Bracken's Story with Addisons

On Tuesday 24^th March 2009, our beloved Bracken was diagnosed with Addison’s disease, this is a disease that although is on the increase in the canine world, is rare in German Shepherds and especially rare in dogs under the age of 5 years old.

Since this time, we have been through an emotional rollercoaster and our Girl has proved that she has more fight in her than we ever thought she could have, here is the story of Bracken and Addison’s. For more information regarding Addison’s, please visit the Addison’s page on our website. 

The weekend before Bracken was diagnosed we had been on a lovely walk with a large group of friends and their German Shepherds, it was quite a long walk so when Bracken was a little quieter than usual the next day we thought nothing of it. One of our dogs had been sick throughout the night the evening before and which had put this down to Obi as he is known for eating rubbish off the ground and we found him munching on a dead rabbit in the woods! It wasn’t until the next day when we walked Ruby and Obi leaving Bracken at home that we discovered is was Bracken being sick, as she had been sick whilst we were out. She began being sick frequently throughout the evening and would not touch her food. We agreed that if it got any worse we would visit the vets the next morning.

Karen got up every few hours to check on her and mainly to clear up any mess. The sickness had continued in the early hours so we were definitely planning to visit the vet in the morning, however at around 3.30am things started to go downhill very quickly. Karen had got up again to check on her and Bracken just collapsed on the floor in front of her and could not get up. There was no response from Bracken at all, her pupils we heavily dilated and she did not respond to us in any way at all and Bracken couldn’t move.

We rushed her to the vets and arrived around 4am beating the vet there and when the vet arrived we carried Bracken in on a blanket. We will never forget the vet’s expression – she took one look at Bracken and then looked at us, she didn’t need to say anything but she did, she already felt Bracken was too far gone to help her. After quickly telling her of Bracken’s symptoms and the speed at which she deteriorated throughout the night, the vet immediately suspected Addison’s disease, something we had never heard of and we later learned and appreciated that this was a truly amazing diagnosis- one which without any doubt saved Bracken’s life. From our experience of speaking to many others owners of dogs with Addison’s it generally takes weeks if not months to diagnose the disease, our vet had done this within minutes!

The vet began the treatment for Addison’s immediately but there was a problem, after 15 mins in the treatment room the vet came out with the worst news possible – Bracken was so far gone they could not even get the fluids into her and asked if they could stop. In a complete state of shock we asked if they could continue for just a while longer. After another 10 mins they managed to get the fluids in and we were able to see Bracken for the first time since arriving at the vets. She was pretty much in the same state as when we had arrived but with a few drips attached to her. There was still no response   from her but I honestly believe she could hear us. The vet made it quite clear to us that although getting the fluids in was great, there was still only a slim chance Bracken would survive and even if she did there was a high chance of brain damage and after all they were treating her for Addison’s - without actually knowing at that time if she did have the condition. The next few hours were critical and we had no choice but to leave her there, knowing that there was only a slim chance of seeing her alive again. We don’t remember the journey home and when we did arrive home we nearly brought down the Google servers as we researched as much as we could about Addison’s. We knew straight away that is was a very complex condition in dogs.

At around 8.30 we got the call from the vets and they told Karen some amazing news; Against all the odds, Bracken had responded to treatment and had come round but we know we were not out of the woods yet and the next 24 hours were very important. The vet had sent off emergency tests for Addison’s, although given the speed of Bracken’s recovery we were already pretty certain that it was this condition – and this was later confirmed. What Bracken had been through is what is known as an ‘Addison’s crisis’.

As detailed on the Addison’s page on our website www.sabroc.co.uk , the condition is closely associated to a dogs stress levels which makes it much more complex for poor Bracken, especially as she came to us in February 2008 as a result of fighting in a breeders home that she lived in and we immediately identified that she had a high level of anxiousness. Because of this anxiousness, we agreed with the vet that we would not go and visit her until she had fully stabilised as any additional stress or excitement could seriously impact her recovery. As difficult as this was, we were just happy she was alive and we had to do what was best for her. We were able to visit her the next day and she came home the day after that.

The vet also confirmed that tests had shown that Bracken has a smaller heart than normal. There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to Addison’s and her small heart could have been a contributing factor to the Addison’s but on the other hand, it could have been caused by the Addison’s.

From the point when she arrived home, we entered the stage of the condition where we needed to stabilise Bracken’s medication levels, this generally takes around three months and the vets warned us we were in for a rough ride because in order to stabilise the levels we needed Bracken to go through a ‘normal’ life so for us this meant taking on her walks with friends, dog shows, trips to family etc – basically the norm. We had to be cautious but if we didn’t put Bracken through this stage we would never have learned where her limits are and without knowing her limits this would put us at risk of any stressful situation in the future causing her to go into crisis mode. We did actually face come criticism from some people during this time but we knew what we were doing and so did our vets and those that took time to research the condition would have understood why we did what we did.    

During the three month period Bracken regularly visited the vets for testing so see how any changes in medication impacted her blood levels, she was rushed into the vets on three occasions during this period. The difficulty we faced is that some of the common warning signs of going into crisis mode are sickness and diarrhoea, lethargicness, no interest in food, dehydration, cold gums and urinating more often than normal, many of these warning signs can be caused just by a common bug but unfortunately we have to fear the worst and they often result in a trip to the vet – especially where Bracken cannot keep her food (and medication down).

 Her drug levels were changed frequently to find the right balance between the two sets of drugs; Florinef which will always be her daily medication which stabilises her potassium and sodium levels  and Prednidale which is a steroid. The overall aim of any Addison’s dog is to find the right level of daily florinef and to completely come off the steroids, as regular steroids are just not good long term and even have many side effects in the short term.

With advice from our vet, we did try to reduce Bracken’s steroid intake and just by changing her amount from once daily to every other day sent her into crisis mode, this was back in June 2009 and was thankfully (touch wood) the third (and last time) Bracken went to the vets (other than periodic routine testing). For the foreseeable future, Bracken will remain on a daily steroid tablet (in addition to eight Florinef tablets). The downside of the daily steroid is that it is quite certain Bracken will have a shortened life but we will always remain optimistic and in the mean time Bracken is leading a normal happy life. At the initial stages of the illness, any situation that may have appear stressful/excitable to Bracken resulted in us giving her a extra steroid tablet, this meant when someone came to visit, an extra walk, trip to family etc. We cannot remember the last time Bracken was given an extra tablet and with close monitoring she has been to dog shows, group walks, visits to friends and family and even a weeks away in Derbyshire and Loch Ness all without an extra tablet, our girl has just gone from strength to strength. Her last electrolyte/blood test results were described as ‘perfect’ by our vet.

Bracken has even started playing with toys, of which she had never done before and she is happier than ever before, we still have to work hard on her anxiousness on a daily basis and we do have our ups and downs, at times this can be difficult to manage but as a whole she is so much better - if you met Bracken you wouldn't even realise most of the time that she has these issues and he has been happier than ever before. Most pictures in Bracken’s gallery have been taken since she’s had Addison’s!

Nearly all Addison’s dogs go onto live a normal happy and healthy life once their medication levels are correct and Bracken is one of them J Bracken leads the same life she did a year ago, the same amount of exercise, same food, the same days out….we are perhaps just a little cautious than we were a year ago!

On the downside, Bracken has lost her undercoat – a typical side effect of the steroids, so now she has a nice warm and waterproof jacket to wear throughout the winter months, it doesn’t seem to bother her at all. She also has weakened bladder muscles so sometimes loses control of when she pees, this is made worse by the steroids making her very thirsty most of the time but in the grand scheme of things these are little issues. Bracken has recently developed several cists around her body which we believe have been caused by the steroids.

It is also unknown if Addison’s is hereditary, some say it is, some say it isn’t and we do of course have Ruby and she is Bracken’s daughter. Although we are not worried at this moment in time, that risk will always be there….it’s just a bridge we’ll have to cross…..

The support we have received during this time has been amazing, we are often receiving phone calls and emails asking how she is doing and commenting how well she is looking J We’d like to thank all our friends that have supported us during this difficult time, it really, really helps.

In March (2010) it will have been a year since Bracken was diagnosed, It has been a very emotional time since Bracken’s first signs of illness and to a degree it always will be, perhaps the worst part of the condition is the mental and emotional toll it takes on you, constantly worrying and watching Bracken’s every move, worrying every time she is quiet and not herself,  wanting to rush her to the vets at the first possible sign of any sickness and doubting doing anything out of the ordinary due to the stress it could cause her   

but for now we’ll just enjoy our girl, during this time we’ve shed a lot of tears but equally shared many a laugh, to see our girl running across the fields with a smile on her face, playing with her daughter Ruby and our boy Obi is something we’ll never ever take for granted and is something that at one point we never thought we’d see again….

*Please note: We often speak to people worried about Addison’s in their dogs, this is just an account of how it has happened with us and with Bracken, Addison’s is very complex and differs from dog to dog so please always seek professional medical advice. We are happy to discuss this with anyone that feels it would help, please contact us via the “Contact Us” page

**All pictures on this page have been taken since Bracken was diagnosed with Addison’s.