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This is Louis story as kindly told by Denise & Roy Fisher. We got Louis as a 3 year old through poodle rescue. He had been well cared for, but his owners circumstances had changed and they were finding it increasingly difficult to give him the level of care he deserved.They had already had to change his food because they found that cetain foods didn't suit him,but at this point there was no reason to think he had anything but a slightly delicate stomach,until 8 months after we got him.
One evening he had his tea,had violent sickness & diarrhoea and just lay on his side in the garden with his breathing becoming increasingly shallow & his heart rate slowing. I was phoning the vet, and at one point Roy came to tell me it was too late,but a few minutes later Louis came to the kitchen door & shook himself as though nothing had been wrong.
The illness was a complete mystery to the vets,there were no further problems until 6 months later.Louis by then had survived several Addisonian crises and had an exploratory operation before Addison's was diagnosed. his case was made more complicated by the fact he was still making small amounts of corticosteroids & still responded to the ACTH test. At first Addison's was ruled out,Louis was 24" at the shoulder and weighed only 3 stone.
Due to sheer determination & efforts beyond the call of duty by one vet at our practice who took a special interest in him, he was eventually diagnosed with Addison's. Louis was on steroids & other medication for the rest of his mostly healthy long life, until we sadly lost him aged 13 in February 2001.(he died of bladder cancer,completely unrelated to the Addisons)
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This is Saffy's story as told by Denise Loveday.
Saffy is my first Standard Poodle and when she became ill for the first time I did refer to Eileen Geesons book(The Complete Standard Poodle) when the vet couldn't find the problem.The book details all the symptoms but because they are so varied it did not sink in because Saffy only seemed a little depressed & was off her food.She had been attacked by a dog whilst walking (she is really sociable) & we put the lack of appetite too shock for the first 2 days, but after that we felt there was more to it.
The luck is that a Standard owner locally ,has a daughter who works at our vets.She told her mum(the Standard owner) and she rang round the Standard Poodle people she knew, they told her to check for Addisons which our vet immediately did. She is now on florinef for the rest of her life(she is 21 months). However we will always worry if she turns her nose up at food.
Our vets are now very aware of S Poodles being predisposed to Addisons.
You may find the following site helpful if you have a dog with Addison's Disease:
http://k9addisons.com
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