Meg has hypothyroidism

[fizzyntiffy]

Hope Meg is bouncing around soon 

[Countrygirl]

Hope Meg soon feels better.

[Jeanette]

Hope Meg feels better with her medication 

[Rats and Dogs]

I'm glad you got Meg tested and are able to get treatment for her, it is so easy to miss, well done your Auntie!

I'm sure she will soon feel great on her meds, I hope they kick in soon and you have a happy, bouncy girl again.

I'm actually going to have Tia tested, I'd asked the vets I work with, way back last year after I got her, if she could have this, and they said no as she has a good coat, but she does have all the other symptoms - can't lose weight, always tired, lags behind on walks a lot, and generally acts like a dog much much older than 5.  

Thanks for posting this Emma, I'm sure there will be many people who recognise the same symptoms in their dogs.

[Emma xx]

Thanks

Fiona, get Tia tested -there's no harm in just making sure, even if its not hypothyroidism there could be something else that the vet may have missed. I know unless we went in yesterday and rhymed off all of Meg's symptoms our vet wouldnt have picked up on it at her annual check up. Good luck

Emma xx

[Nicola]

Aww I really hope the medication soon puts the spring back in Meg's step

[jann]

   Don't worry too much Emma, Flo has been diagnosed with hypothyroidism for over a year now,  she was 7 years old.  it started with much the same symptoms as Meg but you don't notice straight away, as they seem to gradually creep up on you rather than suddenly happen 

Flo is a completely different girl now she's taking soloxine tablets, I noticed the difference in her in just over a week!   in fact I keep asking the vet if she could be overdosing 

Last week she went bounding up and down 'Gummers How' in the Lakes, she must have done twice the distance and was still ready for a swim paddle in Lake Windermere and a walk round town 

http://www.walkingbritain.co.uk/walks/walks/walk_b/3234/

once you get the right dose it is very easily and quickly under control 

Hope you are soon feeling better Meg   

[Emma xx]

Thanks so much for that Jann, its good to know we weren't the only ones not to notice symptoms straight away

I really hope the meds help her, we hate seeing her like this. I've been researching hypothyroidism all night practically (hence the time ) and i feel so much better after reading about other people's experiences/success stories.

We still cant help feeling guilty for not doing anything sooner, but hopefully we have caught it before its got too serious.

Emma xx

[LurcherGirl]

I'm glad you got Meg tested and are able to get treatment for her, it is so easy to miss, well done your Auntie!

I'm sure she will soon feel great on her meds, I hope they kick in soon and you have a happy, bouncy girl again.

I'm actually going to have Tia tested, I'd asked the vets I work with, way back last year after I got her, if she could have this, and they said no as she has a good coat, but she does have all the other symptoms - can't lose weight, always tired, lags behind on walks a lot, and generally acts like a dog much much older than 5.  

Thanks for posting this Emma, I'm sure there will be many people who recognise the same symptoms in their dogs.

Do make sure though that you get a comprehensive test that also tests for antibodies. T4 alone isn't enough to assess thyroid function in dogs accurately as antibodies can falsify the test results of T4 and make them look higher than they actually are (in other words, the dog would test normal eventhough he actually isn't). Google for more information about this for Jean Dodds who is an American vet specialising in thyroid.

Thyroid symptoms are not always obvious or typical so many owners AND VETS do miss them. My lurcher had fairly typical symptoms with putting on weight and getting sluggish on walks. However, my American cocker diagnosed at 18 months old didn't... his symptoms were aggression towards my other dogs, excessive resource guarding, development of anxieties and phobias and skin infections that wouldn't clear. With hindsight, his coat also got thinner, which we didn't realise at the time as he has a very thick coat. Luckily my vet didn't hesitate to test Jesse (mainly due to the skin infections) and within a week of taking the meds, Jesse's aggression stopped and has never returned since. Most vets would not have tested Jesse as he didn't have typical thyroid symptoms and as he was "too young" to be hypothyroid. However, autoimmune thyroiditis develops in very young dogs too!

Vera

[LurcherGirl]

We still cant help feeling guilty for not doing anything sooner, but hopefully we have caught it before its got too serious.

You don't know what you don't know.   Just be glad that you did pick up on it now and your pup will get treatment. However damaged the thyroid gland is by now, the meds will make up for it and she should be just fine.

Jesse was diagnosed at 18 months old, looking back the majority of symptoms started when he was about 8 months old, some from day 1 I had him (8 weeks old, the excessive resource guarding and being reserved with new people). Within a week of meds, he was a changed dog - and still is.

Vera

[Emma xx]

Thanks so much Lurchergirl. Our vet said that they normally get diagnosed at around 4-6 years so yours was quite young wasnt he! The vet said with Meg being 9 she was pretty old to be diagnosed, but who knows, she may have had a mild form for a while and we just didnt see it. In hindsight she's always been a bit of a grump and a lazy so and so but you just dont think

Thanks again xxx

[Geordietyke]

Bless her, sending Meg tons of hugs and cocker kisses from us too   Lesley & Odie xx

[LurcherGirl]

Thanks so much Lurchergirl. Our vet said that they normally get diagnosed at around 4-6 years so yours was quite young wasnt he! The vet said with Meg being 9 she was pretty old to be diagnosed, but who knows, she may have had a mild form for a while and we just didnt see it. In hindsight she's always been a bit of a grump and a lazy so and so but you just dont think

Thanks again xxx

My lurcher was also just under 9 when he was diagnosed and his symptoms developped over probably about 6 months... I too thought he was just getting older, until I got worried that it's more than just that and he had a "senior blood test" to check everything out, which showed that T4 was very low. (I then got a comprehensive thyroid test done to establish whether he had antibodies... he doesn't).

Vera

[Emma xx]

Yeah its been about 6 months for us too. But like i said there have been some symptoms for a while now. How long did it take for your lurchers meds to kick in, just out of interest?

Thanks xx

[LurcherGirl]

Yeah its been about 6 months for us too. But like i said there have been some symptoms for a while now. How long did it take for your lurchers meds to kick in, just out of interest?

Thanks xx

With Jesse (my American cocker) it was almost instantly (within days), with Dylan, my lurcher, it took a little longer as we had to experiment with the dosage a bit (sighthounds are meant to have lower dosage than normal dogs, but that wasn't enough for Dylan). Once we had the right dosage, it was a couple of weeks.

Vera