Mack: an update
Mack in Autumn. Photograph, 7 x 5 in. Copyright 2008, Tania Nault.
Well, the tests are back and Mack has hypothyroidism. And, frankly, I’m relieved. Finally an answer for the changes I’ve observed in my dog over the past year or so. As Dr Walter of the Victoria Avenue Veterinary clinic said, “If I had to give a disease to a dog, hypothyroidism would be it. It’s easily and inexpensively treated with great results for the animal.”
For a while I felt like I was becoming my dog’s own hypochondriac. I kep noticing little things: patches of thin, oily, stringy hair and tough, scaly areas of skin, as well as lethargy, ear infections and weight gain, but I couldn’t get a real answer to explain them. Mack had a thyroid test a year ago and I was told it was low, but normal: Mack had no problem with his thyroid. One vet even told me, “If there’s something wrong with him, it’s not his thyroid.” He was getting older, despite that he’s seven; I was feeding him too much, even though I’m feeding him less than half what’s recommended for his weight; he was allergic to his food, despite having placed him on a vegetarian corn/wheat free food; I was exercising him too little, even though he gets two vigorous walks/play sessions daily; I wasn’t bathing him enough, except when I was bathing him too much; and didn’t I know that Goldens get ear infections all the time?
Well, the seizure was the last straw. On Thursday, as I listed Mack’s symptoms, Dr Walter kept nodding and said that if he pulled a vet text off the shelf everything I’d described would be under the entry lablelled “hypothyroidism”. He recommended two tests this time, the T4 (a test of thyroid hormone levels - dogs with hypothyroidism usually have low levels of the hormone) and the TSH test (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone test - when the thyroid isn’t functioning properly, the pituitary gland pumps out extra TSH in an effort to get the thyroid gland to do it’s work). Again, Mack’s T4 levels were low, but normal; however the TSH levels were “through the roof”. We were sent home with a bottle of little purple pills and instructions to return in six weeks for a re-test.
*sigh*
