Question:
Candice, I'd love to hear your experience with Taz on this subject. Especially about how he was diagnosed and what the symptoms were.

Lavander tends to get slightly greasy skin 2 days or so after her bath (especially under her armpits) with a strong 'dog' smell setting in after 4 days or so which is why I tend to bathe her once a week.

I've always thought it was due to her allergies that inflamed her skin, made her itch and lick herself hence the greasy skin etc. But after I put the collar on to prevent her from licking and biting herself, her skin is still greasy after a few days. Now that her skin is calming down from the duck incident, this still doesn't go away.

Then I read an article on hypothyroidism and it somewhat describes her skin. However her heartbeat was normal in her yearly checkup, she just has not had any bloodwork done plus no hyperpigmentation or anything else. She might just have oily sebborrhea.

So I'm debating on taking her to the vet to get her tested for this. I've tried rinsing her with apple cider vinegar etc. The shampoo that seems to work the best is the tar-based one that the vet prescribed but I'm not sure how harsh it is on her skin.

Anyone have any thoughts or advice?


Answer:
This is the shampoo the vet prescribed: http://www.nomorefleas.com.au/en-gb/dept_2.html

It's the first one on the page, sebolyse medicated foam.


Answer:
CJ, when Taz was about a year old, he started gaining a lot of weight. We were only feeding him the recommended amount and he was SO hyper (which is unusual for hypothyroidism...but he was a puppy still!) and got lots of exercise. We took him in for his yearly check up and told our vet about the concerns that we had. He also had some greasy bumps on his ears that we weren't sure about. Hypothyroidism can cause thickening of the ears and increased excretion of oils. Taz's heartbeat was normal as well.

Our vet did a full blood panel on Taz and noticed that his thyroxine was quite low. We started him on a synthetic form of thyroxine. I can't remember the name of the first drug he was on but now he's on Synthroid. After a few months of the meds (I can't remember exactly how long, it's been 10 years) he was retested to see if his levels had come up...and sure enough they did.

Now he is tested every year and his medication is altered accordingly. At one time, we had decreased his medication to 1/2 pill every other day but we noticed that he got quite sluggish. We had him retested again and adjusted to 1/2 pill every day.

As far as Lavander is concerned, I see no harm in having her tested for it. It's fairly cheap, I think ours is about $100, and it will be worth the piece of mind. The meds are also very cheap. We pay $40 for a bottle and it lasts 6 months or more.


Answer:
Originally Posted by Candycane
I can't remember the name of the first drug he was on but now he's on Synthroid.
hey! that's what I take!


Answer:
Yep, it's a human drug. The first one was also a human drug...can't remember what it was called though.


Answer:
actually, what i take is Levothyroxine which is the generic Synthroid.


Answer:
Okay, that's all the more reason I need to double my efforts in saving up for a blood test for her! I think a full test costs around $200 inclusive of consultation etc.


Answer:
Tough call. The thyroxine panel alone would probably be cheaper. I know that when he gets his yearly blood test, it's much more expensive...but if we are just doing his thyroid, it's not too bad. Then again, if they are going to take blood, it's almost worth having the entire panel.