Sally has atypical Addison's disease

Well, it took lots of lab work and tests, but the Docs think they have a handle on what caused her sudden illness. After removing her infected spleen, her labs came back with some strange results - she had very low cortisol levels. While operating, the surgeon noted that her adrenal glands looked normal but were smaller than usual. Regular Addison's usually presents when the dog is young - 2 to 3 years old. Sally is 9. This type of Addisons seems to develop slowly, then reaches a stage when the immune system is compromised enough that things start to go wrong. This could be why she developed this massive infection so quickly. The specialist also said this could be an explanation for some of the other, less serious problems that she has had. She had a bout of masticatory myositis a few years ago, and has had several mysterious digestive upsets, some pretty bad, with inconclusive causes. The good news is that this type of Addisons is actually easier to treat than the commoner type. Low doses of prednisone often take care of the hormonal imbalance. Hopefully it will happen this way for Sally. We are really fortunate to have a veterinary specialist practice close to us. These guys have saved several of our pets that I know we would have lost otherwise. She's not quite out of the woods yet - it will take some trial and error to determine proper doses of the prednisone, but if we're lucky we might have 5 or 6 more years with our girl. :wub: