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Roscoe's Thyroid Panel Is In


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So chubby chubby Roscoe got a Free T4 and the results came back at a 5. Does this sound right to everyone? Vet wants to start him on a low dose of thyrotabs (?).

 

Sorry if my information is cryptic.

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Lisa with Finnegan (Nina's Fire Fly) and Sage (Gil's Selma). Always missing Roscoe
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T4 evaluation depends on the individual lab's normal.

 

Did he get a full panel? What were the other measures? As noted in the other thread, you can't diagnose hypothyroidism in a sighthound from T4 alone.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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T4 evaluation depends on the individual lab's normal.

 

Did he get a full panel? What were the other measures? As noted in the other thread, you can't diagnose hypothyroidism in a sighthound from T4 alone.

 

:nod

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T4 in a normal greyhound can be 0 (in other words, unmeasurable) -- that is why the full panel is needed.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Ok, sorry for being so vague.

 

Results- 5L Reference Range 8-40

 

Unit PMOL/L

 

I have no clue what that means.

 

So... I actually thought I was getting a full thyroid panel. When I talked to the vet, I said to her something about sighthounds blah blah, and she said yes we need to do the free T4 and she said she also wanted to do a full blood work up just to see if there was anything else going on. I agreed.

 

When I went up to pay my bill it was over $200.. I couldn't afford it so I told them to scratch the additional bloodwork. Maybe I misunderstood... I thought the 'additional' stuff was.. other stuff not related to the thyroid test? I guess I screwed myself..

 

:(

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Lisa with Finnegan (Nina's Fire Fly) and Sage (Gil's Selma). Always missing Roscoe
www.popdogdesigns.net pop art prints, custom portraits and collars

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Not necessarily. I know you're having a hard $$$ time and trying to do your best by your boy.

 

If he has symptoms, which he does, it probably wouldn't hurt to do a trial of meds. It's just, there are a few other circumstances where you see that kind of weight gain in a dog on very little food, and the full thyroid panel can help point you in those directions or not. The one that you see most often is enlarged spleen, which may not show anything on blood tests; second most often is cardiac insufficiency with water retention, but you'll usually have other physical symptoms there.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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:) I was getting all upset.

 

So it's ok to try him out on the meds, and if he starts to lose weight and perks up a little then we're 'in the clear', but if he remains the same, then it's time to dig deeper into the problem? That sound ok?

GTsiggy_zps0481d543.jpg

Lisa with Finnegan (Nina's Fire Fly) and Sage (Gil's Selma). Always missing Roscoe
www.popdogdesigns.net pop art prints, custom portraits and collars

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Wouldn't go so far as to say in the clear -- most any dog will be perkier and lose weight on thyroid meds. You'll still have to watch for oddities, symptoms that don't make sense, etc. -- but you do that anyways :) .

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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I sense that times are tough for you right now and I do feel for you but ...

 

I'm not sure that treating a dog with thyroid meds that does not have an underactive thyroid is the best idea. In effect, you could be creating a "hyperactive" state and that can cause a host of other problems such as racing heart and weakness in the legs to name just two problems. If complications do come up, they would likely end up being more expensive to treat then getting the blood work.

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The general blood panel may include a T4 only. You have to ask for the full thyroid panel and it's expensive here - $184 IIRC. I wish I'd had it sent to Hemopet because it's cheaper but they were doing this as an extra test for Gracie using the original blood from the first test.

 

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$184 just for the thyroid panel? If so, that's a lot of markup. I think Hemopet is $71 for the full Thyroid and around $115 for the panel and a full standard blood panel (CBC chem diff etc.) - plus, of course, the cost of shipping. FMM, the opinion of Dr. Dodds is still the biggest selling point for Hemopet.

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MSU's premium panel with endocrinologist's interpretation is $64. That doesn't include your vet's charges, markup, shipping, etc. -- YMMV there.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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