Thyroid Problems? (Mechanical Angel)

No suggestions from me, but I am glad the vet caught it.  Give the big guy some lovin' from me.

The lovins will be delivered when I pick him up from the vet at 2: 30 or 3 when he's done with grooming! I'll make sure to post pics!

Just to let you know I moved your thread to health

Wow that is a low thyroid reading - so glad you caught it and the vet was able to do something immediately

NO other advice - you are already on the routine with your other dog so it should be an easy transition

Give him some love for me too!

There's a few threads on Hypothyroidism on this board.  Buddy has been dealing with this for a while now....and its being managed.  Read here when I was first introduced to this problem:  http://forum.dog.com/forums/t/95203.aspx?PageIndex=1

Oh no Lion!!!!  I am so glad you caught that before some kind of an emergency came up!  Get better quick Lion!

Mechanical Angel

Well, I took Lion into the vet today to get groomed. A couple weeks ago, he started to show signs of hair loss on his tail so I took him to the vet and asked them. Dr. Wachal said that could be a potential sign of a thyroid problem and to have him tested. Well, I took him in today to get tested and get groomed. They tested him and then he went into the back to get groomed. Well, the vet talked to me after the results came back. Lion was 112 lbs 16 days ago when I had him in at the vets. Today they weighed him and he is 109 lbs! So he lost 3lbs in 16 days!

My vet said normal thyroid range is between 2.5 and 4.0 parts per million. Lion's test today showed his thyroid level was almost non-existent! His was .05 parts per million! The vet said he could've layed down and went to sleep, had a seizure, and died at anytime!

He was given an injection of liquid soloxine to get his levels more normal. And he will be put on soloxine pills 2x a day that are .8 milligrams. Brownie, my Beagle also takes soloxine 2x a day but its only .4 milligrams.

I have Lion scheduled to go back on June 16th to have another thyroid blood test and see how his level has increased since being on the meds.

So is there anything else I can do for him?

If you go to http://www.hemopet.org -- that's Dr. Dodd's website.

The next time you send his bloodwork in, have your vet send it TO Dr. Dodds herself (the address is on the website).  It's a breed-specific panel -- so it will give your vet more exact information to work with.  It's a bit more expensive BUT you get Dr. Dodds herself doing the evaluating and she will consult with your vet -- or she will email *you* as well.  She is just an awesome person and SO helpful. 

Part of what your vet needs to evaluate as part of this is whether, after supplementing, his body is TRYING to do what it should.  There are several different levels you need to look at -- not just the T3 and T4.  In particular, the vet needs to evaluate the "thyroid-stimulating hormone" to see if the body realizes it needs to "do" something on its own.  There is actually an auto-immune disease that involves the thyroid.

When the thyroid is THAT far off, it merits some further examination.  Your vet may not know Dr. Dodds but I'm sure they know OF her.  She's the one who set up Michigan State's endocrine lab (she was head of endocrinology there for years) but he may not know he can actually send blood TO her at Hemopet.

She's awesome to work with -- there are several of us on here who send workups to her.

Wow, I'm so glad you caught this when you did!  I second those who recommend sending blood to Dr. Dodds for analysis.  You really should have the TSH and TGAA checked sooner rather than later I'd think.  I also think I remember reading somewhere before that if it was an autoimmune thyroiditits issue a very likely sign would be enlarged lymph nodes.  I'm assuming they checked all this out.  The TGAA would confirm this for you (if it is elevated then you're looking at Autoimmune thyroiditis). Thing being now is that the thyroid supplementation will likely decrease the tgaa so could give errornous results.  Not sure exactly how Dr. Dodds tests this but well worth it to have done. 

Maybe I'm wrong....just rambling really.

Hope Lion is getting better.  Give him some scritches and rubs for me.

Thank-you Callie! I will definetly mention that to Dr. Wachal!