NeylasMom

Please don't use Acepromazine for anxiety. Acepromazine is a sedative and has NO anxiety relieving properties. The result is that the dog is unable to function normally while still having the same level of fear, which can often lead to an increase in anxiety over time. Any vet who is still prescribing Ace for anxiety is unfortunately way behind the times. Alternative options that have been around for some time are Xanax or Valium. For dogs for whom those don't work, Trazodone is a newer drug that has proved quite helpful. Trazodone can cause sedation, but that is *in addition to* relieving anxiety, which is better than using nothing. These are all drugs that take effect rather quickly and wear off reasonably quickly as well so they are appropriate for things like fireworks, thunderstorms, etc. ETA: Just in case I left any doubt I think you are better off using nothing than using Ace again. Obviously I would much rather you get an alternative, but if your vet is not reachable in the next couple of days you are imo better off putting on fans/radio/TV to drown out noise as much as possible and setting her up in a comfortable place away from the noise with something to do like her favorite chew or frozen stuffed kong. Also, taking potty breaks at times when they are less likely to be going off and coming straight back inside to minimize risk that she will be exposed.

I think it's been long enough that I can say the Zoledronate seems to be working. Yesterday was our most active day in a long time - longest walk we've taken, followed by in and out of the car multiple times for a massage appt, followed by the usual amount of trotting around playing with his Cuz ball, plus 2 extra sessions of that when he got excited for a potty walk and when his "Uncle Dave" came over. Today he is as good as he was yesterday morning. Don't know how long it will last or how long we will be able to continue treatments without serious risk to his kidneys, but for now just taking it in and enjoying it.

This is great to hear! Reports on the trainer list serve I'm on so far have been positive as well. There are some people reporting it didn't do as much as they would have liked for their stormphobic dogs, but its important to keep in mind that it has been tested for noise phobia, not storm phobia. I suspect for dogs who's issue with storms is the noise and not the atmospheric changes it will work well. I have high hopes that this medication can help a lot of dogs.

I would do it if it didn't compromise my treatment plans otherwise or mean I'd have to do something I wouldn't otherwise (within reason). A lot of trials restrict you from using things like supplements or homeopathic treatments so that might be a factor for me. But if your course of action would be amp and chemo and the trial requires amp and chemo, go for it! Worst case you get some expenses covered. Best case you get a better outcome. You can drop out if he's having side effects. Hugs. I know it's a lot to process right now.

Can you break it in half? One of Zuri's supplements is HUGE and he wants nothing to do with it so I break it in half and then either put them in pill pockets (I break off what I need from a Greenies pill pocket to wrap it completely) or I put it in something delicious. PB is still working well for us, but goat yogurt has worked nicely when Skye gets picky. For pills that taste particularly offensive like Tramadol, I will often wrap in a pill pocket, then put the pill pocket in a little PB so it's doubly disguised.

Thank you. Trying to not get overly hopeful yet, but so far so good. How is your boy doing? Can we help with anything?

That actually makes it sound less scary than I initially thought, though I know overall it's not what you had hoped for. that it heals up quickly. Have you tried any holistic treatments for the lung mets? If you want me to email you a copy of Dr. Dressler's cancer guide PM me your email addy. He has some recommendations specific to lung mets that might be worth trying now that you've had to stop the Palladia. I came home to a bouncy, trotting boy again for the second day in a row.

Sportingfields, thanks, that is helpful. And asking the pharmacist is a great idea. Although I get all of my dog meds at Costco to save money and think they are a bunch of idiots. He was running around like a crazy dog again last night so I started to get hopeful, but it's too soon to tell. If the trend continues that way despite increased activity then I'd say yes. He wasn't more gimpy this morning and he trotted a bit more on his walk than usual so those are good signs. I hesitate to say anything though because I don't want to jinx us!

Fingers crossed that it does. I couldn't help but google last night because I had never heard of it and did read that it can.

Well not that I'm glad you share my pain, but it's reassuring I am not alone in my neuroses. If it makes you feel any better, I have 8, EIGHT! alarms set up to go off daily on my phone to remind me when it's time to give each round of meds. As for Cecil, if he doesn't seem to be feeling worse, I'd say just resume your normal schedule. Are you doing every 8 hrs now or did you decide to bump to every 6?

For the love of god, someone please put me out of my misery. I can't tell you how much time and angst have been spent over med schedules in the past month. I finally called my vet to ask about it because I was stressing about 2 days of the week where it's not always possible for me to be home at the designated time and they set my mind at ease about varying it an hr or two in either direction. But then we switched a med from every 8 hrs to every 6 hrs. Well that eliminates the wiggle room in my mind. So today when I was forced to be 2+ hrs late I'm doing calculations trying to decide if dosing every 5ish hrs or every 7ish hrs is better until we're back on schedule. Honestly, it's approaching comical at this point, but when you have a dog with bone cancer you don't really want to f up this very important bit, you know? So if someone would please tell me this is all for naught and 2 hrs this way or that way won't matter, that would be great. What I'd ask my vet if I had access, the med that's every 6 that I had to give 2 hrs late, could I have just given the next dose in 4 and then resumed our normal every 6 schedule? I was too nervous to do that (and it's too late now) as we're toward the higher end of the dose range as is (I'm giving 300 mg of Gabapentin every 6 hrs). The Tramadol every 8 and the Robaxin every 12 are so much easier. Also, neither of those require a 4 AM wake up call. <- me getting a little maniacal from all of the stress of dealing with this stuff

I'm sorry. I've never heard of a torn trachea. Is there anything you can do for it?

No worries, update us when you can.

Pogo update?

Sending good thoughts for Pogo today. Please update us when you can.

Well that's good news at least though I know it doesn't feel like much. We're in the osteo thread it you need us.

I'm so sorry. Any updates on the chest x-rays?

Tell the owner to leash his dog and get help from a behaviorist that uses force free methods. Dogs can sometimes redirect aggression toward the closest object - it's a sort of "reflexive" response, he's not intending to harm you. Many greyhounds aren't well socialized to other breeds of dogs and you can't always predict which dogs will elicit a fear response. My female grey loves to play with many dogs, but dogs that are significantly larger or fluffier freak her out (makes sense, they look less like her idea of "dog" ). So working with a trainer who can help you create positive associations with seeing other dogs will be helpful. In the meantime, try to avoid meeting strange dogs jut on walks.

Glad Cecil had a good day and the chiro adjustment helped him. I am amazed. Zuri has very spasmy muscles in certain places. This was an existing issue from his LS, but has been exacerbated by the tumor. We went in on Monday for his second massage therapy appointment and when I went to work on him a little last night, one spot would not spasm! I know it will likely come back, but she apparently worked that spot out completely. There are places behind his scapula that are much tougher - especially on his osteo side as she doesn't want to manipulate the leg while she's working like she would otherwise. The bummer is unless there's a cancellation tomorrow or Saturday we have to wait until the 9th to get back in. But I am doing a subpar job working on him in between visits. Anyway, no timeline on the kidney issues. They don't expect it to send him into renal failure. That's sort of what I saw with Neyla. I can't remember how many days after her treatment, but she just started having accidents in her sleep. That was Pamidronate though. I think what's more likely is that over time the kidney values will just keep creeping up. The slight increases he has already could be from the Deramaxx, the first Zoledronate treatment we did, age, or some combination, we don't know. I think the sedation is also a possible culprit, but since the values creeped up ever so slightly in the past week I think we're looking at something ongoing. I have a new worry. Just a few times this week I've thought Zuri's gums were very pale briefly, or twice he's been panting more heavily and more sluggish on a walk than I would expect (with no increased limp indicating more pain) so I am worried he's becoming anemic. Contemplating running him to my vet for blood work in the morning. I would rather watch and wait, but going into the holiday weekend I think I will just feel better having run it. Going to decide first thing tomorrow. Will be sending good thoughts for Pogo tomorrow!

Hope you get some answers.

I'm sorry, I'm not completely up on the timeline for Pogo - how long ago was his amp? Some chemos can cause heart issues, wondering if that could be what's going on? Hoping it's nothing like that. Maybe send the x-rays to Dr C in the meantime as well? So Zuri just ran around like a nut. I figured the fluids would give him a boost, but he also seems less gimpy today. So of course I start thinking, what if the radiation just finally belatedly started to kick in, but the Zoledronate causes his kidneys to fail and I have to let him go. This is what goes on in my mind 24/7 these days even when I tell myself to just enjoy the moment and the fact that he's running around playing happily. It just really SUCKS to have a dog who is his normal self, bright-eyed, playing, eating like a champ and barking for meals, wanting to go for walks and seeking out snuggles, but has this stupidly painful tumor. I felt so robbed when Neyla got cancer. Zuri is more of an older man that Neyla acted despite being similar in age because of his LS, but not so much so that I don't feel the same thing again. Sorry, I'm on a roll with my ranting. Cancer sucks, period, but I really hate this disease. Thank you so much.

Can you post the blood work results with reference ranges? Did they test for TBD? You may want to check out this article about "normal" greyhound values, including low platelets: http://www.greythealth.com/blood.html

Thank you! I don't think it's a common location for a metastasis, but you do sometimes find bone tumors there. If I remember correctly, rib tumors are often chondrosarcoma, which has a better prognosis, rather than osteosarcoma. There are other cancers like multiple myeloma that can also cause bone tumors, but they are fairly rare.

Well we're done and home. They decided on subQ fluids as well. Zuri handled the visit well and is getting around better today than he has been so now we just wait and hope.

Unfortunately I don't think there's any way we could do a washout period, but I'll keep it in mind if we get to the point where we could. Oncologist's office called at 8 am. We're on for today. My stomach is a mess already.