I'm so glad your Jake is well, & thank you for posting this reminder:

When a dog starts gaining or losing weight, becomes lethargic, loses fur, & even has a seizure, have the vet check thyroid;

often vets are taught that hypo-thyroid is "rare" blah blah blah, & they'll check for other things & give the dog Valium & eventually...
the dog dies.

If your vet pooh-poohs the idea of thyroid testing, *make* him/her do it.

If all else fails, go to another vet.

sylvia
who lost her Golden Retriever Sunny several years ago to thyroid disease that not one but three vets refused to test for

We just found out that our collie, Shanzie, has a thyroid condition, too. Hers was practically non-functioning. I'd been wondering why she was so slow and why her coat looked so bad, but when her skin got gross, the vet suggested a thyroid test. For $48, we found out and within 3 days of starting her meds, she was like her old self, except for the skin and hair. It's been about 7 weeks now and she is doing GREAT! She gets a pill twice a day, for the rest of her life. Her skin cleared up, her fur is growing in nicely and she's bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (so to speak!) It's amazing, the differences in her. Before, we had to bribe her to eat and she was overweight. Now she's the first one in line for food and she lost 10 pounds in the first month, even with the appetite. She used to lie by the wood stove all day to stay warm and now she wants to be out in the cold. She's prancing around like a pup and she's 5 years old. The differences we're seeing are absolutely amazing. Her medication is a miracle drug, for sure.

Good luck, Linda! I hope your dog does as well as ours is doing.

(((((Sylvia))))) I'm sorry about Sunny.

Thanks Flamey. I can't wait for Jake to get his energy and his coat back.
Sylvia, I am so sorry about Sunny. When my vet took a look at Jake in the waiting room, the first thing she said was that it looks like thyroid problems. She said he had all the classic symptoms and the blood test confirmed it. She also sent a blood sample out to a lab to get a confirmation from them.

Linda,
Is Jake Hyper or Hypo? That makes a difference. The seizures sound like it's hyper. That's what I was. If he is hyper it can affect his heart. It can be serious if left untreated. Usually they treat hyper with radioactive iodine or medication. I doubt he's hypo if he's having seizures. Stay on top of this it can be treated.
Donna

Sunny was hypo (not enough thyroid hormone).

When the level gets low enough, the dog will have seizures.

Jake is hypo. As some dogs get older (he's only 6, but that is older) their thyroid starts to atrophy. He will be on medication for the rest of his life. My vet is excellent. Her clinic was recommended to me by Sandy.

I'm glad you caught it in time. My little guy, also named Sunny was hyper. Best of thoughts to you and the pooch!

Oh and of course we worry when they're sick! They can't tell us what's wrong - they have to show us. I guess that's why I tend to get more concerned with animals. They have to get across to us.

BTW, give your little buddy a little extra attention now. You'll both appreciate it.

I bet its way cheaper to get the meds at a regular people pharmacy. Worth looking into for a life-long med. Glad its not something real bad. Sorry about Sunny. That is awful! At least I know what to look for. Always good info on the KT!

Our lab, Jetson, haad to take thyroid medicine. After a few days on it, he was back to his usual "puppy" self! omg... 100 pounds of lab puppy til he passed of bone cancer.

I just looked online and I couldn't find any pills in small enough mgs at regular pharmacies, but at Drs. Foster and Smith, a veterinary pharmacy, I found Shanzie's pills for 9 cents each as opposed to 22 cents at the vet. Hmmm. Looks like we'll be getting our Soloxine, along with our heartworm pills, from them. I'd love to buy them from the vet, but saving $73 a year on just this medication is very attractive. And we give the vets lots of money for other things, all year. 7 pets. Yikes.

Thanks Flamey for suggesting Drs Foster & Smith pharmacy. I get catalogs from them. I will be buying Soloxine from them also. I paid $21.30 for 45 pills at my vet. I have 4 animals and my vet gets plenty of money from me.

Check into cutting a pill from a pharmacy to size. Pharmacy maybe even would do it for you. I'm pretty sure that's what my sister does for her cat. My cat Trevor needs to have fluids administered under the skin twice daily. Vet charges $15.89 for a 1 liter bag (he uses about 3 a week). I get them at Costco pharmacy for $46.13 for 2 cases which is 24 bags. Also-check out thrivingpets.com for a price on the meds. Flamey-FYI on the Heartworm meds-the vet will make you pay for any treatment if your pet gets heartworms (or worms if you have the worm preventative) if you buy the pills from anyone but them.

Wow, Lisa, that's a huge savings on fluids! And you know what, I found that out when we had a positive result on Shanzie's last heartworm test. Shanzie. The only dog we ever bought. Pure bred and she's been nothing but one physical ailment after another, it's so weird. Anyway, we've been getting HWPills from Foster and Smith for a few years, we give them year-round. Never missed a pill, I thought the tests were silly, but the vet required it. It came back positive! I nearly died from shock. They did another one. Positive. (These are those "put a drop of blood on the dipstick" kind of tests.) So we drew MORE blood and sent it off to a lab. Negative. And the vet trusted that test more than the others, so we're believing it. Plus, she has NO symptoms of HW. For 4 days, though- we were just beside ourselves. Collies don't tolerate HW treatment too well. And that's when we were informed of the guarantee from Interceptor, but we had switched to Tri-Heart Plus a long while back, never dreaming it would matter. Still, with 4 (at that time) large dogs, Interceptor was costing us a fortune. We're saving a lot using Tri-Heart Plus.

After Shanzie's next thyroid test and medication adjustment, I'll get a Rx from the vet and then shop around, but even if I get it from Drs. F and S, I'll be happy with their prices.

You're welcome, Linda. Are you noticing any difference yet in Jake? Truly, it was almost overnight when Shanzie started feeling much better!

Yes, Flamey, it was almost overnight that Jake was ready to play again. All the snow we have and the cold temperatures are keeping the dogs in the house more. Jake still gets cold outside because he lost so much fur.

I would say, take the prices from Drs. F & S to your vet. Ask if they will match the prices.

Hope all the fur babies are doing ok.

Tami

My Lab was diagnosed last week w/ thyroid trouble. He'd lost some hair off his tail and was lethargic. A few days on those pills and he's a different dog. He lost 10 lbs. which wasn't a bad thing. He's back to his old self.