gracegirl

I've been taking on greyhounds as boarders through a local list I'm part of. Last week some folks contacted me to watch their greyhound because their regular sitter fell through. I've met them and their dog before. I gave them the usual "bring her bed, food, muzzle, leash, coats and contact emergency numbers" deal. I had already agreed to watch a friends foster for the week, starting the same night, but figured that the extra (4th) dog for three days would be no problem. I've done 4 dogs before. When they dropped off dog #4 they "forgot" her muzzle. They also forgot her bed, so I asked them to bring her muzzle when they came back with the bed. They came back with the bed and more PJs, but where is the muzzle? They "forgot" it, but she is so sweet she doesn't need it. NOT THE CASE. After work I got home, Grace and Fenway were in the yard muzzled, I let dog #4 out and while muzzling the foster I hear a horrible scream and turn to see Grace pinned up against the fence with dog #4's jaws around her neck. Throwing all the other dogs in crates, I rushed Grace to the vet. They stayed late to fix her up, lots of internal stitches, 20 staples, three drains, a bandage on her neck, and lots of tears from mom......and now we are back home. I'm am sick to my stomach that I let this happen. Did I really need to ask more than three times to bring her muzzle??? When I tell you three times to bring it, I'm not just joking around. I feel so bad for my sweet girl, I'm just so so so sorry this happened to her. I'll upload photos soon, for now she is resting and drunk as can be. Please spare some good healing thoughts for my pretty little girl.

Grace was "off" just for the day....and after the second shot her temp shot up but that could have been attributed to nerves too. She REFUSES to go back in that vets office, so I know her experience was not pleasant. The needle is quite large/thick. I insisted on three things....shot given IM, needle changed after drawing up the drug, and I wanted to stay with her while she was given the shot rather than having it done in the back. If I were going to do it again I'd use the same timing as last time.....appointment scheduled first thing on Saturday morning so the vet could monitor her for half the day (she stayed at the clinic...in the back with the first shot, with me in the exam room with the second shot) and no plans *at all* for the rest of the weekend (I didn't want to leave her at home alone). I also chose to do the shot on a weekend where I knew I didn't *need* to be in the office on Monday, just in case. I still took her for walks and got her out and moving around both Saturday and Sunday, just went slower and shorter until Monday. Then life was back to normal. Feel free to PM me with any questions, Grace's titer was borderline (1:160) but I'm so glad I treated her.

Good to know...thanks! Fasting until this afternoon, then a handful of cookies, and then dinner tonight. And a muzzle or crate from now on. We were on the "three strikes you're out" policy, Fenway is OUT!

I'm back at work now, and the dogs are with me. I'll let Fenway out in a bit and give him some dog treats. I guess I could go to the cafe and get some bread too. Ugh! What was he thinking???? On a side note, this might make him hungry enough to eat a full meal at dinner tonight! He doesn't want kibble, but he wants wax instead.

Yes, yes you did.

I hope he feels better too....he's giving me a very pathetic look. Stupid, stupid me for not putting the duralog away. I told him last week when he pulled down my blinds that he got one more chance before the crate was coming out of storage. We're going back to the crate now. Then he can graduate to the muzzle with a poop cup. He was soooooo good for soooooo long.....I don't like this teenage boy stuff!

Crate is coming out of the closet now. I was at the doctor this AM and came home to find Fenway had gotten into the Duralog! Seriously???!!! Anyhow, I poured some Hydrogen Peroxide down his throat and let him puke it out. I'm cleaning up the duralog mess (he mostly shredded it instead of eating it)....but my question is should I give him some cookies to settle his stomach? He's trying to eat grass outside, should I let him? Anyone in the greater Seattle area want a puppy for Christmas? He's on loan for 6 months, once he's a good dog again I want him back.

Personally I give them 24-48 hours to see how/if it heals. No reason to go to the vet if the limping is gone in a day or two. If there is no swelling and she's not yelping when you touch it, you can probably wait a day or two. I'd leash walk her so she doesn't pull it further. This happened to Fenway last weekend when it snowed, and he was fine within 2 days.

This happened to Fenway recently, and he did get an infection there. I didn't catch it until it was infected, and the vet had to clean it and sent me home with meds. I wish I would have caught it sooner, it was not fun. Poor puppy had to wear a boot and was limping for a few weeks. Bummer, Lulu...be careful!

Try fish oil or salmon oil....those should help. Those dry patches aren't scars, are they? Grace has a small spot on her rump that will never grow hair, and Fenway has a few spots like that now too.

I'd like to think she was reunited with her heart human. Heep, thanks for taking care of her in her final time with us here on earth. You done good. Run fast and free, girl!

There must be something in my eyes....sniff....what a lovely poem for a lovely friend. You will see him again some day.

Oh no, not the Queen! Enjoy your new adventure over the Rainbow Bridge, sassy girl.....

Poor Mia.....positive thoughts coming your way!

Sending good thoughts your way......

It doesn't matter to me, they are all wonderful, but I do have a special place in my heart for little brindle girls. When I went to adopt I had a 60lb weight limit in my apartment complex so I looked at the small females. It took Grace no more than 5 minutes to make it very clear that I was supposed to be her mom. Fenway was adopted from afar as a puppy, so I had only a slight idea of what he was going to be like all grown up. While he's still not grown up all the way yet, he's a funny little guy. He's not going to get that big and he lets Grace be the boss of him. He's very cuddly and has zero concept of personal apace. I've always wanted a GIANT boy dog, maybe next time.....

These puppy boys Glad to hear all the stories of everything, um, coming out okay. I was especially freaked out last night since he gets dropped off at the sitters. I don't know what came over him yesterday, he normally just sleeps with Grace in the back of the wagon when I leave him. Ocassionally he'll chew on a rope toy, but apparently he was "hungry" yesterday. Maybe he really was hungry, and is going through another growth spurt. Thanks for the well wishes guys, so far so good! Hence the nickname! He's so darn cute...

Well I'm happy to report that I still have a crazy little hound puppy, although it's only been about 8 hours since the mystery of the disappearing leash. Fenway is drinking just fine, playing with stuffies, getting his nose into trouble where it doesn't belong, and he just pooped a big gigantic major poop for me. I've never been so pleased to see a pile of big gross turds before. We're not out of the woods yet, but these are good signs. All he has to do was tell me to take him to A Dog's Dream for some chewies, he didn't need to eat the dang leash!

Fenway and Grace come to work with me. Today I left them in the car in the afternoon like I've done 1000x before. I left them at 3pm, came out to the car at 5pm. Can't find Grace's leash, it's dark so I figure they can wait until I get home to potty. I get home, let the dogs out, and go to search for the missing leash. I found part of it. I found the clasp, the poop bag holder and 2 of the 6 feet of leather. So after tearing up the back of the wagon, removing all dog beds and flipping up all the seats I've not found the 4 feet of leash in questions. I did find a chewed up roll of brand new vet rap and some teeth marks on the container of Bactine, but still no leash. There is one place it can be, which is in my puppy's belly. You're kidding right? So now I've missed my hair cut appointment, I'm dropping Fenway and Grace off after work tomorrow at the sitters, and I leave town for a week on Saturday. Seriously, couldn't you have done this two weeks ago???!!!! After talking to the vet we figure that it will most likely pass but I'm to watch for no poop, massive D, and vomiting. Of course the nut case drank 1/2 bowl of water, ate all his dinner, and was playing with his stuffies minutes ago. The vet recommended extra food for the next few days to push things through. Fenway will be thrilled about that! I'm really worried and hope everything passes okay, and at the same time I want to strangle him. Remind me again why I though puppies were a good idea. PS. Leather leashes also apparently cause horrendous gas :fart

Depends on waht you consider the "midwest"....Colorado is NOT the midwest but that's where my Babesia infected gal came from. Puppy Fenway was born in KS and fostered in IN...and he had a positiver titer for Babesia at 1:40 (the lowest level) indicating that either mom had Babesia, or he was exposed to it along the way. I'll check it again next April to monitor the level.

A wound that size on Fenway, courtsey of Grace, gave us 14 stitches.....8 internal and 6 external. It didn't look *that* bad, but I'm sure glad we went to the vet.

Woo hoo! Thanks Jeff. All fixed now.

Okay, me too! Please help! I put my sig in the gallery, but now how do I link to it? I copied and pasted the http:// and kept the IMG tags, but got an error. Can you help or tell me how to fix??? Thanks so much!

Are you talking about Fur-a-zone Dressing by any chance? Sending Sprite good thoughts! I think that's it. One site I googled said it's for dogs and horses, the other site said it's approved for horses only. I thought you needed a script for it, but it appears you can purchase it through the websites. Worth asking the vet about though, that stuff worked wonders on Dent!

We had a horse at the barn get into a tiff with a nasty mare (they don't call her psycho Libby for nothing!) and he looked terrible! The owner of the barn had some vet prescribed "stuff" on hand, it was the consistency of a thick creme, but clear-ish like neosporin, it may have had a yellow tint, I can't remember now! It came in a jar with a screw lid. Anyhow, I saw Dent, the horse, about three weeks after he had this run in and I was SHOCKED at how great he looked. I have no idea what it was that was used, but it was truly incredible. If anyone knows what it might have been, please post. It may do the trick for you! And what LynnM said sounds good too!