Hypothyroidism

[Linda Andreu]

Hello,

My older dog Tara (just turned five) has had blood taken tonight to test for hypothyroidism. Does anyone else's dog have this condition? I know treatment would be thyroxine tablets for the rest of her life, but what additional care would she need? Do they have a reduced life expectancy? I'm really hoping the test is negative as she isn't exhibiting all of the symptoms.

She has been off her food for a couple of days and lethargic, and has enlarged mammary glands but no milk. Thought it might be false pregnancy but last season was Feb. New pup has tried to suckle but not sure if that would cause symptoms.

Coat, skin, eyes etc all healthy and she's still interested in excercise and play, just sleeping more - but I put that down to the pup tiring her out. Other possibility is womb infection - she has an expanded girth but weight has actually dropped since last visit.

Just waiting on results and keeping fingers crossed...

Linda xx

[Laura Kolbach]

i am sure that the american members here can give you lots of information about this condition.
hope everything turns out well and it was only a "misinterpretation" of the symptoms. keeping our fingers and paws crossed!

[Linda Andreu]

Thank you Laura, we should find out by Friday. All the other labwork came back normal, so just waiting on the T4 count.

[Fran Griffin]

Hi Linda

Yes, until recently I had two hypothyroid setters, unfortunately Lotte went on to develop other auto-immune conditions, including thrombocytopenia and probably Cushings and became very ill, therefore I had to have her put to sleep. However, Nalle's only condition appears to be hypothyroidism, and since he has been on his treatment he has completely blossomed. He was a poor eater, very lethargic, had bad bouts of gastro-intenstinal problems, suffered sore throats, keratitis (sticky sore eyes) his skin had very sore hyper-pigmented patches, his coat was poor and brittle. He then went onto suffer seizures. I was almost forced into having him put to sleep too, because our vet refused to believe he was hypothyroid!!! I would have gone along with that too had I believed that vet who was making lots of money out of 'treating' his symptoms. However, I sent Nalle's serum to Jean Dodds DVM and the results came back that he was severely hypothyroid. I changed the vet we were using, got him on Soloxine, and my boy hasn't looked back since. He got up and started running around, chasing squirrels, did agility, which before he could only watch, his coat became beautiful and glossy, and at the weekend he celebrated his 12th birthday. His legs get a bit wobbly at times, but apart from that he is in really good condition, and he still likes to play with my youngsters.

For anyone interested, there is a very supportive Yahoo group for owners of dogs with auto-immune conditions, including hypothyroidism. It is run by Sandy Waterton (and others) who owns and shows Irish in the UK.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K9Auto-ImmuneSupport/

One thing I will say, is that the tests done by Jean Dodds at Hemopet are far more reliable than most other laboratories. That was where things went badly wrong for Nalle and poor Lotte. Their results were coming back that they were still (just) within the normal range and the laboratories reported this as being "consistent with normal thyroid function". If the dog has low normal scores plus symptoms the chances are they do have a problem. The same thing applies to humans results too, myself included!

Jean Dodds at Hemopet is happy to advise anyone who thinks their dog may have a problem. The main thing now is to make sure that she receives the correct dosage.

Please either contact Jean Dodds at Hemopet, or join the above mentioned Yahoo list. They are very knowledgeable.

Fran

[Linda Andreu]

Thank you so much for your reply Fran - I shall certainly check out the information given. Your dogs are lovely - I have been enjoying your videos of agility!

[Vilja Vehkaoja]

My irish setter boy Demo was diagnosed with hypothyreoid a couple of years ago at 6 years of age. They say that this is a very common illness among setters. Irish setter is in the ten most common hypothyreioidism races in the world. Often the cases are mistaken for allergies or other illnesses tha affect the coat and skin in some way.

Demo was treated with wrong diagnoses for a year before they found the right cause for the lack of coat, lazyness and gained weight. The result was that his own system doesn't produce any thyroxine hormone. Demo eats 20 tablets of thyroxine every day, and is now doing very well! Before he was diagnosed with hypothyreoidism, he was vary fat, lazy and lost all of his coat. He had large bald areas on his back and belly. He looked like a disaster! The doctor told me, that he wouldn't have lived very long unless they had found the illness.

Here's how he looked...

As soon as we started the medication, he changed totally! He lost 10 kilos in weight, grew back the lovely coat he had and became very active and playful. Life expactancy isn't affected, so don't worry about that. Demo needs to eat the medicine for the rest of his life, but otherwise he's more than ok :)

Here's Demo's coat and condition after a year of medication. Still a bit too fat, but... Mom is giving too many treats :)

Tara's symptoms aren't excactly the kind Demo had. The strongest infuence seems often to be on the coat, so I think and hope you have nothing to worry about.

All the best for you!!

[Linda Andreu]

Thank you Vilja for those photographs, it's lovely to see the change in Demo. Tara certainly has no baldness, so maybe it will all be ok. She had her anal glands done yesterday too, and her appetite has picked up a little today. Will keep every one posted, thanks for the support.

[Viviane Dietens]

Hello Linda,
2 years ago my youngest was diagnosed with hypothyroidism.
2 test were done: determination of the T4 hormon. As it was too low, a TSH test was done.
This was too high. So the diagnose was made.
She takes a thyroxin pil every day. The first weeks after she started to take the thyroxin the loss of hair became worse.
After a few months she was again in a good condition.
And now every year we have to check the T4 in het blood to see if we have to in- or decrease the amount of the T4 pills.

[kathie jo ottinger]

There is a wonderful support group that I joined when Scout became ill it is K9autoimmunesupport.com they are very helpful and really know alot about AI illnesses. I do not know what I would of done with out them.

[Fran Griffin]

Subsequent to my post concerning Lotte. We have discovered that she actually died from a condition known as thyroid hormone resistance. This explains why despite being on treatment she looked and acted just like a completely unmedicated dog.

"Sometimes the phrase thyroid hormone resistance is used to identify cases where patients with autoimmune thyroid disorders respond poorly to normal doses of replacement thyroid hormone, this is thought to occur where patients have developed antibodies to thyroid hormones. Antibodies to thyroid hormones quite commonly occur in such disorders, and may interfere with the normal clinical assays used in monitoring such disorders, and in unusual cases may have further independent clinical significance."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid_hormone_resistance

Fran

[kathie jo ottinger]

Fran I am so sorry for your loss. It is so hard when we do everything we can and they still do not make it. Loosing Scout has to be one of the worst things that has happened to me. The AI support group was wonderful. They were always there whenever I needed someone to talk to.

[Fran Griffin]

Thanks Kathie. Yes, the AI support group I am a member of were really helpful too. Is the one you are a member of run by Sandy and Ria? I am keeping a special eye on my other hyopthroid dog at the moment. He is over 12 years now and his back legs are getting extremely wobbly. He is still reasonably happy at the moment, but only a matter of time now.

[kathie jo ottinger]

yes it is. Scout had SLE and I do not know very much about hyopthroid. My oldest aussie does have a low thyroid but has been easily controlled. She is 13 and she has really bad hips.