The Relationship between Total T4 Concentration and Disease Severity and Mortality in Dogs and Cats with NTIS

The Findings on Thyroid Hormone Markers in Dogs and Cats with NTIS

Non-thyroid disease syndrome refers to systemic diseases other than thyroid diseases, which directly affect thyroid function. This disease can occur with any serious illness, and patterns of thyroid hormone changes are associated with the severity of the illness. In veterinary medicine, it is common in critically ill and premature young horses.

The recent research on dogs with NTIS, reported in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine in 2023, pointed out that the Low tT4 concentration among dogs with NTIS can easily dead to misdiagnosis, and fT4 may be used as an indicator of normal thyroid function in animals in the acute phase because the serum fT4 concentrations are minimally affected. Also, the research on cats with NTIS revealing in 2021 presented that the tT4 concentration among cats with NTIS is also low, and its tT4 concentration is highly correlated with disease severity and mortality. To summarize, when veterinarians suspect that the disease has thyroid problems and is mixed with other acute diseases, tT4 can be detected. Its measured value can be used to evaluate the animal’s survival probability and prognosis.