[Brightelf]

My vet says Grimm is borderline hypothyroid, He is having clear symptoms such as a sparse, brittle dry, crispy-crunchy coat that is barely there. She said treatment possibilities are hormone shots, but that they could make him aggressive. I do not know why she did not mention the thyroid pills? Maybe she did and DH missed that.. he is not yet accustomed to fielding vet calls on complex doggy health issues. She suggests for treatment: Switch Grimm to a raw diet, and we check his T4 again in a few months. What do you think? His T4 was 1.3, she said that was borderline... it may be a different scale in USA than here in Germany. (i can only get the T4 test.. very no-frills here.. no full thyroid panel)

Will switching to raw help? Would being on the pills, if he is just at borderline, harm him? Is raw diet possibly enough?

 

[WiscTiger]

Well Patti, looks like you might be getting some answers about Grimm wiggle butt.

Found these links:

http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/dog-hypo.htm

and this one

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_hypothyroidism.html

 

[3K9Mom]

Zamboni was slightly low in her counts, so we put her on a low dose of Thyroxine. After re-testing, we bumped it up a bit, but she's still below what a "normal" dose would be for her weight.

So I would think that you could put Monsieur Grimm (who weighs 80ish lbs) on a Mademoiselle Zamboni (who weighs 40 lbs) dose, or similar. It would be a slight boost. Not too much, but just enough.

That's what I would ask my vet anyhow. What about a really low dose to start out?

And I love a raw diet, but I'm not sure what great things that will accomplish when it comes to thyroid. I was homecooking for Mademoiselle Z, and it didn't make a bit of difference one way or another. (Of course, that's not a *raw* diet, but I'm a pretty good cook!

)

 

[Brightelf]

Thank you Val and Lori for the input! Val, I am going to read through those links.. thanks! My research begins.

Lori, I would feel better having him on a very low dose of the Thyroxine, too. I will ask her about that by phone next week, I think. Is it OK to wait until he is home from the trainer's in 3 - 4 weeks, or is it hurting him to wait for the Thyroxine? If his coat is showing signs, are other parts of him in any danger? He is still growing and developing.. will low thyroid levels effect that?

 

[debbiebrown]

patti,
are you looking for alternatives for this?

check into Kelp.

debbie

 

[Brightelf]

Hey there Debbie! I have some kelp. Kinda like SeaMeal, but without the irritating flax (some dogs are allergic to flax, so it is ironic that it is in some skin-and-coat preparations). I will read up on flax and thyroid.. thanks for the suggestion.


I am trying to find someone--anyone-- who can guide me in possibly using very tiny bits of raw thyroid, then getting his level checked again, and then of course moniotred regularly.

 

[arycrest]

Originally Posted By: Brightelf...
I am trying to find someone--anyone-- who can guide me in possibly using very tiny bits of raw thyroid, then getting his level checked again, and then of course moniotred regularly.

After my thyroid surgery (they took out too much) I used to take a prescription thyroid supplement that was made from ground pork thyroid (I assume each pill contained a standardized amount of thyroid material). They could never get my thyroid levels under control until they switched to Synthroid. I'm not saying you can't get Grimm's levels under control using raw thyroid, I just wanted to point out that it might be difficult controlling the amounts used.

I came across this site when I was trying to find the name of the medication I took. Anyway, I thought you might find it interesting since they also include categories about TCM:
http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/supplements_for_thyroid_support

 

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

I think on Nina's thyroid thread AnnaRiley posted about natural thyroid medication.

http://www.armourthyroid.com/ here is one brand.

I don't know how you could do it otherwise-without having fluctuations in the thryroid levels.

I wouldn't do any hormone shots-whatever they were!

 

[LisaT]

If he has an autoimmune thyroid condition, boosting it, or giving ground thyroid, may make that worse. If it's low for some other reason, that should help.

If you're seeing symptoms, and low thyroid in a relatively young dog, I would treat. That's a no brainer to me. How you treat is then the question.

I don't understand the hormone shots though.

 

[Brightelf]

Thank you Jean and Lisa. I think I will ring the vet's next week and see about putting him on a reliable low dose of the thyroxine. Then, peek at the T4 level again in 4 weeks. I hope I can get hear on board, even though he is just borderline with the test results... cos his coat is sure symptomatic.

 

[LisaT]

I would lean heavily by looking at the symptoms, watching coat quality and behaviours to gauge how he is doing, particularly since you only have the T4 (I'm assuming that's total T4, not free T4).

Good luck with the vet!