I haven’t written about Freya’s quest to regain her girlish figure lately, mainly because she is stuck in a position that is all too familiar to many of us: the dreaded plateau. Since she is not gaining weight, and was only slightly overweight to begin with, I have tried not to worry too much about it even though I am puzzled as to why she’s not losing weight. Here are the past posts, if you didn’t get a chance to see them the first time around:
Counting canine calories
Freya’s weigh-in
She’s been keeping pretty active, but we probably haven’t been compensating enough for the rainy days (way too many of them this summer) when she didn’t get enough activity or the fact that we opted to take a break from group obedience classes for the eight-week session that just ended last Saturday.
Either that or Dan is feeding her a lot of extra treats when no one else is looking (I really don’t think this is the case, though, since there’s really been no change in the normal treat consumption and buying frequency pattern)!
The possibility of hypothyroid is always in the back of my mind, but Freya has been tested once and found normal (low-ish normal, but still normal). I’m not sure I want to spend the money for another full thyroid panel when she’s not showing any other symptoms related to hypothyroid other than the stubborn poundage.
So I am glad to see a very complete weight loss article in the September issue of Whole Dog Journal magazine. Even though the magazine hasn’t arrived yet, as a subscriber, I have access to the articles via the magazine’s website, which is a much-appreciated feature. I’ve just had time to skim the main article, and while much of it is information I’d already learned from a post at Dolittler earlier this year, there is other helpful information that is new to me.
I’d like to take a moment to plug Whole Dog Journal, if I may. It’s the only magazine for which I currently pay for a subscription. It is subscriber-supported and carries no commercial advertising. The focus is on natural dog care and positive training. I don’t consider myself 100% natural or a purely positive trainer by any means, yet I still find this magazine one of the most valuable dog resources available.
I have no connection with the magazine other than being a satisfied subscriber from the first issue to the present. Give it a try if you haven’t already.
(NaBloPoMo | August ’09: 19 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 207 of 274)
:mingling:
I haven’t heard of Whole Dog Magazine before, but it sounds like something that I’d be totally interested in for my dogs. Thanks!
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Check out their website – they have a small selection of past articles that are free for all to read, so you can see if it’s a publication you’d like to subscribe to. I used to subscribe to a lot of dog magazines, but I dropped them all within a year or two except for this one.
Low-normal is often the same as LOW. Dogs don’t show any real dip in function until the thyroid is almost gone – did they do the TgAA test with the thyroid panel? A positive TgAA is a good sign that the thyroid is on its way out, and shows up a lot earlier than any change in the actual t3 and t4 values.
You might start her on kelp and see if that makes a difference – can’t hurt, might help. And if they didn’t run a TgAA I’d have that checked.
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Thanks for the suggestions, Joanna! I made a note to myself to call the vet on Monday as I don’t believe the last thyroid panel included the TgAA test.