Hypothyroidism and Other Endocrine Disorders & Fertility

Seminar Topic

Perhaps the most overdiagnosed endocrine condition in dogs is hypothyroidism. Unfortunately, when no other answer seems immediately or easily obvious for subfertility, the thyroid gets blamed and dogs get put on thyroid supplementation, even when many (most?) have perfectly normal thyroid glands. To add to the problem, the role of true hypothyroidism in subfertility has likely been overestimated. Certainly, however, the interaction of different hormones can also affect the reproductive system. Dr. Greco will help us understand how some of the endocrine disorders dogs may face, such as hypothyroidism, Cushings, Addisons, and diabetes may all affect your breeding program.

After receiving her DVM from the University of California, Davis and a PhD in Veterinary Pharmacology from Texas A&M University, Dr. Greco joined the faculty of Colorado State University where she taught veterinary internal medicine for twelve years; in 2002 she was promoted to full professor. Dr. Greco then moved to NYC and practiced at the Animal Medical Center for several years before joining Nestlé PURINA in the Global Nutrition and Scientific Communications team from which she retired in 2021. She provides scientific support to global markets and has expertise in the communication of veterinary internal medicine and nutritional information to technical audiences such as veterinarians, breeders and veterinary technicians. She has been the Editor-In-Chief of a veterinary journal for more than fifteen years and has authored over 200 scientific articles and book chapters. Dr. Greco is considered an authority in the area of small animal endocrinology and feline medicine; in fact, she was awarded the 1996 Pfizer award for research excellence and the 1998 American Association of Feline Practitioners research award for her work on dietary treatment of feline diabetes mellitus. Dr. Greco has served as President of the Society for Comparative Endocrinology, as Program Chairman for ACVIM (1995-1997), as Board member of the Western Veterinary Conference (2013-2016) and Editor in Chief of Topics in Companion Animal Medicine (2000-2018).