Prednisone–one of the drugs used to treat Addison’s disease–is said to have a glucocorticoid effect. Unlike mineralcorticoids, a lack of glucocorticoids isn’t likely to cause an immediate, life-threatening situation. However, a lack of glucocorticoids means that your dog will not be able to physically deal with stress; this can lead to an Addisonian crisis.
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In my article Do Vaccinations Cause Addison’s Disease, I discussed how a dog with a lowered immune system (such as a dog with Addison’s disease), regular vaccinations might not be the best choice. An alternative to vaccines is a titer test, which measures how much antibody to a certain pathogen is on your dog’s system at the time of the test. However, titer tests are not without their own problems.
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If you’ve just found this site, and are looking for some basic information on Addison’s disease, my article that Associated Content just published will give you an overview of the condition:
“If you own a Bearded collie, German short-haired pointer, Great Dane, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Portuguese water dog, Rottweiler, Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier, Springer Spaniel, Standard Poodle or West Highland White Terrier, chances are you’ve heard of Addison’s disease. It is said to be one hundred times more prevalent in dogs than in humans! Also known as hypoadrenocorticism…” click here to read the rest of the article
Our Addison’s dog, Shakti had been on her Addison’s meds for about six months when her hair started falling out. We since found out that it was most probably due to too much prednisone. This article lists the side effects for Percorten-V, Florinef and Prednisone. Â If your pet is experiencing any of these side effects, the dosage or interval of the drugs may need to be reduced.
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If your dog has canine Addison’s disease, you might experience sticker shock at the veterinary office. A month’s supply of replacement hormones for our Addison’s dog, Shakti, cost $80 per month. In this article, I’ll discuss how to reduce the costs of treatment, or even get it for free!
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Most of us visit the veterinarian once a year for vaccinations. I never gave this annual event a second thought until my border collie, Shakti, developed Addison’s disease. I have since discovered that additives to vaccines (adjuvants) are thought to cause immune disorders in dogs, so I’ll be foregoing her usual annual shots.
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Addison’s causes aren’t exactly known but there are several suspects, including a faulty immune system, vaccinations, and tumors:
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Treatment for Addison’s disease in dogs consist of two stages. If your dog is in Addisonian Crisis, your vet will want to, at a minimum, start your pet in IV fluids to get the electrolyte levels back to normal. You can read about Addisonian crisis and therapy in this article. The second step of treatment is maintenance therapy, which involves supplementing the missing hormones for the rest of your pet’s life. There is no one universal “fix” for Addison’s disease: dogs will need to be closely monitored to reach optimal health levels.
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There is only one way to give a firm diagnosis of Addison’s disease, and that is to perform an adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation (ACTH) test.
The ACTH test involves several steps:
When an ACTH injection is given, a normal animal will produce cortisol in response to the ACTH injection. An Addison’s dog will not produce cortisol.
The ACTH stimulation test is the gold standard to diagnose Addison’s disease—without the test, your pet will not have a confirmed diagnosis.
An Addisonian crisis is a medical emergency. Symptoms can be vague and mimic gastrointestinal disorders, acute renal failure, liver disease, insulinoma, hypothyroidism or hypoglycemia. Here are the symptoms that generally indicate Addison’s crisis in most cases:
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