Help!!!!

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by lovinyorkiestyl

He will be 2 on halloween.. like I said, he has 1 bald spot on his hind quater. His skin looks great. He is just thinning all over.. Not alot of hair in the brush, he gets a bath once every two weeks and gets brushed then.. He does not have thick hair, and its not that long..

cushings is another disease where they lose hair but have a full cbc with 6 panel thyroid done - usually hair loss is on lumbar region and tail but my dd did not read the text book so hers was her neck - yorkies have poor immune systems due to inbreeding of this breed and both cushings and thyroid are auto immune diseases

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by dwerten

yep this is what happened to my girl and her thyroid dropped in 1/2 each year and as it did more hairloss on neck - went to jean dodds for blood work and sure enough it was hypothyroid. Get panel done through jean dodds or michigan state

When we found out about Wylie's issues a few months back (hypothy and atypical Cushing's) - his circulating thyroid was basically at ZERO . Oddly, he had no lethargy whatsoever...still the same wildman. He's now on .10 thyroxine BID and his T4 is within normal. His hair loss was mainly on all 4 legs at first, then on his body (overall thinning started at that point).

Originally Posted by dwerten

cushings is another disease where they lose hair but have a full cbc with 6 panel thyroid done - usually hair loss is on lumbar region and tail but my dd did not read the text book so hers was her neck - yorkies have poor immune systems due to inbreeding of this breed and both cushings and thyroid are auto immune diseases

Yep, both Cushing's and thyroid issues run in Yorkies, unfortunately. They are also prone/vulnerable to ringworm (another cause of hair loss). To the poster -- if you think it is Cushing's, the screening test to rule it out (this does NOT diagnose it though, but this test is the screening) is the creatinine-cortisol ratio Urine test. The urine must be caught at home though.

Please let us know what happens.

[dwerten]

yeah it is such a bummer these bad immune systems DD t4free was .30 and now above 1.0 - jean said 1.0 is normal for yorkies. She said they do not have to exhibit all symptoms just one and they can be hypothyroid as dd never gained wait and is not lethargic my most active pup but the hairloss is what did it for me. I have a dermatology book and in there is a chow with no hair on it's neck like dd and sure enough the chow was hypothyroid so is why i pursued driving to jean dodds almost 2 hrs away. The vets here kept saying no way hair loss for hypo t is lumbar and tail so i gave up and went to jean and thank goodness i did

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by dwerten

yeah it is such a bummer these bad immune systems DD t4free was .30 and now above 1.0 - jean said 1.0 is normal for yorkies. She said they do not have to exhibit all symptoms just one and they can be hypothyroid as dd never gained wait and is not lethargic my most active pup but the hairloss is what did it for me. I have a dermatology book and in there is a chow with no hair on it's neck like dd and sure enough the chow was hypothyroid so is why i pursued driving to jean dodds almost 2 hrs away. The vets here kept saying no way hair loss for hypo t is lumbar and tail so i gave up and went to jean and thank goodness i did

Same here - Wylie never gained weight from the thyroid - nor did he get the "pot belly" look that many Cushings dogs have. He just has this athletic, slim little body. But what I did notice over months time before we went to the specialists, is that he kept feeling more "boney", for no reason. I kept having my hubby feel him too and I'd say "he's just more boney all over, like he's losing mass" - and he could feel it too. Well, finally when Cushings started being looked at - I then understood the muscle wasting that happens in un-checked Cushings. Thankfully, I'd already had Wylie on high protein, so his diet prevented it from getting worse, and will continue to help as we get his meds correct.

[Jemma]

Sounds like thyroid to me

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Same here - Wylie never gained weight from the thyroid - nor did he get the "pot belly" look that many Cushings dogs have. He just has this athletic, slim little body. But what I did notice over months time before we went to the specialists, is that he kept feeling more "boney", for no reason. I kept having my hubby feel him too and I'd say "he's just more boney all over, like he's losing mass" - and he could feel it too. Well, finally when Cushings started being looked at - I then understood the muscle wasting that happens in un-checked Cushings. Thankfully, I'd already had Wylie on high protein, so his diet prevented it from getting worse, and will continue to help as we get his meds correct.

so glad you were on top of it as cushings is a tough one sounds like you have your hands full too I am a nervous wreck as my dd goes under tuesday for dental but she is 5 and never had one so needs it but nervous -- going to bc dentist