Jess041
Forums Enthusiast
Back at the end of July, Missy was incredibly itchy and I took her to the vet to see if it was allergies or whatnot. The vet said she had a yeast infection in her groin area and pointed out that Missy's coat felt extremely course and dry. I hadn't really noticed it changing, but my vet has owned shelties for many years so she would know what is normal course and not normal. I had my friend groom Missy later that week and asked her what she thought of Missy's coat condition, and she agreed it was on the dry side. And a friend reminded me that those are signs of thyroid issues.
Fast forward 12 weeks. I took her to my friend to get groomed. My friend noticed that her coat still wasn't improved, and now her skin was really flakey. So I made an appointment to take her back to the vet and I wanted to do a thyroid panel. The vet agreed it might be thyroid, so we did the labs. They only did Total T4 and Free T4 by ED. Her Total T4 was .8. The scale is .8 - 3.5. So the lowest it could possibly be in the normal range. The Free T4 was in the lower 25% of the normal range. The vet didn't want to treat her for hypothyroid yet. I tried telling her that shelties who are low-normal do better on meds, but she still wasn't comfortable treating. I suspect she was worried about thyrotoxicosis, or maybe she was hesitant since she knows hypothyroid is over diagnosed in dogs. Anyways, I also wasn't impressed with just doing those 2 tests. I had assumed we were going to test all the thyroid things.
So I did some research and found the Texas A&M canine comprehensive thyroid panel. I called the office and asked if we could do that one. Since we're in Texas, they send stuff to the Texas A&M lab all the time. The results came back mixed. T3, T4, and Free T4 by ED were low-normal, TSH was elevated, and TgAA was negative. My vet consulted with a colleague and still felt like with those results, she wasn't comfortable labeling or treating Missy as a hypothyroid dog. She suggested re-doing the Texas A&M panel in 3-4 months. Also in the 3-4 months this had been going on, Missy had gained 4 lbs with no change in diet or exercise.
So here we are in April, 5 months later. It's time for Missy's annual exam and heartworm test, so I scheduled an appointment for that, and also re-do the thyroid panel. Missy was up 2 more lbs despite reducing her food, and then switching her to raw. I got the final results back last night. T3, T4, and Free T4 by ED were about the same. TSH was 3x higher than it was back in November. And this time the TgAA was positive. So finally the vet said we should put Missy on thyroid meds.
I'm really hoping to see a quick improvement. I need her to get back to a healthier weight. It's really affecting her performance in her favorite game ever- flyball. She is running slower and adding an extra step between the jumps. I can also tell her stamina is down. She did just turn 10 in January, but the change from end of July to now was quite dramatic. She's still happy and enthusiastic to play of course. Her body just can't keep up.
Anyways, just wanted to share my saga!
Fast forward 12 weeks. I took her to my friend to get groomed. My friend noticed that her coat still wasn't improved, and now her skin was really flakey. So I made an appointment to take her back to the vet and I wanted to do a thyroid panel. The vet agreed it might be thyroid, so we did the labs. They only did Total T4 and Free T4 by ED. Her Total T4 was .8. The scale is .8 - 3.5. So the lowest it could possibly be in the normal range. The Free T4 was in the lower 25% of the normal range. The vet didn't want to treat her for hypothyroid yet. I tried telling her that shelties who are low-normal do better on meds, but she still wasn't comfortable treating. I suspect she was worried about thyrotoxicosis, or maybe she was hesitant since she knows hypothyroid is over diagnosed in dogs. Anyways, I also wasn't impressed with just doing those 2 tests. I had assumed we were going to test all the thyroid things.
So I did some research and found the Texas A&M canine comprehensive thyroid panel. I called the office and asked if we could do that one. Since we're in Texas, they send stuff to the Texas A&M lab all the time. The results came back mixed. T3, T4, and Free T4 by ED were low-normal, TSH was elevated, and TgAA was negative. My vet consulted with a colleague and still felt like with those results, she wasn't comfortable labeling or treating Missy as a hypothyroid dog. She suggested re-doing the Texas A&M panel in 3-4 months. Also in the 3-4 months this had been going on, Missy had gained 4 lbs with no change in diet or exercise.
So here we are in April, 5 months later. It's time for Missy's annual exam and heartworm test, so I scheduled an appointment for that, and also re-do the thyroid panel. Missy was up 2 more lbs despite reducing her food, and then switching her to raw. I got the final results back last night. T3, T4, and Free T4 by ED were about the same. TSH was 3x higher than it was back in November. And this time the TgAA was positive. So finally the vet said we should put Missy on thyroid meds.
I'm really hoping to see a quick improvement. I need her to get back to a healthier weight. It's really affecting her performance in her favorite game ever- flyball. She is running slower and adding an extra step between the jumps. I can also tell her stamina is down. She did just turn 10 in January, but the change from end of July to now was quite dramatic. She's still happy and enthusiastic to play of course. Her body just can't keep up.
Anyways, just wanted to share my saga!
