Need Thyroid Feedback!

[Guest Oakleylove]

A little background...I have a 7 year old female. Last April she was "diagnosed" with low thyroid. What prompted the test was that she got a skin infection and started loosing hair (suddenly). I still think this happened due to her getting fleas. I just think she was allergic to the flea bites. I can't remember what her levels were, but they did a T4 and fT4 test, and determined them to be low. She was put on .4mg Soloxine, twice per day. She was re-tested in November, and her levels were still low. They upped her dosage to .6mg of Soloxine, twice per day.

 

Which brings me to today. They re-tested her on Tuesday. I got the results back today, and her T4 still registered low. The results do n't give a specific number, only >.05 (LOW) and they give a reference range of 3.0-5.0. Her vet said with her being on .6mg Solxine, its very odd for her levels to still be low, so now they are taking her off the meds completely for 2 months. Another thing that I found odd is that her mannerisms and behavior have never changed. The only changes I've seen is she has gotten some hair in her otherwise balder spots. She has always been a happy, social girl...and loves her sleep, as most Grey's do. I'm pretty sure I am going to switch Vet's to a more Grey-friendly practice. Has anyone else had these kinds of issues? I just don't want her to be on something unnecessary, and I've always had a suspicion that a true low thyroid was never the problem. Any advice is appreciated!!!!

[Wonder]

Here's the range for a greyhound

 

T4

Greyhounds: .5 - 3.6 (mean 1.47+/- .63)

Other dogs: 1.52 - 3.60

These figures are from a University of Florida study of thyroid function in 221 greyhounds - 97 racers, 99 broods, and 25 studs - so it included both racers and "retired." While greyhound thyroid levels are a whole chapter unto themselves, a good rule of thumb is that greyhound T4s run about half that of other breeds.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Wonder

[seeh2o]

First a heads up: thyroid is a hot potato topic here on GT. You will probably get lots of strong opinions.

 

That being said, I would urge you to contact Dr. Jean Dodds from Hemopet. She literally wrote the book (recently) on canine thyroid issues. She works with greyhounds (has a greyhound blood donor program and greyhound adoption organization), so she is very knowledgeable about this topic. Dr. Dodds will personally respond to your email questions for free and usually within a day. I encourage you to email her with what you wrote above to get her expertise and feedback. Her email is hemopet at hotmail dot com

Edited February 21, 2013 by seeh2o

[Batmom]

Did you get a TSH?

 

Once she's been off the meds for 6 weeks, I would either get MSU's premium panel with fT4 by equilibrium dialysis and TSH .... or just leave her off the meds. If she isn't having any problems and they aren't changing anything, there's no point to medicating her.

 

I wouldn't use Hemopet or Dr. Dodds.

 

There isn't really a range for greyhound T4 -- it can be zero and completely normal. It isn't *really* zero -- we simply don't have assays sensitive enough to measure it well.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Batmom

[JJNg]

Completely agree with Batmom on this. Diagnosis of hypothyroidism can be very tricky in greyhounds. Need to look at TSH, clinical signs, and sometimes also response (or lack thereof) to medication.

[a_daerr]

Henry's first vet said his thyroid was low and should be medicated. I had one of the docs at OSU look at it, and they said it was well within the normal range for a greyhound. I don't think their service is free anymore (sigh) but I was glad for the second opinion.

[GreyPoopon]

Another vote for Batmom's view.

 

I have two on thyroid meds, but only after the MSU panel, which includes an interpretation by an endocrinologist.

[45MPHK9]

Ditto, Batmom.