Under active Thyroid

Dallas has been diagnosed with underactive thyroid. We're starting his meds today. Anyone have experience with this? Anything I should know, be prepared for?

Buzz was diagnosed as being Hypothyroid last summer. He's done very well on meds. I didn't change a single other thing!

Okay good. Pretty much all I read said that same thing, if the dog is on the proper meds they live a normal life. Did the dosage for Buzz eventually get lowered once everything was properly balanced?

He's only had one level recheck so far and his bloodwork showed that his meds were at a good level. So, not yet?

My old lady has been on thyroid meds for years. She was diagnosed as soon as we adopted her-- she was overweight and had a terribly greasy coat. As long as her levels are well regulated, we have no trouble keeping her weight down and she has been less prone to skin issues. Her energy is also better.

Gavroche was diagnosed as hypothyroid in November 2010. He was put on meds and he's a whole different dog! He was on thyro-tabs (generic) first, and t was fine for a while then he got bad again - turns out they had put a smaller dose into the larger dose bottles (they ended up recalled). At that point I switched him to Soloxine name brand and haven't had an issue since. We've switched ALL the dogs at the clinic over to Soloxine, as we had more and more have issues with generics. So, I highly, HIGHLY recommend actual Soloxine. Also keep in mind the label they print to put on your bottle may say "Soloxine" but it could be a generic. The best thing to do is to ask or identify the pills. If you get the meds in the original packaging, it's an opaque brown bottle with a yellow label. The pills are kind of ovalish and are slightly shinier/denser than the generics.

Gavroche has been on the same dose the entire time - 0.5mg twice daily. Works AMAZING for him.

The vet prescribed Thyro-tab at 2 pills in the morning and 2 in the evening, 0.6mg. He's going in for a test in 6 weeks. If everything is all over the place with the Thyro-tab then I will definitly ask about the Soloxine. Thank you so much for the info.

Buddy was on 0.6mg for a few years, then one year at her six-month bloodwork check up we found her levels were too high and we were able to bump her down to 0.4mg.

Buzz also takes brand name Soloxine, 0.5mg twice daily.

How much does he weigh? That sounds like a huge dose, but if he's a huge dog...

Dallas should be at the 170lbs mark. but has lost weight and is at 152lbs.

Buddy was at the 0.6mg BID dose and she's only 80lbs. I don't think it's based solely on a dogs weight.

Ah, yup, the big dose sounds about right now lol

How long did it take for you guys to notice a difference?
Dallas' levels were at 7.8.

Buzz had some pretty dramatic effects (facial paralysis) from being hypothyroid that showed noticeable improvement by 7 days. By 14 days there were no signs of facial paralysis (and it has not returned either). Based on a study my vet sent me from VIN, Buzz's recheck bloodwork was a free T4 drawn at 12 hours post (evening) med then a full panel drawn at 5 hours after the morning med (recommended was 4-6 hours). This gave us the trough (lowest he should get) as well as the peak (highest he should get) to make sure that both values were within the recommended ranges. My vet recommended waiting 8 weeks to recheck bloodwork if I was noticing obvious physical improvements (which I was). Another dramatic effect I noticed is how much dead coat Buzz lost, that needed help coming out. I had to bathe and blow him out multiple times to get it all out.

If you want any more information, feel free to PM me as I've got a lot of notes to reference!

It is usually started based on weight (.1 for 10#, .2 for 20#, etc.) and adjusted from there.

Will do. Thank you.

What prompted me to take Dallas straight to the vet was a nasty allergy of some sort (I think that's what it is). Dallas was chewing himself raw and bloody. That's when the blood work was done and his low thyroid was found. For the skin issue, the vet gave some antibiotics and a topical spray. I have Dallas wearing his coat so he can't get to the rash to itch and chew. Every once in a while I take the coat off and he will go on and continue to chew on himself. I was hoping it would have ended by now, but it hasn't and i'm concerned about it. I called the vet this morning and they said they can prescribe him Vanectyl P, but I really don't want to keep pumping drugs into him.

Does anyone know of a holistic way of helping Dallas with his itchy skin?

Gavroche started dropping weight right away. It took a few months for his coat to be back to normal because the hair as to regrow. He didn't have any major skin issues at the time he was diagnoses, but he always had skin issues off and on before that. Once he was started on the soloxine, the skin issues never came back. His behavior took the longest to change, probably a full year until it was back to close to normal. Hi behavior still isn't 100% what it was before, and I suspect it never will be. Behavior and weight gain were Gavroche's biggest symptoms. I didn't notice the hair loss until it all grew back lol

My cat was on meds for an overactive thyroid for five years. Opposite, I know... but similar experience for the info I want to share.

Something the vet had us keep in mind was that as the meds helped normalize her weight, she had to have her dose adjusted accordingly. Seems kinda obvious, but wasn't really something I considered. I'm sure it's trickier with a 6lb cat than a large animal, but just be sure to get bloodwork done regularly if he is overweight and losing now that he's on meds so he doesn't get too much.

I curious if anyone has or knows someone that treats their dogs underactive thyroid holistically?