Addisons

[Rot777]

My 2 year old male was diagnosed with addisons disease a little over a week ago.

He has been at the vet for a week one week. He came home yesterday, I have been following the vets instructions about the amount of medicine to give him.

From the time he came home, he has been drinking alot of water, and urinates every 20 minutes.

Is this normal?

Does this mean he is getting to much medicine?

[Rot777]

anyone who has experience with this didead, please help

[moondog]

Did the vet prescribe Florinef? If so, the side effects of this medication are very similar to prednisone. Increased thirst and urination are typical.

The vet should be monitoring his blood values frequently in the beginning, so the dosage can be adjusted if needed. Once the optimum dose is established, usually quarterly bloodwork is done to monitor progress.

[observer]

I would also suggest you keep in close touch with your vet, as moondog stated, so that you can all be sure he is receiving the correct amount of medication.

[Rot777]

He was actually stayed at the vets office for 7 days, the vet monitored his progress, and says he is doing much better.

He is on Florenif, I give him 8 pills a day, which I am told to do (They are really tiny). Also I am giving him some other pills, but those are only for seven days.

The bill I received says he did check the bloodwork, again.

Is it normal for him to be drinking and urinating that often?


A few months ago, his coat started turning red, I have posted a few times about that, but couldn't figure out why, is it because of this disease?

[Ilovemypuppy]

Yes..red coat is one of the symptoms. I had a girl who was diagnosed with Addison's at 5 years of age. She was on Florinef her whole life and lived at 11 years. Sometimes they also prescribe prednisone along with the Florinef, but in Roxie's case they didn't. Florinef does cause them to have to urinate more often and drink more water.

Roxie had to have her blood tested for correct sodium/potassium levels every week for the first two months, then every two weeks and so on until once a month from then on. It's VERY important that those levels are checked OFTEN as the drug may need to be adjusted.

[hcelsa]

Here is an excellent website on Addison's in dogs (with links to the very active Addison's yahoogroup as well):
http://www.addisondogs.com/

I have a friend with a poodle that gets the monthly injections of Percorten rather than daily Florinef and she is doing very well. I believe it is also a more reasonably priced medication, but I could be wrong. I know that the Addison's list is a good place to find the best prices/places to get medication, and that some people are able to get it through their human pharmacy.

One other thing...whip worm can mimic Addison's disease (http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_whipworms.html). I know of at least one Rottweiler (not my own) that was incorrectly diagnosed with Addison's, on medication and seemed to be improving and then crashed again...once wormed with whipworm medicine he recovered completely and is definitely not Addisonian.

[Rot777]

Originally Posted by Ilovemypuppy

Yes..red coat is one of the symptoms. .

Did the coat ever change back?

[Ilovemypuppy]

Originally Posted by Rot777

Did the coat ever change back?

Yes..it did over time...6 months to a year...after shedding out.

[MyPuppyLove]

Good luck to you and your dog. I have experienced Addison's first hand.. I lost my girl in November due to it. The disease I know can be treated to a point where the dog will lead an almost normal life but my baby went into it so fast and we tried to treat her vigorously to no avail. I wish you the best of luck...please keep us updated.