At the moment I don't have a diagnosis. My GSD has had a blood test and I am waiting on the results. Having a google (as you do, and shouldn't) I am scaring myself into thinking it could be hyperthyroidism.

His symptoms recently are polydypsia, polyuria, and panting a lot. We tested his urine this evening and ruled out kidney disease, infection, diabetes.  He is and always has been highly active, and exuberant. He is 7yrs old. No other symptoms. Weighs 34kg. Down from 36kg in December, but I am always adjusting diet to keep weight on the lean side. Appetite good. Raw fed. No other symptoms, in great condition coat wise etc.

Does anyone have any experience with hyperthyroidism, from what I have just read, it doesn't sound promising. I know I need to wait til tomorrow to see what the bloods reveal.  My other GSD had something similar a few years back, and we did all tests including ultrasound and it turned out to be nothing at all. Never did know why she went through the phase she did, though I don't remember her having the panting. Just worried and wondered if anyone had any experiences if they do come back with this as a possibility?

Hi ChinaBlue

Afraid I don't have any experience of canine hyperthyroidism but I've got a cat with this problem.

Symptoms were increased thirst, increased urination, hyperactivity, restlessness, ravenous appetite (always looking for food even when just been fed & scrounging for food which he never did before), weight loss, lack lustre fur.  The less obvious symptoms were a very fast pulse/heart rate and a swelling in the neck (goitre).

He also was heat intolerant.  Where he was previously happy to sleep in bed with me/sit on my lap he opted to find cool places in the house to rest.  Once treated he returned to his old ways as he didn't mind the heat.

The first time my cat had this (18 months prior) he had one of the lobes in his thyroid removed. They need to leave one technically because the parathyroid glands are associated with each thyroid gland. The parathyroid glands regulate calcium levels in the body and they also help regulate phosphorus levels.  Removing both glands would result in the loss of both parathyroid glands which wouldn't be good

When the condition returned 18 months later, he was put on daily (2 x daily) medication and is doing fine.

I believe the options are surgery, medication or radioactive iodine treatment.  We opted for the surgery first then the medication with the reoccurance.

Hope your boy is OK.

Thanks Chris
My boy is also heat intolerant, but has also had a tendency to be a bit that way (he would go and lie out in the snow happily like a husky) so I don't know if that was an early symptom or just him. What you have said sounds similar to what I read, but it also sounded a bit worrying when they said it had often metastasised to the lungs already, and much may not be able to be removed.

He doesn't have any swelling in the neck, and he's always been very active, but he can chill just as easily.

I read about the radioactive iodine treatment, but it said a long hospitalisation and I know that my boy would just pine away.  I am jumping the gun, and am hoping I am wrong anyway, just had to be researching between now and tomorrow.  Many thanks for your reply. It sounded just a little less scary.

Hyperthyroidism is an endocrine imbalance it's not a tumour that will metastasise.  It simply means that the gland is producing too much thyroid hormone (for a variety of reasons). 

If you have an under active thyroid you take medication to replace the missing thyroxine, if you have an over active gland you take medication that stops the thyroid gland producing excess amounts of thyroxine or surgery to remove part of the gland or indeed radiation therapy to destroy part of the gland - both result in less thyroxine being produced.

It is possible to have a tumour that is cancerous in any area of the body including the thyroid gland but a simple over active thyroid is not a huge issue (unless left untreated) as naturally having a racing heart amongst other things is not good for long-term health.

Hope the bloods come back normal, if not and he does have hyper-T then treatment will return him to normal in quick order and he should be fine.

Well, not hyperthyroidism.
The liver enzyme ALT slightly elevated. Not so much that they are esp worried. Nothing else at all. Could be Cushings, but very unlikely. So we will do a bile acid test to check liver function. If that reveals liver is working properly will probably do nothing. If it's not working properly will have to do ultrasound and take it from there.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for the update. 

Hope the bile acid test comes back OK.  If the ALT was only slightly elevated then I should hope that the bile acid test will be within normal range.

Milk Thistle is good for liver health. Google it and it will tell you a dose by weight and regime for giving (i.e. 5 days on then 2 days off for 6 weeks. Skip 1 week and begin again).  Don't start any "home" treatment though until you have the bile acid test results back and advice from your vet regarding any potential issues as a result of the test.

Thanks Chris

The vet said that he would have expected other enzymes to be elevated if there were any real problem and none were, it was the only one. He is a homeopathic vet too and so I expect milk thistle to be on the 'menu' at some point!

And guess what - he is not drinking so much now!

Yes, I agree that there are normally other irregularities rather than just the ALT being elevated so things look quite promising.

Pleased to hear he's not drinking as much as he was before. 

Fingers crossed for the Bile Acid Test - you can never second guess which is why it's best to test but I expect from the sound of things that the test will be within the normal range.

OK we had the bile acid test done yesterday and it came back perfectly normal, so liver function is fine. So, it seems this was just a blip on the radar and he is also back to drinking normally now.

He wasn't impressed at having to have 2 blood tests within a couple of hours LOL

That's great news :-)

They like to give us a fright don't they, always best to play it safe and get things checked though but brilliant when it's all a "false alarm".