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A Guide in Addison's Disease in Dogs
by: Cristian Stan
The scientific name of Addison’s disease in dogs is hypoadrenocorticism. This type of illness is not a very common one but it is a serious one because it can cause the death of your dog.
The condition’s primary cause is the hormones underproduction from the adrenal glands. These types of hormones are vital. What does hypoadrenocorticism appear in dogs?
Primary reasons
Mainly, there are two causes: the immunity system is damaged and it causes problems for the adrenal gland or the pituitary gland doesn’t work properly. When the pituitary gland doesn’t secrete the right amount of hormones, hypoadrenocorticism develops.
Symptoms
This disease is quite common in humans and many of the symptoms in an ill dog are "human like". Both in humans and in dogs, the disease advances slowly and symptoms don’t appear from the start. But while the disease progresses, some of the symptoms you will notice are: the dog feels weak, it vomits, had diarrhea, and sometimes he even looses his hair. You should be careful because diarrhea and vomiting cause serious dehydration. Other symptoms, as important as the first ones, include abdominal pains, sometimes depression and trembling. The dog starts to have a decreased heart rate and even have blood in its stool.
Getting a diagnosis
It is very difficult to diagnose accurately this disease because the symptoms are common with those of kidney failure. Many veterinarians check for this disease by injecting the dog with the pituitary hormone to see if the adrenal gland responds. If the doctor sees no response from the dog’s adrenal gland, then the diagnosis is clear.
Treatment
It is known that when the adrenal gland or the pituitary doesn’t produce hormones correctly, the Addison’s disease appears. The treatment is to inject the dog with the right quantity of hormones or to give it medication based on hormones. Sometimes, even hormones supplements are given to help the glands.
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