Commercial Pet Food: A Diet Inducing Canine Hypothyroidism: A personal story

[Iceburg]

Aproximately 2.5 years ago, one of my dogs was diagnosed as being hypothyroid. She has been on a daily dose of L-thyroxine (L-T4) for that period of time, getting her blood/T4/TSH etc checked at regular intervals.

4 weeks ago I yanked her off the commercial (dry kibble) as her condition was rapidly deteriorating (2 seizures in 3 months, bloating, weight gain, throwing up yellow bile for months with increasing frequency). When the second younger dog in the household started throwing up yellow bile, I knew
that some of all of the problems had to be food related.

Since switching to home-cooked meas there has been an astounding change in her health status. Her vomitting ceased the first day on the new food. Her energy level increased dramatically, her dandruff is gone, her weight has gone down, the bloat is gone. But most importantly, yesterday I
received the results of her most recent blood work and full thyroid panel -- SHE IS NO LONGER HYPOTHYROID!!!!!! In fact she is appears hyperthyroid --sky high TSH and T4, all too high due to the medication. Thus she is off the meds. Now, the only variable that changed in the 3month interval from her last thyroid panel was her diet -- no more commercial dog food! The vet was absolutely stunned, as she had been visibly irritated with me earlier for going the home-cooked route and not having any faith in the commercial foods available. I must say she was quite apologetic after the results came back.

I don't know with certainty what specific element in her food was the primary offender -- there could be more than one, but her ailment was diet induced. Some drugs, such as lithium and phenylbutazone, may also induce hypothyroidism but she was on neither (unless they were in
her food).

Selenium, and iodine are two minerals which are critically important (and there are a few others of significance) in the proper functioning of the thyroid. Selenium and potassium iodide
are two common chemical additives in pet food.(Example Nutro. Given in the wrong ratios/proportions they can cause severe damage. If both minerals are low, then the person is hypo and gets a goiter, but the damage to the thyroid is kept to a minimum. More severe problems happen when either selenium or iodine is high and the other is low.

With the severe lack of regulation in the pet food industry, a greater reliance on chemical supplements to meet their RDA's,and a long history of screw-ups, I'm not sure why any sentient being would trust them at this point. There is a good reason why potassium iodide is used in radiation
emergencies -- because it is thyroid blocking agent. Why is it in the pet food? Why is Vitamin D in the pet "food"? We don't keep our dogs and cats in the closet...most pets are outside for several hours a day . I could go on but you get the gist.

If you have access to Medscape or medline you will find plenty of peer-reviewed scientific articles to support my claims about potassium iodide and selenium. If not, I'm sure you will find some worthy
publications via google:

Google potassium iodide hyperthyroid

Google selenium hyperthyroid

Also look up toxicity and Vitamin A,D,K and E (the fat soluble vitamins) -- all of which the commercial pet industry uses en masse as a "selling point".

Bottom line: The pet food industry no longer makes food -- they mix chemicals and they do that very poorly.
--------------------------------
Other related info

Why I chose to start home feeding Link

A post I made at democraticunderground.com on Vitamin D

Foods used in the past 3 years:
dry kibble: PC Nutrition 1st, and previous to that Nutro and a 3rd "natural" brand I no longer remember the name of.

[Mojorabbit]

1. I am making

my own dog food for now but I know it does not have everything in it my boy needs. I would love to know a proven complete nutrition food recipe.

[Iceburg]

3. Good for you ... at least you know what is and isn't in the food

Mine isn't perfect yet either but at least I know it isn't killing them.

[StarryNite]

4. Same here

My girl gets home cooked now but I worry that she might be missing some of the vitamins and minerals she needs. Does anybody know of a good dog vitamin? I bought some a couple of weeks ago and then started hearing about the dangers of vitamin D3. I checked and sure enough the vitamins I bought have vitamin D3. So now I don't know if they are safe to give her or not. So I only occasionally give them to her.

[Iceburg]

15. Please visit the dogfoodproject.com and ourdogsonline.com

for advice before administering supplements/vitamins. There are many knowledgeable persons there that are more than willing to help one with dietary concerns.

In MHO, ALL necessary nutrients can be derived from whole foods. If you are not comfortable doing research about which foods to choose,there is expertise that could be tapped into on the forums. Alternatively, if you prefer a more direct/fast-track route there are pet nutritionists there that can be contracted for a very modest fee.

I have spent $1000's on my girls (in the vets office) to keep them alive while ingesting commercial pet foods they recommended, and while I have not personally contracted anyone from the above sites, I have interacted enough to recognize their expertise, and only wish I had found them sooner.

For the most part, I have arrived at my firm stance against ANY commercial products, through hundreds of hours of personal research and being married to a springboard for my theories -- a neurologist. (While NOT noted for their nutritional expertise by any stretch, they do have a firmer foot in medical science than most of us, are intimate with many drug related contraindications. Further, it has afforded me access to journals/papers that I ordinarily would not have).

See
http://www.dogfoodproject.com
http://ourdogsonline.com

[StarryNite]

18. Thank you!

Those websites will be most helpful to me and my fur kid. I will be passing them along to others to help them take better care of their pets as well. Maybe this whole contamination ordeal is a big wakeup call to those of us who are sharing our homes with pets we love so much.

[rumpel]

7. Here is a site I got from a link on one of the sites

either Itchmo, howl911 ....

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/

I tend to believe she knows what she is talking about..

At school in Germany she attended Biology and Chemistry classes for 8 and 6 consecutive years respectively and during her 2 1/2 year professional apprenticeship, nutrition/dietetics was part of the accompanying education and the final exam by the state of Baden-Württemberg.

After completing coursework in Animal Nutrition, Care, Physiology, Diseases and Parasitology, Sabine earned her certification in Animal Care from the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/

[Iceburg]

10. Yes -- the dog food project site is probably one of the best

dog nutrition sites for laypersons to go to. Also see the nutrition forum on a related ourdogsonline.com site. The same woman from the dogfoofproject is a moderator at ourdogs and posts frequently. FYI: Pay NO attention to the person alleging to be a vet on DU. (my HO)

[Lorien]

24. Here's one tried and true recipe:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=243x25161

[Manifestor_of_Light]

Being hypothyroid is hell in humans. I am so glad your sweet puppies are better!

Dog person here. Allergic to them and cats too, but I love dogs.

My thyroid croaked when I was ten years old and hitting puberty (Hashimoto's thyroiditis) and it's quite common and undiagnosed in humans.

[Eurobabe]

21. I have Hashi's too, although mine was not dx'd until '03

who knows how many years I had it? It's something either in our food chain or environment that is killing our thyroids.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. Being hypothyroid is hell in humans. I am so glad your sweet puppies are better!

Dog person here. Allergic to them and cats too, but I love dogs.

My thyroid croaked when I was ten years old and hitting puberty (Hashimoto's thyroiditis) and it's quite common and undiagnosed in humans.

[KoKo]

5. I have Hypethyroid cat whose dying as I write this...and so this

is very interesting.

[Eurobabe]

22. oh all these furkids with hypo or hyper has me very sad

We humans can speak and say something isn't right and go to the doctor, but our poor fur kids can't really tell us what is wrong. I feel so sad for all of you who have babies that are suffering. :cry: :cry:

[Iceburg]

28. Please see post #27 -- about a scientific study on iodine induced hypothyroidism

[rumpel]

6. thank you for sharing, and I am glad your dogs are doing

fine...

Ever since the recall, I wonder whether any of our many dogs over the years had fallen victim to something I fed them. One Briard died of massive kidney failure - it was very traumatic -
I vowed never to use any toxic cleaning materials in and around the home, as I suspected it may be a contributing factor.

The vomiting of yellow bile sounds so familiar with any of my dogs past and present I guess we were playing Russian roulette, for all I know now about the pet food industry and it's (non) regulators.

[nicknameless]

8. Thank you so much for posting this!

K&R!

[cascadiance]

9. Damn, my cat is going through hyperthyroidism now..

So it sounds like the opposite of what issue you have now. Do you think that's also caused by diet or just likely old age?

Just this last week I took her in for tests with the vet, and wasn't sure at all what to feed her with this food bruhaha and her vomitting when I switched food as much as four times a day and starting to get really skinny now. I've got her over at my Mom's place where she can give her drugs more properly and where she can eat all day (currently I have issues with my other cat eating too much, forcing me to feed them separately at controlled times in the morning, and in the evenings if I have time after work since my other cat eats diet pet food now). She's doing better, but the vet said I should look at giving her radioactive iodine treatment in a couple of months when she stabilizes more with newer drug doses, etc.

Anyone else want to say whether the radiation treatment is a good or bad thing to do? I hate the idea of irradiating my kitty, but I also hate the idea of her successively getting worse over time and not holding any food down. It's supposed to "cure" her in terms of avoiding her condition for at least 5 or so years, which is likely for the rest of her life. There's a very small chance she might get hypothyroidic from the treatment too. She's around 13 years old now.

[Holly_Hobby]

11. I can speak to hyperthyroidism in humans

Radioactive iodine works, and works well. However, later in life, you're most likely to be hypothyroid. Since she's 13, I would seriously consider it.

Both my mom and grandpa were hyperthyroid, and given the cocktail. They were fine for many years. When they were around 70, they became hypothyroid and were on Synthroid.

[StatGirl]

17. Feline hyperthyroid is a different kettle of fish

. . . so to speak. I had two cats with hyperthyroid. No one is quite sure what is causing it, although it may be becoming more common. (Or the diagnosis rate just may be increasing.) There appears to be a link with canned food, of all things, and there is speculation but no real proof that it may be related to the plastic lining in cans. But maybe not.

Of the three main options -- Tapazole, surgery, and I-131 (radioactive iodine), my reading suggests that the radioactive iodine is the best choice. Tapazole has side effects, and the expense can add up. Surgery has to be done by a real expert, because apparently it's easy to accidentally remove the parathyroid, and then the cat is screwed.

I-131 is recommended if the cat is thought to have at least a couple of years left. Alas, I didn't get to that point with my cats, because they didn't live so long. Most vets want to put the cat on medicines for a few months to see if the hyperthyroid is masking kidney failure.

[cascadiance]

19. Thanks for the info...

In my case, it wouldn't be coming from canned food. I've kept her strictly on a dry food diet. When she couldn't keep that down, I did try to give her a can when she wouldn't eat the dry food I'd given her earlier. She ate some of it, but then vomitted again.

The vet says that she doesn't have any other problems at this point, and seems pretty healthy otherwise, though is getting skinnier lately with more vomitting. He told me that in a couple of months or so after she stabilizes with the newer dosages of the meds that then we can look at getting the radioactive iodine treatment. It isn't cheap, but I think she'll live at least a few more years after that if this treatment is as good as others say. My mom says tonight when I visited her that she's been doing a lot better over the last few days with the newer dosages of meds and is holding down her food now.

One thing I'd not mentioned to the current vet yet but will note to shortly is that she did have surgery about 6-7 years ago where they removed a growth in her throat that was benign. Don't know if that's related or if that might complicate this treatment, but she does have a high pitched voice as well.

[Holly_Hobby]

29. There are so many diseases becoming more common

Or maybe we just know more now? I've always wondered why mosquitoes suddenly started carrying heartworm, or if it was there all along, and we just didn't know it.

In the past 16 years, I spent $42,000 in vet bills (I kept track) on 3 dogs, from puppies. That's more than we paid for our first house. With my current pack of 4, I have changed my philosophy on how to care for dogs. It's working, I've only spent $800 at the vet in two years, and that was for wellness exams. They're healthy.

I admit to knowing nothing about cats. I hope we can find the causes and do something about it.

I do know the symptoms of thyroid disease in humans and dogs - I encouraged my neighbor to have her thyroid checked when her hair and nails became thin and brittle, dry skin and she gained 30 lbs. Sure enough, hypothyroid.

One of my previous dogs was sleeping too much, and carried 10 lbs. he couldn't seem to drop, no matter how much exercise. I had him tested and he was hypo, too.

[Iceburg]

30. Please see post#27, we need to question how much iodine we & our pets are consuming

[Lorien]

23. My cat died of complications from hyperthyroidism, and the vet specialist

said that his commercial diet (at first Friskies and Fancy Feast-later Hill's Science Diet, which is no better) was most likely behind the hyperthyroid. Hill's and the other products are high in carbs, plus the corn products used in them can have many serious effects on their health. Cats are obligate carnivores; they only get their nutrition from meat and very small amounts of vegetable matter (what would be found in their prey's stomach). They can't metabolize carbs like we, or even canines, can.

My own story and discoveries about commercial pet foods can be found here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=243&topic_id=4388&mesg_id=4388

[Iceburg]

26. Thanks for sharing your story about and for providing many valuable

links.
Anne from http://www.catnutrition.org (a very informative site) provided me with the following links
that have very helpful in terms of information and tools for formulating balanced diets.

General Nutritional Analysis tools:
http://nat.crgq.com/mainnat.html
http://www.nutritiondata.com/

Cats Only
http://dels.nas.edu/banr/cats.html (NRC Nutritional Requirements, RDA's)
Also, Michelle Bernard's book, 'Raising Cats Naturally' has some good breakdowns of individual ingredients. Website: http://www.raisingcatsnaturally.com

Dogs Only
http://dels.nas.edu/banr/dogs.html (NRC Nutritional Requirements, RDA's)
http://www.dogfoodproject.com
http://www.ourdogsonline.com

Raw Foods (I currently use only small amounts of raw bone&meat-- marrow bones, raw poultry necks)
http://www.rawdogranch.com/
http://www.barfworld.com/html/barfworld/analysis.html
http://personal.palouse.net/valeska/fresh-food-diet.htm

[Lorien]

31. I've been to that site many times!

She has a great tutorial there for making your own cat food. :thumbsup:

Thanks for the additional links! :hi:

[Holly_Hobby]

12. I'm so happy for you and your dog

I, too, have a hypothyroid dog with chronic dandruff and dry eye. Within 2 weeks of feeding a species appropriate diet, his dandruff and dry eye went away, never to return. His current dose of Soloxine has been cut in half. I don't expect any better than that, though, he's a big dog and age 12 with mast cell cancer. I believe he's improved as much as he's going to.

[shaniqua6392]

13. One of our German Shepherds kept getting cysts all over her.

One was so big that they had to surgically remove it. It was a terrible surgery and recovery, not to mention that they shaved off all her hair on one side. Yuk. Well, we decided to try the BARF raw diet for her. The cysts that she had on her dried up and actually fell off and she has never had another one. So now we feed all three of our dogs the raw diet and they are healthy and happy. It is really easy to feed raw once you get the hang of it. We do not really ever know what they are putting in our pet food. They are going to continue to import crap from China rather than use American grown products. I will never use commercial pet food again.

[Iceburg]

14. I hear ya! I have started to introduce some raw ingredients

like poultry neck bones, raw marrow/soup bones. The dogs love it ...my initial hesitation had more to do with my own irrational phobias. I too have joined the "never again" club.

[shaniqua6392]

25. It is scary at first....

We bought a meat grinder to run the chicken parts through when we first started. But now we just chop up chicken parts a little and they just crunch away. I am not brave enough to throw the whole chicken leg in the bowl. We use burger, turkey, gizzards, liver, chicken, etc. We also use some supplements and digestive enzyme powders which are not necessary but we feel better rounding out the diet with them. There is a company here in Michigan called Taylor Pond Farms who have some great varieties in meats that they deliver right to our house. The rest we just purchase when we go grocery shopping. It is really easy now and we are sure happy we started it long before the pet food recalls. Check out The Whole Dog Journal for great information on holistic feeding and care for dogs.

[StatGirl]

16. Possibly soy.

That's linked to hypothyroid in humans.

"The pet food industry no longer makes food -- they mix chemicals and they do that very poorly."

So true! I'm glad your dogs are doing better.

[Iceburg]

32. What is the connection with soy? I hadn't come across that in my research...

Can you provide any additional info or links?

[Eurobabe]

33. Soy is really bad for us thyroid patients (2 or 4 legged)

Soy binds to the receptors in the thyroid gland and blocks the uptake of thyroid hormones. I avoid it like the kiss of death. Funny thing is, I don't like soy anyhow, never did.

[StatGirl]

34. There are some articles in Medline

If you type in the key words soy and thyroid, you'll find some articles. However, now I see that the most recent one indicates that, in humans anyway, there doesn't necessarily seem to be a huge effect.
Of course, canine physiology may be different.

[Eurobabe]

20. Commercial People Food: Inducing Human Hypothyroidism

I know because I have it. Developed around 2003. I am pretty much convinced it is diet-related. The US food chain sucks for all forms of life, including two and four-legged creatures.

[Iceburg]

27. You are right --- it is well documented (see links inside)

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/459924
Effect of Iodine Restriction on Thyroid Function in Patients With Primary Hypothyroidism
Posted 09/04/2003
Authors: Kanji Kasagi, Masahiro Iwata, Takashi Misaki, Junji Konishi

Abstract
Dietary iodine intake in Japan varies from as little as 0.1 mg/day to as much as 20 mg/day. The present study was undertaken to assess the frequency of iodine-induced reversible hypothyroidism in patients diagnosed as having primary hypothyroidism, and to clarify the clinical backgrounds responsible for the spontaneous recovery of thyroid functions. Thirty-three consecutive hypothyroid patients (25 women and eight men) with a median age of 52 years (range, 21-77 years) without a history of destructive thyroiditis within 1 year were asked to refrain from taking any iodine-containing drugs and foods such as seaweed products for 1-2 months. The median serum thyrotropin (TSH) level, which was initially 21.9 mU/L (range, 5.4-285 mU/L), was reduced to 5.3 mU/L (range, 0.9-52.3 mU/L) after iodine restriction. Twenty-one patients (63.6%) showed a decrease in serum TSH by >50% and to <10 mU/L. Eleven patients (33.3%) became euthyroid with TSH levels within the normal range (0.3-3.9 mU/L). The ratios of TSH after iodine restriction to TSH before iodine restriction (aTSH/bTSH) did not correlate significantly with titers of anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody and anti-thyroglobulin antibody or echogenicity on ultrasonography, but correlated inversely with 99mTc uptake (r = 0.600, p < 0.001). Serum non-hormonal iodine levels, although not correlated significantly with aTSH/bTSH values, were significantly higher in the 21 patients with reversible hypothyroidism than in the remaining 12 patients. TSH binding inhibitor immunoglobulin was negative in all except one weakly positive case. In conclusion, (1) primary hypothyroidism was recovered following iodine restriction in more than half of the patients, and (2) the reversibility of hypothyroidism was not significantly associated with Hashimoto's thyroiditis but with increased 99mTc uptake and elevated non-hormonal iodine levels.

Introduction
Iodine-induced hypothyroidism is not rare, at least in Japan, where seaweed is habitually ingested.<1-5> Dietary iodine intake varies from as little as 0.1 mg/day to as much as 20 mg/day. Young Japanese prefer to eat iodine-poor westernized dishes, whereas old or middle-aged Japanese often eat seaweed, presumably because of habit. Recently, intake of seaweed, a low-calorie food containing sufficient calcium, potassium, iron, and vegetable fibers, has been recommended for prevention of future development of arteriosclerotic diseases such as ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, disorders of lipid metabolism, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and obesity, as well as the occurrence of osteoporosis and iron-deficiency anemia.

From the clinical point of view, it is important to differentiate hypothyroid patients who may recover spontaneously after iodine restriction from those who may not. Although Hashimoto's thyroiditis<6,7> is thought to be the underlying disease, anti-thyroid antibodies are not detected in some patients with reversible hypothyroidism.<2-5,8> The present study was undertaken to assess the frequency of iodine-induced reversible hypothyroidism in patients diagnosed as having primary hypothyroidism, and to clarify the clinical backgrounds responsible for the spontaneous recovery of hypothyroidism. In this study, anti-thyroid antibodies such as anti-thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb), anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb), and TSH binding inhibitor immunoglobulin (TBII), sonographic findings, 99mTc thyroidal uptake values, and serum non-hormonal iodine levels were determined in patients with reversible hypothyroidism and compared with those in patients with irreversible hypothyroidism.
....
Discussion
Iodine excess is a well-known exogenous factor that causes hypothyroidism. Iodine induces suppression of TSH-stimulated cyclic AMP production and protein iodination in vitro.<12> Administration of excessive amounts of iodine induces thyroiditis in genetically susceptible animal strains.<13,14> Sundick et al.<15> reported that highly iodinated thyroglobulin synthesized by animals fed a high iodine diet was more immunogenic than thyroglobulin containing fewer iodine atoms.

According to Braverman et al.,<6> four of seven euthyroid patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis who were given a solution of potassium iodide (180 mg of iodine) daily developed hypothyroidism after 4-8 weeks. Reinhardt et al.<7> reported that seven of 40 patients with underlying Hashimoto's thyroiditis living in an area of mild iodine deficiency given small amounts of iodine (250 µg daily) developed hypothyroidism.

The frequency of Hashimoto's thyroiditis in the reversible hypothyroidism group 1 (11 of 21, 52.3%) determined on the basis of TgAb or TPOAb detection is much higher than in healthy controls. Thus, patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis appear susceptible to the development of iodine-induced hypothyroidism.<6>
... more at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/459924

Almost all pet food, dry or wet contains potassium iodide, likewise does most heavily processed human food. In the case of pet foods the amounts of potassium iodide are seldom specified.