RobinM

Remember that valium? he may need it, you will to, but you can't- you need to stay focused and wake up for him. Keep the pain meds coming, see if you can give him 10 mg of valium. You can give up to 20 mg in a 24 hour period, but give 10 at a time. Polli did not have a patch so I don' know the protocol with that. You and your boy are in my prayers.

Welcome from NY! My Elsie (see signature) is mom to your boy! How greyt is that!!! N Fracine, now called Elsie! (see ears for verification of lineage!!!!) she is new to us too. We lost our last brood mom 3 months ago and adopted Elsie off her farm in OK in late April. If you want pictures, let me know.

Wonderful news!

OMG- what a horrible shock. I am so sorry. So unfair, so young. Run free baby boy.

Let the healing begin. I hope he has a quick recovery and gives you many years.

In memory of Riley~ Jean, founder of the board CoG has lost her beloved Riley 3 days shy of his 11th birthday. “Indeed he did, live the life of Riley right up until the very end. In spite of living the first 3 years of his life on a greyhound farm that amputated his front leg for an unknown reason, Riley has a lust for life. He was my "zen" teacher, living only in the joy of every moment. If did not matter if it was a bully stick, a crumb on the floor, rolling on his back on the floor (Riley, party of 1!), endlessly squeeking his favorite stuffy, sitting and watching out the front door, life was an endless celebration. He battled severe IBD for over 10 months, doing everything I asked him to do; surgery, kibble, handfuls of horrible meds, flareups, recovery, slowly gaining precious weight. Meds for bladder stones, excision of hemangiosarcoma on his leg, never once did a day pass that his tail did not wag. Always a budge and a nudge, he was always in motion, in your space, he knew what he wanted and he asked for it! This year he finally hit the greyhound champion prize - he caught a bunny in the yard (I am always heartbroken when a rabbit does not make it out of the yard) however this rabbit seemed symbolic for Riley. Yesterday he had a wonderful day outside. Layed in the cool grass, stood in the kiddie pool, enjoyed watching everyone in the yard. The sudden inability of him to walk was terrifying. A trip to the emergency vet was that he likely had a blood clot in his leg which was causing him pain and numbness. He was unable to feel his foot on the floor. Maybe a younger, 4 legged dog who was not underweight and on so many meds might have had a chance at treatment. Riley was not that candidate. Sunday evening, three days short of his 11th birthday, my brindle boy left his broken body. Thank you Jackie and Joy, for sending me the opportunity to be a part of Riley's life, he is my hero.” Love, Jean and Kid Mercury ~ Hoppy ~ Selene ~ Riley ~ on winged feet, they run with angels God Speed Sweet Riley, you have been such an inspiration to so many. You will be missed. Hugs to you, Jean- you are in my prayers.

I am so sorry for your loss. Run free sweet girl.

You have both been through so much. Like a rollercoaster. I wish I had the magic bullet to make it right.

Absolutely no offense taken. believe me, I know, but I really don't mind so long as she eats. Chloe and Teddy are the easy ones and Beau - well, Beau can only have one thing. z/d. wet, dry, warm or cold, but only z/d. No choices. Actually she had been on the same kibble (proplan) all this time and the only change was the raw- and she ate raw for 5 days- then she stopped eating completely. The antibiotics started the same day as the raw. No way of really knowing. She was definitely off for that day or 2- she was more subdued. Now, she is acting more like herself again.

Yes, well.. we thought it was. She stopped eating. And she had been on antibiotics so we gave her the benefit of the doubt. If she wants something else- I don't have a problem with that. I have to give Beau a precription diet. Chloe and Teddy get the same ole, same old every night and Elsie... well Elsie was sent by Polli so.... But if it were her stomach, why would she want to eat the purina one rather than the pro plan?

that's what I figured with Polli- she went back to comfort food!!! Elsie was eating diamond something or other low grade food with ground beef. I can order it if worse comes to worse. Beau eats a completely different food so what's one more! I don't mind, just as long as she eats.

To preface this- I can not begin to tell you how wonderful it was (yes, was) to put down 4 bowls and have 4 dogs eat. That had never happened before. I enjoyed it so much for 3.5 weeks. Then, all of a sudden, Elsie decided she wasn't into the kibble in the morning. No problem- she ate 1/2 can of "blue" chicken or beef. Dinner at 5 was the rest of the can and 1.5 cups of kibble. then she got a cup of kibble, dry at 10. then she decided she did not want kibble at dinner either so I tried the raw and she loved it... for 5 days. Today for breakfast she had 1/2 cup of kibble mixed with tripe (yes, I broke out the tripe I have stacked by the case in the garage that had been Polli's) For dinner, I tried the kibble with tripe, no good. I tried it with the raw, no good, I tried it with the raw chop meat- she picked at that. So, I put everything away- she was now lying down in the den and I had a brainstorm- Let me try to give her the purina one Polli liked. Elsie ate a cup of that. What is it with my farm girls. I just picture Beau, Chloe and Teddy saying to her, Oh, no, you don't have to eat that. If you miss a meal or 2, she (me) will be so insane, she will give you anything you want. So, I guess the Purina one won't go to waste. We shall see what tomorrow brings....

Thanks all. I feel a bit better knowing that she is not alone. She is definitely not stressed or hot- pain? I don't think so, but of course, I always worry! She is otherwise the happiest dog I have ever met.

I am so sorry. I have just gone through this with my beautiful Polli- unfortuntately, things did not go well. We lost her at the 5 month mark. It is most important to keep up with the pain meds and keep them medicated- even if you think he's doing greyt. They are very stoic and once they are in pain it is harder to manage it and keep them out of pain so the idea is to keep the meds coming. Polli- after the amp was 53 pounds. She lost 7 pounds from the leg. She was on 100mg of deramaxx once a day- 100mg of tramadol every 6 hours and I needed to give her valium the first 2 days as she was so stressed- she was screaming- out of fear. Once we got over the first 3 weeks- things were much better. The chemo makes them not want to eat and a bit lethargic, but if you do the amp, I would highly recommend the chemo. I would also have everything faxed to Dr. Couto for his review and suggestions. Best of luck and I feel for both of you. It's a devatastaing and life changing disease. Prayers for your special boy.

Do some dogs just pant excessively? We've had Elsie 4 weeks. She has settled in nicely, although she'd much rather follow me than the pack! She pants a lot. And I do mean a lot- you know when they are lying down and their body is vibrating? She's had a full physical, blood work, etc. I didn't mention this before as all my hounds did this when they first were settling in. I thought it would stop. But now that she discovered it's much nicer to sleep next to mommy in her bed, rather than on the dog beds, I was highly aware of the bed vibrating whenever she wasn't laying down. She is otherwise very happy, tail wagging, active- VERY MUCH SO and a joy. any ideas? I've always gone with the notion that excessive panting is pain, stress or heat- non of which I am aware is is experiencing.

I think quite the opposite. Because we are there so often and spend so much money, she didn't want me to needlessly come in and especially on a holiday where they are open for emergencies only- so you get charged as an emergency patient. I was headed in and when she got on the phone and heard what was going on- she felt we should wait. I was happy not to have to bring them in. She told me what to do and we are doing it. If things don't improve by tomorrow, we will go. I have my vet's email and cell phone. She makes herself available to me all the time. I appreicate not being taken advantage of. Just didn't want you to get the wrong idea about this!

I wish I had some advice. I do know what it feels like to have exhusted so many avenues with no concrete answers. Beyond frustrating and as you said, financially draining. Would they consider a low dose/ profilatic dose of the doxy for him for a while . Then go every other day... every 3rd day?

Vet doesn't want to see us!! Can you imagine!? What would a Memorial Day be without the extra charge of a emergency visit! For Elsie- she had been on an antibiotic so she said that could be what was causing her to stop eating. We've stopped the antibiotic as of yesterday (when she wouldn't eat) so she said to give it another day. Today she ate a very little bit of wet food for breakfast (about 1/2 can) of "blue" beef. Beau- give him the compresses for his eye and for his tummy pustules, hydrogen peroxide. So... we shall see...

Huh? why would you think that it's a possibilty Elsie could have IBD? Just trying to figure out how that came about? I DO have a dog with severe IBD diagnosed after thousands of dollars of testing, different foods, etc and a weight loss down to 52.4 pounds (male dog) finally open abdominal surgery to get a definite diagnosis.

I started a thread earlier today that Elsie did not eat breakfast nor anything throughout the day except a few crunchy chicken tenders and Beau's z/d cookies. She refused dinner as well. I offered her several different things. Tonight was a rare event - we went out at night to my sister's BD party. We left the house @ 5:15 and returned at 9:30. I think there might have been a T- storm while we were out and I know Chloe FREAKS from them. I don't know hoe Elsie does. Well, I came home to poop everywhere on the shag carpet. Everywhere with foot prints where there wasn't poop. I have to assume it was Elsie who pooped. She still refused food, but took a few bites of some grilled chicken breast but that's it. Looks like we are going to the vet tomorrow. Sigh. Beau needs to be seen because of the stye in his eye that is getting bigger. He had a pustule on his tummy 10 days ago. I popped it and pus came out. Now it looks like there is another brewing on his belly. I think he needs an antibiotic. I hope both Elsie and Beau have nothing serious going on. We had a few really good weeks and I really liked it like that.

It's definitely a lot bigger. I have been putting warm compresses on it. It feels like it's soft inside, rather than hard, which I think is good. He had a pus pimple on his abdomen about a week ago. out of no where. Vet said to watch it and if he got anymore, he would prob need an anitbiotic. Could this be in conjunction with the immune defeciency?

I try to keep them in the shade but if they are out for longer than 20 minutes, I do use childrens 45 on them. Beau is white so he is very fair and will get red quickly.

Direct quote from OSU website " Limb amputation alone results in typical survival times of 3-4 months. Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy prolongs survival times to 12-18 months in most dogs. As of now, it appears that survival times in Greyhounds treated by amputation and conventional chemotherapy are somewhat shorter (8-12 months). " Unfortunately these are "averages" and as I had mentioned above, my Polli left us one day short of he 5 month anniversary of the amp but who knows how long she really had the cancer prior to the fracture. She was limping severely one year earlier on the same leg and the x-rays we did showed nothing. It was brewing all that time. Here is the whole page for your viewing. http://vet.osu.edu/2096.htm

So sorry to hear about your baby. What does OSU say? We opted for amp and chemo after our 9.5 year old tripped on the steps and severely fractured her left front. We had no options but to amputate or put her down right there. That wasn't an option. We didn't even have 5 months (1 day short of) when the cancer had spread very quickly to her lungs and we had to let her go. She went from being a crazy silly happy girl to within a week- gone. Wishing you the very best for you and Barney.

Once again vets differ in what they prefer. We had give one of the hounds pepto a few years back and she said, don't give that, give the pepcid. Who knows!? We already gave the pecid. We are not forcing the issue. Hopefully she will eat later. Unfortuately of all days for this to happen we have to go to my sister's 60th birthday dinner 1.5 hours away. We will be feeding them all earlier - if she still doesn't eat - we will try when we get home - about 8 pm.