under my fence but she did. She got hit by a car and Animal control had to get her by the pole neck chain because she was being aggressive. My neighbor saw animal control with her and told them that she lived with me. They knocked on my door on this Sunday. They had her good side facing me so I did not know she was hit. Then they turned her and she had a deep gash in her chest. My car was in the shop and I had no way to get her to the ER vet. Animal control drove me.

I went running in the door screaming that she had Addison’s.

The vet on call was the husband of one of my vets that cared for Gracie. Gracie was on death’s doors; she went gray and limp. They dosed her with high amounts of prednisone and put in a chest tube. She had air around her lungs. Since the ER vet could talk to my vets that night, the plan was to Gracie to my vet in the AM for surgery. The ER vet was just not comfortable working on a dog with Addison’s.

The next day my wonderful, amazing vets waited until their lunch hour to do her surgery so all four of them could be in there and monitor her. Her sternum was broken and they could not do anything about that. They were able to close the wound and keep her safe. She recovered from that.

I fixed all of my fencing however, from that day forward she is very scared of cars on the roads.

About a year after that, Gracie started to gain lots of weight. My wonderful vets (have I mentioned how much I love my vets) did a thyroid test and sure enough she had low thyroid. The weight came off as soon as she was put on meds and she was back to her happy healthy self.

In 2011, tragedy struck my household. My children’s father was killed in a car accident. Gracie is the kind of dog who reads people so well. She comforted me and my children the same way she did with her first owner.
Gracie continues to be by our side whenever we are feeling down. Once again, no one can tell me that this girl was not meant to be in our lives.

About a year ago Gracie developed acute onset glaucoma and went blind in her left eye. My vets were able to shrink her eye so she would no longer be in pain. She could lose her other eye at any time, but so far the drops I put in her good eye are working.

Gracie also has chronic subcutaneous cysts all over her body. She has two that keep popping and becoming infected. She now takes antibiotics every 30 days for 10 days and that is working well. Because of her age and her Addison’s, the vets and I have chosen not to remove the cysts.

Through all of this, Gracie has always been a fighter and a champion. Nothing gets her down. My vets continue to be amazed by her.

Gracie turned 10 on Feb. 5, 2015.

No one thought she would live this long. She is still a happy girl, gets around great and is the love of my life. She is truly my heart dog.

This is more than a story of a dog with Addison’s; this is a story of a dog that was put on this earth to comfort her families though the good and the very bad times.

Addison’s is just one part of her story but it also shows that a dog with AD can live life to its fullest and get through the tough times also.

 

Kindle is a grey Belgian Shepherd (Tervueren) born in 2007. She was always (hindsight is a wonderful thing) a fussy puppy with food but otherwise normal for the first few years of her life and excelled both in the breed show ring and in her first agility competitions.

In August 2011, she started to appear a little lethargic – seemed fine otherwise but just didn’t have her normal drive in training and was just a bit quiet. A week later, she threw up a whole chicken neck which she had been given for dinner 2 nights prior so off to the vet we went. By this stage her litter sister had just been diagnosed as Typical Addison’s so I made the vet aware but as her sodium and potassium readings were normal, the vet dismissed this possibility. He did pick up an issue with her heart so we had a full heart test done which did show some anomalies in the rhythm. We were referred to the National Veterinary training facility who listened to our story and the first they did was run an ACTH test and bingo we had our answer. Kindle had Atypical Addison’s.

For the next 18 months, she was maintained on Prednisone alone and got her drive back, continued to compete in agility and was very well indeed. We had moved cities and really fell on our feet finding a relatively young vet who had been really involved with a few Addison’s cases during his first couple of years in practice.

In the December of 2012, we were out of town at a show and she just didn’t seem “right” on the Saturday morning. We whipped her to the vet who did bloods and told me she was in full renal failure and would probably not last the night. However, one look at her sodium and potassium levels told me she was in an Addisonian crisis and I convinced the vet that this was what was going on. It is often hard to get out of town vets to listen to you as he did not know her history and also happened not to know anything about Addison’s either. He was great, however, and went along with the mad woman who insisted he write a script for Florinef which I grabbed from the local pharmacy. He looked up starting doses and she stayed at the clinic overnight. I will always be grateful that he listened and tried for me as the prospect of driving around a strange city on a Saturday afternoon trying to find someone who knew about Addison’s really did not appeal.

He rang first thing in the morning to say that she was bouncing around the cage, had ripped out her drip line and was generally being a pain in the butt. He could not get over the difference to the very sick dog who had arrived the previous afternoon. They ended up keeping her in for 48 hours, at the end of which I think they were well pleased to get rid of her 🙂 . She was “helping” in the kennels and getting cuddles from everyone.

Like most, I have learned a lot about the disease in the years since her diagnosis. She is now a happy, healthy, energetic, nearly 8 year old who screams around like a puppy with absolutely no side effects at all. She is the biggest gannet around food and will eat anything – we now have to be careful she doesn’t get overweight – what a difference!

She retired from agility at 7 years only because she had broken her leg as a 2 year old (she really has been my problem child) and I wanted her to stop before it caused a problem for her later on.

Her medications are just part of our everyday life and you would never know she has the disease. Her Florinef dose is pretty high but it is what it is and she is fine on it. Those out there promoting information and assistance to people with Addison’s dogs are amazing. Thank you all!

 

Skye is a beautiful Tervueren who shares her life with Denise Strom in Sweden. To save you some “googling”, a Tervueren (alternate spelling Tervuren) is a Belgian Shepherd, named after a village in Belgium. Skye now weighs 24kg (53 lb) and is 6 years old. She was diagnosed with Typical Addison’s just one year ago early in 2016 at the age of 5. She was treated with Florinef initially and managed very well although her sodium levels were always on the low side.

Then throughout October & November 2016 she suffered numerous bouts of bloody diarrhea. Increased doses of Florinef, up to 0.8mg daily, and extra prednisone failed to prevent recurrences. Denise joined CARE in November and presented Skye’s symptoms while asking for advice. She credits Merrie Gahr Spiekerman who asked if Skye had been checked for pancreatitis. Denise was pondering this possibility when Skye got diarrhea again and this time she could not stand up. Skye was rushed to the Emergency Clinic where they performed a “quick test” which was positive & pancreatitis was later confirmed by the specific cPLI test. Luckily, it was a mild attack. Skye received pain relief, an increase in prednisone, and most importantly, her food was changed to a low fat diet.

Denise waited two months before reporting on Skye’s progress to make sure that all went well. Since the change in diet almost 2 months prior, Skye has been healthy and stable on Florinef 0.6mg and 5mg hydrocortisone, and her electrolytes are great. Denise’s vet is reluctant to reduce the hydrocortisone at this time since Skye has been doing so well.

Skye had never had bloody diarrhea before she got Addison’s so this was one symptom that stood out. Denise wanted to tell Skye’s story because she suspects that Skye is not the only dog with increased susceptibility to bloody diarrhea and/or pancreatitis following an Addison’s diagnosis. Of course, this may not be applicable to others, and in fact it has not presented as a highly probably issue among the many canine members in CARE, but it is worth bearing in mind.

Skye – Denise S.
Click image to enlarge

Denise sends her sincere thanks to the members of CARE, in particular to Merrie. She notes that the Florinef information in CARE’s files does make reference to avoiding fatty foods, something she was not aware of before.

Daisy is a Jack Russell Schnauzer mix who shares her life with Amanda Hutcheson & her husband Justin. She currently weighs 14.8 lb and is treated with 0.2ml of Percorten every 28 days. Daisy is roughly 8-10 yrs old, she certainly didn’t come with a birth certificate!

Daisy was picked up from an older couple in Texas who was coming to visit family in Beaufort SC where Amanda lives. They listed her in many online “dogs available” groups with no success. Amanda heard of her and immediately took her in, with her hair completely matted and basically looking & smelling very gross. Daisy was shaved down, bathed, and got a clean bill of health from the vet. She had found her forever family!

Two years later, in March 2014, Daisy got run over by a golf cart driven by Amanda. About a month later, Daisy’s mood started to change, her appetite decreased, and she was dehydrated. A visit to the vet for a steroid shot and some IV fluids seemed to perk her up & she was back to her normal self.

Another month went by and the same things happened again, so back she went to the vet. This time they did bloodwork along with the usual steroid shot & IV fluids. The vet’s conclusion was that everything was perfect.

Another month, and now it’s June. Daisy crashed – hind leg weakness, dehydration, no appetite, not drinking, basically doing nothing. The vet who was contacted told Amanda to bring her in the next morning. Amanda slept in the bathtub with Daisy that night & got her to the vet early the next day. Daisy was barely alive. The team sprang into action to save her and she stayed at the clinic for over a week, fighting to stay alive. The vet suspected it was either Kidney Failure, Cancer, or Addison’s. Thousands of dollars and about a week later, Addison’s was confirmed with the ACTH stim test on June 23, 2014.

Daisy came home weighing only 4.3 lb. and she was initially treated with Florinef. Amanda joined CARE early in July 2014. After her diagnosis, Daisy had 3 more Addisonian crises throughout the remainder of 2014. On December 3, she was switched to Percorten & daily Prednisone and she has remained stable ever since.

Daisy continues to impress everyone she encounters & loves them all. Florinef is a great option for dogs with Addison’s if their bodies can absorb it & they are on the correct dose. Daisy’s body just couldn’t metabolize it properly.

It’s been an amazing journey over the last two years with everyone that we’ve met in CARE. We are so very thankful that we still have Daisy with us and cannot thank this group enough for the knowledge & understanding everyone has. You all are a blessing and we are glad you all are a part of our lives.

One added note from CARE is that because of her experience with Daisy, Amanda decided to become a vet technician & has only one year left in her studies. Congratulations Amanda, and thank you Daisy.

 

We noticed that Lucydog seemed to have a bladder infection. I took her to the doctor on my Friday off. It was confirmed that she had a UTI and also an ear infection. They drew blood, but waited to send it at my request since that would be another $200. They were concerned that she hadn’t been eating, but figured it may have been because she just didn’t feel good.

She got antibiotics and seemed a bit better, but still wasn’t eating. She was having tremors/shaking, but she tends to do that a lot when sick or stressed. I started to get concerned when she wouldn’t even eat a marrow bone, though. Then we were both at work Wednesday. When I got home, I went in to let her out of her kennel to go potty…and she couldn’t stand up. Couldn’t even get her paws to cooperate to get them flat on the ground. I freaked and immediately went and got the phone, called Will and said “Lucy can’t walk.” I then called the vet, which thankfully had not closed yet (they would in 15 minutes) and they told me to bring her ASAP.
Will got home an hour and a half later or so, and they had been able to stabilize her. They thought it might be Addison’s disease, which was thankfully treatable. It presents in young dogs, is more common in females, and had lots of symptoms in common. Will still thought it may have just been severe dehydration. After 2 scary nights with her in doggie hospital because she still was not strong enough to walk, the blood test results confirmed Addison’s Disease. The UTI and ear infection pushed her body into crisis and she was probably close to death (what if I had been stuck at work for 45 minutes longer that day? omg). Thankfully, it is treatable with a monthly injection, one she will need for the rest of her life. But that life will be long and happy.

So, we still have a Lucy-lifetime to regulate her disease. But I am happy to report that as I type this, Lucy is loudly chomping a rawhide bone that I bought her in her cage right behind me. And other than a shaved paw where she had an IV and super-frequent peeing because of her recovery meds, she’s pretty much back to the same ol’ Lucydog. And we love it. I am very thankful that our vet gave her a quick and correct diagnosis and got her back on her feet (literally) quickly.