If your poodle is vomiting and you and your vet have ruled out some of the more common causes (like dietary indiscretion), then you might want to consider Addison\u2019s Disease.\u00a0 And since Standard Poodles seem to have higher rates of Addison\u2019s, it\u2019s a good idea to mention this possibility to your vet if he or she doesn\u2019t mention it to you.<\/p>\n
So, how do you diagnose Addison\u2019s Disease?\u00a0 Your vet will do it with a special blood test.\u00a0 It\u2019s the only way to know for sure.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the symptoms of Addison\u2019s Disease are pretty vague.\u00a0 Your poodle might vomit. She might seem listless.\u00a0 In some cases you might see weakness, shivering or trembling. These symptoms may come and go, which makes them easy to miss.<\/p>\n
As the disease progresses the symptoms get very serious.\u00a0 Your poodle may have an irregular heartbeat.\u00a0 She may even go into shock (with death following very quickly). As such, it\u2019s a good idea to do the simple blood test (ACTH test) so that you can either start treating your poodle for Addison\u2019s Disease or rule it out.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve already been to the vet with your vomiting poodle, then there\u2019s a good chance you did a standard blood panel. While this can\u2019t definitely diagnose Addison\u2019s Disease, sometimes \u2013 but not always \u2013 it can offer your vet some clues.\u00a0 Most notably, dogs with Addison\u2019s Disease may have electrolyte imbalances, elevated potassium, BUN and creatine levels and an abnormal potassium\/sodium ratio.<\/p>\n
But again, these signs don\u2019t always show up on a standard blood panel in a dog with Addison\u2019s Disease.\u00a0 Nor do these signs mean a dog has Addisons, as they can indicate problems with the kidneys, dehydration and other illnesses.\u00a0 Only the ACTH stimulation blood test can give you the definite Addison\u2019s Disease diagnosis.<\/p>\n
So, that brings us to the next question: What, exactly, is Addison\u2019s Disease?<\/p>\n
In short, it means that your poodle\u2019s body isn\u2019t producing enough cortisol.\u00a0 Cortisol is typically created in response to stress (the so-called fight or flight response). Stress for a dog can be as simple as you leaving (separation anxiety) to events like going to the groomers, getting boarded, going on a trip, moving, having house guests, introducing a new pet into the family, etc.<\/p>\n
In short, a lot of things stress a dog. And if your poodle\u2019s body isn\u2019t making enough cortisol to handle this stress, she\u2019s going to have problems.\u00a0 If the disease progresses to the point where she goes into shock (Addisonian Crisis), you\u2019ll need to get her to the vet NOW in order to save her life.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, while Addison\u2019s Disease is a serious illness, once your poodle is diagnosed and treated she can lead a normal life.\u00a0 Basically, she\u2019ll need to take medicines and\/or get a shot that will give her the needed cortisol and other hormones that her body isn\u2019t producing on it\u2019s own.\u00a0 During times of stress (like boarding), she may need an extra dose.\u00a0 You\u2019ll also need to have frequent blood tests (at least at first) just so your vet can monitor how her body is responding.<\/p>\n
Bottom line: Addison\u2019s Disease can\u2019t be cured, but it can be treated so that your poodle can lead a normal life. The trick, however, is making sure you test\/diagnose Addison\u2019s Disease before your poodle\u2019s life is threatened.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
That’s it for this time.\u00a0 Once again, keep checking back as we talk about other reasons your poodle may be vomiting.\u00a0 And check the previous posts for other\u00a0 posts in the poodle vomiting series. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If your poodle is vomiting and you and your vet have ruled out some of the more common causes (like dietary indiscretion), then you might want to consider Addison\u2019s Disease.\u00a0 And since Standard Poodles seem to have higher rates of Addison\u2019s, it\u2019s a good idea to mention this possibility to your vet if he or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[39,33],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poodle_health","tag-addisons-disease-in-poodles","tag-vomiting-poodle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}