Adrenal gland problems are common in dogs
We all take good health for granted. Our bodies wake up every morning, we breathe, eat and drink in just the right amounts (more or less), we have enough energy to do what we need to do, and at night time, we fall asleep to ensure that our bodies have enough rest to carry on functioning. This all happens automatically, without us having to think about it.
It’s my job as a vet to help animals when this natural good health stops happening.
Sometimes it’s obvious what’s wrong: a broken leg, a tumour-like growth, or an abscess-type infection. But when the signs of illness are subtle
- with vague signs like lack of energy, increased thirst, weight gain or loss, agitation or mild gastrointestinal upsets, it can be challenging to find the underlying reason. The vet needs to take a full, detailed description of the animal’s daily habits, carry out a careful physical examination, and then do extra tests like blood samples, urine analysis, xrays and ultrasound.
The process of searching and finding the answer to ill health is one of the most rewarding parts of being a vet.
When the hormones in the body go wrong, the signs of illness can be complex, and two recent cases provided good examples of this mystery-solving aspect of veterinary work.
In both cases the problem was caused by the adrenal glands, which are tiny bean-sized structures beside the kidneys. In one case, the adrenal glands failed by stopping hormone production and in the other case, the reverse happened: cancerous tissue on the adrenal gland caused excessive production of hormones. The adrenals produce two types of hormones.
First there are cortisone-type hormones that help the body cope with the stres of daily living, and second there’s a hormone that controls the blood’s electrolyte levels such as sodium and potassium. Disruptions to both of these hormone levels result in widely differing signs of illness in affected animals.
The first dog was a three year old Golden Labrador called Tina. Over a few months, she had repeated episodes of serious gastrointestinal upsets. She stopped eating, became dull, and suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea. Each time, she was so unwell that she had to be taken to the emergency vet (it always seemed to happen at the weekend), She was given standard therapies to help her digestive system as well as an intravenous drip to rehydrate her body. Each time, she made a full recovery. When she suffered two bouts of this type of illness within a couple of weeks, we decided that it was time to go looking for the underlying reason why it kept happening.
We did two sets of blood tests. The first ones, carried out in our practice laboratory, showed that she had badly skewed levels of electrolytes (sodium and potassium) in her blood. A second blood test was sent off to a specialised laboratory that measured hormone levels. This test showed that her adrenal glands had completely stopped producing cortisone-type hormones. This was the diagnosis we had been looking for: she was suffering from hypoadrenocorticism, known as Addison’s Disease. The cause of this is unknown, but the cure is simple: for the rest of her life Tina needs once monthly injections as well as daily tablets. Since her body has stopped producing its own hormones, she needs them from an external source to keep her healthy. The good news is that the treatment works: I am almost sure that Tina will go on to have a long and healthy life, with no more bouts of disabling and worrying illness.
The second case was a ten year old Bichon Frise dog called Molly. She had started to have accidents in the house, leaving puddles on the kitchen floor every morning. There wasn’t much to find wrong with her physically: she had a bit of a pot belly, and her hair was sparser than it used to be, but that was all. I did a routine blood-and-urine work up to look for signs that could cause her urine accidents Could she have a urinary tract infection, or could she be suffering from early diabetes?
Again, we did the initial blood tests in our own laboratory. The results showed a distinctive pattern of changes in the chemicals and enzymes that suggested that she might have an upset in her adrenal gland hormones. We sent off samples to the specialised laboratory and the results confirmed the diagnosis. She was suffering from the opposite problem to Tina: her adrenal glands were producing sky high levels of hormones, causing her to produce abnormally high quantities of urine. Her bladder was filling up so much overnight that she couldn’t stop herself from piddling on the kitchen floor. The disease is called Hyperadrenocorticism, or Cushing’s Disease.
Molly’s treatment, like Tina’s, involved daily tablets, but instead of boosting her hormone levels, the medication does the opposite: it stops the adrenal glands from producing hormones at such a high level. Within a few weeks of starting the treatment, Molly’s morning accidents had stopped. And at the same time, her pot belly and balding areas have cleared up.
Adrenal gland problems are common in dogs, but the good news is that they can be diagnosed and treated simply and effectively. If your pet has signs of illness that seem odd, talk to your vet