Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2765

I know nothin about this other then something I read on another forum. Seems there are a surprising number of dogs on meds for thyroid issues. Big winning dogs. Are there really that many dogs these days with thyroid issues or is it being over diagnosed or is that the meds somehow increase a dogs performance or what ?

I have a hard time believing there are that many dogs all the sudden with legitimate thyroid issues but I dunno. If
there are ......why ????

Is it genetic ?
What are the symptoms ?
What effect would the meds have on a dog that didn't even have anything wrong with it ?

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Last edited by Donnie Stevens on 11-18-2016 at 07:04 PM

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Registered: Nov 2011
Location: Genoa WV
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I have two dogs on thyroid medicine. If your dogs thyroids are low it will affect it on hunting. I have one when his gets so low he will quit hunting and will get ill. We have to lay him up and not hunt him for about three days and then when we hunt him he's fine

I think it's in the dog food to make them have thyroid problems that's in my opinion

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Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2765

Ahh the red headed step child lol. Everybody's got one but nobody wants to talk about them.

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Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

Donnie this is a subject that has to start with the Vets we have and how well trained and knowledgeable they are which leads to the confidence we end up having with them. Until this area improves I don't think we have enough fact to really discuss this issue on an accurate level.

Some vets are knowledgeable but when dealing with issues like this there has to be a broad base of evidence and study.
One vet that knows everything isolated in one spot, isn't going to bring us any answers. Why, because most of us are dealing with vets across the nation that have no experience and even less ideas about the situation.

I think there is some fact to prove this problem but until more facts come out with time, research and sharing of information. I think we are stuck with it being the catch all for any performance hound not performing.

I think some of the lab testing we can do on our dogs is ahead of the treatment for what the test find. Kind of like the DNA sampling we do on dogs. Look at the myths of what that sampling shows. The truth is those DNA test show everything about our dogs but until everything is broken down and categorized they prove nothing but "who's your daddy".

Call me mean or crazy but I can tell you one thing. There will not be any dog in my pen at my house that has to be given a pill a day for anything unless it is a short term condition from an injury. If I cannot buy, breed or be given a healthy coon hound. I won't have one. I view a dog that needs medication everyday just like I view a dog that won't tree a coon. Worthless to me.
Now I am a Wipeout fan and I breed some wipeout hounds.
I have one here now just over a year that is bred as much wipeout as you can get. The day something goes south and a vet says she needs a pill a day is the day I cut my loses. She is bred double bred Zeb Again. Her mom is 7 and treeing coon about everyday and needs no pill to do it. She just went up to IN. to tree some coon for a while. The day I see a clear indication that this is something any of my breeding stock is passing on, just like I would with aggression or not treeing. That is the day that breeding stock stops getting bred.

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Last edited by Bruce m. Conkey on 11-19-2016 at 03:33 PM

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A lot of people use it as an excuse for inconsistency at times if it's not desirable traits I would not want it passed on to future generations.

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the chicken or the egg does the dog gain weight because of a thyroid problem or do they get a thyroid problem from letting them get to fat?

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Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
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Somebody said, and nobody disputed it, that at least half the dogs in the final 6 of the PKC world hunt was talking thyroid meds. Does anybody else find that to be an incredible coincidence ????

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Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

In the $$$ one two were littermates !! But those boys don't care about breeding them anyways.

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location: Central Pa
Posts: 1114

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but if the number of dogs with thyroid issues is indeed legitimate, then it appears to be a problem isolated to the coon hound world?

Not that other individual dogs couldn't come down with a whole host of issues including a thyroid problem, but as far as I'm aware if you go on a cur and feist board or a beagle board you would spend a lot of time searching historical posts to even hear thyroid ever mentioned much less routinely discussed between board members as a fairly common occurrence.

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 82

I work at a vet clinic and have seen more shepherds, labs and boxers with thyroid problems than hounds. The problem is more likely that hound owners notice it more because they hunt their dogs and see a decline in performance whereas most shepherds labs and boxers are now couch potatoes and are already fat and lazy so the thyroid problem is not noticed by those owners as much or talked about on those forums. Its also over diagnosed because other illnesses can cause a decrease in thyroid hormone and if your vet isn't looking for other illnesses then they may miss those and call your dog hypothyroid when it may or may not be.

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location: Central Pa
Posts: 1114

quote:

---

Originally posted by emcgee
I work at a vet clinic and have seen more shepherds, labs and boxers with thyroid problems than hounds. The problem is more likely that hound owners notice it more because they hunt their dogs and see a decline in performance whereas most shepherds labs and boxers are now couch potatoes and are already fat and lazy so the thyroid problem is not noticed by those owners as much or talked about on those forums. Its also over diagnosed because other illnesses can cause a decrease in thyroid hormone and if your vet isn't looking for other illnesses then they may miss those and call your dog hypothyroid when it may or may not be.

---

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Registered: Jun 2005
Location: Prince Edward Island,Canada
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quote:

---

Originally posted by Well Started
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but if the number of dogs with thyroid issues is indeed legitimate, then it appears to be a problem isolated to the coon hound world?

---

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Registered: Aug 2013
Location: Seneca, Mo
Posts: 5823

Here is something for you all to think about... damage to the thyroid gland can cause it to no longer do its job. The thyroid is butterfly shaped and lays on each side of the larynx in the throat. Where do we place no bark collars? How many dogs are frequently shocked by e-collars? I don't know if they are contributing to the thyroid damage in hounds but damage to the thyroid will cause it to not function properly.
I also firmly believe that many dogs that have hypothyroidism is a result of lack of enough iodine in the diet. Someone has mentioned several of the top dogs in The Pkc world hunt being on thyroid medication my first question would be what do you feed them and I am pretty sure many eat the same food. The midwest was tagged the goiter belt before the addition of iodine to table salt. This is easily supplemented in a dogs diet by adding a small amount of iodized salt to their food or adding iodine rich foods to their diet l. There will be the few that actually have hashimotos disease as a cause and that group will have to have synthetic medication to make up for lack of function. Over use of prednisone can also be a contributing factor and obesity from lack of exercise.
If your dog is diagnosed make sure that adequate testing was done and you may try dietary changes before opting for daily meds.
Jen

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Last edited by Redneck Mafia on 11-24-2016 at 02:02 AM

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Morrison TN
Posts: 4927

I have been fooling with hounds for years and never had one have that problem that I know about.

Until now. I had one have a false pregnancy and her heats never did right and that was over a year ago.

Her thyroid wouldn't even register. If she were human she would be dead.

I am hoping it is temporary but I have to wonder chicken or egg on her, was the false pregnancy due to the thyroid or did the thyroid cause the false pregnancy?

She is 7 and never had problems before and has had two litters of pups before so I can't say as to what caused it BUT I know Thyroid as on the pituitary axis and all those hormones can get out of whack with a false pregnancy.

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Registered: May 2016
Location:
Posts: 29

quote:

---

Originally posted by Well Started
Your findings and probable reasons as to why it's not noticed on those other type dogs makes sense. But what about other dogs such as curs that also get hunted hard. Not all of course do but neither do all hounds. I've never known of any but I'm sure curs with a thyroid problem exist but I can say for certain it's not prevalent. Maybe it has something to do with decades of generations of tight blooded gene pools within certain breeds, I don't know?

---

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Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

Redneck, Rip and others. Some good food for thought here.

I have 7 year old hound that went though a false pregnancy aa few months ago and now my Grandson has a Argentina DOGO which is a very large dog going through it now. I will watch the DOGO closely as she is more tightly bred that any of our hounds.

The bark collar thing sure is something to think about.

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location: Central Pa
Posts: 1114

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bruce m. Conkey
Redneck, Rip and others. Some good food for thought here.

I have 7 year old hound that went though a false pregnancy aa few months ago and now my Grandson has a Argentina DOGO which is a very large dog going through it now. I will watch the DOGO closely as she is more tightly bred that any of our hounds.

The bark collar thing sure is something to think about.

---

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Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
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I agree that there is a lot more to this story. I am just not sure it will be unraveled in my lifetime.

At first it seemed to be a certain strain of a certain breed. If that was the case then breeding could be the main factor. Then it seems like that is not the case and it branches out to all dogs. I don't know. It is for the medical guru's to figure that out. I know they check mine about once a year and I am clear to breed. lol

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location: Central Pa
Posts: 1114

I have a fairly young hound here now that went through an EXTRA long first heat cycle. It was completely ridiculous. Within a few days of 6 wks from the time she first started spotting until the males were finally just mildly interested when tested.

In just a bit over 4 months she came back in again. Again, not typical in all accounts. Swelled up and dripping blood like a stuck hog.....blood splatters on her back legs and all over the pen, also has reoccurring bacterial infections. I'm starting to think based off some research of side affects of thyroid problems that at least some of this might be attributed to a possible thyroid issue.

Never typically have an issue maintaining completely healthy dogs around here.

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Registered: Mar 2015
Location: Mi.
Posts: 1930

That are Thyroid dogs.
Both also had Rockey Mnt. Fever {tic disease} That my Vet said caused the Thyroid problem.

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Iodine.thyroid gland must have iodine to function. Check your dog food. Salt will be listed but not idolized salt. I believe it was in 2007 that our government regulatory committee that oversees ingredients in dog food said to remove idolized salt and use other sources for iodine such as kelp. It is believed that our dogs are not able to process these sources of iodine as readily as with idolized salt. Hill's science diet is the only dog food that still uses idolized salt.I have three thyroid dogs and all have shown remarkable changes in thyroid numbers since I have started feeding it. I have spent large amounts of money testing these dogs. It has been proven that these dogs thyroid problems are caused by dietary deficiencies and not genetically passed on

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Registered: Apr 2013
Location: JAX ,FL
Posts: 320

Why are they on thyroid meds ? What are the symptoms? Too fat ? Too thin?wont hunt? I got one that wont put weight on . Before anyone ask yes he's been wormed . Is it a simple blood test to find out ?

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Registered: May 2004
Location: northeast
Posts: 1278

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bigball
Iodine.thyroid gland must have iodine to function. Check your dog food. Salt will be listed but not idolized salt. I believe it was in 2007 that our government regulatory committee that oversees ingredients in dog food said to remove idolized salt and use other sources for iodine such as kelp. It is believed that our dogs are not able to process these sources of iodine as readily as with idolized salt. Hill's science diet is the only dog food that still uses idolized salt.I have three thyroid dogs and all have shown remarkable changes in thyroid numbers since I have started feeding it. I have spent large amounts of money testing these dogs. It has been proven that these dogs thyroid problems are caused by dietary deficiencies and not genetically passed on

---

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Last edited by Pat Bizich on 11-25-2016 at 05:54 AM

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I have read many articles about this. Toxins and vaccines have a lot to do with it. So here we are juicing our hounds every month with pills, wormer, heart guard, ivermectin, spraying around kennels and not to mention feeds and what ever chemicals they get out running.. Why wouldn't our hounds have things going on with them

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Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

Pat back to your dog feed and one good point you make. I started to find with the naked eye, not from testing. That the feed I was feeding changed from load to load of feed. I could see slightly different colors in the feed and I checked into it a little more and here is what I found from the mill.

A lot of the things that or labeled on the bag to be in the food is sprayed on it as it travels down a conveyor line. I kind of though it was cooked in. So the quality and consistency of that feed is no better than their equipment and the people doing the spraying. I know it would be real easy to say if an error was made and too much or too less a spray was added that "its just dog food".
Well if your right the JUST DOG FOOD isn't as good for our dogs as we all thought.

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