Lucy was a new patient for our hospital when I met her and her owners last January. The complaint on her chart read “trouble getting up, acts depressed.” Mmmmm, for an eight-year-old rottie this wasn’t unusual. I was prepared to go into the exam room and talk about arthritis in an older large-breed dog. The first thing I noticed during her physical exam was Lucy tipped the scales at 145 pounds. If she had arthritis then the excess weight wasn’t helping Lucy’s situation. Trying to get her to stand was almost impossible since she didn’t seem to have the heart to get up. Realistically, she should have been about 90 pounds. Our exam proceeded at Lucy’s level – on the floor. I also noted she had a very dry, sparse haircoat, and her heart rate was slow (bradycardia). The owners swore she only ate a reduced calorie commercial dog food and a few table scraps so they didn’t understand how she could be this overweight. They said her skin had been getting worse over the past year but they were unaware of her slow heart rate. She was up-to-date on vaccines and took a monthly heartworm and flea preventive.
Given her exam and history, I thought there was more going on than just arthritis. We sent blood and urine samples to the laboratory. In the meantime, I placed Lucy on a prescription reducing diet to help promote weight loss and added a supplement for her dry skin. Two days later I had my results. Everything was normal except a value called T4. This meant she had hypothyroidism, or, in other words, her thyroid gland was producing below normal levels of thyroid hormone. Hypothyroidism causes a decreased metabolic rate which, in turn, causes many clinical signs, including weight gain, lethargy, cold intolerance, loss of hair, dry skin, skin infections, weakness, and bradycardia.
Fortunately, there is treatment in the form of medication. Lucy now takes a thyroid hormone replacement twice a day. She stuck to her diet and when I saw her in September she weighed a svelte 102 pounds. She also enjoys walks around the neighborhood, plays ball occasionally and swims in the owner’s pool every chance she gets. Her heart rate is normal and her coat has grown back full and glossy. Judging by her rambunctious greeting at her last visit, I’d say she not depressed anymore.
Lucy’s condition isn’t curable but very treatable. For the rest of her life we will monitor her blood levels as well as her weight, heart rate and skin. Happily for me, Lucy now stands patiently so I no longer have to kneel on the hard floor during physicals.
(This was an actual case history from a local veterinary clinic actively affiliated with the Hillsborough Animal Health Foundation.)
