My dog has Addison's disease. Is a low thyroid count linked to it?

Hello. Having a chronic condition like Addison's can stress the body & cause an artificial lowering of T4. You should insist that your veterinarian run a full thyroid panel, not just look at T4 which can be artificially lowered in many non hypothyroid situations. In addition, we generally treat Addison's disease with a mineral corticoid along with a glucocorticoid like prednisone. I would ask your vet about this as well. You need some more information on your pet. Thanks for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I assume your vet is concerned about Addison's disease. This disease requires life-long medication, but they tend to live long and well with treatment. It's difficult to know how suspicious this is without evaluating the dog or records, but I wouldn't be too concerned until a diagnosis is made. Even then, it's not a terrible disease to live with when treated appropriately. For more information, I recommend you read the article at the link below. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/addisons-disease-in-dogs-overview I hope that helps and all is well with Tony

Yes, a single thyroid test can be very difficult to interpret and T4 levels are generally reduced if unwell from any cause. A repeat sample in one month would be recommended to investigate and comparison with TSH level is important at the same time

A low thyroid can be due to hypothyroidism or euthyroid sick syndrome. Euthyroid sick syndrome is where the thyroid is artificially low due to something else going on in the pet like skin issues. The thyroid level Depends on the lab they use. Usually 0.9is the low end of normal (0.7) still normal. Your vet could run a free t4 or tsh for more information and confirmation of hypothyroidism

Yes, some active disease processes can skew some of these results. We should never diagnose a dog as hypothyroid if there is another concurrent issue being treated. You can add an egg or two to Duke's normal dog food every day, but I wouldn't start adding a bunch of other things until we know if the anemia resolves itself.

Hello. I am sorry to hear about Iako. ALT and AST can become VERY elevated so the values that you have listed are elevated, but only mildly/moderately so. The AST is mildly elevated. These enzymes need to be >2x for us to even look at them. ALP is usually elevated if the liver is irritated or 'upset'. This can also go up with exogenous steroid administration (which you likely got with the Addison's disease) so it depends on when these bloods were taken in relation to his diagnosis. Dehydration (which often occurs with an Addisonian crisis) or hypotension (also occurs) can make these values elevated. They are sensitive. I would recommend just getting the medications under control for the hypothyroidism and the Addisons, and rechecking the liver values 2 weeks after everything has settled down a bit. Good luck with Iako. The alternative is getting a liver biopsy, however I would just monitor and recheck the liver values first. I am not too concerned with these values.

Interesting question! Cushings can be a very difficult condition to manage and can in itself give low thyroid readings (as can any illness such as urinary tract infections common in cushings patients). This syndrome is known as euthyroid sick syndrome where although the thyroid my be capable of working it is not as active as expected - this occurs in almost 50% of cushings patients. True failure of the thyroid gland is also possible but much more rare. Extensive testing may be required in order to differentiate the two conditions but if confirmed, thyroid medication can be given alongside cushings medication