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Hypothyroidism

10K views 41 replies 11 participants last post by  Karen519 
#1 ·
I am a long time ago member. I was Goldlexus back then but couldn't remember my password and I think my email address was different.
Anyway, I have a 4 year old golden girl who is exhibiting signs of hypothyroidism. She has gained a lot of weight, is lethargic, thinning fur, brown spots, joint problems on and on. I'm taking her to the vet soon (waiting for pay day). My question is if it is confirmed hypothyroidism and she is given the med she needs will she lose the weight and get her energy back? Will she be less 'gimpy'. I am hoping my Goofy golden returns to normal. Please tell me she will!

Golden mom to:
Portia 4yrs old
Mercedes 10 yrs old
Lexus at Rainbow bridge
Peaches at rainbow bridge
 
#2 ·
I have had a number of dogs over the years who have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Currently my golden flat coat cross is taking medication for it. In Gracie's case I was absolutely certain it was hypothyroidism before the vet diagnosed it. I had seen in in 4 other dogs I have had over the years. You are correct with the symptoms, although in Gracie's case her coat did not thin as much as it became dull and felt rather greasy to the touch. She weighed 85 lbs at the time of diagnosis. She was put on Thyrosyn .4 mg twice a day. Within 1 year her weigh dropped to 62 lbs (no dieting), her energy level improved dramatically. She went from sleeping most of the day to actively playing with our golden, Bailey, who was a puppy at the time. She is 11 years old now and was 10 years old when she began treatment. She has suffered from fairly minor arthritis for a number of years. I did not see an improvement in her arthritis when she began the Thyrosyn but because she had considerably more energy she became more active and I believe this, in addition to the weight loss, helped lessen the effects of the arthritis. In the case of all of the dogs I have had who were treated for hypothyroidism once on medication their coats improved, their energy levels improved and they all lost weight. Hopefully if diagnosed with hypothyroidism and placed on medication you will see similar results with your girl. Best wishes.
 
#3 ·
Also, I should have added to the previous post, the majority of thyroid medications given to dogs are inexpensive. I believe Gracie's meds cost about $8 a month. The bloodwork, which I have run on her every 6 months, costs approximately $80. I hope this helps:)
 
#5 ·
Our first golden was diagnosed just about the time he turned 4. His fur thinned and became rather coarse, he put on the pounds, he had no energy, and he suddenly got snappy with the two little young boys next door. Now, they were monsters and I figured they were throwing things at him over the fence--we have a 6 foot wood fenced, but they had a picnic table up next to it on their side. I took him to the vet and blood work showed the low thyroid and he was put on meds. It ws not long before his coat grew back thick and soft, he was full of energy, the pounds came off, NAD he suddenly liked the boys next door again. He was a duck dog, so we were sure glad to get him back to his old self.

Then several years later his full brother, a later litter was diagnosed. Now the strange thing here is that Buck showed NO symptoms at all. Nice thick, soft fur, full of energy even for a 10 year old, no weight gain. He was caught when I had a full blood panel done for his yearly check & before a dental. His was much lower than Scooters had ever been and he was put on 1 1/2 dose that Scooter had been on. Scooter had passed with heart failure a few years earlier. I am not sure who was more surprised at Buck's low thyroid, me or my vet.

Then some 506 years later our girl Honey was diagnosed, even tho she also showed no symptoms other than weight gain. AND I was diagnosed 8 years ago. I was not as lucky as Scooter--his fur grew back thick, mine thinned and did not grow back. My dosage has been upped 3 times in the 8 years.
 
#6 ·
Portia is a 109 pounds! Maybe more now. Her fur has a really weird texture and smell. She is showing all the classic signs. I am glad to hear that we may get our goof ball back. Thanks everyone!
 
#7 ·
I forgot a picture of her. The first is both Portia and Mercedes. The other two are both Portia. One where is is more bright-eyed and other not so much.
 

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#8 ·
Max lost a good ten pounds when he was first put on the medication. It's a struggle to keep it off, he still gains fairly quickly, but other than that, he's been fine. He was 4 when he was diagnosed, just turned 9, still the same goofball he always was.
So yes, you'll see improvement - and probably fairly quickly.
As someone else mentioned, the cost of the meds is very low, I think we pay $45 for 3 months and the blood work is like $50 every six months.
 
#9 ·
Just looking at Portia's face in her pictures I would bet she is hypothyroid. I'm not a vet, but I have a hypothyroid dog and he had the same look before he started treatment. He also was acting lethargic, but within a few days after starting the thyroid meds he became much more lively.
 
#10 ·
I had just read about droopy face in dogs with hypothyroidism! Yup all the signs are there. She will be going to the vet in a week. I am so excited to get my Goofy girl back. She just has been herself in months. We thought (and the vet) it was because of her joints. She clearly was pained when we took her. She's been on deramaxx since. Since joint pain combined with the extra weight is all part of hypothyroidism then hopefully she can get off the deramaxx once her thyroid is back to normal.
 
#12 ·
Let us know how the vet visit goes and the results of the thyroid test. If the results show low normal that is still too low for a golden and supplementation may be warranted. Do a search within the forum and you will find many posts about hypothyroidism. Very informative. Searching this forum is what convinced me to get my boy's thyroid tested even though my vet told me I'd be wasting my money. I insisted on a premium panel test done through MSU and, sure enough, that proved he had autoimmune thyroiditis.
 
#11 ·
I don't know where you live so I don't know if this is a practical idea for your girl but with Gracie I have found that swimming (along with the thyroid meds, of course) has been really helpful for her. Because of her age (she's 11) I put a life jacket on her. It allow her to be bouyant which takes the weight off of her joints for a while and it is wonderful exercise for her. She also loves goofing around in the water. May be worth trying with your girl:)
 
#13 ·
My 13 yr old Golden, Amber just started Levothyroxine last week. She was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and Laryngeal Paralysis by an internist when we just couldn't figure out some of the symptoms that were popping up with her. She suddenly had a bacterial infection or her stomach and a yeast infection in an ear which had never happened before. Plus, she was panting all of the time and becoming just a bump on a log instead of her fun loving self. Luckily, the LarPar looks like it will not be much of an issue because her airway still has a nice wide opening although she has bilateral paralysis.
Yesterday, was a great day for her and she took a walk of almost a mile broken in two segments and she ran around the yard some. There was very minimal panting afterwards so we are crossing our fingers.
 

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#14 ·
Given the way she looks, thinning/corse/oily fur, weight gain, tons of brown spots, droopy face and lethargy... I really doubt her levels are anywhere near normal. I think once the vet looks her over he will agree with it is thyroid. The blood test will just be formality. I will definitely update you all. We're taking her next Saturday!
 
#15 ·
Hi all.. We just got back from the vet. She had a blood draw Saturday to test her thyroid, we had an appointment today to go over the result.....she does in deed have hypothyroidism! So she is on a low dosage of thyroid medicine and will retest in 4 weeks to see if it is a good dose for her. I am so looking forward to having my dog back! Thanks everyone for all the info.
 
#16 ·
I am glad that your hunch was correct. It has been my experience that with the correct dose of thyroid meds the dogs return to their old selves within a few weeks. I hope this holds true for your girl:)
 
#17 ·
Portia has been on her thyroid meds for 3 weeks now. We haven't seen huge improvements but noticed small ones. The most noticeable one is her face looks less droopy. Kinda like she had a face lift or something :) she does seem a bit thinner but not sure if it's because her face isn't drooping anymore or what. She kinda seems to have a bit more energy and will occasionally show us her sass. Her joints are still causing her problems so she is reluctant to walk much but when she does we've noticed her moving a bit faster. I'm afraid the weight has really taken a toll on her front paws :( she walks very flat footed and makes a thumping sound with each step. It's like the supporting muscles, bone and tendons have broken down and she no longer walks solely up on her pads. Her fur is still horrible with a lot of bare spots. Even more then pre-meds. She will go in next week for a blood test to see if she is at the right dosage. I suspect she's not. Am I expecting too much? I know it will take time but I thought her energy level change would be a bit more noticeable.
 
#21 ·
Portia has been on her thyroid meds for 3 weeks now. We haven't seen huge improvements but noticed small ones. The most noticeable one is her face looks less droopy. Kinda like she had a face lift or something :) she does seem a bit thinner but not sure if it's because her face isn't drooping anymore or what. She kinda seems to have a bit more energy and will occasionally show us her sass. Her joints are still causing her problems so she is reluctant to walk much but when she does we've noticed her moving a bit faster. I'm afraid the weight has really taken a toll on her front paws :( she walks very flat footed and makes a thumping sound with each step. It's like the supporting muscles, bone and tendons have broken down and she no longer walks solely up on her pads. Her fur is still horrible with a lot of bare spots. Even more then pre-meds. She will go in next week for a blood test to see if she is at the right dosage. I suspect she's not. Am I expecting too much? I know it will take time but I thought her energy level change would be a bit more noticeable.
I think she probably needs an increased dosage of her thyroid med. I don't know what dosage your vet started with, but my vet started my boy on .5mg and he was 80 lbs (was also 4yrs old at the time). He had a recurrent staph infection on his back, with thinning, flaky patches. My vet prescribed cephalexin for 2 or 3 weeks. That treatment cleared it up. After he started on thyroid meds, the infection never returned. Ask your vet if he/she thinks Portia might have a staph infection. It seems to be pretty common in many hypothyroid dogs.
 
#18 ·
Our vet actually put our first golden, Scooter on that Science Diet diet food and it did help get the weight off him. As soon as he got back to normal, it was back to his regular food.

Our girl KayCee had had both knees operated on for Luxating patella,k the first at 16 months, the other 14 months later. Had a hard time with her weight and II took her in at least once a month to get weighed. My vet has a digital scale in the waiting area so I just had to go in with her, let her get on the scale, get the weight and leave. She had the routine down. If she had put on a pound, I cut back on food.

I am low thyroid and it is NO fun. Your girl and I are on the same med. It is not fun being tired all the time. Unfortunately, my hair didn't come back nice and thick, is still rather thin and I have to cut if off and war it short. And Ihad to diet to get rid of the pounds I put on.

Oh, as to the joints, our girl will be 13 on Jan. 8. We adopted her a few weeks after her 11th birthday and she already had bad arthritis in her hips and knees. Her knees bow out, her back feet turn in--like a pigeon toed cowboy. Most of the time she had trouble getting up and sometimes one ofher rear legs or her left front one would just buckle and she would go down. We started her on Adequan injections 4 weeks ago and the improvement is wonderful. For the first 4 weeks it is 2 injections a week, and then goes to one a week, and then one every 2 weeks. Some dogs end up once a month, some eery 2 weeks. My vet's doxie (he is 13) gets one a week due to injuies from an owl attack. I recommend that to anyone with a dog with bad joints. She also gets 1/4 of a pain med each day, meloxicam.
 
#19 ·
Ugh our poor girl seems worse as of now. Last night when I posted I pointed out some small improvements but tonight I noticed a huge hot spot at the base of her tail! She's never had a hot spot. She has been dealing with dry skin and coarse fur but no hot spots. She also has a lot of dry skin on her neck under her collar. We took it off for now. The thyroid med would cause this would it? It's the only thing different in the last 3 weeks. We're pretty worried. She looks a mess.
 
#20 ·
I doubt that thyroid meds would cause hot spots. I have never seen that in any of the dogs I have had who have been on thyroid meds. With my dogs it has taken a long time for the weight to drop (and I have put most of them on very strict diets) but I did notice the increase in their energy levels went up within a month. As for their coats...I noticed the improvement in skin (is not dry and flaky) within a few weeks but it took a couple of months before their coats returned to soft and shiny. I know my vet has always started with the lowest dose that she thinks will work. It has occasionally needed to be adjusted after doing more bloodwork. With regards to the hot spots I have never seen them caused by thyroid meds. Is it possible that there is something causing allergies for Portia? Hopefully your vet can pinpoint the cause. Sending good thought to you and Portia.
 
#22 ·
Portia was prescribed an antibiotic. The hot spots aren't nearly as red and ozzie as there were. The vet shaved the bad spots of fur and we have been cleaning and disinfecting 3-4 times a day. She's looking better. Her thyroid test was done also and showed normal levels. I'm not sure how accurate her levels were as she had her thyroid med about 3 hours before. No one told us not to give her her morning dose if she needing to be tested. Her energy level was showing promise but now with this infection she is depressed, no energy, no appetite and over all sad :(. To add salt to injury she has carpal Hyper extension in both front paws. We are not sure what to do with that! Ugh it's been rough. Here's a picture of our nekkidd gold girl. She just shivers from exposure. Once the sores look better we'll put her sweater on. Poor baby.
 

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#23 ·
Bless her heart. My KayCee had allergies that caused nasty hot spots. I hated them. One time they had to shave all the side of her face below her ear. But funny thing, her allergies lessened as she got older and she had few hot spots and other problems. Lost her to cancer 8 1/2 years ago at age 8 yrs. 9 months.
 
#24 ·
Poor Portia! She looks absolutely miserable! Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in and she will feel better soon. Did they give you any ointment for the hot spots? When my dogs have had them they have gotten an anti itch ointment in addition to the antibiotic. Also when Gracie has her thyroid tests done they are not done unless it has been 5 or more hours since she has had her meds and they always include the time the meds were given in the results. I suspect that if Portia had her meds 3 hours before the blood was drawn that the results are slightly off. I am surprised your vet would not have told you about the 5 hour rule. Every vet I have dealt with with any of my dogs with hypothyroidism seems to abide by it.
 
#25 ·
The vet didn't give us any ointment but we had some we picked up and the vet said that would be fine. So far no new hot spots but Portia is pretty lethargic and depressed. Due to her carpal Hyper extension in both paws she is beginning to not want to walk. We are being faced with so much at once with our golden girl. The vet mentioned that if even after she looses 20 lbs and if she starts to struggle to walk (when we took her Saturday she wasn't reluctant to walk but clearly was gimpy and the vet noticed the flatness of her front feet) she will need to see an orthopedic surgeon. I don't think loosing 20 lbs is going to help. She is struggling now. I have to use a harness to lift her enough to keep weight off her front paws. We are devastated. We don't have the money for a carpal fusion (arthrodesis) possibly costing $5,000-8,000. If anyone here has a suggestion on what to do. We can't go into debt we feel over our heads enough at this point. She is only 4 so putting her down doesn't seem right, her suffering isn't right. Maybe surrender her to an organization that can give her the help she needs? Ugh I'm in tears. We want to do what's right. Ideas? We love this pup and want her in our lives but are not financially able to do what she needs.
 
#27 ·
The vet didn't give us any ointment but we had some we picked up and the vet said that would be fine. So far no new hot spots but Portia is pretty lethargic and depressed. Due to her carpal Hyper extension in both paws she is beginning to not want to walk. We are being faced with so much at once with our golden girl. The vet mentioned that if even after she looses 20 lbs and if she starts to struggle to walk (when we took her Saturday she wasn't reluctant to walk but clearly was gimpy and the vet noticed the flatness of her front feet) she will need to see an orthopedic surgeon. I don't think loosing 20 lbs is going to help. She is struggling now. I have to use a harness to lift her enough to keep weight off her front paws. We are devastated. We don't have the money for a carpal fusion (arthrodesis) possibly costing $5,000-8,000. If anyone here has a suggestion on what to do. We can't go into debt we feel over our heads enough at this point. She is only 4 so putting her down doesn't seem right, her suffering isn't right. Maybe surrender her to an organization that can give her the help she needs? Ugh I'm in tears. We want to do what's right. Ideas? We love this pup and want her in our lives but are not financially able to do what she needs.
I think she will start feeling a little better once the skin infection is cleared up. Antibiotics can make a dog feel lethargic. As for the carpal hyperextension, if she were my dog, I would ask for a referral to a specialist in canine rehabilitation before I made any decisions. If there isn't anyone within driving distance, I would pay for a phone consultation with one and find out what options you might have besides surgery. There are many types of carpal wraps/supports on the market you could try, some are expensive but a whole lot cheaper than surgery. A rehabilitation/physical therapist could make a treatment plan for you to build up her strength. I would, at the very least, have my vet help rig up some carpal support for her by using plastic splints and vet wrap. Once she gets the weight off, she may able to get by with a commercial carpal support and avoid surgery. These are things I would consider before I gave up. I am not a vet. I would research every option I could find. I'm sure you will do what you feel is best.
 
#26 ·
I have not dealt with carpal hyper extension in a dog however I had a cat which developed it after falling from a 2nd story balcony in the apartment where I lived at the time. She had the surgery and the outcome was good, however she was no longer able to jump up on things. I don't recall you mentioning Portia having taken any falls from any height. It is my understanding that this is the most common cause of carpal hyper extention. Did your vet do X-rays to confirm the diagnosis? I know that where I live most veterinary clinics will offer a payment plan for expensive surgeries where you pay a set amount each month until the surgery has been paid for. Does your vet offer such an option? I would ask and if he/she does not I would contact other clinics and orthopedic surgeons in your area to see if they do. I know that it can be overwhelming when you first learn of a major illness in one of your fur kids and I really hope you will find a way to work through this.
 
#28 ·
Have you tried Cosequin or Glycoflex? I have no experience with this diagnosis but thought it might help. Good luck finding out what works best for her.
 
#29 ·
G-bear.. Portia hasn't taken any falls but the vet suspect that her weight being at a hundred and ten pounds for several months caused the collapse in her carpal wrists. He is wanting to take a wait-and-see approach to see if she will gain some of the strength in her wrist after she loses about 30 pounds. 30 pounds seems like an awful lot for a dog but he feels that she needs to be around 70 pounds. That was of course before we started seeing a severe decline and her ability to get down and go outside to go to the bathroom. I have ordered a support harness for her it will arrive tomorrow hopefully that will help us get her to go down and go potty. I definitely plan on looking at possible brace options to see if that will help her walk better. I will be consulting the vet on that. No x-rays have been done thus far like I said he wants to take a wait-and-see approach but he strongly suspects carpal hyperextension at this point. Her front feet are very flat where her upper pads that are by the dew claw are touching the ground. We don't want to give up but we don't want to prolong her getting the help she needs. I've been reading a lot about this condition and sadly the conservative approach is less then successful. ::sigh::
 
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