ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Dogs and Thyroid Disease

Updated on February 23, 2015
Just Ask Susan profile image

Susan is a published poet and short story writer. Her expertise is in cooking and healthy living. She hosts a canine recipe blog.

Hypothyroidism

Just as us humans dogs can develop thyroid problems known as canine hypothyroidism (under active thyroid) that means there is a thyroid hormone deficiency. If your dog is gaining weight for no reason whatsoever $6, sleeping more than you would normally expect him or her to, is losing hair, thinning hair, dull coat, has bald spots, dry skin or seems to be unhappy or depressed this could be a problem going on with the thyroid. This is the most common hormone imbalance when it comes to dogs. If you suspect or your dog is showing any of these symptoms a simple blood test at your dogs veterinarian will detect if there is in fact a problem. In most cases if your dog does have a thyroid problem the vet will prescribe a medication. His or her blood levels will have to be checked every so often to make sure that the levels are in the correct range. If not the dosage of medication will be either increased or decreased.

Hyperthyroidism

An overactive thyroid is called hyperthyroidism (where the is an excess of thyroid hormone) but is rare in dogs. If you suspect that your dog may suffer from this there are a few signs to look for. They are always hungry but yet they are losing weight, they may tend to seem nervous and have a higher than normal heart rate, fur becomes dull and lifeless, labored breathing, extreme thirst, increased urination, vomiting and diarrhea. Your veterinarian can do a physical exam to check for an enlarged thyroid and will do blood work. He may feel it is necessary to do an ultrasound in some cases. There are several ways to treat this. Medication, surgery or radioactive iodine treatments are the options. If medication is given the thyroid should show results within three weeks. Surgery would be to remove all of part of the thyroid gland if there is a tumor. Radioactive iodine is used to kill off the overactive cells.

For both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism there are homeopathic remedies that may help with the symptoms for both of these conditions. It is best to first check with your animal care provider before administering anything to the dog yourself.

Thyroid problems in dogs will usually occur somewhere between the age of four and up. Medium to larger breeds seem to be more prone to this medical condition.


© 2011 Susan Zutautas

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)