Levothyroxine for Pets: Hypothyroidism Treatment & Dosage Guide

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A dog with hypothyroidism cannot produce enough thyroid hormone. In order to correct this your dog needs a very exact amount of thyroid hormone, as underdosing will not correct it and overdosing will cause hyperactivity, heart problems, and other physical damage. So the only way to ensure a proper dosage is to give medication (Levothyroxine) that comes in exact concentrations. This is not possible with natural remedies, or feeding necks with intact thyroid glands. So, in the interest of your dog, I suggest you trust your veterinarian to prescribe the proper dosage of levothyroxine, which actually is a synthetic thyroxine Though this is man-made, synthetic thyroxine is exactly the same as the thyroxine that is produced and released by the thyroid gland.

The usual levothyroxine dose for dogs is 0.1 mg/10 pounds so for your dog the correct dose would be 0.5mg, so the pharmacy mislabeled it, or gave you the wrong dose. I would contact them to correct it so your dog gets an adequate dose of his medication.

Most Levothyroxine tablets come in 0.1-0.9mg dosages, so I am not sure why your pet is on a full 5mg dosage. If this is not a typo, then this is a pretty hefty dosage for a cat to receive if she surely got 2.5mg's. However, severe life threatening symptoms from a single overdose are less likely than with chronic overdosing. Some signs you may see are: Vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity to lethargy, hypertension, tachycardia, tachypnea, dyspnea, and abnormal pupillary light reflexes. It can take 1-9 hrs for absorption to occur. Then the drug should be mostly out of her system 12-24 hrs. In most cases this is not an emergency situation, but you can see the symptoms I mentioned above, which should be treated with supportive care through your vet. This is a tough one indeed, but it is likely that Kilala will be ok, since I assume that the dosage you gave has to be incorrect based on the typical dosage that dogs receive (between 0.1-0.9mg). I hope that everything works out well for your pet Kilala. Best wishes and take care!

Hello there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Based on Bismarck's weight you provided me with, the starting Eltroxin dose is typically 20 micrograms / kg (0.02mg/kg) by mouth twice daily. This would put Bismarck at about 1.6mg twice daily. However, it should be noted that we typically do not exceed 0.8mg twice daily. For cases like this, I would generally start with the 0.6mg Levothyroxine and then recheck the thyroid level in 3-4 weeks to see if an adjustment needs to be made. I keep doing this until the thyroid level has been corrected. Also keep in mind that if Bismarck is sick, the thyroid level could be falsely decreased, a condition known as euthyroid sick syndrome. I would confirm that he is indeed hypothyroid by sending out a free-T4. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further!

Hi and thanks for posting. Levotiroxina is a drug used to treat hypothyroidism. This is only available through prescription from Jacob's veterinarian. It is not an over the counter drug. I hope this helps!

Panting is not a common sign in dogs taking medication for hypothyroidism. However, I did a little digging through some veterinary databases and found some reports of dogs panting excessively with different brands/dyes in the levothyroxine medication. Panting can be a sign that Bobbie's levothyroxine dose is too high, or could be a sign of other conditions, such as heart disease, pain or anxiety. Regardless, I recommend taking her to the vet for further evaluation. They may want to recheck her thyroid blood tests to check her current levels and will want to examine her to check for other problems. I hope this helps and that all goes well!

Overdosage of any thyroid drug may produce the signs and symptoms of thyrotoxicosis including, but not limited to: polydipsia, polyuria, polyphagia, reduced heat tolerance and hyperactivity or personality change. if she is experiencing any of those- take her to your vet, if not she should be fine.