DOG HEALTH AND MEDICINE

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Whatever the cause of Addisons, young and middle-aged dogs, like one-and-a-half-year-old Jedi, are the most likely to be affected. There are also some breeds for which there appears to be a genetic predisposition. Standard poodles are the big ones that come to mind, Dr. Mahony says, but also wheaten terriers, Leonbergers, and Nova Scotia duck tolling retrievers. But as border collie Jedis case makes clear, any breed is potentially susceptible.

With standard Addisons disease you have relatively classic findings, and its easy to confirm the diagnosis, says Tufts internal medicine veterinarian Orla Mahony, MVB, DACVIM. Once you have a reasonable index of suspicion, you should be able to pinpoint it. But theres a type of Addisons disease called Atypical Addisons, which is a deficiency of just cortisol, not cortisol and aldersterone, and that may be harder to recognize, Dr. Mahony explains, because it doesnt produce.

Addisons disease is already far along by the time a dogs owner notices something is wrong, says Tufts veterinarian Orla Mahony, MVB. At diagnosis, all Addisonian dogs have already lost more than 90 percent of their adrenal gland function. Thats why by the time its picked up, a dog needs replacement hormones for the rest of his life.

Your dog is not herself. Shes tired more than usual, perhaps kind of weak and mopey, and has lost much of her appetite. Does she have an infection? Might she be anemic? Could it be something more serious? Maybe shes simply about to undergo an operation and the vet wants to check her overall state to see if the standard dose of anesthesia will need to be adjusted. Or her health is perfectly fine but…

At two and a half years old, Scout was having unexplained seizures. They were very difficult to control, says his owner, Deborah Prevratil. He was on standard phenobarbital and other medicines and still, we averaged anywhere from four seizures a day down to one. But after working with a veterinarian schooled in acupuncture, Scout went down to one seizure every two weeks. Right now he has been seizure-free for more than three months, says.

There are three ways a veterinarian can receive certification for using acupuncture to treat dogs and other animals, and while theres overlap, the approaches differ to some degree. Note that there is no board certification in acupuncture recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association. These certifications are considerably less rigorous than those for, say, anesthesia or internal medicine.

Q I own a two-year-old Labrador retriever who was recently due for his bordetella booster. Last year he was given the injectable vaccine.

The reason that evidence of allergies is so often found on a dogs feet is that theres not much hair on and between the toes. Hair acts as a barrier, Dr. Lam says, so absorption of environmental allergens like pollen, dust, mites, or mold through the skin is easy if the hair coat is sparse. Its true for any area on a dogs body where the hair is relatively thin, she says - the ears, under the arms, and in the groin area as well.

One reason people may perceive perfectly healthy dogs to be underweight when they arent is that the nations dogs have been experiencing an obesity crisis paralleling that of their owners, causing too heavy to become the new normal and ideal weight to become too thin. So many dogs are now overweight that it doesnt stand out as much anymore. What stands out are dogs on the thin side.

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Easy was not having an easy time of it. The German shepherd, pregnant with nine puppies as confirmed by radiographs, was in hard labor with really heavy contractions, says her owner Cindy Miller - but none of the contractions were adequate to deliver her babies. It was getting to the point at which both the mother and her pups would be in serious distress. …