Looking for input about dog on thyroid meds

Last month Dowser got real sick suddenly late at night. Throwing up water and not being able to get comfortable laying down. I thought he had bloat then figured it was possibly a blockage because he had wolfed down a rawhide chew pretty quickly that evening. I stayed up all night with him and made an appointment for first thing in the morning. He collapsed before we went and I got him there just in time. He was severely dehydrated.
It turned out to be a blockage of rawhide that eventually passed by it's self.

But while we were trying to figure out what was wrong the vet tells me that from his blood tests he had high lipids and high cholesterol and his thyroid was down a little. He prescribed a thyroid hormone levothyroxine . I explained that Dowser had been on Prednisone for the past 2 months for allergies. He says low thyroid will cause allergy symptoms to show. So I caved in and have been giving Dowser the pills but he was acting poorly with shakes and fatigue. We did another blood panel and his thyroid was high now so they reduced the amount by .1, from .8 to .7. Now this week he started shedding badly and is still acting tired so I called in and now they want him to take .5. This is driving me nuts as he never had any sign of a problem before the rawhide episode.

Anyone here have any experience with such an issue?
Thanks
Mike

 

Thyroid meds can take a VERY long time to regulate. There is no way to regulate him without testing frequently and doing at least one test that is sent out to a lab for a Total/Complete T4 that checks multiple thyroid related factors (unless they have that ability in their clinic although most only have the machines for checking basic levels).
Also most thyroid tests are done after the dog has fasted for 12-24 hours. If that one test was done during the whole blockage incident it sounds like he may not have been fasted and that could throw off the numbers in the first place.
I'm not saying the doc is wrong but I would consider a second opinion on the thyroid issue assuming this doc is adjusting meds arbitrarily because of symptoms rather than knowing what the levels actually are.
Good luck with him.

 

It does take quite a while for thyroid to level out and get meds situated. However I have known dogs to have problems with hormone levels after severe stress and being on a strong steroid like Prednisone.

If I were you, I'd get a second oppinion just to be on the safe side. Your vet should understand.

Precious had blockage 3 years ago and required extensive surgery to get it out and remove the necrotic part of her instestine. It took her almost a month to fully recover and she shed very bad. Was lathargic and didn't want to eat for a while.

 

Well it's been a year almost without that junk and he has been doing fine except last month he is showing signs of hip troubles. That's another story.

Mike--- no the other Mike

 

Poor guy has been through it, There is nothing worse than something like this happening and nothing seems to work, Glad he is doing better.

As for the hip problems i was told that if xrays are done of he hips early enough then surgery is usually easier to do and is not as extensive.

My rottie has hyper extention of the hocks in both back legs and there is nothing the vets can do for her as there is to many ateries and tendons and it could go wrong and lose the use of her back legs altogether and i am not having that happen to her.

I was thinking of getting hock braces to keep her legs bent at the right angulation and see if eventually they will stay that way.

Give Dowser a huge hug from me.

Mike

 

i had a dog with thyroid problems and her symptoms were fur loss (she was a shepherd so that was hard to tell) but her fur didn't look like a normal coat blowing it got very thin and the fur was extremely coarse. She also started to develop severe dandruff. This was why I got her checked and it ended up being her thyroid.
Once her level were fine (it took awhile but not too long) a pill a day and she was good to go. It didn't go on and on.

 

Buster has Addison's so he is on pred and gets regular blood work up's...we've been watching his thyroid and it has been continuing to go down. So it was confirmed that he has hypothyroidism and is on that same drug levothyroxine 2 times a day and he is doing great on it. He's got his energy back and acting almost like a puppy again.... Not real sure how I feel about that part.... :mrgreen:

 

Well he has been off the roid meds for a year. And has no hair loss or thinning or anything that could suggest he has a thyroid problem.

He is still having hip issues and got sick a few weeks ago, throwing up and feeling puny, but got over it in a day.