HYPOADRENOCORTICISM IN DOGS: REVIEW

Abstract

Hypoadrenocorticism, or Addison’s disease, is an uncommon endocrinopathy of hard diagnosis in dogs, since the clinical signs mimic common diseases of small animal’s clinic. It can be classified in primary, secondary or tertiary. It affects young or middle-aged animals, and the most predisposed breeds to have this disease include: Poodle, Springer spaniel, Rottweiler, Basset hound and West highland terrier. Clinical signs are variable, and the patient may have from simple gastroenteritis to signs of recumbency and coma, due to the lack of glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids. The diagnosis is made based on clinical signs and confirmed by the correct choice of hormonal tests. The clinician must not lose time to diagnose and treat the disease, since animals in crisis can die in hours. The objective of this review is to alert clinicians about the occurrence of this disease and the difficulty of diagnosis, because of the similarity of clinical signs with those of other diseases.