Desmond was initially hit by a car in Bradford in February 2009 which resulted in a broken shoulder and some ligament damage to his front leg. He was taken to Sage Vets at Low Moor, Bradford where the vet Mr Codd took him in and treated his injuries. As nobody came forward to claim Desmond (named after the practice manager at the vets!) he was then handed over to the rescue.
Desmond went to live with a foster in late March and has proved to be so loving, funny and slightly dippy! However, Desmond initially struggled with what was thought to be ‘house training’ and he used to urinate in the house and we couldn’t understand what was wrong. In April he became very lethargic and began to rapidly lose weight. He was taken to the vets and it was thought he was maybe stressed due to his circumstances and it was agreed we would monitor him and try to feed him up. But his condition continued to deteriorate and one morning he vomited on several occasions so I took him back to the vets. He was given an injection to stop the vomiting. However, he became even more lethargic overnight and had to be rushed back to the vets.
It was a harrowing time and he was immediately put on a drip and blood tests were done. We soon had a diagnosis of ‘Addison’s Disease’ and he had suffered what is known as an ‘Addisonian Crisis’ which had nearly proved to be fatal. Luckily Mr Codd had previous experience of witnessing an Addisonian Crisis and he said ‘once seen never forgotten’ so Desmond was treated quickly and allowed home at the weekend.
Since then Des has responded well to his medication and it has been a process of checking his electrolytes (potassium, sodium & chloride levels) in order to stabilise his system. Addisons is a disease of the adrenal gland and whoever adopts Desmond will have to understand and be committed to his health in relation to this disease (probably best if potential new owners research the disease themselves). However, dogs with Addisons do live full and happy lives but they will always be on medication (Des is currently on 5 x 0.1mg Florinef daily) and they will need approx. 2 blood tests per year (and a good sprinkling of salt on food!). The Addisons will probably put some potential new owners off not just because of the disease itself but perhaps the financial implications as well. It’s not an expensive disease in terms of medication and Mr Codd has indicated that it may cost approx £8 monthly & 2 £20 blood tests per year.
Interestingly, we now believe Desmond’s excessive urination was down to the Addisons as now he is much more stable we only have the odd rare ‘accident.’ I have also spent lots of time cruising the internet for information and lots of people have talked about ‘excessive urination’ as a symptom. Another early symptom was ‘weak hind legs’ which we had noticed but attributed to his car accident! Excessive thirst is another. Poor Desmond, we will never know if being hit by the car triggered his Addisons through damage to his soft tissue or if it was actually his lucky day being hit as at least he was in rescue when he fell ill and stood a chance of being saved rather than being with someone who might have ignored it and left it too late?
Desmond will not be able to be re-homed to people who kennel their dogs whilst they holiday as he needs to be protected from any potential ‘stressful’ situations. Stress to Desmond may result in an imbalance of his electrolytes and cause problems or a ‘crash’. Even if he gets too happily excited it can cause an upset for him as we noticed that when we recently fostered a young playful dog whom he loved then he started urinating a bit again!! It settled down though. It’s not that Desmond himself has a stressful personality, far from it, he is incredibly laid back but I liken it to people going to a job interview, a party, a blind date etc and then they may get ‘butterflies’ even if they don’t want to! Well, that’s what it’s like for Desmond.
Desmond loves everyone and everything and his approach to life is with one big wagging tail and he is such a happy boy. He’s not clingy or protective and as most lurchers he loves to laze full length on a sofa and enjoys his food. Over the past 5 weeks he has gone from strength to strength and has put on some weight (at last!), however, we do not have an up to date reading of his electrolytes as the machine at sage vets has been out of action. He hasn’t been castrated due to his illness and he hasn’t been vaccinated yet as Mr Codd wanted to make sure he was 100% before he put anything else into Desmond’s system.
If you would like more information about Desmond or are interested in adopting him please email us, or call Emma on 07825 704 923
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