Maisie’s lucky journey

Maisie, a gorgeous Cockapoo, was referred to us earlier this year at 7 years old. Her caring owners were incredibly worried about her as she had lost around half of her body weight and for a few months had been severely unwell continually vomiting and experiencing diarrhoea, her local vet had been investigating but couldn’t find the cause and didn’t think she would survive the night. By the time she came in to see our team in Hampshire, she had collapsed and needed urgent medical care.

She was rushed into the care of our Medicine team at Anderson Moore, which included Laura Holm and Lucy McMahon, one of our Specialists in Small Animal Internal Medicine who undertook a number of tests and using their expertise and experience quickly diagnosed her with atypical hypoadrenocorticism (Addison’s disease). Addison’s disease is a disease of the adrenal glands leading to hormone deficiency and can make dogs very ill and in severe cases it can be fatal.

Atypical Addison’s disease is hard to diagnose as the symptoms can be vague and can also mimic many other conditions. Addison’s disease is usually suspected when there are electrolyte imbalances seen on routine blood testing, but these are absent in the atypical form, making diagnosis more elusive.

After a series of medications she stabilised and with the care of the nursing team day and night, over 5 days Maisie began to recover well, getting her appetite back and getting back to being her bright happy self. Lucy recommended that she be checked every month for a few months after she was discharged from us, then every 3 months for a year by her local vet to check that her condition was under control. That meant regularly checking her activity levels, bloods, appetite, weight and gastrointestinal signs among other things. These regular checks ensured that Maisie didn’t go on to develop an electrolyte disturbance and also allowed her local vet to assess that her medication was at the correct dose.

Maisie requires lifelong medication and this needs to be increased if she has a stressful situation coming up.  But, with regular veterinary care she will live a long and happy life.  

Her caring owners reported that she is still doing really well and said, “It was an incredibly emotional and stressful time, and we were so close to losing our lovely girl. We can’t thank the team enough, they acted so quickly and with impressive expertise. During the week she was in the hospital, we found the teams so caring, finding the time to update us and give us peace of mind. We recommend Anderson Moores to everyone, it’s so good to know they are there!”