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Post by sysmom on Nov 8, 2006 22:29:27 GMT -5
Hello - Sy has been a bit lathargic lately and so we decided to take him to the vet yesterday. Even when we went to meet the other pups on Sunday he didnt want to run at all - this was a surprise as he LOVES to run around, especially with other greys. Anyway, while at the vet they weighed him and took blood samples. He weighs 84 pounds!!! This is 8 pounds heavier than he was 3 or 4 months ago. Well, the vet called tonight and our boy Sy was diagnosed as having hypothyroid. Not life threatening but he will need to be on medication for life. Has anyone heard of this is other greys?
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Post by greyhound2 on Nov 8, 2006 23:31:04 GMT -5
Our boy was diagnosed 2 1/2 yrs ago and has been on meds since. After being on them for a while we had to really keep our eye on him as he became this dog who wanted to run instead of sleeping for 23 hours. If we opened the gate to go out of the back yard and he was no where in sight, he was past us before we knew it or could grab him and off he'd run down the road like it was his own personal track then stop and wait for us. He really improved in his energy level, his hair started to grow back on his chest and neck, also his blackhead stomach started to go away. He has been much better and still at times at 9 will try and get our other dog who is also 9 to play. He definatly got his spunk back. Good Luck meds did the trick for him.
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Post by P&G_mom&dad on Nov 9, 2006 6:57:09 GMT -5
Glad to hear you caught it now. Hopefully Sy will feel better and start chasing Pasha again she loves to run with him.
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Post by jiffer on Nov 9, 2006 13:31:07 GMT -5
Please be sure your vet is Greyhound Savvy. Their lab results are different especially for thyroid than any other breed (They may appear hypothyroid, when in fact, they are normal). Did your vet run a full thyroid panel? (T4, free T4, etc?) or just a T4? The T4 won't give you the answer you need, a full panel must be done to ascertain if a GH has hypothyroid. Here's the T4 info: * Greyhound: .5-3.6 (mean 1.47+/- .63) * Other dogs: 1.52-3.60 Here are some blood values that differ from other breeds: PLATELETS Greyhound range 80K - 170K Other breeds reference 170K - 400K RBCs Greyhound range 7.4 - 9.0 Other breeds range 5.5 - 8.5 WBCs Greyhound range = 3.5 - 6.5 Other breeds range = 6.0 - 17.0 Here's a couple websites about Greyhound Blood Values/thyroid: www.arizonaadoptagreyhound.org/blood_tests.htmlwww.adopt-a-greyhound.org/advice/health.html
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Post by ontariogreys on Nov 9, 2006 18:57:58 GMT -5
My Callie was though weight gain was definitely not one of her symptoms instead it was a battle keeping weight on her.
Sunny did have weight issues and was tested for hypothyroidism , his free t4 and TSHwas out of whack, (the vet suggest that he may only need to be on temporarily to get his thyroid gland functioning properly again, he was put on thyroid meds but became very grumpy and his free T4 still remained on the low side but better but his weight continued to increase so he was taken off again and his moodiness improved and a later blood test revealed that indeed his thyroid gland is functioning better, at his last dental another test was done it was back in the normal range.
His weight gain tjough was not a result of thyroid, a later x-ray reveal that his spleen was about 4 times the size of a normal spleen a condition called hyperspleenism and cancer had been ruled out
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Post by ontariogreys on Nov 9, 2006 20:40:24 GMT -5
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Post by sysmom on Nov 13, 2006 11:14:05 GMT -5
okay, after reading all this, i still feel like an idiot. i also called the vet this morning to ask what sy's levels were and what tests they ran. don't think i asked the right questions because she said a regular T4 test was run and sy's level was 6.1 as opposed to normal minimum being 13. does that make sense? and how am i supposed to know to ask for the full panel screening from the vet - shouldn't they know that in advance? these vets (mt. pleasant/davisville vet) see other greys as well (including pasha and josey wales) - so you would think they would know. i haven't picked up sy's meds yet, looking for advice on what to do. oh, sy seems better (he actually ran a lot yesterday with the other greys when we went to norwood park) - so maybe it's not his thyroid...so confused. help! lisa
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Post by P&G_mom&dad on Nov 13, 2006 17:53:38 GMT -5
Lisa, Maybe you should forward the message from Jiffer above to the vet and ask for comments. When we met the vets Claire Keeley and Allen Corber, they seemed to be open to email communications. The receptionist should be able to provide you with the email addresses. Joost
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Post by jiffer on Nov 13, 2006 21:09:50 GMT -5
When I had Icarus tested his levels were (from Vita-Tech Canada Inc.) : T4 10.5 (low, but not Greyhound low) Free T4 19.8 Canine TSH 0.15 The Normal for Canines: T4 15 - 58 Free T4 16 - 45 Canine TSH 0.00 - 0.35 Ask your vet for a lab report (they are usually okay about providing these) then email Dr. Suzanne Stack (I believe her email is in one of my links above). If anyone would know, she would
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Post by sysmom on Nov 13, 2006 23:06:15 GMT -5
Everyone -
Thanks you for the input.
Joost, yes I will email the vet. Allen was the vet that saw Sy & yes he is a really nice guy.
Jen, thanks for the information. As usual your comments are great, timely & so very helpful to us newbies.
We will keep everyone updated.
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Post by ontariogreys on Nov 19, 2006 5:39:35 GMT -5
When doing a thyroid panel vets should be specifying greyhound as the breed on the paperwork that goes to the lab with the blood sample. Here is an article that was released after a survey/study on greyhounds www.greyhoundclubofamerica.org/thyroid-survey.htmlMSU is one of the world leaders in canine thyroid testing of dogs, they do the OFA thyroid genetic testing in purebreds that breeders have done to prove their dogs are clear on genetic thyroid disease even breeders in Europe will have the test done thru them. you can request that the testing be done there, if your vet is not willing you can arrange to have your vet draw the blood and ship yourself, the testing method is more accurate than what is available here and more is tested for, and it helps they have endocrinologists there who can use the results from the test to determined if those dogs that are border line are postive or negative which testing here can't really determine as I found out from Sunny's panel, with Callies her values were far enough out to definitely confirm that she was indeed hypothyroid from the MSU website on requirements for shipping www.animalhealth.msu.edu/submissions.htmlthe form that needs to be filled out for testing is here, check off 20011 it is done by dialysis so would provide the most accurate results and I would also have one of their endocrinologists interpret the results since this is their field of specialty, its not your vets, $4 for an expert to do is cheap so check mark this section on the form if you want done, Dogs should be fasted(no food) prior to taking the blood sample www.animalhealth.msu.edu/documents/FillableEndoA10.27.06.pdfIf I need to get future thyroid tests done I will sent to MSU and having their endocrinologists interpret the results, I don't want to again spend a couple hundred to have a test done at a lab here to be told maybe and then do a drug trial for several months with more blood tests along the way to find out maybe not
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