Registered: Jun 2007
Location: jerseyville il.
Posts: 75

The question is what should the T4 level be on a Hound. Here's some background, got this dog last February she was looking nice. In March has it warmed up but still cool I noticed she was getting very hot on the tree. Took her to the vet and he said she had elerika. Treated with doxy took her out it's warmer now still very hot and dropping out and not hunting. Talked him into giving her Imizol he didn't want to but ordered it waited several months to get it and did another treatment of the shots and Doxie. Laid her up for a month, started hunting her her tracking ability is poor running tracks backwards not finishing tracks, falling tree. Obvious slicks when she was fairly accurate. I have read about thyroid problems with dogs with tick disease, had a thyroid test done T4 level came back today at 1.vet said this is fine wouldn't cause any problems. She seems healthy no hair loss or other symptoms. From what I could research 1 Maybe low my vet said this is fine. My vet seems to think this is good as she'll get because of the tick disease

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Registered: Aug 2006
Location: Montour IOWA
Posts: 1714

1.5 is the lowest it should be on a working on a working dog. Most vets think a 1 is good which it is for a lap dog. I've got one that got to a .9 put her on meds now she's stable at 2.5 and hunts great.

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Registered: Jul 2005
Location: Barrie,ONTARIO
Posts: 186

I had a male blue dog and he would hunt great then get to the tree and lay down panting ,just didn't have any stamina. Had him tested and he was around 1.5 so normal but way to low for him. So they put him on meds and it was night and day the stamina he had and no more running out of steam .So much better and he lived till almost sixteen.1.5 may be good for inactive dogs but a hound runs way to hard for that level.

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location: Hutchinson Kansas
Posts: 957

I would love to be smart enough to investigate the effects of a dogs diet, when it comes to thyroid problems. Im not sure im jumping on board that so many dogs need pills shoved in their mouth's...... Other than genetics, there has to be a reason for the uptick in dogs having this issue IMO

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Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Chattanooga, Tn
Posts: 22462

Good luck on finding out the why or how. Ideally it would be great to find out why but at this time, it is next to impossible. Until you do, if their level is low then you need to supplement it with a pill.

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Registered: Apr 2015
Location: church hill tn
Posts: 5635

There is concern that dog collars and shock collars are somehow damaging the dogs thyroid gland, especially hunting dogs. The thyroid gland sits in the throat area and a dog lunging against a collar can certainly affect or damage the thyroid. Then you have the shocking collars with prongs pushing against the throat area, hummmmmmmm wonder why more dogs do not have thyroid issues, that and feed without iodine. Skeptics may want to look at these causes, but think what you want a lot of dogs develope thyroid issues. Thyroid issues CAN be treated and MUST be treated if you want your dog to function properly. Case in point, we have a young dog that went from extremely accurate on coons to just could not tree right. Had his thyroid checked and his level was under 1, put on thyroid meds and within 2 weeks he was back to being extremely accurate when he trees. My hunting partner was simply amazed that this had so much affect in this dog. Ignorance is failing to get your dog the help they need, if you are to lazy or cheap to give a dog a daily pill, you should not own a dog period. Now a thyroid pill WILL NOT make a slick treeing idiot an accurate coon dog, but for an accurate coon dog with a thyroid problem, it will help the dog to function properly, it CERTAINLY helped mine get back to his normal self. Dave

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Last edited by Dave Richards on 12-05-2020 at 02:16 AM

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Registered: Apr 2015
Location: church hill tn
Posts: 5635

Just to be clear, I take a thyroid pill every day and have for the last 15 years or so. I had an autoimmune disease that caused my body to attack my thyroid gland, even though I had yearly doctor checkups and blood work every year, they did NOT check my thyroid levels, I got real bad started having chest pains and went to a heart doctor who told me that day he wanted my thyroid checked, it was off the chart, it was so low. The thyroid is essential to every cell in the human body and without a healthy thyroid or thyroid meds you CAN NOT LIVE. Your heart would slow down and stop working without the needed thyroid levels. Research low thyroid levels to see some of the symptoms and there are more. Why anyone would fail to have their dog checked and treated if needed is beyond reason. No the thyroid is not the answer for a worthless dog, but it sure can be a problem for a really good dog if they have thyroid problems. Dave

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Registered: Jun 2007
Location:
Posts: 1176

I recently read from a vet that in house testing almost always gives a false positive. That Thyroid test should be sent to a lab for more accurate results. Also the dog should be tested a 2nd time if it comes back low the 1st time. But at a differnt time of day because the dogs levels change though out the day. The Vet went on to say that thyroid pills is in his opinion the most over used med. Because they use a baseline set of numbers for each breed. But its more of a dog by dog number and not breed number. Any thoughts on this?

I had a dog tested some yrs ago and the vet said mine was a little low and wanted to put him on meds. I said no, he was just a farm vet I was going to take him out of state to a thyroid expert first. In the mean time I changed his dog food. That was all it took, he was burning up on the old food. After that I've keep my nose in the books researching every thing I could on k-9 nutrition.

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Registered: Apr 2015
Location: church hill tn
Posts: 5635

quote:

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Originally posted by River Birch Run
I recently read from a vet that in house testing almost always gives a false positive. That Thyroid test should be sent to a lab for more accurate results. Also the dog should be tested a 2nd time if it comes back low the 1st time. But at a differnt time of day because the dogs levels change though out the day. The Vet went on to say that thyroid pills is in his opinion the most over used med. Because they use a baseline set of numbers for each breed. But its more of a dog by dog number and not breed number. Any thoughts on this?

I had a dog tested some yrs ago and the vet said mine was a little low and wanted to put him on meds. I said no, he was just a farm vet I was going to take him out of state to a thyroid expert first. In the mean time I changed his dog food. That was all it took, he was burning up on the old food. After that I've keep my nose in the books researching every thing I could on k-9 nutrition.

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Dave Richards Treeing Walkers Reg American Saddlebred and Registered Rocky Mt. Show Horses

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Registered: Sep 2007
Location: Glenmont,Ohio
Posts: 1162

I promise you can’t know if you have a true thyroid dog without complete testing of all T3, T4 free T3 ,T4, TSH and and TgAA in a dogs system. Most of these dogs are not “thyroid” dogs

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Registered: Jun 2007
Location: jerseyville il.
Posts: 75

As I had stated she was treated for elerika. She was doing good before, but now her tracking is off backtracking and such. Treeing a lot of slicks when she was pretty accurate. I had read that her thyroid maybe off and went to the vet and had her tested. He said the T4 was one and that would be fine. I am thinking level may be low and causing these issues. Would have to argue with him to maybe try to raise the level up some. He has asked me where I've got this information from and are they veterinarians. I told him no they're not veterinarians but they are have had the experiences. Thanks for all the replies.

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Registered: Apr 2015
Location: church hill tn
Posts: 5635

quote:

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Originally posted by hi-po hounds
As I had stated she was treated for elerika. She was doing good before, but now her tracking is off backtracking and such. Treeing a lot of slicks when she was pretty accurate. I had read that her thyroid maybe off and went to the vet and had her tested. He said the T4 was one and that would be fine. I am thinking level may be low and causing these issues. Would have to argue with him to maybe try to raise the level up some. He has asked me where I've got this information from and are they veterinarians. I told him no they're not veterinarians but they are have had the experiences. Thanks for all the replies.

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Dave Richards Treeing Walkers Reg American Saddlebred and Registered Rocky Mt. Show Horses

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