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Thyroid Dogs

I have never had a dog with thyroid issues, but I have one that is two year old and has a great skill set, unfortunately he has backslid some what of late. I have had him to the vet had his ears checked, heartworm and tick borne diseases are both negative, general health seems to be ok, but he runs out of gas easily and isn't quite the tree dog he was. Which thyroid tests or functions would be the ones I should have evaluated? In short, what else am I looking for? Thanks

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Just one that checks for non thyroidal illnesses. If he's t levels are below 2 then he needs them. So don't let him tell you 1.1 is ok. Normal t levels are 1-4. It being a working dog he needs to be 3.0-3.5 is ideal. I have yet to have a coondog checked that was above a1.5 naturally. Hope this helps. The best one I ever had had a low thyroid but still managed to win over $20,000 in pkc. If I would have new then what I know now. When she ran out of gas she wouldn't quit. She would just lofer through the woods not even hunting. Hope this helps.

Did they test for Eurlychia

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Yes, they tested for all tick borne diseases.

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quote:

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Originally posted by N Williams
Just one that checks for non thyroidal illnesses. If he's t levels are below 2 then he needs them. So don't let him tell you 1.1 is ok. Normal t levels are 1-4. It being a working dog he needs to be 3.0-3.5 is ideal. I have yet to have a coondog checked that was above a1.5 naturally. Hope this helps. The best one I ever had had a low thyroid but still managed to win over $20,000 in pkc. If I would have new then what I know now. When she ran out of gas she wouldn't quit. She would just lofer through the woods not even hunting. Hope this helps.

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Any of your dogs lose volume off their mouth as a symptom and regain it with meds?

Yes, think about it. If he's constantly tired and out of energy how is he going to put any energy into barking?

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He's getting .8mg , honestly he just started clicking really well in the last 5-6 weeks. So roughly 3 months. But I'd say he could be made a faster recovery. I didn't get to hunt much in January and February.

I won't say he's flawless but hasn't made a ton of mistakes lately. When he wasn't feeling good he just didn't want to hunt, bark, move around, so much so I had to pry him out of his dog house to feed.

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quote:

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Originally posted by N Williams
Just one that checks for non thyroidal illnesses. If he's t levels are below 2 then he needs them. So don't let him tell you 1.1 is ok. Normal t levels are 1-4. It being a working dog he needs to be 3.0-3.5 is ideal. I have yet to have a coondog checked that was above a1.5 naturally. Hope this helps. The best one I ever had had a low thyroid but still managed to win over $20,000 in pkc. If I would have new then what I know now. When she ran out of gas she wouldn't quit. She would just lofer through the woods not even hunting. Hope this helps.

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It will probally take acouple months to get them right. And you may have to change tos dosage some from summer to winter. I would have them checked around a month after they start the pills to see what levels are and keep them monitored.

quote:

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Originally posted by shadinc
N Williams, are you saying 1.5 is normal for a hound and you're boosting it to 3.5 with pills?

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i have trouble keeping up with the cast in a two hour long hunt. hills get steeper harder to climb . my heart says yes but my body says no .wounder if i had my thyroid tested and it come back normal i could talk the doc .into giving me something to juice me up .lol getting big winners with a pill does nothing to improve breeding programs for hounds . all it does is cover up natural genetic faults .

quote:

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Originally posted by thomasg
i have trouble keeping up with the cast in a two hour long hunt. hills get steeper harder to climb . my heart says yes but my body says no .wounder if i had my thyroid tested and it come back normal i could talk the doc .into giving me something to juice me up .lol getting big winners with a pill does nothing to improve breeding programs for hounds . all it does is cover up natural genetic faults .

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Mr Thomas, it sounds like you have a low T level. It happens as you get older. There are many different products on the market to treat it. They range from natural pills to a cream that requires a Dr's prescription. Testosterone is a naturally occurring hormone in the body. There is a "normal" level that you can be tested for. But you can raise that level above normal with medication to increase your endurance. And yes athletes' levels are tested and they can be banned if their levels are too high.
Now this sounds a whole lot like manipulating a dogs thyroid or T3 level doesn't it?

richard i went to g.n.c. and spent 80 $ on some high powered powder that is guaranteed to make a new man out of me in a few weeks . now that i have doubled the daily dose i should be super man in just a few days .my coonhunting buddy is 20 years younger than me and calls me nancy all the time. now he will be riding drag eating my dust .lol

quote:

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Originally posted by Jerry Light
Eric .8 times 2 daily?

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Mr Thomas I got some cream from my Dr but after 2 weeks my wife flushed it down the toilet and wouldn't let me get any more.

Richard

You are hard headed .................... THYROID ..............That is causing all the trouble in dogs cows horses goats and all the rest of the WORLD don't you think?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Richard Lambert
Mr Thomas I got some cream from my Dr but after 2 weeks my wife flushed it down the toilet and wouldn't let me get any more.

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I have often wondered about dogs in the past that may have had it. I feel I owned one for sure about 20 years ago. She had all the classic signs, but even my vet couldn't figure it out back then.

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quote:

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Originally posted by N Williams
No. I've only had about 5 tested. Only heard of one hound testing above 2.0 naturally once. This is a topic that's long and drew out. But cliff notes are here. The thyroid is the gland that controls the dogs metabolism. It can have effects that I've read about but I don't know. Dogs have a normal t levels are 1-4. Remember most of our vets customers are fu fu dogs. They just lay around not exerting no where near the energy a coonhound does. Now here is one thing I've noticed. Let your dog stand in the pin for a month and check there t levels and then hunt them hard for a month and check it you will see a difference. So I would hunt them normal and check them. If there levels are 2.0 and your hunting them I wouldnt worry. If there in real low normal ranges 1-1.6 or whatever I would try and get there t levels 3.0-3.5. That ideal for a working dog and where they need to be to give optimal performance. I've seen it benefit dogs drastically in there accuracy and stamina. Now there not going to die if there a 1.0. So yes. What your doing is using it as a supliment to get there're matabilism to function in high normal ranges. Just think about how much energy is exerted to win a major hunt where the dog has to hunt all night for 3-4 nights in a row. They will run out of gas and not be able to perform at optimal levels with a 1.0 t level. There's just no way. If you raise it to 3.5 it's still in normal ranges. So it's not doing kidney damage ect. This would be a great topic for a vet that really researched it with scientific facts. Problem is a lot of coonhunter know more about this then most vets do. Be a good question from the doc but get 10 vet options and there will be different answers.

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That's good. I'm just telling you there is a lot of things his thyroid could be effective by being that low. Mine was a 1.2-1.4 and won 150-200 or so cast and the biggest hunter I've ever had. I read in one article that if there that low it can effect how good they can smell. But I don't know. Had another female last year right at 2. Did a lot of winning with her when winter hit she started missing a lot a would go miles through bottoms with coon in it and take forever to get treed and not have anything. When she was accurate in summer when I got her thyroid up she started having coon and not covering 5 miles of ground to find one when I had her in coon. I could tell a difference other than how fast she covered ground in her performance in summer. Having t levels that really effected her in the winter. Thyroid pills is not the juice. The juice is a dog steroid and people are using it to get an edge. Getting thyroid up will make them more furtile not sterile.

If your dog is that low hunt hunt him 7 nights a week all night and go back and check him. Guarantee he will test hypothyroid. I don't have all the answers I'm just going by what I've learned and what a vet that understands this told me over phone. But I've seen seen it first hand. Your dog I about guarantee would perform better if you got his t levels up.

.

Does anyone perhaps wonder what we as owners physically do to perhaps damage the Thyroid Gland in our dogs. I will admit, I do not know if we can damage it. But if a Gland could be damaged by Physical Contact then the Thyroid as to be the #1 candidate in a dogs body.

We put collars on our hounds and tie them out. Lots of pulling and tugging goes on before they figure out what a chain is. I have seen them take off and about jerk their heads off.

We lead or dogs is some harsh conditions and every coonhunter I know has a dog before it learns to lead. Want to go one way around a tree when the hunter goes another. They get tangled in vines and all kinds of pressure is put on the Thyroid Gland.

Haven't even mentioned tying one up at the tree. They take some abuse then. Or how about the "tie one back and knock the coon down".

Now we get to the correction process. The shock collars with the ALPHA coming on the scene are probably at their highest levels of ever of being used.

Seriously think about your dogs body and about every time we come into contact with our hound. Either with the lead strap or connection through electronic signals to a collar. It is in the area of the Thyroid Gland.
I haven't even mentioned the Electronic Collar itself sitting on the dog neck and emitting a Magnetic Field from the battery and electronic signals from the collar.

Also we mention certain lines of hounds being affected more. First thing we want to jump on is "its a hereditary problem and they shouldn't be bred" I guarantee some of it is hereditary. But if you made a list of the dogs affected you would see at the top of the list some of the better dogs in the country. The dogs the competition hunters are looking for without a Thyroid issue. The top dogs are handled more, hunted more, on the leash more and corrected more than other hounds. They also operate at a level, that when something goes wrong it is noticed right away. The owners of those hounds due to the value of those hounds spend money getting to the bottom of the issue. So many times it turns out to be a Thyroid issue.

Now many of you will read this and say that Bruce has wrote a lot of things on here that is the biggest BS ever. You know what I might have to agree with you because I don't know and can't prove any of it. But the truth is. No one can prove it wrong either. So, please. I didn't write this to BS anyone. I wrote it to Friends to perhaps get everyone thinking there might be more to the story.

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Bruce I don't have all the answers. Don't claim to. Different opionion is all I get by so called exsperts. I have seen it first hand. Ive seen dogs that are hypothyroid get there levels up and be world class hounds that would otherwise be mediocre at best.

It is a proven fact that genetics are the number 1 cause of thyroid dysfunction in dogs passed on by breeding . no different than hip dysplasia as another example of genetic traits passed on by breeding inferior foundation stock . if every one who has a dog that requires medication to preform the task it is breed for would post their dogs pedigrees we as breeders could eliminate those hounds from choices in our breeding programs . WHOS FIRST .LOL