Beebe's Adventures with Pacific Rimism

Well, what I had thought was at worst pancreatitis from the giving of table scraps over Christmas, turned out to be a whole can of worms. The Vet told me they believed Beebe had Addison's disease because her potassium was near lethal levels. The Vet's near exact words, "this lab work is scary."

I was advised to begin treatment of her Addison's and to treat the elevated potassium per the cardiologists evaluation of her EKG. After further tests and after frantic phone calls to my breeder and other Japanese breed experts while rushing to the Vet, we concluded that Beebe does express the recessive syndrome of Pacific Rimism and I have declined further treatment of the suspected Addison's and pseudo hyperkalemia.

What does this mean for Japanese/Asian spitz breed owners: Pacific Rimism by itself is not dangerous or lethal. What is dangerous is misdiagnosing Addison's disease and treating it in animals that have Pacific Rim syndrome. The average, or even well informed General Practice Vet will not know about this syndrome. Face it, I count myself fortunate that my Vet even knows what a Shiba Inu is. Everything beyond that is icing on the cake.

Odie's adventures with misdiagnosis:
http://rowdyrover.blogspot.com/2010/01/odie-and-pacific-rimism.html

My original recount of Beebe's adventures with Pacific Rimism posted by Jen (Shiba Inu Spirit):
http://shibainuspirit.blogspot.com/2009/12/health-alert-pacific-rimism.html

Ares' story, the fatal result of misdiagnosis (get your tissues ready):
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/266218