greytpups

I am so sorry...so many losses. My heart goes out to you and your family.

Bailey throws up a lot too, mostly in the morning. And she eats a lot of grass. I talked to our vet many times about it and he says she simply eats grass because she is hungry. So when she has vomiting episodes we know it's time to increase her food intake. We usually give her a larger snack at bedtime to hold her over at breakfast. when dogs throw up bile, it's usually not a concern, however, when they throw up food, it can indicate a problem, or it can just be that they ate too fast. It wouldn't hurt to discuss it with your vet thought. If she vomits bile in the morning before breakfast, I suggest giving her something just before bedtime to hold her over and see if that helps.

What a wonderful (and fuuny) story...she is beautiful...congrats

Bout the same. Feet still swollen, no temp, not much energy....although she was trying to roach earlier (kind of tough now with one shoulder even when she was feeling good) and has been guarding a Milkbone she didn't feel like eating but didn't want Chase to eat either. I'm clinging to what good signs I can find. At least she isn't in pain. ------------------ Scratch that. I just took her temp again and it's spiked to 103. Dr. Matz said to let her know if it gets over 102.5 so I called her and she wants to add amoxycillin to the mix since she says there's a range of bacteria the doxy and baytril don't cover. She's also going to let us try a dose or two of lasix to reduce the swelling since Cosmo's still eating and drinking well. She's calling them in right now so hopefully once we get these two in her we can see some real improvement. Please keep your good thoughts coming. Cosmo's still eating and drinking and doesn't seem in pain and is breathing just fine, so I'm not throwing in the towel on her yet. Update Saturday August 22. Got Cosmo started on the antibiotic and the lasix last night. After looking it up online last night I realized the vet put her on a really low dose of lasix; 20mg twice a day when the norm for her weight would be 60-120mg twice a day. Since I noticed slight improvement in her fluid retention I asked Dr. Matz if I could up the dose when I spoke to her this morning. She gave the go ahead to give up to 50 mg twice a day but said to increase gradually, so at 3:00 pm I gave her 40 mg. I hope we'll start to see some improvement. She's drinking a lot and peeing like a racehorse so I'm hopeful we can get the swelling reduced. I just know she'll feel a ton better if we can. She's alert and eating and drinking great, it's just the feet.... And her temp's been up and down. It was steady around 103 most of the times I took it but at 2:30 last night it had spiked up to 104.3. I wrapped her in a damp towel for a while and at 5:00 am her temp read 100.2. At 9:30 this am it was 103.1 again but at 2:30 this afternoon it was 102.6, just a hair over normal. We have only had to do the damp towel routine that once. Besides that we've just been keeping her in a/c and I got some sugar free vanilla pudding cups and froze them and she's been enjoying her cool snacks. The only other thing I really find odd is how much water has been leaking out of her eyes. It looks like she's been crying and there's a wet spot where she's been lying. Just don't know what would cause this. Can't check in with the vet this evening because she's at a wedding (the other vet she works with is getting married tonight) so I'll have to ask her about it tomorrow. Hoping it's nothing major. Anyway, that's where we're at. I guess when you look through this thread it seems like we're putting her through a lot. We're trying to do as little as possible and just keep her comfortable. It's really difficult to know what to do for her because the temperature (when she has one) really doesn't seem to bother her and she's alert and seems happy and is eating and drinking and her breathing is fine. She seems to have a coughing jag in the morning but other than that she hasn't coughed much. Really, other than those darn feet... I just hope she'll let us know when she's had enough. Please keep sending those good thoughts Cosmo's way. Thanks. UPDATE SUNDAY, AUGUST 23 Cosmo's a bit better this evening. Her temp's been normal and she's been eating today. If you haven't seen my other post, I've had to get really creative. Today she's had frozen vanilla pudding, peanut butter, mixed veg and turkey baby food (9 ounces of it, yay!) and an ice cream bar. Whatever it takes. She's peeing and she finally pooped - not sure how long it had been but this was a big one. She's getting up on her own a bit better and the swelling in her feet is slowly going down. I think because I upped the dose to 60mg. The initial 20mg was useless. Her eyes are bright and she's alert and whining for attention now so I will cut this short, but just wanted to update. UPDATE MONDAY, AUGUST 24 Cosmo still seems to be doing ever so slightly better. She hasn't coughed at all today, oddly. Today she's eaten cream cheese, chicken and peanut butter. Not much to say, really as nothing remarkable is going on. The vet called and is going to give us a refill of the lasix at a higher dose since it does seem to be helping with the swelling. The vet keeps preparing us for Cosmo's breathing to get a lot worse and quickly. I don't doubt her, but she almost seems skeptical that it hasn't happened yet. Cosmo is totally quiet and unlabored almost all of the time. When she gets up to go outside it tires her out but like I said, she didn't cough at all today when I let her out. She tried to go upstairs on her own when she came in earlier. It's not that I think she's going to get better or anything unrealistic like that but she isn't as bad off as the vet seems to think she should be, if that makes any sense. I won't let Cosmo suffer but at least for today she seems okay. UPDATE TUESDAY, AUGUST 25 Here's where we're at today. Cosmo doesn't seem to be coughing any more. At all. Which is surprising, especially if you ask the vet who said her breathing should be a lot worse by now. She's eating but she's being picky. I did some research yesterday to see how many calories she needs since she's on all people food now, and I came up with anywhere between 1500-1800 calories for a 60lb dog. So far today she's had about 600 calories in the form of two jars of baby food, a cup of pudding and some peanut butter. I figure with one or two more attempts throughout the day I can get the rest into her without too much hassle. She sure does like the pudding if nothing else. My biggest concern still is the swelling in her feet. Her front foot and her left rear aren't too bad any more, but the right rear is still really swollen and it makes it really difficult for her to get around. I suppose I sound nuts but I really think she'd feel okay except for that. We have an appointment at the vet at 6:00 pm on Thursday since she suggested another xray. Mainly we're just not sure what's going on since the symptoms still don't add up. Why is the swelling going down in two legs but not the other? Why did her cough go away? It would be easier to say this is all the osteo at work if her breathing was getting worse and she was coughing more. Not that I'd wish that on her of course. But it would make it easier to know what to do. But with everything resolved except for the swelling in her foot, it makes it more difficult to know if we should press on or not. She's up to 60mg of lasix twice a day. Wonder if that's enough? UPDATE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26 I think our little girl is out of energy. We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow at 6pm. Her cough has gone away but the swelling in her feet hasn't, despite the lasix and cold paks we've been applying. She can't get up on her own any more. She's still alert and drinking and eating if I offer her the right thing in the right way (baby food out of the jar or out of a cup but not her dog dish even if I hold it for her) which is what makes this so tough. But she's weak. I have to put her on her feet so she can walk. Jason carries her up to bed at night and down in the morning. I took out her collar and leash to see if she wanted some fresh air just now. She struggled mightily but could not get up on her own. I got her to her feet, she walked to the front door, looked out and decided she didn't want to go out, something she has NEVER done. Coaxed her to the back door, thought she might like to go out in the yard to go potty. She looked, turned around, went back to the living room, took a drink of water and flopped down on her bed. To say this is heartbreaking and gut wrenching does not begin to cover it. Anyway, her appointment tomorrow was supposed to be for more xrays, but Dr. Matz has already said there's nothing else she can do. In my heart I think I know Cosmo's appointment tomorrow will be her last. I can't believe she didn't get more time than this. MINI UPDATE THURSDAY, AUGUST 27 Thanks so much for all the good thoughts, guys. They mean the world. I've been wracking my brain and poring over the internet trying to find anything else we can do. It's so frustrating. She seems fine, if only she had still had the strength to get up on her own. I know as the dose of lasix has gone up she's gotten weaker. Don't know how quickly or severely she could become potassium deficient due to the lasix but we'll ask the vet about it. It's just so hard to wrap my head around this. She lies on her bed napping quietly, eats and drinks well, looks around and looks interested in stuff when she's not sleeping. She looks like herself most of the time. But she just can't get up on her own. Jason doesn't want to let her go yet and I don't know what the answer is. Please throw any extra prayers at us for the next hour or two if you don't mind as we're leaving shortly for her appointment. UPDATE, THURSDAY night, AUGUST 27 First of all, Cosmo came home with us under her own steam (for the most part). Second of all, I feel like I have to tell you that if the vet really thought it was time, we would have done as she advised. We listened to the vet's suggestions and based on those, we got another xray and then a cbc to see if the lasix is having any adverse effects. She put Cosmo on 30mg of prednisone once a day for the next week, then 20 mg once a day the week after that. Dr. Matz conferred with an oncologist and another vet and based on what they said, thinks trying a different chemo drug may be in order. My first priority is and always has been quality of life, whereas Jason is more of the try anything type. Since we couldn't (because of Dr. Matz's schedule) do anything with chemo before next Tuesday at the soonest, I said let's try the prednisone for a few days and see how it goes. It also turns out we may have inadvertently made Cosmo worse by letting her lie around so much. She was actually getting around pretty well at the vet's office and again outside of it. And when we got home Jason walked her about three houses up and back which is more than she's felt like doing in days. I feel guilty in some way for taking you all on this ride with us so I hope you'll forgive me for putting you all through this too. I can really tell how much all of you care. I really didn't think Cosmo would be coming back home with us. Dr. Matz is being very frank with us that she doesn't think Cosmo has a whole lot more time, but she did think there was some quality to be had and based on that we decided to try another thing or two. Thank you so much for rooting for Cosmo so hard and standing by us at this difficult time. UPDATE, FRIDAY, AUGUST 28 The vet said it could take 1 1/2 - 2 days for the pred to start working but I don't know... she had her first dose at 10 pm last night. Jason carried her downstairs to go potty when we got up today but once on her feet she was getting around much, much better. I let her back in and expected her to go lie down in the living room, but before we knew what was happening she was bounding back up the stairs to our bedroom. And once there she ate most of a Milkbone. It's been days since she's done either. All I can think now is thank heavens we brought her back home with us last night since she's clearly not finished here yet. Thanks so much for all the love and support, you guys. It means the world. I've been reading your updates and I couldn't be happier for you and Cosmo. Wishing her many more good days.

There's a great post someone on here about what your grey was used to on the track and it provides some greyt insight about greyhound behaviour. I'll try and hunt it up soon. Welcome from southern Ontario! Waterloo

I'm so sorry

No words...just and lots of wishes that it turns out to be a minor injury for Ruby.

Happy Bridge Birthday sweet angels.

Audrey, I am so sorry. I had the pleasure of meeting sweet Asia last year at Grapehounds and she definately was a real sweetheart. and the love you shared was beyond measure. Good bye sweet Asia.

Sending lots of healing thoughts for Miles. Hope he feels better soon. Bailey only has 7 teeth left and getting the diseased ones pulled was the best thing we did for her overall health. We just make sure everything she chews is in bite size pieces so she doesn't choke on anything.

I'm so sorry...what a lovely tribute.

I'm so sorry

I'm so sorry for your loss

continued prayers for you and sweet Asia

I'm so sorry

I'm so sorry...another angel

Oh, Tina and Eric...I didn't know she wasn't well. I'm so terribly sorry for another loss in your pack.

Sending lots of prayers for Asia.

I am so sorry

I'm so sorry

Well, not only are you a beauty, you are smart too...congrats on the new home. Love the pics and story. Welcome!

I always give Bailey ice cream balls (the pill hid inside a little ball of ice cream) or meatballs (the pill inside a little ball of canned dog food) and it just slides right down. I make the balls as small as possible but cover all of the pill and it works every time.

Glad he's home and on the road to recovery...I'd be a little concerned that they didn't know what it was in the first place, especially when people here on GT knew what is was.

I'm so sorry