My vet emailed me and told me to call the office to get Blossom squeezed in. He suspects thyroid based on my description. She walks very slowly and puffs cheeks out/exhalations. She was like this intermittently since I got her. Initially I thought it was the Trazadone the shelter had her on and I got her off that. Off and on she has been walking kind of slow but not the cheek puffing until lately. Takes her about a half hour to walk .5 mile. When she comes in, she plops on the hallway floor (My JJ with the heart issues did exactly this). I am asking for the usual full CBC and Chem panel plus a ProBNP and full thyroid testing. I know conventional vets typically only do T4 but I would not make a determination for lifelong meds at her young age without additional data such as FT4 and TSH. Would you agree on that? Also does she need to be fasted for the thyroid test. I usually have to give her treats in the car to get her to the vets. None of my dogs ever went on thyroid until they were about 9 at the earliest. So what could make a dog's thyroid fizzle out so young---vaccines? I feel I should have done some detox as by the time thyroid problems are detected, most of the thyroid function is gone, so I thought. I was giving her a few, maybe 5 tabs of that one supplement I heard about on a webinar that seemed questionable--came unsealed and 4 pieces of cotton stuffed in it like it was mfg in someone's kitchen! I actually just sent a sample in to a lab today to be tested. I just want to be prepared as to what to ask the vet to run so we do not have to draw blood again. She is supposed to have her spay beginning of May and I want to be absolutely 100 percent sure there is nothing going on or I will not do it. I am thinking I should even go so far as to do an echocardiogram before her surgery if the thyroid is not the problem. Do not want the first sign of a heart problem to be the last sign. Thanks. I will try and get her an appt. Wed or Friday.