What information did the test give you? Anything you've been able to act on?

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Kathleen, mom to one human, age 17, three canines, and a bunch of fish.

Hearty welcome from another Mainiac. I'm from the North end of the Maine coast. I hope you are able to find the answers to your pups paw problems. My pups have had minor problems in the winter with the salt and calcium and I've used Musher's Secret cream but it seems your pup has bigger issues. I agree with TippyKayak that a FULL thyroid panel may be in order.

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Things have gotten worse for poor Karma.....

She has absolutely no appetite. She's been a little finicky for the last week, but now I put food down and she walks away.

I took her to the vet...all bloodwork normal, but I asked the vet to run a thyroid test. Her TT4 was 0.9....the vet wasn't concerned....it pissed me off....but I also requested a FT4 which they sent out.

This wasn't the vet I like to go to.....I hate when they talk about the dog walking in salt or getting into things. It just doesn't happen. My dogs eat in their crates and they all get their own special food. They do not get treats or table scraps.

I tried giving her chicken and rice. She didn't eat that. I tried 4 or 5 different dry foods, and even some canned food from the vet that was supposed to entice her.

She's skin and bones! They found nothing wrong with her at the vet. Today she ate 1.5 scrambled eggs, and ate one yesterday. The day before she had some chicken and rice and some wellness I got from a friend, but has not touched it since (that was dinner....she didn't eat breakfast)...similar issue the day before that (no breakfast, but ate some of my other dogs dry food and hasn't touched that since).....the day before that it was her regular food with yogurt mixed in.

This dog ate 1.5 cups of dry dog food twice a day and now suddenly she won't eat.......

I'm afraid she is going to die without me knowing what is wrong with her. My next step is calling the vets office and seeing if I can get an appt with my regular vet....I am also thinking that the saliva test is the way to go as well...

I'm totally stumped....

Be adamant about seeing your regular vet as soon as possible and have him/her examine your dog. I'm not a vet, but I would consider a t4 of.9 way too low. As has been mentioned previously, a FULL PANEL thyroid test should be done, just a t4 does not give a complete picture of what's happening thyroid wise. Also she may have an illness that is depressing her thyroid levels. Your vet should be able to tell you more once he's checked everything out. If not, then do not hesitate to take her somerwhere else for a second opinion.

I agree with getting the second opinion. And don't let the vets plan to do tests over a period of weeks, eliminating this and that. If she's not eating, acting weird, and losing weight, you need them to diagnose her quickly. they often don't want to do tests all at once because it costs a lot for you. But it sounds like you need answers now.

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Kathleen, mom to one human, age 17, three canines, and a bunch of fish.

The last two weeks have been a wreck....

Karma not eating well
Karma going to my vet and the emergency vet with no change
Karma going to a specialist who scoped her and diagnosed her with IBD and PLE....no evidence of cancer....will take 4 months to recover with a limited antigen diet
Getting the biopsy results back 5 days later and finding out she had Intestinal Large Granular Cell Lymphoma
4 days later having to put her down last night......

6 years is just way too short of a life....

Thanks to everyone for their help. A couple things I have learned:

In the future I think a limited antigen diet is a good way to go with a dog

Golden retrievers are one of the breeds if not the breed with the highest cancer rate. At one point I wanted a dozen Goldens because Karma was such a sweet loving and smart dog...I'm not supposed to have favorites and I love my other dogs, bit Karma was a special angel. Knowing the cancer statistics now, I don't think I will get another Golden.

Good luck to everyone

Oh no! I came on hoping to read you'd found the solution. I can't believe Karma is gone, so young. I'm so, so sorry. You must be devastated. You have my deepest sympathy. I'll be sending good thoughts to you and Karma.

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Kathleen, mom to one human, age 17, three canines, and a bunch of fish.