Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by steve smith on February 11, 2012 at 1:31pm

Dino said that he hope Marty is ok. Your on the top of Dinos prayer list We know you are missing him now

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Permalink Reply by Nancy on February 11, 2012 at 2:24pm

Thank you Dino and Steve.  We do miss Marty terribly but are so glad he is on the road to recovery and will be home soon.

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Permalink Reply by Ellen Andersen on February 11, 2012 at 2:41pm

Nancy, I'm so sorry!  Corgi smooches and get better wishes being sent from my three to Marty!  I'm afraid I don't have any helpful advice, though.  I haven't had any experience with Addisons.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on February 11, 2012 at 6:20pm

The good thing about Addison's is that it is totally treatable, the bad thing is that it is expensive. They thought Franklin had atypical Addison's so they ran a cortisol test and it was low but the ACTH stim test was normal so they said he didn't have it. I have worked in hospitals that have treated dogs in Addisonian crisis, which it sounds like what you are dealing with. Once the crisis is over and he is put on medication it should help out a lot. Probably the first few months will be hard and expensive until you get the doses/levels figured out, but after that he can live a completely normal life on the medication. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Nancy on February 11, 2012 at 6:39pm

Yes, Marty was experiencing Addisonian crisis. He is doing really well and we will be bringing him home tomorrow.  We are prepared for the costs and getting his dosages stable over the next few weeks/months.  Thank you all for the kind words.  It has been a hard few days.  The worst part was leaving him last night and tonight because he has never been away from us.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on February 11, 2012 at 10:43pm

So glad he gets to come home tommorrow! I'm sure Marty will be glad too:) I have no experience with Addisons discease.

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Permalink Reply by Ivy & Bryson on February 11, 2012 at 9:11pm

Sorry to hear that Marty's diagnosed with Addison's... as you know Bryson was diagnosed with AD a couple years ago, it must have been a scary and stressful experience for you guys :( But it's true that AD is very treatable, it does take time and patience to titrate his meds' doses, but you'll learn his signs of stress (and how to avoid/ manage them) very quickly, and pretty soon it'll become your new "routine".

You may have come across it already in your research, there is a forum for our fellow Addison's dog owners, there's TONS of info there, and it's a great community of people, if you pose questions you'll always get great insights:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/AddisonDogs_/

And not sure if Marty is on Percorten now, it's an injectable that supplements their mineralcorticoids (helps regulate electrolytes). It's pretty expensive, but as we learned from the yahoo group above, the cheapest way to get it seems to be to get it from 1800-petmeds, and ask them to match the price at medivet (medivet only sells to vets). Let us know if you need any more info about that or other meds (I also happen to be a pharmacist, so can try my best to help you with any AD-medicine-related questions!)

Best of luck!

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Permalink Reply by Nancy on February 13, 2012 at 7:33am

Thank you Ivy and Bryson!  Yes, Marty is on Percorten.  He came home yesterday and is doing well.  He still seems to be lacking energy but is not having tremors and his Na/K are normal.  The Prednisone is making him need to urinate a fair amount.  He actually had to go out in the middle of the night which he didn't have to do even as a puppy.  He still seems tentative about going up and down stairs so I think he still has some muscle weakness in his back legs.  With that said, I know he is feeling better because he had the energy to herd the cats around this morning (much to their displeasure (-: )  I joined the AddisonDogs forum and they are awesome! 

 

Thank you again!

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