For those of you who’ve had issues with your dog’s skin and taking Soloxine, here is one story that may or may not provide some enlightenment:
I have a 5 year old Siberian husky that I rescued 2 1/2 years ago. I nicknamed her “Yoda” because she seemed so calm and wise. She was always very mellow, but several months ago began to get really slow, having trouble even walking up a little hill towards the end of our daily walk. I took her to the vet, and a blood test revealed a very low thyroid level. We put her on Soloxine at the full recommended dose of 0.6 mg twice a day (she weighs about 60 lbs.). Within a week, she started scratching constantly and then began ripping her fur out. She also was drinking and urinating more than normal, but not to the point that we were concerned about a medication overdose. Her skin seemed terrible with crusty spots all over and big patches with no fur. I took her back to the vet, and they said she had a staph infection on her skin, for which they prescribed anitbiotics. They had no explanation how she suddenly developed this infection, but it had to be treated. We also discussed the thyroid medication and decided to take her off of it until her skin had healed. Despite the vet’s assurances that there are no such side effects related to thyroid medication, I was absolutely convinced that my dog’s skin issues were a result of this medication.
To make a long story short, once my dog’s skin condition had settled down, I decided to reintroduce her to the thyroid medication, but at a very gradual rate rather than immediately giving her the full recommended dosage. I started giving her half a pill every morning for one week, then half a pill twice a day for a week, then a full pill every morning and half a pill at night for a week, then finally a full pill twice a day (as originally prescribed). She is a totally new dog now. She is bright eyed and full of energy she never had in the previous two years that i owned her. She also now has a beautiful, soft coat. Previously, she tended to look a bit dingy all the time, her fur was coarse rather than soft, and she had a bit of a smell to her.
I’ve had extensive discussions with both my dog’s vet and a friend of mine who’s a vet, and the best we can come up with is that putting her on the full recommended dose of medication all at once so “supercharged” her metabolism that is caused her to shed all of her old skin (which was very itchy to do). Apparently skin cell turnover is related to metabolism, which in turn is controlled by the thyroid. While most dogs are able to handle a full dose of thyroid medication from day one, in rare instances this “jumpstart” to their metabolism may be too much for them to handle. So, I would suggest that if you’ve had similar issues with skin problems which you believe are connected to thyroid medication, then maybe you’ll want to try doing what I did. Take your dog off the medication and get the skin problems resolved. Then, gradually reintroduce the thyroid medication until you reach the recommended dose. Good luck and I hope this helps someone!
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