New with a thyroid question

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<3Emi&Topper<3

Forums Regular
My female sheltie, Emi, is 4 yrs old and has had skin issues since she was 2 yrs old. We've tried steroids, allergy meds, Comfortis, special diet, etc and nothing was getting better. My vet wanted to spay her then put her on Atopica. But after some research on my part I requested a thyroid panel be done on her. The results came back and the vet said she had the endocrinologist said her results do not show hypothyroidism. She suggests lyme-sulfa dips for hereditary mange (even though she's never found any mites on her in the half a dozen skin scrapes she's taken in the last two years).
Here are her levels:
TT4 17.0 (range 11-60)
TT3 0.7 (range 0.8-2.1)
FT4 10.0 (range 6-23)
FT3 5.7 (range 1.2-8.2)
T4 Autoantibody 6.0 (range 0-20)
T3 Autoantibody 5.0 (range 1-10)
Thyroid Stim. Hormone 31.0 (range 0-30)
Thyroglobulin 2.0 (range 0-35)

Considering her T4 is 25% of the range when she should be more towards 75% of range, wouldn't this mean she IS hypothyroid?
I think I may need to find a new vet. She has been insisting this is an allergy for two years now.
 
Definitely more likely thyroid than some unknown allergy. Shelties in general seem to need higher thyroid levels than most breeds. Putting the dog on a low dose of soloxine twice a day for a few months will tell you whether it's thyroid or allergy. As opposed to blindly treating everything BUT the simple, known, and tested issue.
 
Thank you for your response.
I did email the Central Illinois Sheltie Rescue and they got back to me in minutes stating that they would definitely be treating her for hypothyroid with those test results. She also suggested testing for Cushings disease, which my vet has never even mentioned as being a possible cause.
Tomorrow I'm calling a new vet :(
 
I can't comment on the individual results because US testing and Canadian testing is different.

My Bacca is hypothyroid and was diagnosed at about 1.5 years old. Hypothyroidism is a hidden disease, and in most cases does not truly manifest itself until later years.

In rare cases, like my boy, and perhaps your pup, they start showing early symptoms, and therefore start getting treated early. Good news is that it is treatable, but requires ongoing meds and periodic testing to ensure the dosages are still working.

One thing that folk on this forum need to know is that Shelties are in the Top 10 of being at risk of this disease.

So if you start seeing sudden behaviour change, skin change, change in eating habits, sudden lethargy, then be alert....these are the early warning signs.
 
classic low normal for shelties...treat as hypothyroid and it should start to clear things up, although it usually takes a few months for the level to build up to where you will see a difference.
 
Thank you! The information on these forums has been invaluable! I emailed Dr. Jean Dodds with Emi's results also. She got back to me very quickly and confirmed what the Central Illinois Sheltie Rescue said...Emi has primary hypothyroidism and should be treated with thyroxine.

I called my current vet and while trying to tell her about Dr. Dodds (who she had never heard of) and how Emi's results are too low for her breed, she kept talking over top of me saying she had the endocrinoligist at the lab interpret Emi's results and they said it was "normal". She didn't want to listen to me at all. She is prescribing Soloxine and after I pick that up, I am switching vets. I have Emi an appt at a new vet next week.
 
Lightplum said:
classic low normal for shelties...treat as hypothyroid and it should start to clear things up, although it usually takes a few months for the level to build up to where you will see a difference.
Click to expand...

Cushings is very difficult to diagnose. If this was my dog, I would see another vet and try the thyroid treatment before I started thinking about Cushings disease.
 
I certainly hope you let your old vet know exactly why you are leaving the practice. Good luck with the new vet and I hope your dog gets started on the proper treatment ASAP.
 
Actually it is not so much the low normal thyroid levels but the coupled high TSH levels that say hypothyroid to me. Thyroid normals can be down in the face of other illness/diseases and the thyroid be perfectly normal. But in those cases the TSH will be low.
 
Thyroid

I had the same problem with Max and we are still working on getting his thyroid higher. My vet I'd 10 years kept suggesting everything but raising his thyroid med. we finally went to a new vet and the first thing he said was Max was hypothyroid! He also has Lettie's so I also work with Sn allergist and internist for his pancreas! Shelties do run higher I even gave mine a copy from Chicago rescue about thyroid. Don't give in, you are right and dr. Dodds truly knows her stuff. Good luck.
 
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