Thyroid? Not Sure What's Going On Here...

[Guest shelbygirl07]

Here's the story since this whole thing started. It's kind of long so please excuse the length. I figure if i give enough info, someone might be able to give me some info as to why this is happening.

 

Shelby is 6 years old.

 

When we first got Shelby 7/07, she was on Eukenuba Large breed. We continued to give this to her since this is what the rescue was feeding her and we wanted her to get acclimated before we upset her internal balance by changing her food. We took her to the Vet for her first checkup when she was with us for 2 days. SHe weighed 59 pounds. We were instructed by our vet to feed her more until she gained 6 pounds and then we could see what she looked like after that. She ended up gaining 14 pounds and she was a little on the plump side. We knew she had to drop a few so we upped her exercise and cut back her food. Meanwhile, she had been getting these raging skin infections so she was placed on 1000 mg of Cephalexin twice daily for 3 weeks. Her skin infection cleared up. Meanwhile her gas was out of control. She just kept gaining weight until she reached 78 pounds (3 months into her adoption).

 

Once she had some time to adjust, we slowly switched her to "the good life recipe" to try that out on her. She had been getting it as training bits and had loved it so we moved her off the Eukenuba and onto this chicken food. Her skin infections came back and she went back on the antibiotics for 3 more weeks. Her skin infections cleared up and she started to loose weight. She got down to her perfect weight, 68 pounds. She looked great! could just barely see her last 2 ribs and she had gorgous skin and coat, her breath smelled great but the gas was still there.. It had gotten so bad that she would clear the house, wake us up in the middle of the night and suffocate you in the car. IT was horrible.

We decided to try her on raw after much investigation. We slowly switched her to raw to keep her from getting sick (per the advice of the vet) and she was on raw for a month before she got this RAGING skin infection so back on Cephalexin for 3 more weeks and she got the BIG D. Even the probiotic wouldn't help clear the big D up. We had to switch her to Science Diet W/D and off raw completely. Her gas and D cleared up and she lost a couple of pounds but she was pooping 7 times a day and her skin infections came back again.. Poor girl!

 

Through all of the skin infections, we weren't sure if it was enviromental or if it was food related. We were finally able to pin it down to food allergies.

 

We slowly switched off W/D and onto I/D slowly once her gas cleared up and she kept loosing weight. She had been growling in her sleep and she started snapped at me and became grumpy. This was very UN-charicteristic of her behavior so I took her in for a check. Come to find out she had almost NO T4. It was .02 so they put her on a low dose of Soloxine .3 Mg twice daily. She was rechecked 2 months later and her count was 2.1 which the vet thought was perfect. All her behavioral issues cleared up, also. She seemed healthy for the first time since we brought her home.

 

We found out through testing that she is allergic to meat proteins. We had no choice to put her on a hydrolized chicken food Science Diet Z/D Ultra. It's very expensive. This food tricks the body into thinking that there is no meat proteins since they are so finely broken down. So she can get the protein she needs without having her usual skin infections. She hasn't had a single infection since then and that was 3 months ago.

 

As the weather got nicer, we started taking longer walks and more frequently (for example:Yesterday, we did a 3 mile walk with a 1/2 mile jog in between) I notices as we exercised more she started loosing weight again. I upped her food intake to make up for the difference. Still, she continued to loose weight. When Boo was diagnosed with Pannus 2 weeks ago, i took her in to weigh her when I took him in for his medication. She was a whopping 60.8 pounds. 60 POUNDS!!! I became very concerned. The vet said that maybe she's not getting enough calories to balance out the exercise so up her food portions, add potatoes, pasta and veggies to her food but continue to give her the normal amount you have been. That's a 5.5 oz can of wet food and 2 1/2 cups of dry plus the extra 1 1/2 cups of various additives. That's a lot of food in one sitting. It barely fits into her food dish. I did this for 2 weeks straight and took her in today to weigh her since Boo had another check on his eyes and she lost .2 of a pound.

 

I left her at the hospital until 8 so that they can run the thyroid panel to see if that is the problem. The vet did an exam on her and the only thing they found was burst blood vessels that looks dime sized on the top inside of her eye. Other then that, heart rate, pulse and glands are all fine. So my mom will bring her to me when she gets out of work so i don't have to make that trip back to get her. (my mom works there).

 

I am concerned about her. It broke my heart to have to leave her there. Boo is confused and lost without her here. I am lost too..

 

Anyone have any idea if it could be her thyroid or if it's something else it could be? Anyone have an experience with their grey like this?

 

my poor pretty girl

Edited May 22, 2008 by shelbygirl07

[CaliforniaGreys]

Wow, that's a lot.Everytime I thought I had something worthwhile to say, I read further and said, nope...I just hope your vet can get to the bottom of it. It does sound like a thyroid problem.Good luck and here's hoping Shelby gets better

[NeylasMom]

When you tested her thyroid the first time around, did you run a full panel with MSU (there are 7 or 8 values total) or did your vet run a short panel or just check T4? And what is he running this time?

 

That would be my first question. It sounds quite possible she was hypothyroid, but if she weren't and you put her on thyroid meds, I can certainly imagine she'd struggle to keep weight on. If you did the full panel, can you post all the values with the reference ranges?

 

The other thing to consider, and why a full panel is helpful, is it's possible she's got a thyroid problem that is a result of another illness. If that's the case, then you're only treating a symptom of her actual illness, which would explain why you continue to have problems.

 

Those are my initial thoughts. It will definitley help if you can post the results from both thyroid panels.

[turbotaina]

I agree with Neylasmom. MSU is pretty much the gold standard and your vet needs to run the "Premium" test which will do the fT4 by dialysis and give you TSH numbers, too (as well as the standard type stuff).

 

 

[Guest shelbygirl07]

Thanks guys!

Her results aren't back yet. I called to find out exactly what they are doing since it alludes me at this moment. I have been distracted by other problems today. So my brain is totaly fried... I can't concentrate today so excuse the mental break..

 

They are running the fT4 by dialysis and T4 senior welleness. My vet is not in at the moment but i'm emailing to her personal account so we can touch base, again. They are doing the senior wellness so i get a break on cost. She does this stuff for me all the time since Shelby's vet bills have been rediculous the last couple of months.

 

They did send the bloodwork to MSU to have done and that is why it's not back yet.

 

Last night, while she was in the jumbo run at the hospital, she tore her dew claw. They called me to tell me. They put her in the run and a few minutes later, they noticed blood on her leg so they cleaned her and bandaged her. I don't know how she did it but it looks bad. I changed the dressing a few minutes ago.. Poor Shelby, when it rains it pours for her.

 

I know i read somewhere what the "healthy" values should be. I have to find it and copy it over to her in the email.

 

I just want her to be healthy...

 

Thank you so much. I'll post the info when i get it...

 

[NeylasMom]

Glad to hear your vet used MSU. The main thing is whether the TSH is high or not. A normal TSH would be an indication that there isn't a thyroid problem, or that the thyroid problem could be stemming from another issue. Anyway, post the values when you get them. Again, it would be really helpful to see the values from the first test as well, and hopefully your vet had the sense to use MSU then as well (sounds like she would have).

 

Sorry Shelby's goign through so much!

[Guest lizmego]

Are you positive that she's allergic to ALL meat proteins? Might she only be allergic to the ones that are most common in dog food? Chicken, lamb, and beef? Have you tried feeding her homecooked meals of Emu? Beaver? Buffalo? Fish sources? or other exotic or uncommon meats? Venison? Or could she be allergic to a grain, but you think her allergy is protein related? What type of tests or food trials have you done?

 

Another idea to get her off Z/D since it is so expensive, would be to try her on a diet of Quinoa and vegetables and even another grain. Quinoa is a grain but is very high in protein. We have a couple of food allergy dogs in our area, and the President of our adoption group is incredibly educated about food allergies. She's self educated herself on canine nutrition and our local vets say that she knows more about canine nutrition than they do. Please let me know if you'd like to email or speak with her and I can get you her contact information.

 

When I first read that your pup was always breaking out in weird skin rashes, my immediate thought was a food allergy. I think you could find the right food for her stomach, its just a trial and error practice. However, you might not be able to ever feed her commercial food again. I also have some past Whole Dog Journals of homemade diet recipes and I can look for those over the weekend, scan them in and email them to you if you're interested.

 

Good luck,

Liz

[Guest shelbygirl07]

Are you positive that she's allergic to ALL meat proteins? Might she only be allergic to the ones that are most common in dog food? Chicken, lamb, and beef? Have you tried feeding her homecooked meals of Emu? Beaver? Buffalo? Fish sources? or other exotic or uncommon meats? Venison? Or could she be allergic to a grain, but you think her allergy is protein related? What type of tests or food trials have you done?

 

Another idea to get her off Z/D since it is so expensive, would be to try her on a diet of Quinoa and vegetables and even another grain. Quinoa is a grain but is very high in protein. We have a couple of food allergy dogs in our area, and the President of our adoption group is incredibly educated about food allergies. She's self educated herself on canine nutrition and our local vets say that she knows more about canine nutrition than they do. Please let me know if you'd like to email or speak with her and I can get you her contact information.

 

When I first read that your pup was always breaking out in weird skin rashes, my immediate thought was a food allergy. I think you could find the right food for her stomach, its just a trial and error practice. However, you might not be able to ever feed her commercial food again. I also have some past Whole Dog Journals of homemade diet recipes and I can look for those over the weekend, scan them in and email them to you if you're interested.

 

Good luck,

Liz

 

That would be great, Liz. THank you!

 

Well, we did food trials by eliminating certain things from her diet. No treats unless we used what ever kibble she was on. She would get skin infections, like white head pimples all over her body and they would burst open and bleed. Some sores that appeared as hot spots but would swell up with small mounts of puss. a dozen skin scrapes and always the same bacteria. It just mattered if she was licking or not. It did clear up with the Cephalexin.

WHen i put her on raw, I was giving chicken legs to her and her skin infections came back within the first 2 days and were so out of control, they were on the inside of her eyelids and in her mouth. Her gums started bleeding because they were so inflamed. They put her on prednisone to bring the swelling down and antibiotics. I switched her to raw beef and lamb thinking it was only chicken proteins but it was still a bad reaction. Wasn't as bad as with the chicken but still bad.

Her kidney values were through the roof. She couldn't process the protein.

Switched her to bland diet of white rice and green beans for a few days and the reaction stopped. Once i cut meat out of her diet all together for 2 weeks the reactions stopped. I couldn't keep her on a vegitarian diet because she needs the protein. I was supplimenting with all kinds of vitamins so i talked to the vet again. She didn't think it was healthy to keep her on that diet. That's when we switched her to Z/D ultra. Never another reaction again...

 

it was horrible seeing her suffer like that when she was on raw. It was horrible. I cried everynight for her.. I didn't want to torture her anymore so i cut the meat out and whola, her problems stopped. The amount of suffering she went through was ... i can't even describe it. I thought i was loosing her because she was THAT bad...

 

They did a special allergy test on her and the results came back after 30 days as protein. that made it official for me.

 

Poor shelby, to have to go through that and still want to love me? She is a strong girl! Just like her mommy