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This is something new to me so I thought I would share the new journey I am on with my Diamond. Diamond pictured on his first birthday:
Diamond is 7 years old now and acts way beyond his years. The hard part of his diagnosis was he has always been kind of a 'lump'. One of those dogs that only wants to be where I am and preferably in my lap. Then he started losing hair on his mid back and back of his legs seasonally. He has always been pretty much on a diet because of his weight to the point I have felt like I am making him go hungry. He lost more hair than usual this winter but so did a few others which you may or not have read about in my 'Food Merry Go Round' thread...Diamond did not bounce back on the new food so I took action to find out why. Food Merry Go Round thread
On Tuesday it will be two weeks since he had a dental cleaning and removal of some teeth. Diamond went downhill pretty fast over the winter. That his teeth needing cleaning were of course suspect, but I knew there was something larger looming in the big picture.
I discussed the possibilities of Thyroid Disease with my vet prior to the teeth procedure and I had two options:
a) do the teeth ($$$$already) and wait and see if there was skin/coat improvement
b) as long as he was unconscious, take the blood samples and ship them out at the same time. A large sample is required and so it would be A) easier to get and B) I would know sooner.
The extra cost on top of my tooth bill that day was around 80.00. I figured peace of mind was worth it so I went ahead and ordered the test. The samples were sent to Milwaukee and the results took about 10 days to know Diamond is Hypothyroid. The best 80 bucks I ever spent then because now I know.
On Monday I pick up his meds, and then after a time he will need periodic blood tests to make sure his levels are on the right track. I might as well share this here so if anyone else ends up going down this road there is a reference!
Stay tuned
Nanook & Diamond
The only link I have to share at this time, because now I have to go learn...
Hypothyroidism in dogs
Diamond is 7 years old now and acts way beyond his years. The hard part of his diagnosis was he has always been kind of a 'lump'. One of those dogs that only wants to be where I am and preferably in my lap. Then he started losing hair on his mid back and back of his legs seasonally. He has always been pretty much on a diet because of his weight to the point I have felt like I am making him go hungry. He lost more hair than usual this winter but so did a few others which you may or not have read about in my 'Food Merry Go Round' thread...Diamond did not bounce back on the new food so I took action to find out why. Food Merry Go Round thread
On Tuesday it will be two weeks since he had a dental cleaning and removal of some teeth. Diamond went downhill pretty fast over the winter. That his teeth needing cleaning were of course suspect, but I knew there was something larger looming in the big picture.
I discussed the possibilities of Thyroid Disease with my vet prior to the teeth procedure and I had two options:
a) do the teeth ($$$$already) and wait and see if there was skin/coat improvement
b) as long as he was unconscious, take the blood samples and ship them out at the same time. A large sample is required and so it would be A) easier to get and B) I would know sooner.
The extra cost on top of my tooth bill that day was around 80.00. I figured peace of mind was worth it so I went ahead and ordered the test. The samples were sent to Milwaukee and the results took about 10 days to know Diamond is Hypothyroid. The best 80 bucks I ever spent then because now I know.
On Monday I pick up his meds, and then after a time he will need periodic blood tests to make sure his levels are on the right track. I might as well share this here so if anyone else ends up going down this road there is a reference!
Stay tuned
Nanook & Diamond
The only link I have to share at this time, because now I have to go learn...
Hypothyroidism in dogs