klgrzenda
- Apr 8, 2019
- 2 min read

Athena's Story - Doberman

At an agility trial, Athena barely made a jump and refused a tunnel which was uncommon for her. Where the owner thought there may have been an injury, her vet suspected Wobblers. Fortunately, another vet suspected hypothyroidism and sure enough, Athena was tested, diagnosed and treated for hypothyroidism as is doing well today!

Name: Athena

Breed: Doberman

Location: Pennsylvania

Age at Diagnosis : 7.5 Years Old

History : Athena was running the highest level in agility and excelling at it! We were at a trial a few January's ago. I told her to jump, she just walked up and crawled over the jump which was very odd. The next obstacle was a tunnel where Athena refused to enter and just stood there. I thanked the judge and we left the ring.

A vet friend was at the same trial, running her dog and took an unofficial look/feel of Athena but didn't find anything. We chalked it up to maybe a slip on the ice?.

Next day I was getting ready to go to trial with my other dog and Athena was bouncing around and acting crazy. So I figured what ever kink she had had previously, had worked itself out. We went to trial. Athena had good runs and the judge asked if it was same dog from day before.

The next couple weeks , Athena was off and on, good and not so good. I took Athena to my vet who downplayed me as it was one of her good days. I asked for blood work and he said didn't see it necessary. He suspected the beginning of Wobblers. The vet suggested I seek a specialist. Athena got worse, walking very ataxic, Athena's feet would knuckle under and she was struggling to stand. I went to another vet that friends really liked. He right away thought/hoped that Athena was displaying hypothyroidism. We did blood work for this and Athena's results came back extremely low. Athena was put on medication for hypothyroidism and improved. Athena is still slightly ataix, but there has been much improvement! Athena is now 10.5 years old and going strong!