Hypothyroidism in Dogs

About a year ago, my Veterinarian ran a full-screen blood panel on Toffee, my then-five year old pit-mix. It came back with elevated cholestrol levels and she recommended retesting again in 6 months. Often high cholestrol in dogs is an indication of Hypothyroid, or under-active thyroid. Dogs with hypothyroid will experience weight gain, lethargy and hair loss. Toffee was definitely pudgy and lazy, but thankfully had not lost his beautiful coat.

Hypothyroid is most commonly an autoimmune disease - where the body views the thyroid as abnormal and begins attacking it until it stops working, or slows down sufficiently. On more rare occasion hypothyroid can be genetically passed due to improper breeding.

Toffee was a poorly bred dog, for sure. There is no doubt in my mind that he has red-nosed pitbull in him, but he also shows characteristics of a labrador. Both the terrier and labrador breeds have a very high occurrence of hypothyroid disease. As a puppy, Toffee also endured nine months of a horrible, and sometimes non-existent, diet. His first family seldom fed him and when they did, it was generally over-processed table scraps rather than fresh meat, fruits and vegetables.

Less than six months ago, another blood test confirmed hypothyroid. We immediately started Toffee on synthetic hormone replacement and retested his levels 30 days later. Not quite where the doctor wanted his results, we increased the dosage just a smidge and retested 30 days later.

The cost for testing and medication totaled less than $400. And, armed with a prescription written by my doctor, we have been able to purchase the hormone replacement from FarmVet, an online pharmacy at a really great price. There are holistic approaches to treat and supplement treatment of this disease. We plan to try them out in the coming year.

Until then, synthetic hormone therapy is working wonders. Toffee has returned to his sleek "figure" and his energy level is back to normal. He'll turn seven in January and should still be a pretty active dog. Thanks to an excellent doctor and proven treatment - he has several more years of an active lifestyle to enjoy!