Is Addisons hereditary?

Just as above really - is Addisons disease hereditary and so should a person inform the breeder if their dog develops it? Just related to a conversation I had earlier.

Yes Addisson's can be hereditary. Personally if I had bred a dog that developed it I would want to know and would not be breeding the parents again.

ETA: One of the reason's I am not prepared to breed my bitch is because I know there is Addisson's in the line with 2 of her uncles having produced it, I just prey she herself does not develop it.

Is it ALWAYS hereditary though?

That's what I was wondering. Someone I know has an ex breeding bitch who has produced three litters in the past but has recently developed Addisons. I asked if she had informed the breeder and she was surprised when I said I thought it was a hereditary disease. So I was wondering if it is hereditary or whether a dog can simply develop it.

I am not 100% sure on that but some believe it can be triggered by environmental factors however this is said to be uncommon.

There is an NI that had confirmed Addissons which was claimed to have been caused by an operation, however the fact that that dogs sire's sibling had also produced it would indicate that the operation probably triggered the already underlying condition as opposed to actually causing it.

If anyone else on here knows otherwise then feel free to correct me.

Personally I'd air on the side of caution.

A friend's puppy developed Addisons following a severe bout of kennel cough and then a bad campylobactor infection, both at a very young age. There was no Addisons in the line before.

Addisons can be caused by the use of steriods in veterinary treatment. It can also be idiopathic(ie cause unknown), however certainly in Bearded Collies it does seem much more common in some lines rather than others.

As a breeder I certainly would want to know if a dog I bred developed Addisons

Hi

My late and lovely Poppy had Addisons which only developed after she had had two litters.
As a responsible breeder, I did an awful lot of research into the disease.

It is an auto-immune mediated disease and is quite rare and in Poppy's case difficult to diagnose. I was unable to find any Addisons dogs on Poppy's pedigree - however, people dont tell you everything !

As an auto immune disease I would have expected other related, similar things like hypothyroidism and diabetes to be there, but I couldnt find it

It normally develops in doggy middle age. It is not thought to be inherited, but in humans can be found in family groups. In dogs, some breeds are more suseptible than others. I have only ever found one other Addisonian English Setter who was not in any way related to Poppy. None of her children went on to get Addisons - or any other auto-immune disease - so in her case I believe it was idiopathic.


When Poppy was diagnosed I let all the owners of her children know so that they would be aware of the symptoms and I also made sure that none of her progeny was bred on from - a pity in some ways, because she was a lovely dog. I still have 2 twelve year old boys from her first litter.

It is not acceptable to breed from a bitch that has been diagnosed firstly because of the chance it might be inherited, and secondly it would be detrimental (fatal) to an Addisonian bitch to be put through the stress of a pregnancy.

Poppy's story is on my website - read it with a hankie in your hand

THalice's Mum

Thank you for your replies. The bitch in question is retired from breeding and in a great pet home now. Hopefully it's just 'one of those things' and her pups won't be affected. It doesn't seem like Addisons is a well understood illness as yet. She's doing great on her medication though and is back to her old self.

It isn't rare in show Beardies sadly