NewGrey2017

Thanks for the info. I'll push back if they want to go any higher that the .8mg 2x per day.

He raced between 71-72 lbs. When we adopted him, he had a terrible hookworm infection and was 66 lbs. He dropped to 62 lbs while eating like a machine until the hookworms were gone. Now he is about 72-73 lbs. The soloxine hasn't seemed to affect his weight yet, but he's only been on it for 4 weeks. It does seem to have curbed his appetite as he occasionally walks away from breakfast these days.

Thanks. Mine is on 0.6 mg 2x per day heading to 0.8 mg 2x per day. He is a red fawn with a soft coat. If it's just the spring shed, no big deal. But since we had just started this medication I wanted to be sure I'm not doing him harm. The hope is the meds will mitigate his occasionally nasty temper. Was thinking we were making progress, but he turned on me yesterday during a walk. He found a rancid bone in the grass and I very cautiously tried to trade him by dropping treats on the ground in front of him. Because we were on a 6' lead, I think he deemed that too close to his resource and began to snarl and lunge at me. Usually at home I just walk away from him, but out in the open on a leash, I had nowhere to go. I began to forcefully walk in the other direction and he had no choice but to follow. He eventually fell in step and seemed to forget why he was angry. Such is life these days.

Yes. That is why we paid the extra $$$ to have the MSU study done. It is a five panel work up as opposed to the T4 result that most vets run. If you are curious, here is the endocrinology interpretation that MSU provided: "The positive autoantibody results are a marker for lymphocytic thyroiditis. This dog also has a positive T3 autoantibody result. The T3 autoantibody interferes with assay of T3 (false decrease) and free T3 (false increase), so those measured concentrations are not accurate. The combination of low thyroid concentrations, elevation of thyroid stimulating hormone, and positive autoantibody results confirms a diagnosis of hypothyroidism due to lymphocytic thyroiditis. Oral administration of thyroxine is indicated with a follow-up evaluation of the clinical response. Results as these occur in greyhounds but are uncommon. Has there also been weight gain? I was interested to see the description of aggression in the history. Changes in mentation can be a manifestation of hypothyroidism in some dogs. I would appreciate hearing whether or not there is a resolution of the signs of aggression with thyroid supplementation." There is universal agreement between my vet, my behaviorist and the MSU group that supplementation is the proper course. Additionally, the dog's skin has been turning a dark purplish color since we got him. He had a white belly but it's now fully dark. The behaviorist (DVM) states that this is a symptom of the hypothroidism. So, I am reasonably confident that the dog has hypothroidism. Previously I had a golden retriever who shed morning, noon and night for all 13 years. He took thyroid meds for the last 4 years but there was no way to tell if it increased his shedding because it was constant. The greyhound "resources" state they are a very low shed breed and that was the case with mine (since I adopted him). I think @greysmom hit the nail on the head that this is the perfect storm of meds and season.

Looking for anyone who has given their pooch soloxine. Ours was diagnosed with hypothyroidism after getting the five panel thyroid test evaluated by MSU. Originally the dog was on 1.2mg per day, 1/2 in AM, 1/2 in PM. After 3 weeks, retest of blood still had T4 low, so he is up to 1.6 mg per day in 2 doses. He is shedding like a fiend. It is late spring and all dogs shed when it gets warm, but his hair is coming out in clumps. My question: Has anyone given their greyhound soloxine and did it cause them to shed profusely? The vet said it's the season and since we got him in late October I have not been through a spring shed with him.

Mine did the same, began to eat around the carrots. We've been using a dollop of yogurt mainly because he likes it. His poop is still awful by the end of the day. He is shedding badly lately and has dandruff. Hard to say if it's the diet or some of the heavy thyroid meds he's taking.

Since you are looking for commiseration, grab a drink and read on: We got our boy (turning 4 next month) in late October 2017. He was a well mannered, though somewhat confused three year old. In early November he tested positive for hookworm which began a 4 month odyssey of Interceptor, Advantage Multi, Drontal, Panacur, metronidazole, etc. He finally came back clean from that in March. However, he still has an above average amount of diarrhea....daily. In December, he began to growl if I got near his food bowl. So I hand fed him for a few weeks and this is better, but I don't linger when he gets fed. (PS Behaviorist told me to cut this out!) Over Xmas break, he would growl at us sporadically, mainly over resources. Through the winter, he became less and less tolerant of visitors, especially the teenage friends of my kids. At this point we have them walk in the door with treats just to get past him and head downstairs. Otherwise he will growl and snap at them. At Easter, he snapped at my father who tried to scratch his ear while the dog was standing in the kitchen. He snapped at a neighbor while we were out walking. He has snapped at all of us at one time or another. (And believe me, it's terrifying. Teeth bared and snarling. Phew.) Finally, one night, he drew blood on my forehead. I contacted the adoption group and they put me in touch with a non-vet behaviorist who recommended a LOT of things. I researched one of the recommended items and there were many articles linking it to pre-mature death, so I looked for another behaviorist. One of the items this person recommended however, was a 5 panel thyroid test with an evaluation by MSU. Our vet agreed with that suggestion. This was about $300 plus the vet did some "super" chemistry for another $200. The super chemistry said his creatinine levels are high. They want me to catch his "morning pee" (yep, you read that correctly). The thyroid test came back with diagnosis of "hypothyroidism due to lymphocytic thyroiditis". It says, "Results as these occur in greyhounds but are uncommon." Oh, and his underbelly turned purple, which we assumed was him aging but they now tell us is a classic sign of hypothyroidism. We are currently working with a DVM Behaviorist recommended by our vet. I have 3 Adaptil diffusers plugged in around the house. He is wearing an Adaptil collar. He is taking .6mg of Soloxine for the thyroid. They want us to get a Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein dog food that is $85 for 25 lbs. They gave us 10 pages of instructions which I'm still making by way through. We have to have his blood retested before we get a renewal for the thyroid meds, so another $300 I'm guessing. They wanted to give him the puppy prozac but I asked to hold off for a while, until we see what the soloxine does. His latest joy is to steal things. Shoes, couch pillows, socks, clothing, etc and run with them to his crate. I offer a trade for one of his toys and we usually resolve it peacefully. He also loves to throw his XL Kong up in the air and let it bounce, then scramble after it. I'm okay with this for the first 30 minutes, then I try to trade for a softer toy. For all that, and I have no idea why, but I like the dog. And I suspect that on some level he feels the same. So, hopefully this is the kind of story you were soliciting. If you feel less alone and I got to take my brain off of work for 15 minutes, we both win. Sorry my story doesn't have an ending, but it's still ongoing.

Great news. Hope this is a permanent vacation from hookworms.

I have tried boiled chicken and rice. I have tried Kirkland Chicken, Rice and Veg (purple bag). I have tried some super expensive rabbit and something blah blah. This turned my dog into a diarrhea fountain. Discontinued ASAP. I have tried Pro Plan Salmon and Rice. I have tried IAMS green bag. I have tried adding Olewo carrots. I have stopped adding Olewo carrots. I am back to adding Olewo carrots. I have given him 3 rounds of metronidazole. The vet wants me to get this https://www.chewy.com/royal-canin-veterinary-diet/dp/35621 Through it all, the last poop of the day is always runny. If we get 1 good poop, I'm happy. I am convinced the dogs that have had these resistant hookworms have had some damage done to their GI tract.

Yep. Mine ate and ate and kept losing weight. Of course, he's also on thyroid meds now, so who knows.

My dog was starving when he had hookworms.

Our dog sleeps in our room. When we got him he did the 3AM cry, bark, whine and boop all the time. He was also very positive for hookworm, which we believe made him extremely hungry. Might be worth a quick check with your vet to rule out hooks and other parasites.

I'm going through a similar situation, though yours sounds more difficult. I got bit in the face (again) yesterday morning. Meanwhile, he never bites to his full capacity so I know these are just warnings and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. I had a 5 panel thyroid test (MSU evaluation) and a "super" chemistry analysis. My dog is diagnosed with hyopthyroidism due to lymphocytic thyroiditis. So, starting yesterday, he is on .6 mg of Soloxine 2x per day in the hope that some of his aggression will go away. We'll redo this test in 3 weeks. The analysis includes the phrase, "Results as these occur in greyhounds, but are uncommon." I'm too soon in the process to tell you whether this solution will work, plus he threw up dinner last night, but if you haven't had this test, you may want to consider it. Rule out any medical causes, then deal with the mental.

Thanks for posting this thread. Our grey has a Creatinine level of 1.8. Vet wanted us to bring in "morning pee". I think I'll pass based on reading above. Leaves more money for monkeys that he can rip to shreds.

If you use Google translator for Greyhound to English, it means, "Hey Dude, go get me a treat."

We're meeting with the vet tomorrow and having a 5 panel thyroid test (another recommendation). As I said above, I won't do anything until I discuss it with the vet, but am overly cautious about this 5HTP.

Since getting the clean hookworm report, I've been doing Advantage on the first of the month and Frontline on the 15th. Because both were topical, I was worried I was going to irritate his skin. Vet said this was fine.

Hello all - As our dog settles in, we've been having some issues with aggression, primarily fear based with a small amount of resource guarding. I contacted our adoption group and they put me in touch with a (non-vet) behavioral person. This person did a phone consult with us and we both agree that our dog is stressed and that is leading to this aggression. There were a lot of instructions. One was to begin giving the dog a serotonin booster called 5HTP. So, when I searched where to get this, the first 30 threads were about how dangerous this product can be. I'm going to go meet with my vet before I give the dog any of the recommendations, but I'm particularly leery of this now. Has anyone out there used 5HTP and if you don't mind sharing, what were the results? Thanks.

Unfortunately it is a process, and there is no panacea. You need to keep hammering away. I was definitely over 4 months in getting rid of them. Our vet recommended a blood work check for liver issues while we were giving him so many meds. Also checked for tick borne disease. That was a bit pricey ($80 or more?)

This is from my dog's online records, when he was positive. -------------- Ova & Parasite Reporting Scheme --------------------- The number of eggs or parasites is the number on the entire slide (not per field) for each parasite reported... 1 seen = 1 egg or parasite seen on entire slide 1+ = 2-to-4 eggs or parasites (few) 2+ = 5-to-10 eggs or parasites (small) 3+ = 11-to-50 eggs or parasites (moderate) 4+ = >50 eggs or parasites (many) -------------------------------------------------------------------::: Hookworm (Ancylostoma) Eggs 3+

We had multiple (5?) rounds of Drontal. I only did 2 rounds where I did the Advantage Multi followed within 24 hours by the Drontal. In the end, that was the combo that did the trick, but I can't say for certain if the hookworms had been weakened by all the previous rounds of Panacur, Ivermectin, etc. He stayed 3+ the whole time until we did the Advantage / Drontal

Two rounds about 21 days apart. And that was with him barfing up the Drontal the first time. The 2nd time, we did Advantage on Friday evening and broke up Drontal into three 1/2 pills given Saturday AM, midday and with dinner. Had to put it in ham to get him to eat it. i'll probably get another check in a month or so.

Advantage Multi with Drontal is the only way our boy got rid of the hookworm plight. We've kept up with the Advantage Multi monthly since.

BEST. HURRICANE. EVER!! -Signed The Dog

My only advice/suggestion is pick one solution and stay with it. Ours sleeps in our room and has from night one, when we taught him the stairs with chicken bits. Initially he would get up at 2 or 3AM and try to tell us he needed food or to go out, but a few weeks of us telling him he didn't need anything convinced him to sleep through the night. He knows I'll get up at 4:30AM, but will shower and get ready for work before I take him out and feed him. I had to ignore some barking and door scratching for a few weeks, but we've settled into this as a routine and he seems to accept it. On weekends he will let me sleep usually until about 6 or 6:30 because I haven't taught him to tell time, but I think he has a belly alarm.