My girl is 2 years old and over the past few months seems to be getting a bit chubby even though i have had her on her strict 2 meals a day,is very tired and lethargic and cant manage the long walks she normally goes on and has also been turning quite aggressive towards my other dogs,just not like her at all.She has been back and forth to the vet but has no blood tests etc taken,he just keeps putting her on antibiotics saying she has a bug of some sort,last week i refused yet another course of antibiotics and am taking her to a new vet this week.She has also got incredibly itchy skin for which she has malaseb shampoo at the moment,i feel so sorry for her.Any ideas as to what could be wrong,am so worried.

Get her thyroid checked...:-) Wouldn't be surprised if her thyroid was low..

From a Website:
Canine thyroid disease can be tough to diagnose.The symptoms can be legion and sometimes contradictory: lethargy, mental lassitude, weight gain, dull coat, skin infections, constipation, diarrhea, cold intolerance, skin odor, hair loss, greasy skin, dry skin, reproductive problems, aggression, and more.

Definitely sounds like hypothyroidism, classic signs, all of them, even though she is on the young side for it. When one of mine developed it she was given just a quarter of the amount of food she gets normally yet was very overweight. She's been on tablets ever since and is in perfect condition now.

My girl got it at 18 months old, which was really young.
Her thyroid levels were so low they couldn't measure them.

Definately worth getting her checked, TSH and T4.

My girl will be 10yo in July, so on the right medication they can live happy long lives :)

Get as thorough a test done as you can - TSH only is not enough, T4 only is not enough and even together it doesn't give a complete picture.  Ideally you want T3 and thyroid antibodies done as well - your best bet is to send blood samples to Dr Jean Dodds in the US (google Hemopet).  She can do a full panel and interpret it as well, her specialism is thyroid diagnosis and treatment.  Well worth the layout - I'm sending two samples to her soon as my boy keeps coming back 'normal' but is still symptomatic (T4 only tested), he has to be fed next to nothing every meal just to keep his weight stable and he's still a teeny bit over (after a long 4 years trying to slim him down).  He also feels the cold horribly, something I can relate to as a symptom!

Is this condition hereditary,would my girls parents have had it too?

There are different forms of hypothyroidism and some are hereditary but even so it could have come from further down the line, and if it is much like other hereditary diseases its not as easy as pointing to one dog within a family tree. Id get some tests done to find out what is wrong.

Not necessarily attributed to your problem but some dogs like people can carry an inherent problem but they themselves not be affected but when put to another carrier may produce offspring that may develop said disease or characteristic. For instant its a little known fact that bullmastiffs carry a long haired gene both parents can be short haired but produce a long haired puppy.

As triona says it can be hereditary, which is why some breeds are more prone to it than others - dobermanns and greyhounds to name just two - but other forms have other causes and sometimes the cause is unknown.

Even the hereditary forms aren't always straightforward - to use people as an example, my mum was drastically overactive and had hers removed, whereas my sister's has been entirely auto-destroyed.  Pending tests, mine seems to just be run-of-the-mill underactive.  Complicated stuff.

Unless there's a significant event that might have caused it (such as a different, serious illness) I wouldn't worry about what caused it.

I agree with everyone, this sounds very much like thyroid!

Get your vet to check it, demand it if you have to! Don't take no for an answer. The vet will probably say that your American cocker is too young to be hypothyroid. This is not true. Especially autoimmune thyroiditis (which occurs in American cockers) can show from a few months old. My American cocker was diagnosed at 18 months old and looking back showed some signs from around 8 months old.

Make sure your vet does a comprehensive thyroid test, this includes T4, free T4, free T3, TSH and T3 and T4 antibodies. Don't let him take just a normal basic test (which is usually T4 and TSH), this is not reliable for dogs.

If you google for Jean Dodds and canine thyroid, you will find articles about it that are very helpful.

Definately worth getting her checked, TSH and T4.

Agree, that's not enough. Antibodies (which occur in autoimmune thyroiditis) can make the T4 look higher than it is! Antibodies need to be measured as well as free T4 and free T3.

Well worth the layout - I'm sending two samples to her soon as my boy keeps coming back 'normal' but is still symptomatic (T4 only tested),

My vet uses a UK lab that gives you all this information, so it is available. However, ultimately the cost is pretty much the same whether it's done here in the UK or with Jean Dodds.

Is this condition hereditary,would my girls parents have had it too?

If it's autoimmune thyroiditis (with antibodies), then yes, it's hereditary. It is in the breed. In America and in Canada breeders of American cockers check for antibodies before they breed and dogs that carry the disease (although may not have the disease itself) are then not used for breeding.

Thanks for all the replys,will pass all this info on to my new vet .

Do you know which lab he uses, LG?  I keep meaning to ask and I keep completely forgetting (as is the norm for me!).  Could you PM me if you know?

Thankee :-)

I don't know off hand, Nikita, but I'll ask my vet when I talk to him later today.

My 2 yr old ridgeback girl has finally been diagnosed after issue after issue and a useless vet who treated me as if I was paranoid.
I went for another vet and 2nd opinion, bang thyroid test done.
Came back yes hypothyroid

I am now looking into finding out what type she has.

But we had lethargy, dry dull flaky coat, frequent infections (this year alone respiratory/stomach infection and contact dermatitis) also she has ear margin vasculitis which can be an autoimmune thing so I suspect it is autoimmune thyroid disorder...
We are on day 5 of Soloxine, need to wait 2-4 weeks for real changes

And like Lurcher girl I beleive my girl has had it since puppyhood, the diagnosis explains SO MUCH