Sassy – New thread

[Brigitte]

Oh Alyssa, what a drag! I really hope they were just petty thieves and chucked your wallet minus the cash somewhere.
Good news on Sassy! I am not sure about the thyroid medication, if she could come of it, but I don’t see why not. There is always fluctuations with thyroids, it goes up and down, so who knows. And honestly if Sassy needs to be on thyroxine, that would really not be the end of the world either, right? Don’t worry about a small drop in Sassy’s PCV, there are always fluctuations there as well, depending how hydrated she is the values may vary. Best wishes,
Brigitte

[Linda]

Hi Alyssa. I am so sorry you’re going through all this because of the theft. I think they should have had someone watching the cars that were there. I bet this is not the first time it’s happened. Easy pickings. Son of a guns.

About Sassy and her thyroid values, how much is she on now? Have you e-mailed Dr. Dodds? I want to put Sadie on Soloxine but the oly other time I tried her on it (and actually, her tests were normal when we started, but wanted to boost the red blood cell formation) , she immediately, within a week, went into hyPERthyroidism. We took her off and her thyroid tests came back normal again. But Sadie was not on it that long, about 7-8 days. So, with Sassy, I don’t know.

Are you saying you lowered the dose of Thyroxine? What was the dose originally and what is it now?

I hsve carried this bottle of Soloxine around all week, trying to talk to the vets and trying to figure out if I should just go ahead and give it to her. Dr. Dodds says yes and told me the dose, but I really want my vets blessing before I do it. That, has not happened as she had been out if the office (regular vet). The acute care vet at Blue Pearl said without a full thyroid panel (like Dr. Didds does), she foes not want to put her on it. I gave her printouts from Dr. Dodds – which I’m sure she never even bothered to read. Smart lady, but tunnel vision. So frustrating.

I would e-mail Dr. Dodds. She’s the best with the thyroid issues. She will help you. Send Sassy’s numbers, she’ll need that.

Love and hugs, Linda

[Alyssa]

Hi Linda,
Sorry for the late response! I forgot to check the thread. Yes we lowered her thyroid dose 2 weeks ago, she was taking 0.8mg tablets twice a day and we dropped it to 1 tablet a day (split in half, given twice a day). We are retesting thyroid again today and will know by Monday if further adjustments are needed. And my gosh, these thyroid test are expensive.

Vet checkup today – Yay!! She is back up to 46% and everything else looks great, too. I was so worried about the slow decline – 47, 45, 43 – just glad it didn’t go down again this time. Again, we’ll get thyroid results Monday.

Aza – saying the same for now – 50mg a day.
Pred – we get to drop to an every other day dose now! 2.5mg, every other day.
Thyroid – testing

Her weight… she went back up!! I forget what she was two weeks ago but I know it was 78 or 79. Back up to 81 this time. I don’t get it. I feed her so little now, she even leaves food in the bowl like she used to – no treats – no scraps – ugh!! She just wont lose this weight. It’s weird though because she looks skinnier, even the vet was like “wow! she looks great, lets see what she lost” and the nope, she gained! I am wondering if she is building muscle back and it’s adding to her weight at the moment, also she didn’t do her morning poo, so that could be why… she just looks so much skinnier now I don’t get it. It can’t be right.

It’s HOT here and Sassy had the sun beaming right on her in the car.. so we improvised..

:P

[Vally]

Check that tongue out !!!!! And what a gorgeous colour it is too.

Vally

[admin]

Alyssa

She looks like some sort of flying superhero dog! And wow what a pink tongue too. Muscle weighs more than fat – so she must be getting her muscle tone back now, which is really great news. Sassy looks fantastic!

Love Sheena & the boys xxxxx

[Alyssa]

Test back – her thyroid is right in the middle of normal! I was secretly hoping it would still be high and maybe we could just stop the meds haha oh well at least we found her dosage. Hopefully these thyroid test stop now… I have been paying $180 every two weeks basically for the dr visit, thyroid test and blood test. Crazy.

Ooh but I’ve noticed the last few days Sassy suddenly has horrible dander/dry skin! Like, it’s so bad her back is covered in white flakes and if I brush them all off they’re back in minutes! I bathed her with some medicated shampoo I still had from the vet because they last time I used it is made her coat seriously soft and it’s full of vitamins, but it didn’t help at all and maybe made it a little worse. Does anyone think I should bath her again in oatmeal or something? Any adivce for this? Shes never had it before.

[Patrice]

Alyssa,
Sorry you are outputting so much cash right now. You may be able to get by for the routine check for the PCV by skipping the full CBC and just having a simple spun PCV, it takes a little tiny bit of blood, is prepared and visualized by “hand.” Shouldn’t cost more than $20, in my opinion. Only do a full CBC every 3-4 weeks (or longer if there is stability in the PCV value.)

So here is what is happening with the skin. Hyperthyroidsim (very very rare in dogs as organic disease and generally due to excess supplementation) leads to some side effects. How severe they are depends on the dosage and the length of time at the higher levels of T4 and Free T4. These higher levels stimulate more rapid cellular activity and you can see the result of that in this list.
The symptoms of hyperthyroidism include the following:
Fatigue or muscle weakness.
Hand tremors.
Mood swings.
Nervousness or anxiety.
Rapid heartbeat.
Heart palpitations or irregular heartbeat.
Skin dryness.
Trouble sleeping.

Why the skin dryness? Because skin cells are a type of cell that are constantly being replaced. The higher cellular activity of hyperthyroidism means that skin cells are being produced at a rapid pace and that also means that old cells are being sloughed off at a more rapid rate. I know, science can be such a drag to understand, but in this case it really helps you understand why the dry skin.

In the meantime, give Sassie 1,200mg (360mg omega 3) fish oil capsules, 2-3 day. I use this dose for my Giants and I only use Nature Made brand because it is certified mercury free. They love chomping them down and come running when they hear the bottle rattle. If Sassie won’t chew them, then puncture the tip and squeeze the fish oil on her food. If you want, you can also use the Nature Made 1,000mg (300mg omega 3) capsules for a more conservative dose.

Washing will really dry the skin out more. Try gentle brushing every day to stimulate the oil glands and get the oil out onto the skin. You will see a lot of flaking so put her on a towel to do this.

By the way, this is a great regular supplement for humans and dogs. It helps treat all manner of canine and human diseases. In dogs it is especially helpful treating heart disease, kidney disease, canine cognitive disease, canine allergies, canine arthritis etc. You get the idea. I take my fish oil daily as well.

I do not recommend fish oil for dogs that are currently at risk of low platelets, such as in thrombocytopenia, or who are actively destroying red blood cells, as in AIHA IMHA.
good luck!
patrice

[Linda]

Hi Alyssa and cutie pie, Sassy. Yes, LOVE that pink tongue!!!!

You are doing such an awesome job!!! About the flaky skin – I’m dealing with that with Sadie now too. Just in the last few months, prior to her relapse. Since Spring, actually. She is just now on a very low dose of Soloxine (0.1mg). I think it’s doing good actually, and do not think the Soloxine is causing the dry skin, in Sadie’s case, because it was happening way prior. So, I have been putting a very small amount of coconut oil (I use Kelepro) in my hands and rub her with it, using a paper towel to rub off any residue. It has helped very much. And, as Patrice said, I just started Sadie back on the Omega 3 (I use Nordic Naturals, but like Nature Made too). I was using the gel caps, but am now using the liquid (smells yucky) because I lowered the amount because it (like many things with my poor girl) gave her runny stools. So now I just put some in her food. She loves it, the stickier, the better! 😋

Keep us posted. Much love,

Linda and Sadie (PCV 38 this morning!!!)