Under active Thyroid

[sassafras]

Originally Posted by Ivy

I curious if anyone has or knows someone that treats their dogs underactive thyroid holistically?

I've not tried it myself but I've known people who tried it, honestly I've never been very impressed with the results and everyone I've seen try it has ended up back on supplementation anyway.

In my mind, there isn't much of a reason to do so. The medication isn't really a drug it's just... replacing absent thyroid hormone. Unless there's an allergy to an inert ingredient in a particular brand or the dose is incorrect, there really shouldn't be side effects. I've never really seen any cost advantage, either.

[noodlerubyallie]

Rocket was weird. He presented no symptoms of having a low thyroid level except that he tended to shiver at times. He wasn't overweight, etc. Once he was on the meds, it took about a month for a difference to really be seen. It really solved all of his underweight issues and cleared up the little skin issue he got at times.

He's on .07 mg of Thyroxine twice a day. I haven't seen anything holistic that would help/replace the meds. He goes in for his recheck in April to see if his meds need to be adjusted.

[Ivy]

I really appreciate all the input. Thank you so much guys.

[Ivy]

I was reading a book about Hypothyroidism and found information about boosting the immune system in hypothyroid dogs. Vitamin E was recommended (by adding nuts to the diet) and it also has many other great properties so that's a plus.

My concern is some say nuts should never be fed to a dog, while others recommend nuts like sunflower seeds, almonds, pine nuts and peanuts.

Anyone feed an array of nuts to their dog and what changes did you notice in your dogs health or should I just go with vitamin E capsules?

Another thing I read was that thyroid supplements should not be given with food. I binds to the calcium and soy in the food resulting in incomplete or too slow absorption. I wonder if it's true or not. I asked my vet and he said it can be given with food with no problems.

[Saeleofu]

Another thing I read was that thyroid supplements should not be given with food. I binds to the calcium and soy in the food resulting in incomplete or too slow absorption. I wonder if it's true or not. I asked my vet and he said it can be given with food with no problems.

I've always given it with food. BUT, I don't feed any dogs anything with soy in it, and I give raw eggs at least a few times a week (shell and all), so IF it binds calcium, he's getting extra anyway.

Adding nuts to the diet increases calorie intake A LOT. Occasionally my dogs will get peanut butter (all natural kind - just peanuts and salt) as a treat, but NOT as a regular addition to the diet. I do give a vitamin E supplement. There are two forms of vitamin E, d-alpha and dl-alpha, and you want the d-alpha one - it's natural instead of synthetic and is about 3 times more effective than the synthetic one.

[DJEtzel]

I had a Boston Terrier foster diagnosed with Hypothyroidism upon coming into the rescue, and he was put on Soloxine. Seemed to help, he was less reactive/dog aggressive, his skin improved drastically. Unfortunately, he only lived a couple of months before he started in chronic kidney failure as the result of being on steroids for over five years, and had to be put to sleep.

The meds were cheap, though, and seemed very effective. He had no adverse reactions to them whatsoever.