Unenergetic Greyhound

[Guest sc1911cwp]

Double post. Sorry

Edited October 21, 2012 by sc1911cwp

[Guest sc1911cwp]

I will try to make this short. I know there are differences between dogs. Both my Greys are eight yrs old. Last year I was told the younger one had a hypothyroid. Yes, I read the literature but the Vet did the required tests and stated she was aware of the typical lab results in Greys. My Grey also had hair falling out in small patches. So he has been on a thyroid med for eight months. In that time he has lost weight, about 8 pounds and seems less energetic as well as more prone to muscle injuries or pulls in this same amount of time. He used to be more active and I know he probably doesn't run enough to stay in "shape" and may be suffering from an inactive lifestyle as well as age induced arthritis. He is limping as we speak. Any thoughts? Could he be misdiagnosed which is aggravating these problems? BTW, any OTC meds for sore muscles that I can give or just give in and go the the vet and ask about a RX? TNX

[TheFullHouse]

He shouldn't be losing weight or hair on thyroid meds and the meds should have made him more energetic instead of less. I would want to have him retested. Someone here on GT can give you the name of the place to get a thorough testing done to make sure your dog wasn't misdiagnosed.

[greytpups]

I will try to make this short. I know there are differences between dogs. Both my Greys are eight yrs old. Last year I was told the younger one had a hypothyroid. Yes, I read the literature but the Vet did the required tests and stated she was aware of the typical lab results in Greys. My Grey also had hair falling out in small patches. So he has been on a thyroid med for eight months. In that time he has lost weight, about 8 pounds and seems less energetic as well as more prone to muscle injuries or pulls in this same amount of time. He used to be more active and I know he probably doesn't run enough to stay in "shape" and may be suffering from an inactive lifestyle as well as age induced arthritis. He is limping as we speak. Any thoughts? Could he be misdiagnosed which is aggravating these problems? BTW, any OTC meds for sore muscles that I can give or just give in and go the the vet and ask about a RX? TNX

 

I attended an all day session yesterday with Dr. Jean Dobbs who is an authority on thyroid issues and she has patened a 5^TM panel composed of the following tests: T4, free T4, T3, free T3 and TgAA. If you email her the test results you received she will interpret them for you. She'll also answer questions, so I'd send them to her. She's extremely knowledgeable and would be my "go to" if my pups had thyroid issues. Some of the info she presented is quite new (she does a lot of research and consults with a lot of experts) and may differ from answers previously posted here on GT regarding thyroid testing.

 

You can contact her through her website http://hemopet.org/ Plus she has a list of frequently asked questions on her site which may also provide some answers.

Edited October 22, 2012 by greytpups

[Batmom]

You might want to send the original thyroid test results and any current bloodwork to OSU's greyhound wellness program https://greyhound.osu.edu/consultationservice/ and get their opinion.

 

I would not recommend Dr. Dodds and Hemopet. Dr. Dodds is more of a popular / alternative practitioner. Her studies are more anecdote-based -- she doesn't do peer-reviewed scientific research. Her opinions often contradict those of professional endocrinologists and hematologists.

[greytpups]

I wouldn't dismiss her quite so quickly. You can find lots of articles on the web for and against her, just like you can for raw vs cooked diets, etc. etc. I find it hard to believe that you won't find any peer-review research.

 

I'm not going to argue with you on this point because it has nothing to do with this thread. The bottom line is the OP needs another opinion and she needs it now since her grey is not doing well with the current protocol.

[MP_the4pack]

Completely off the thyroid path, I had a 5 yr old that was very unenergetic. She couldn't keep up with her 6 yr old sister. (and I'm not talking about speed when running around. Just everyday stuff like going for long walks).

 

I took her to the vets and they told me to give her horse vitamin pills. Well I Ignored that. But when she started to show a belly, I took her to a specialist. All regular test results came back normal. Then they did a liver function test. (the normal liver tests are for enzymes). The results of the function tests were completely off the charts. Off the planet! They unltrasounded her and found her liver was basically gone.

 

I lost her at 5 yrs old.

 

So, if thyroid proves to be normal, have them do a liver function test. Her only symptom was lack of energy until about a yr later when she started losing protein. By then it was too late.

[cometdust1]

Definitely have a CBC and urinalysis done if one has not recently been done.Also, run a tick panel, even if it has been less than a year.It doesn't seem to me that thyroid would cause your dogs symptoms if it's on thyroid meds. I brought my grey to the vet because he had a cough and seemed to pant for no reason,even if the room was cool and he was sleeping.The vet ran his heartworm test,which incudes several tick diseases,which was negative. Chest x-ray was negative.Vet felt it could just be allergies. Over about the next 6 mos.,nothing extreme was noticed, but we noticed that his face was aging, and he was losing muscle mass in his face and body. I forgot to mention that he also had eye discharge this entire time.Finally, we noticed that he was getting more and more lethargic. 6 mos. after the 1st trip to the vet I took him to another one and when I told him about the lethargy he ran another heartworm/tick test and it was positive for ehrlichiosis.It often doesnt show up in testing at the early stages of infection, which is where he was at the initial vet visit. By this time, it was already entrenched in his organs and bone marrow,His blood values were all off, and antibiotics could not rid him of the infection and eventually he died. Trust your instincts, if you feel your dog is not acting normal,and especially if you retest his thyroid values and they are within theraputic range, Keep pursuing an answer for your dogs symptoms.There are a lot of other things that could be causing the symptoms. Good luck, I hope you find the reason soon and it turns out O.K.