While dogs with this condition generally have increased white blood cell counts, this is not relied upon solely as a diagnostic criterion because there are many conditions that can increase white blood cells.
Supplementing with probiotics can go a long way to
help dogs with conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease.
Treating hair loss
in dogs with this condition will also involve adrenal gland testing and than treating this condition to slow the corticosteroid overproduction.
Dogs with conditions such as megaesophagus and similar health problems that make swallowing difficult will also benefit, as gravity helps food down the esophagus.
Affected dogs usually present before 6 months of age with uncoordinated gait and poor balance, gradually becoming more severe until at around a year and a half, unable to move without falling and
Dogs with this condition appear to otherwise retain normal cognitive and behavioral functioning.
However,
dogs with the condition frequently exhibit signs such as fatigue, unusual feebleness of the muscles, bruises, panting, swelling of the stomach, hair loss, excessive need to urinate and fragile skin.
Most
dogs with this condition eventually become lame and the lameness can be very severe in some dogs, even to the point of disuse of one leg or severe difficult getting up and walking even short distances.
If your dog has been diagnosed with this disease, I recommend a food high in omega - 3 fatty acids, as they have been shown to have a positive effect
on dogs with this condition.
Recent studies suggest that decreased amounts of ceramides occur in the skin of
dogs with a condition known as canine atopic dermatitis.
Many shelters are not able to
treat dogs with this condition and have to euthanize due to the contagious aspect of the disease, but The Animal League has a unique medical division where they can isolate and treat ailing puppies and dogs.
A cobalamin deficiency occurs in four out of five dogs with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, and some research suggests it can be at least partly responsible for the personality changes seen
in dogs with the condition, making them perhaps more fearful and timid or more aggressive with, say, other dogs — or at least somewhat confused or disoriented, impairing cognitive function.
Finally, the most important reason it's critical for you to be aware of SAS and take action with your new puppy is that most
dogs with the condition do not live more than three years without some kind of treatment.
The minerals in water can also contribute to tear staining, so suggest that the owners
of dogs with this condition provide bottled or filtered water for their pets in a stainless steel bowl.
Dogs with this condition are more prone to develop urinary tract infections as well.
Sixty to seventy percent of
the dogs with the condition are female.
Dogs with this condition might experience relief when treated with anti-inflammatory drugs — but surgery is usually required for more serious cases.
I am writing Nadia's story hoping that will help others come to a diagnosis sooner, and also give hope that
dogs with this condition can lead happy & energetic lives and still can be competitive in performance venues.
The dogs with the condition have their owners begging for a solution.
A dog with this condition will be in pain or will eventually have paralysis.
The objective is to provide
each dog with the conditions which will be most suitable and thus creating an environment which will allow him / her to develop positively until he / she is adopted.