Underactive thyroid in cocker spaniels

[Slightlyconfused]

Anyone have any experience.

Ours is gone down hill again but the last bloods showed the thyroid as normal but I forgot to ask if low normal or not.

She will be going back to the vet hospital, got to ring up on Monday.
The specialist there mentioned it as a possibility the last time we were there

 

[dollyanna]

Not a cocker but my lurcher cross has recently been diagnosed as severely hypothyroid. Last summer he was drinking a lot, lethargic and losing his coat but bloods came back within normal - thyroid was 19 (normal is 15-50 if I remember rightly). He seemed to spontaneously improve but then a few months later is was apparent he was going backwards again, losing coat rapidly, sleeping all the time (thought it was his age) and spooking a lot (thought it was his sight).
Went for more tests but re ran basic bloods and thyroid came back as 13. T4 also very low, so tested for TSH to confirm actual thryoid problem which was at the bottom of the scale so could have been virutally non-existent.
Been on thyroxine for 5-6 weeks now and full of beans, spooking is easing, coat is growing back, eyes are bright, acting like a young dog again. Re-tested after a month and thyroid was at 24 but it was taken before his morning dose so that should be the low end for him. Vet wants to keep him comfortably mid-range as we can assume that 19 is too low for him even though it's within normal.
Not sure if any of that helps, but I would suggest running normal bloods again and ask for TSH levels as well, as other things can affect T4 but TSH assesses throid function. We needn't have bothered with the cushing's test or skin scrapes if we had just run normal bloods again instead of doing them all at the same time!

 

[gunnergundog]

Just google anything and everything on Jean Dodds; she even picked up the phone herself to me about four years ago when I rang their USA helpline. She is truly amazing in the knowledge she has as how thyroid issues vary according to breed. (Same as how blood tests in horses vary as to whether TB or native or whatever.)

 

[Dobermonkey]

my dobe has been on thyroxine for years the only sign he had was feeling the cold. I pushed for the test and it came back as 13 if I remember rightly vet said it was 'within range' I was in contact with jean dodd and she said for his age etc he should be in the 75% end of the range so I pushed for meds he is tested every 6months to check his levels they had rocketed last time so was rechecked a week later and was back to mid 20's so it can fluctuate sometimes. bloods should be taken a few hours after meds. His TGAA test came back negative so his is 'idiopathic'