I have a 9yr old spayed GSD bitch.  She had some problems with her mobility a couple of years ago - mainly stumbling on her front legs.  Her coat became very dry, scurfy and patchy (she is a long coat) and her poor tail looked like an ancient paintbrush!

Blood tests done by my vet at the time (he's now moved out of the country) showed a problem with her thyroid and he put her on Soloxine 0.8mg.  Some fiddling around with the frequency of the dose (as advised) resulted in her having one tablet every other day or so and she seemed to tick along ok.  Coat and mobility certainly improved.

I stopped giving her these when the tablets ran out about 6 mths ago and she had seemed fine until the last couple of weeks.  She is fine when she is focused and trotting out.  She continues to be happy, tail wagging and as affectionate as normal.  But her mobility has gone downhill again - this time her back legs seem most affected with her gently swaying in a drunk-like fashion if she relaxes whilst standing.  I watched her father go down with CDRM and have been petrified.  After a few days of me noticing this she has also developed a slight head tilt with her left ear being held lower.  I know her hips are sound as she has a BVA score of 7:5 = 12.  She has also been walking into things as she struggles to get herself together and walking.  Eyes showed small fatty deposits but nothing else.

I found a new vet and feel happy that he gave her a thorough examination. 

A blood test has not shown any evidence of a thyroid problem and he suggested this might have been misdiagnosed.  He checked out her back legs for replacing and seemed satisfied that it isn't CDRM (huge relief)  We discussed the possibilty of some type of cerebral event and I am aware this is not treatable.  We left the surgery with a course of Synulox 250mg: 1.5 tablets twice daily as he felt her head tilt might be explained by an inner ear infection. Not sure I'm convinced and the antibiotics don't appear to have made any difference after 5 days.  If anything, her head tilt is now more pronounced although again, she continues to romp around the fields as normal.

Any ideas? 

I'm stuck here and would be very grateful for anything that might help.

Hi, don't know about the first problem but with the head tilt this sounds like Canine Idiopathic Vestibular Disease ("old dog vestibular syndrome"). What's against it is the relatively slow onset and the mildness of the problem. Have you noticed if she has nystagmus (back and forth or rotational eye movements) or a tendency to fall or lurch to one side in particular? If this is old dog vestibular syndrome the outlook is excellent and she will recover, usually within 2 - 3 weeks though some head tilt may remain. My vet gives an anti-emetic and a bolus injection of long acting steroid at onset though the evidence for the latter helping is equivocal - it gets better anyway. The only problem is that it may recur (one of my old ladies had 3 episodes) and the more acute form is very dramatic and frightening for dog and owner.

I mention that because the only dog I know of who died "of" this condition was a deerhound in the US. He was admitted to a canine ICU. Presumably a nice bright shiny place smelling of disinfectant. Scared already by dizziness, he understandably became very upset. His owner told not to visit so that he could 'settle'. He became more even distressed. So they hooked him up to a barbiturate drip. But he was still a very disorientated, unhappy old dog who now wouldn't drink and had begun to roll. So started another drip and upped the barbiturate........ :(

Our vet advises taking the dog to a darkened bedroom and cuddling up beside it on the bed as this way it can't roll (a severely affected dog over and over without being able to stop). But then the practice doesn't have a nice shiny super-expensive canine ICU unit.

I've also known of a dog who suffered a bout of Vestibulitis, it came on very suddenly but had symptoms very like those you describe.  The dog was staggering around as if drunk, head tilted to the left, but the muscles in the face had also dropped so the left eye drooped lower than the right and the cheek/jowl on the left went slack and 'hung'.  He was rushed to the vets, who at first thought it was a stroke until the rapid eye flickering was noted.

He made a full recovery although it took time.

Its' interesting that your first vet diagnosed thyroid problems and the second did not.

Thyroid problems are often hard to diagnose correctly and sadly some vets don't know how to read the results of the test correctly. It may therefore be that a dog can have a thyroid problem - it could say, be borderline - but the vet may give it the all clear.

Perhaps the dog has 2 problems, one related to thyroid and the other not?

I would not rule out thyroid. I am sorry i can't yet do links!!! but do a google search for thyroid and Alise Shatoff and also Jean Dodds. Alise is great and will even help you decipher the thyroid results if you get a copy. She has done a good article on how to test for thyroid as well, as sometimes the correct test is not done.

A friend suspected thyroid in her dobe, the dog was tested and given all clear - 2 years downthe line she went to a vet who could test and read results well, and the dog did have a problem after all as she had originally suspected! So the dog had 2 years of being unwell: if only the first vet had known more about testing and reading the results.

Hth a bit
Lindsay
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Guest,

From the information you give, it sounds as if the thyroid symptoms your dog was experiencing are coming back. 

For more information on dosage and symptoms follow this link, you will find that amongst the many and varied symptoms of HYPOthyroidism is head tilt ;)      http://www.medi-vet.com/Soloxine.aspx

There can be problems in interpreting the results of these tests and sometimes the only way to know for sure is to treat the animal with Soloxine and observe the results :(  there is more information on this,

here http://www.thedogscene.co.uk/articles/health/hypothyroidism.htm

Hope this helps
Dill

Lindsay :D

You said all I wanted to :D but didn't want to give a looong post, so I did the links instead :D

We'd make a great team :)

:D

I'm no expert but having had one friend who has experienced problems (as you say, hypothyroid - hyperthyroid is rarer in dogs but not in cats :) ) it's something i am very interested in. Also because it can be closely linked to behavioural problems. Just wish vets were better at picking it up.... ;)

Lindsay
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dont forget there are many other thyroid problems if your not sure whats going on call your vet see what he or she says :) over or underactive thyroids can be picked up by a blood test sometimes these can be missed because there is just about enough thyroxine in the blood or not so much to cause a problem . but on a normal day there might be too much or little so somtimes you need 2 tests done to be totaly sure if the dog is still showing symptoms .if your worried put your mind at rest and call the vet

Finally sorted out how to log in!

Firstly we would like to thank everyone who has responded to our dilemma - it is very much appreciated.
I cannot help but suspect that this is the old thyroid problem raising it's ugly head again - particularly after reading the links and noting how the body can initially compensate problematic thyroid levels....
It has been particularly interesting to note how difficult it might be to obtain an accurate blood result.  The vet had explained that often other factors could suppress thyroid levels and for this reason the problem may have initially been misdiagnosed.
He never once connected her head tilt to hypothyroidism but the list of symptoms on the link could almost describe her exactly - the lethargy, dry coat, increased sleeping, preference for warmth, stiff and slow movements etc etc but some of these I had attributed to her advancing years.
We have (thankfully) never noticed any sign of nystagmus...
I have printed off the information from the links ("thank you Dill") and will show them to the vet tomorrow.  I am hopeful that he will prescribe Soloxine again..and then it is "watch this space"!!
Many many thanks to all who have offered advice - it is comforting to know that fellow dog people can be so supportive.

Debs2004,

To give you some idea of how difficult it is to get a diagnosis, I suffered with just about all the symptoms for 10 years after my daughter was born, 3 GPs failed to pick it up despite blood tests :rolleyes:  I knew what was wrong but no-one was listening.  I changed GP again and he picked it up straight away, but took blood tests over 3 months to confirm before I was treated   Imagine how difficult it is when the patient can't even tell you whats wrong ;) 

An update.....

I (tactfully!) presented the printed info from the links to the vets this morning....they had no idea head tilt was a sympton of hypothyroidism :-(
I now have 2 weeks supply of Soloxine and we will review in a fortnight.  Fingers crossed here.

Thanks again for all your advice.

Thats great Debs :D

NOW, I wonder how much you should charge for 'your' consultation???  :D  (stirring the big pot here ;) ) :D :D :D :D

Ooooooh Dill !!!

Don't get me started....hahahaha! I purposely left her at home to avoid being put in the 'difficult postion' of being asked to pay a further consultation fee when it certainly didn't feel appropriate.  I have previously paid a consultation fee to a vet who didn't once put a hand on the dog but that's another story.... :-(

I was feeling generous yesterday! :-)

AN UPDATE:

I just wanted to let anyone and everyone who is interested know that my beautiful mad hairy 9 year old GSD is now back up on her four paws and as barmy as ever!  I can't believe the change in her over the last few weeks.

I persuaded the vet (gently!) that Soloxine would be worth a try again and it has worked wonderfully.  She is currently on 1 x 0.5mg Soloxine daily - have just decreased from 2 x daily and she obviously feels great by her "happy" (read mad, tail-wagging, spinning like a puppy!) attitude.  I never thought I'd miss her manic screaming when her and the mad mal see their leads but, by gawd, it's really good to hear our personalised dawn chorus now!

Thank you so much to all who offered advice and support on here - it was a lifeline in a very bleak experience.

I LOVE happy endings :-)

Hi Deb

Great to read the positive update. So it seems as if it was the thyroid problem? :)

So very glad things are sorted and she is back to being normal and mad for you!

Lindsay
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Hi Debs,

I'm so glad that she's back to her old self :D   it certainly looks as if the treatment is working :)  Remember tho that this treatment only works while it is administered, you should only stop the tablets on the vets advice, they are replacing a deficiency.  You will probably find that her blood will need testing on a regular basis just to make sure that her dosage is correct and that she stays on an even keel.

All the best
Regards
Dill