Cowboy's story. Cowboy is 12 1/2. One evening out of the blue he began excessive panting. I thought he had been poisoned somehow. I went and bought him pedialyte and replaced his water with that; he went through 2 bottles. That did not correct his panting, but I figured if he had been poisoned, it would have flushed his system well enough with that amount. It wasn't long before his excessive drinking began, so much so, that he would have an occasional accident overnight, so I began covering his water bowl at night. I thought I screwed up his system somehow w/too much pedialyte, because now he is consuming water like crazy! He has always had skin issues and had been on Apoquel in the past. Just a little hair thinning and dandruff, nothing really new to him that shampoo and Apoquel couldn't correct. I took him to the Vet thinking that would be the outcome again, but this time they said he has Hypothyroidism. I did not believe it, but started his dose of Thyroid Tabs 0.7 2x day. His follow-up blood work showed no change and they up-ed his dose to 0.8 2x day. So now he has put on excessive weight, is always hungry and his hair is really thinning! All of this is new, and the previous symptoms remained... excessive panting and excessive drinking. At this point I am frustrated and want him off the Thyroid Tabs, because it is not correcting any symptoms and only creating more!!! I share my concerns with the Vet, and they decide to do an ACTH (I think is the name of the Cushing's test). They first tell me that Cushing's Disease can effect the thyroid (so I am thinking false-positive?). The diagnoses comes back that he does have Cushings, and is now on day 6 of Vetoryl 120mg Once Daily. Nothing has improved. The Vet said it was fine for him to remain on both meds... but I am still thinking that Cushing's Disease has effected his Thyroid, and I want him off that medicine anyway because he must've have put on 5-10 lbs. since starting the meds... and also, when they retested his thyroid, they didn't test within the time window of him taking his dose of Thyro Tabs (I had read that his thyroid should be tested 4 hours after the dose?) Anyway, I went against what they suggested and 4 days ago I lowered his Thyroid Tab dose of 0.8 2x day down to 1x daily. I am scared to stop it altogether... I still have some of the 0.7 Thyroid Tabs, so I figure I will switch to that lower dose in a couple of days, one daily for a few days, and then stop them from there. I believe he was misdiagnosed for Hypothyroidism all along and it is just Cushing's Disease all along throwing off the thyroid levels, I don't know! So today will be his 6th dose (this evening) of Vetoryl, and I am not seeing any improvement. I don't know how long it takes... but any sound he hears, he thinks it is food! He is still drinking 2 liters of water a day, or more... his tail is looking like a rat tail... and ALL of this is NEW! It's either creating news signs and symptoms and/or not correcting the symptoms that started a few months ago. I am at a loss!

Is it safe to just stop these thyroid pills... I thought for sure they would tell me he didn't need them anymore since they found the right diagnosis.

And how long does it take for the Vetoryl to show signs of improvement? I am wondering if the Thyroid Tabs is stopping the Vetoryl from working correctly?

Other than a few easily manageable skin issues, Cowboy has been healthy his whole life! What the heck? Should I get a 2nd opinion? Should I at least ask for copies of his blood work? Will they give them to me?

Cowboy weighed 86 lbs prior to starting the thyroid tabs.... he's gotta be pushing 100 now... and all it appears to be in his stomach! This is NOT good... cannot be healthy. These darn thyroid tabs did this to him!

Thank You!
Tracy & Cowboy!