Our work at the Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory at Michigan State University indicates that there is a lot of interest in hypothyroidism in dogs. We get many calls from practitioners about problems breeders face and would like to share our experiences with members of the Boxer breed club. Please feel free to include this manuscript in your breed publication and let members make as many copies of it as they like. We hope you find this information useful and will periodically update you as new information about thyroid disease in the Boxer becomes available. If you have questions regarding this manuscript please don't hesitate to contact me.
Hypothyroidism is the most common endocrine disease in dogs.
The thyroid gland controls the speed of metabolism of almost all body cells. Although hypothyroidism is not life threatening, the quality of life is subnormal. Veterinary testing procedures have improved over the past 25 years, and hypothyroidism and its therapy are well understood by most practitioners. Breeders, however, are faced with a dilemma. The disease seldom demonstrates clinical signs before 3 to 5 years of age, well into the showing and breeding years for many dogs.