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Post by Glenn on Nov 26, 2010 14:27:37 GMT 10
Hi Tom.
I have a bitch who was a bit suss on the chase. She was put on hormone & although it helped, she recently collapsed & needed to be put on a drip. She hasnt particularly recovered.
Could you recommend any treatment?
Would dosing her with oral thyroid treatments be of any benefit whilst on the hormone, or would this counteract things?
Many Thanks for any advice.
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Post by Tom Meulman on Nov 26, 2010 15:21:45 GMT 10
Hi Glen,
If the bitch was affected severely enough by her run to require putting on the drip, there is a possibility that she suffered some level of acidosis.
This may even have come about due to her chasing harder because of the hormone, and therefore exceeded her level of fitness and suffered stress as a result. Or it could have come about due to a low grade kidney infection that may still require antibiotic treatment.
Recovery is normally very slow because this type of stressful event affects the kidneys as well as the general muscle structure, and will require a lot of care and several weeks of low level exercise such as easy free running before she could run behind the lure again.
Recovery can be speeded up by very small doses of a hormone such as Testoprop at a rate of 1/4 of an ml twice weekly for four weeks and then a 1/4 of an ml weekly.
Keep in mind that there is always a possibility that any hormone including Testoprop could return a positive swab. This hormone returns a positive swab in human athletes up to 14 days after the last dose was administered.
In regard to treating her with a thyroid hormone supplement:
There is no doubt that severe stress depresses the thyroid glands and generally causes a reduction in the level of thyroid hormone in the blood, lower levels of thyroid hormone in the blood can also be causes by the administration of various types of Testosterone based hormones.
However I am a little hesitant to recommend that you start on a thyroid supplement without first having a blood test done to ascertain exactly what her free T4 levels are, and what dose would be best, as a too low a dose is not going to be beneficial, and a too high a dose can cause more damage than good.
Thyroid hormone supplements, unlike vitamin pills, can be an extremely dangerous medication that requires exact dosing each day, and if the dog is to be taken off this medication it must be done by slowly reducing the dosage over a number of weeks.
Cheers,
Tom
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