Hypothyroidism

[BryanAndLarrysMama]

Anyone have a Sheltie with hypothyroidism?

Long story short, my little Bryan is a chubby boy. Truth be told, so was Larry. He's a big boy anyway. With good food and plenty of increased exercise, Larry is down several pounds and looking amazing and the vet is thrilled. But Bryan is struggling to lose weight - but he has lost weight and is doing great. It's just slow. (It's not his food or treats, believe me) It's harder since he has hip dysplasia - but he gets a 40min walk daily. At one point he couldn't do 5 minutes.

Anyway, the vet knows what they're eating (I track it all) and the exercise routine, so we agreed to do a thyroid test on him. Here are the results - below. They said that his thyroid is low and now want to do further blood tests to see if he is actually hypothyroid.

When I look at the symptoms of hypothyroidism in dogs, he has the weight challenge and energy is a little lower (he tires easily but we think he may just be not wanting to make his hip hurt). He isn't losing fur, he loves the cold (heat intolerance is very high with him, always was).

Fortunately when I look at the prognosis for hypothyroid dogs it appears that with synthroid they can live long regular lives.

His Result is 15 -- the range is 12-51 nmol/L

From the vet:

Diagnostic Interpretation for TT4 < 13
nmol/L Low 13 - 26 nmol/L Low Normal
13 - 51 nmol/L Normal > 51 nmol/L High
27 - 69 nmol/L Therapeutic Dogs with no
clinical signs of hypothyroidism and
results within the normal reference range
are likely euthyroid. Dogs with low T4
concentrations may be hypothyroid or
'euthyroid sick'. Occasionally, hypothyroid
dogs can have T4 concentrations that are
low normal. Dogs with clinical signs of
hypothyroidism and low or low normal T4
concentrations may be evaluated further
by submission of freeT4 (fT4) and canine
TSH. A high T4 concentration in a
clinically normal dog is likely variation of
normal; however elevations may occur
secondary to thyroid auto antibodies or
rarely thyroid neoplasia. For dogs on
thyroid supplement, acceptable 4-6 hour
post pill total T4 concentrations generally
fall within the higher end or slightly above
the reference range.

 

[Ann]

I have two Shelties on thyroid meds. The first, Ruffles, age 11, was diagnosed when she gained weight after her gallbladder surgery two years ago and I could not get it off of her. She had no other symptoms either. Shelties do not test typically like other breeds do, so make sure your vet is reading the T4 results correctly. A "normal" reading for Shelties is high normal in other breeds. Once we found the correct dose of meds for her the weight came off easily.

My second girl, Flurry, age 7, was also overweight but she's a very active dog so I had her tested as well and she was super positive for hypothyroid, even my vet was surprised. She's also on meds and like Ruffles, lost the weight almost immediately once we started her on thyroid med. They're both doing well...it's a pill twice a day at least 30 minutes before or after eating, and that's all the treatment they need.

The only reaction I've seen in both of them is an increased amount of water intake, and therefore needing more trips outside. Ruffles was restless at the beginning too, so the vet tested her level again and reduced the dose of her meds. That solved the problem. Finding the correct dose in each dog is a process....they'll test a month after you start the meds and adjust accordingly, and then test a few months after that.

This is the most informative article on Sheltie thyoids I've seen. I printed this out and took it to my vet when we started the process. Hope it helps!

 

[BryanAndLarrysMama]

I have two Shelties on thyroid meds. The first, Ruffles, age 11, was diagnosed when she gained weight after her gallbladder surgery two years ago and I could not get it off of her. She had no other symptoms either. Shelties do not test typically like other breeds do, so make sure your vet is reading the T4 results correctly. A "normal" reading for Shelties is high normal in other breeds. Once we found the correct dose of meds for her the weight came off easily.

My second girl, Flurry, age 7, was also overweight but she's a very active dog so I had her tested as well and she was super positive for hypothyroid, even my vet was surprised. She's also on meds and like Ruffles, lost the weight almost immediately once we started her on thyroid med. They're both doing well...it's a pill twice a day at least 30 minutes before or after eating, and that's all the treatment they need.

The only reaction I've seen in both of them is an increased amount of water intake, and therefore needing more trips outside. Ruffles was restless at the beginning too, so the vet tested her level again and reduced the dose of her meds. That solved the problem. Finding the correct dose in each dog is a process....they'll test a month after you start the meds and adjust accordingly, and then test a few months after that.

This is the most informative article on Sheltie thyoids I've seen. I printed this out and took it to my vet when we started the process. Hope it helps!

---------------------------------------------------
Oh wow, you have no idea how much you've just helped me! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! The weight thing is the same for Bryan. He's a little tank at 50lbs ,but was up to 55lbs at one point. I sat at the vet office feeling like a bad mom as the vet said he had to walk and reduce food. He IS walking and he IS not eating too much (and I refuse to put him on diet food, sorry, they won't eat it). He also has such poor heat tolerance. I admit it made me chuckle because I'm also hypothyroid so I'm like "me too, Bryan, me too" LOL.

I'm fortunate that they both take meds SUPER easily, and of course synthroid isn't an expensive medication both of these will be wins. I so want to get the weight off him because I know it will make his hip dysplasia easier to deal with.

Thank you for the article, too! This is amazing! I'm so glad you're girls are doing well on their meds. You're clearly an awesome fur mama.

 

[Ann]

I'm thrilled if my experience can help your boys. That's what it's all about. I found we can't be shy about educating our vets about the differences in Sheltie health issues LOL. My vet is so used to me sending him health stuff on Shelties (gallbladders, thyroid, spleen etc) that he's actually built up a whole Sheltie clientele now. I'm lucky in that he's been very open to it.

Please let us know how your pups do!