Angus was at the vets today. Its been a month since he started his thyroid treatment so he was back for a check and a weigh in.
Drum roll please.........He has put on 1.4 kilos!!!
I'm so please as this means that there will be no further investigations for him to go through. He's to stay on the tablets for a few months and then another T4 test will be done to check his levels.
Just thought i'd post another wee update on Angus.
It would appear that he is experiencing some side effects of being on his tablets and they are a bit worrying. He has started to become a bit aggressive and disobedient, and I have had to start muzzling him again for the first time in 3 years. Since he's been on the tablets he's had a 'go' at two dogs in the park without provovation. In both instances there was no skin breaking and luckily both owners were very understanding. He has also nipped Jenna few times in the house to the point that she seems to be becoming scared of him. I have spoken to the vet about this and he has investigated the tablets for me. He says that this is not a known side effect of them but anything is possible. I want to take him off the tablets because although he was underweight, it was not life threatening and i'd rather have him a bit thin and amiable than heavy and aggressive. The vet is going to to take more blood tests to check his T4 levels again and if everything is shown as normal then hopefully we'll be able to reduce then stop the tablets.So thats happening on thursday.
Angus has never been and aggressvie dog, and i suppose i still wouldn't describe as aggressive as in hes not a dangerously aggressive dog, he's just more aggressive than he's ever been. Its quite upsetting to see this change in him.
Poor Angus , he really has gone through the mill lately. Hope test results are good and keep us posted Yvonne. Hopefully he will be back to his usual self soon
Poor Angus, and poor you too. I'm not an expert by any means but it could be that the tablets are making Angus more anxious than normal, which in dogs typically manifests as aggression or being more 'reactive' to things that wouldn't normally bother them. Here's hoping the vet can help you. We're all rooting for you.
FAJ wrote:Poor Angus, and poor you too. I'm not an expert by any means but it could be that the tablets are making Angus more anxious than normal, which in dogs typically manifests as aggression or being more 'reactive' to things that wouldn't normally bother them. Here's hoping the vet can help you. We're all rooting for you.
Hi Fiona. The vet is testing him to check if the level of the tablets are too high, which would result in changes in his behaviour. However, he also said that if the bloods were at normal levels then we would need to start looking at other causes. Which ,i must admit, i'm a bit concerned about. Fingers crossed at the moment that its the easier of the two optoins and he can come off the tablets. Results should be in monday or tuesday
I got Angus' results back this week and unfortunatley its not what i had hoped for.
The test show that his blood levels are still really low. They should be in a range of 17-34 but he is sitting at just above 13. The vet says that they prefer them to be at the upper end of the scale. So he has increased the tablets that Angus has to get and another blood test to be done in 8 weeks.
In the meantime, his behaviour has to be assessed in a fortnight.
I am a bit worried to make a comment, I don't know much soloxine at all really but things with Angus sounded similar to some things I went through with Casper so that's why I asked. I am in no way an expert and only have what Casper went through to go on...
When casper wasn't well I was recommended these pdf files on greyhound blood results and I took these into my vets when casper had his blood tests taken. My vet was aware of greyhounds blood values being different to other dogs but these were handy as an example.
I can't remember Caspers exact results but he came under the "dog 2" category on the above pdfs which says "try on soloxine". Although I cannot say that it was just the soloxine as he was on other drugs at the time, he lost a drastic amount of weight, and seemed to be a bit weird. He was lethargic some days and erratic the next. Casper was having so many problems at the time that I cannot say that this is what caused everything but my vet cut the soloxine 0.8mg down from one a day to half a day. The soloxine seemed to help his hair loss and the lower dose seemed to agree with him more, but we eventually cut down to half every other day and now he is on nothing. It is all a bit confusing really, and I sort of didn't want to say anything as I don't want to confuse you more and as I really have no advice to give!!! I just thought it was funny that Angus was acting a bit strangely as I felt the same with Casper when he was on them. Another thing that sounded familiar was that usually a dog with hypothyroidism will be over weight and Casper did not have that symptom, so that, along with the low greyhound blood results made my vet hesitant to put casper on soloxine in the first place, and is why he has now been taken off it altogether. Casper is fine now that he is off them, but I know things are different with Angus and I am not recommending you take him off them. I saw many dogs while working at the vets that lives were changed on soloxine and I really just have my experience with casper to go on.
This doesn't solve your problem with Angus, so I feel a bit useless saying all this really sorry if I just worry you more.
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Thanks Jane. Information of everybodies different experiences is usefull. Its good to know that other people have had difficulties with soroxine, al beit in a different set of circumstances. Some times i feel as if i'm a bit neurotic and maybe seeing problems that aren't there (if you know what i mean).
Angus was originally put on them cos he had lost so much weight and his tests showed that it was his thyroid that was the problem. And initially he put on weight quite well. This recent weight loss is quite small and the vet doesn't seem too bothered about it as its so small ( about 0.3 kilos). But i'm forever the worrier especially about his behavioural change, although to be honest, the last few days have been ok and he seems o bit more obedient.
I'll certainly have a look at these links and thanks again for the info.