Hypothyroidism

Africa was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism shortly after we had left Finland to come back to Germany. During the summer I noticed that she had been asking for water a lot, which I had found slightly odd or well, unusual for her. Afri is the kind of dog, who does not drink. Ever since she was little, drinking wasn't "her thing". Thus usually I had to mix in quite a bit of water into her morning and evening meals so that she wouldn't get dehydrated.

The thing about her new sudden thirst didn't worry me at first too much; she had just started drinking like "normal" dogs. However, one day sometime at the end of September/ I noticed something odd about her tail whilst brushing Afri. Her hair was at parts very thin and short, plus you could see the skin. Her tail was never particularly big and fluffy, but now it looked really small and thin. I decided to keep an eye on it.

A week later, more hair had come off and you could see the outlines of the actual tail (as in minus hair). The skin did not look irritated nor itchy, so I was pretty sure it wasn't an allergy. A little bit of Googling revealed that the balding tail could possibly point to Hypothyroidism, which unfortunately amongst Hovawarts is not uncommon. Hovawarts are probably some of the most healthy dogs amongst dog breeds, but naturally no breed is perfect. Hypothyroidism is thankfully a relatively small thing comparing to some other dieseases, etc.

Naturally, we went to the vet to show Afri's tail and he was also relatively sure it was Hypothyroidism. Blood tests confirmed this and Afri started her medication 3 days after arriving in Germany. For the rest of her life she must eat a pill twice a day. This is thankfully the only "unpleasant" (if one must choose something) aspect of the disease. Otherwise she lives a perfectly normal life. We were told to take the first month easy after starting medication, so that her body has time to adjust to it properly. The medication is very cheap plus it is a chewy sort of tablet; no problems feeding it to her ;) Afri has been on the meds for almost a month, soon it's time to go to the vet's for a checkup just to see how the thyroxine and triiodothyronine-levels have improved and see if we need to increase/decrease the amount of meds. 

Hypothyroidism is a condition found in both people and animals. It basically means that one's thyroid gland is not producing enough thyroxine (T3) and triiodothyronine (T4). This causes fatigue, hair loss, weight gain to name a few symptoms.