GreytHurleyDawg

I'm so happy to hear that Charlie is home and hoping it is a one time occurrence! I got lots of good info from this topic and your original one. My heart dog Hurley had an exciting life of traumatic incidents every other year and his first was aspiration pneumonia which was a breathing/ gagging issue as well, no idea how he got it. Let's hope Charlie has an uneventful year.....uneventful is soooooo nice! Be well, Charlie!

I've been through this twice, once with an 8yo who had his leg amputated. And with a newly adopted 11yo who we took in for one pamidronate treatment that did not show any response. So, we managed his pain for almost 6 months. He had ups and downs. We would increase his pain meds and then decrease them. Then repeat. It was very much a rollercoaster ride. He never had trouble walking. He always had an appetite. But he did cry at the beginning of the nights. We were his new owners so we weren't sure if it was pain or a thing he did. That was the roughest part. But he was very happy to walk around the backyard, take car rides and be a part of our family. His lesion was in the front knee so our theory was that it washn't as close to the main bone marrow, blood supply as Hurley's was in the lower leg. I think you will know when it's right. Quality of life is the answer and I'm sure you and your husband will be able to talk it through and decide together for yourselves and mostly for your beloved hound.

Does anyone have an idea about what is going on or how to make it better? Woodie is 11 and within the last few years, he broke a toe. It healed after an ordeal that involved casting his entire leg. But recently, he started limping on that leg and we had a vet appointment anyway so the vet looked at it but didn't get any pain response or notice any abnormalities. The toe felt healed and solid to him as well. Of course, limping usually brings worries of osteo but we just xrayed him in December (it was actually the same leg) when he, was limping. So I declined new xrays because even though he is very creaky and stocky, he doesn't have arthritis either. His bones are good and solid. I give him joint supplement for the mentioned reasons. The vet said to give him anti-inflammatory when it flares up. I tried it once before we had the most recent appt and it didn't srop the limping. In fact, it's not a regular limp. He is holding his paw forward. Almost as if to communicate to me that his paw aches. I am thinking that a previously broken toe does ache with certain weather patterns (we are miserably wet and misty lately) or when stepped on/ banged up. I will give a full Deramaxx dose weigh dinner tonight but wondering if anyone has ideas for relieving what I think is chronic pain. Epsom salt soak? Warm washcloth? I saw some arthritis recommendations on facebook greytalk recently. Could this be arthritis just in that spot? Thanks in advance.

I thank you for all.your suggestions and input. Jimmy is on a high protein home cooked dog food right now...I loaded it with ground turkey. I will try the chopped up kibble when we feed kibble. To my eyes, he may have gained some weight but my eyes also did not notice the weight loss. We are trying the alternating hot/ cold for the swelling. We might try an ace bandage for a supervised time instead of a compression sock. The tumor itself looks smaller so I think the soft tissue involvement moved downward. Jim thinks the muscles are giving up and sliding down as they let loose. We just theorize. Either way, it's probably a sign.that his time is winding down. But there is no use contemplating, we are so living each day for today that we never expect anything. Reminder to new readers, I just want to.state that Jimmy is a bounce that we just.fostered and adopted in January. He has not been with us his whole life. Having gone through this with Hurley, I know how acutely painful each moment is when osteo rears its head. I can only hope that our judgement of Jimmy's quality of life is not warped. I thank you for all.your suggestions and input. Jimmy is on a high protein home cooked dog food right now...I loaded it with ground turkey. I will try the chopped up kibble when we feed kibble. To my eyes, he may have gained some weight but my eyes also did not notice the weight loss. We are trying the alternating hot/ cold for the swelling. We might try an ace bandage for a supervised time instead of a compression sock. The tumor itself looks smaller so I think the soft tissue involvement moved downward. Jim thinks the muscles are giving up and sliding down as they let loose. We just theorize. Either way, it's probably a sign.that his time is winding down. But there is no use contemplating, we are so living each day for today that we never expect anything. Reminder to new readers, I just want to.state that Jimmy is a bounce that we just.fostered and adopted in January. He has not been with us his whole life. Having gone through this with Hurley, I know how acutely painful each moment is when osteo rears its head. I can only hope that our judgement of Jimmy's quality of life is not warped.

Hi all, Jimmy is still hanging in there, as the saying goes. We had a scare last night and we took him to the e vet because the leg underneath his affected knee was swelling up. The vet on staff was not willing to contemplate what was going on in great detail, she was more concerned with discussing his quality of life. We still maintain that we have high quality but we are still battling the stomach discomfort (we are trying probiotics, three meals coinciding with med schedule vs two meals/ day) and that causes us to worry but we are taking steps to manage it. The swelling made Jim think it was a possible infection or a break in the bone somewhere so we rushed in. It seemed to have gotten more swollen by 9am ( vet visit was at 5 am) but has not worsened anymore and may even be receding. Has anyone experienced this?? Do you know what it could be? Lastly, even though he has a fantastic appetite (another quality of life aspect we are happy with), he has lost weight !!!! 57.5 lbs while he started at about 64/66. We have noticed the visible ribs but had no idea the weight loss was so extreme. We feed as much to him as we feed Petra and Woodie so we will offer more now and feel free to treat him. Jim has been worried that our antacid / gas x use was not allowing him to digest the nutrients. I guess both these factors are signalling that the end is coming closer. But we will do what we can to encourage weight gain and to monitor swelling. Hugs to all the pups, all the owners, all the healthy dogs.....just everyone who wants one! Jimmy still lives and he has a nice week coming up....i have off today and Jim has extra time off this midweek.

Oh Kristin, I am also very sorry t hear about Fritz's news. Perhaps the size and location of the lesion are good signs that it will give you more time. But it certainly is NOT fair. I am happy to hear Gunner's appetite is doing well. Hugs to all! We are having a whinier-than-normal night again with Jimmy. Fortunately, it is medication and feeding time. I wish I had a magic wand to make the discomfort or pain go away. It was my night off work tonight so I have been home all night to witness his level of discomfort....normally, I come home about this time and he is just happy to see me. Of course, that makes me wonder. But we'll see how the overnight goes and hope for a nice morning.

I agree with you, Katie (aka Quirkderk!). I think the severity of treatment warrants proof of the organism/ infection. He is perfectly healthy to all outward appearances so I think the week or so that it takes to confirm is not going to do any harm. Essentially, I am being even riskier by waiting to see if Petra gets symptoms but I assume her titer was quite low so no alarms were raised by the lab or the blood donor coordinator or my vets. Oh yes, and WELCOME!!!!!!!! You'll probably never be the same!!

So sorry to hear about Ben. I understand it was his time but still very difficult. On an upbeat note, Jimmy is doing greyt if I can say so without any recriminations of fate. I seem to hope for goid news and get thr bad thrown at me. Anyway, the tumor in his knee increases in size but he is showing all good signs physically and emotionally. We carry.him up and down steps. But he is having so many good days and good times. And we love spoiling him! We got.portraits taken of him for the Wall, the Gallery. He came with me to my mom's house on Sunday and there.was whining but only minimally. The Rimadyl is probably the cause of his stomach upset so we give antacid and Gas X. I have no idea if Gas X is dog safe but we aren't stressing. I actually have to get new prescriptions for some refills!! He is enjoying life at the moment! And I am making cooked food for my boy!!

Thanks for all the quick responses! We are still waiting for the titer information. The vet she goes to is my vet too. We are going there upon getting high recommendations from other longtime greyhound owners but we are both new clients. He seems to make extra suggestions frequently so she want all her facts checked before calling him back. He mentioned that a patient of his developed complications due to Babesia infection so I understand that he might encourage treatment. Petra got her results over a year ago when I was at her vet. That group of vets is very laidback, to the point that they would never push for any procedure unless we were ok with it, I think. I also wonder what the er hospital's vets think. Thank you for your easy clarification, Batmom, and I am so sorry to hear about the circumstances with your hound, Kudzu. That is rough. Batmom (or anyone else!), is the pcr going to be too sensitive? I read somewhere that the only method of determining subclinical infection is through pcr. This I interpreted to mean that carrier status is better determined by pcr but we already know he had a positive titer so where does carrier status end and infection begin in a dog that is lethargic because he is a retired greyhound with some shyness issues? He has good Hematological and other values. I guess it is always an individual case and difficult to generalize!

Hello! I am posting in the hopes that others have gone through something similar. During a routine workup to determine if our greyhounds were qualified to be blood donors at the emergency hospital, my dog and my friend's dog were found to be carriers of Babesia. I was told by the blood donor coordinator that treatment was a difficult process and not performed prophylactically. My Petra, although lazy in the mornings, is not unhealthy at all so we let it go. Of course, if she ever exhibits symptoms, we will investigate and treat. My friend was told by her vet (who now has the titer results) to treat and then test by pcr two months later to determine if the infection is cleared. We do not know what the titer result is. What we do know is that this is driving us nuts since we are lab techs and lab tests are what.we do! Has anyone gone through this and what would the recommendation be? Is there a particular lab that is rated well for testing? Is there such a thing as infection without obvious symptoms? Is it wise to wait fir symptoms to appear or better to treat if the titer is above a cutoff value? I would imagine that this is quite common since one article claimed that 46% of all Florida racing greyhounds are carriers. Lastly, if you have treated, has the pcr test come back negative or do they remain a carrier and then exhibit and live with less symptoms? This is clearly not something to jump into and maybe we can help the next person faced with this dilemma to decide on a course of action. I am hoping my friend's dog is just a carrier like mine!

How does one go about upping Gabapentin dosage and what am I looking for exactly when it is targetting nerves. I got a 20 day supply for Jimmy if I only give 300 mg/ day so I would not be upping it unless there was a real reason to. My vet thought he would be too zombieish if I gave more (uncertain if she meant right away or if she meant by upping it). Also, I only.give Tramadol if he is having a rough day. Should I be giving it routinely? I am concerned about the panting and the complete tiredness...aka zombieism. I found the best price at my employer's pharmacy. Target almost gave me a heart attack.when I called for a price. He seems to be stressed: licking sometimes at his legs. Whining sometimes...this is when I give Tramadol. And always limping. He won't put his paw down even when standing (like at mealtime) so I worry that it will cramp from doing that. Most times to go.in and out to potty, I carry him, he prefers that because he is nervous from all the dings and scrapes he has gotten. At one point last night, Jim (my dh) saw some old puncture wounds or I thought maybe corns on his bad paw and we wondered if it was the paw that makes him limp on that leg. It's unrealistic but we are trying to bandage and pad it in case he needs to use it. Dose 1 was given of the Gaba tonight. Normal Rimadyl. No Tramadol.

I was hoping to find an update today. I hope that all is well. Hugs again to Legs and his wonderful family!!

I have a couple of questions about Jimmy's progression. He had Pamidronate on Monday, today is Saturday. Dr said we should see improvement within 10 days (but at consult.she said "right away"). He still limps. His spirit and movement has been better for a few days. We messed up as his owners, however, by skipping his Rimadyl daily dose on Tuesday at noon. I was away at an appt, Jim thought I had given it to him. We realized our error at midnight. So, after that fiasco, he has had better days but I think yesterday, he overexerted himself in the fresh snow because his back end weakened (his rear left knee, same leg which has one toe amputated) and he lost balance. I helped him up and since then he has preferred help with the steps (3 to get to backyard). I gave him Tramadol for the overnight last night because he was very quietly whining, not settling down. He panted a lot and seemed very heavy in his movements but finally made a bed choice and slept. Although, he must fight to stay awake because his eyes were still open after 15 minutes of me staying by him and petting him. He was already on his feet when I officially got up 8 hrs later. He seems fine but I carried him up the steps. He does go down with no problems so it is possibly nerves/ fear. Does this mean the Pamidronate is not helping, I wonder? We are only at about half of our fundraising goal and I am not sure I am convinced that another treatment will help. So, what about chemo from OSU? Would I submit a consult fee and request it so that we can at least fight the spread that way? I am also wondering if I,should get the Gabapentin script and whatever else I need. My Rimadyl shipment of 120 or so liver tasting pills is on the way....i may run out before it gets here but I can get some more locally. I only have a few Tramadol left. Any experience or suggestion is helpful.

I don't know if this is true for everyone but, having been through Osteo once, I feel like it isn't that much of an ordeal in this situation because he is so new to us and he is above the age of 10. I am only focusing on the fact that we do have quality time with our new friend and we will try our best to make him feel loved and happy....and indulged! We are going to our first Pamidronate treatment in the morning and therefore we decided to set up a personal fundraising page. I will post a full story with pictures when time becomes available later but the page is here for you to share or check out: http://www.gofundme.com/238lw0 Thanks for all the greyt support and knowing shoulders to lean on!!!!

I've been catching up on this topic all day today and am just in time for your final diagnosis. I feel so bad since I've been wallowing in self pity because I have to pay for osteosarcoma care for our newly adopted 10.5 yr old and it looks like everybody here has health issues that take up a good chunk of money. I don't mean to be heartless but money getting thrown around for a consult, a diagnosis, a hopefully effective treatment.....gets me angry when I have debt already up the wazoo. And look at you, Lucy, plodding along for months and months, probably spending a lot of your savings. Sometimes I just want to ask for the cheapest way to get quality care. But we live and learn. I don't know anything about heart problems in dogs. I hope DVM is manageable with the right meds. I hope they haven't given you an expectancy of life. I hope things actually get better. You are very strong...I admire all your decision making and your willingness to persevere. I will wait to see how others react but my husband and I might do an online fundraiser for Jimmy if we can find one that has acceptable terms. I will forward info to you because there are many websites that are useful for veterinary assistance financially. Hugs for Legs and all of you! Get some sleep, you've been living this nightmare of not knowing, now you know. It might not be wine and roses but you may be able to make changes to keep him around a few more years! <3