silverfish

Viyo is expensive over here. To add that into their diet would add nearly £10 a week onto our dog food bill. My DIL is Irish. She often jokes that that's why she loves potatoes so much!

Has something changed in your neighbourhood? construction work going on, new dogs within earshot, any kind of extra activity? It sounds as if something has changed for the dogs and you need to figure it out. Try the Adaptil diffuser and see if that helps.

Yes, Jan - he did get one or two, bless him. Sid had two to Jeffie's ten, in tiny pieces. He loved them, too! We have to do this already. Jeffie has two thirds of the meat stew and a cup and a quarter of kibble (when he's eating properly) and Sid has one third meat stew and three quarters of a cup of kibble at each meal.

If she's had a thorough vet check and seems fine, it may be the heat (which tends to affect them more as they age). I'd expect that if she had parasites she'd be hungry and losing weight, not simply off her food, but there may still be something ... If she continues to lose at this rate, you'll need to go back to the vet and ask for more investigation. However. If she really is fine, just lacking appetite, there are various things you can try. We use sardines, mackerel, and pilchards all the time with no problem. They've had herring and tuna, too. The thing about pancreatitis is that there are SOME dogs who are extremely prone to it and you have to take a lot of care with fats in the diet of those dogs. If your dog has no history of pancreatitis, go ahead and try them. You should perhaps start with a small quantity and work up because, as with any new food, especially an oily new food, they can get diarrhoea. The fats which are truly bad for pancreatitis dogs are cooked animal fats. Fish oils and vegetable oils tend to be better tolerated though with a dog who is really prone to this, caution is advised. If the vet tech told you that sardines were generally bad for dogs ... well, I don't know where they got that from! We have been feeding sardines to our dogs since our first - in the nineties. Oh, I nearly forgot. I tried Satin Balls today for the first time with Jeffie because he's a skinny senior and has been losing weight, too. He loved them - and he always refuses raw meat! There is a separate post about them, with a recipe.

Good luck with it - I hope Jackie Chan like it, too!

Satin Balls were invented by someone whose boxer needed to put on weight. She did her research and had her recipe checked by vets and labs, apparently, and it's become a pretty standard recipe which can be fed as a complete diet and is excellent for seniors who are dropping weight through age or dogs who are recuperating from illness etc. This is the recipe I used: 1 pound cheap hamburger (for high fat %) 1 1/3 cups Total cereal 1 1/2 cups uncooked oatmeal 1 raw egg 6 tablespoons wheat germ 1 package Knox unflavored gelatin 2 tablespoons oil 2 tablespoons unsulphured molasses Pinch of salt I used this one because it's a cut-down version, quantity-wise, and I really didn't think Jeffie would eat them, so I wanted to make a small amount first. I used EV olive oil, and had to substitute a plain unsweetened cereal for Total because it isn't sold here in the UK. Long term, if I were feeding this continually, I'd have to add in a vitamin/mineral supplement because apparently Total has all that in it. I'm surprised you can't find a post, though - Satin Balls come up on Greytalk quite a lot!

I've just made Satin Balls for the first time for Jeffie, and Jeffie (the 'Good grief, that meat is RAW! Please take it away and don't bring it back until it's cooked' dog) has just eaten 10 of them! He viewed the first with great suspicion, but took a tentative lick, looked away, came back and licked it again, put it in his mouth, looked as if he was going to spit it out, changed his mind and started chewing .. swallowed it and licked the plate and then looked expectantly at me. I don't think he'd have eaten so many if I hadn't hand fed him, but I've been very concerned with his weight loss recently, so I'm really pleased he is eating these. Knowing Jeffie, he may well refuse them tomorrow, but if he'll eat them now and then (even if I have to dry-fry the darned things) this is going to help, I think! Now. How do I stop Sid the Podge from getting jealous?

Unfortunately, these collars do inflict pain and can inflict injury when used wrongly. As I have said earlier, I accept that there is a time and a place for using them, and sled dogs who lunge after squirrels while the owner is pregnant is probably a good example of when they can be useful - especially since they are one of the tough, thick-furred breeds. I get that working sled dogs can be a very difficult proposition when walked in a suburban setting with small ill-mannered dogs around, and I see that was a difficult situation for you. I'd still say that long term, training the dogs properly is a better alternative, though. JMHO. However. A greyhound with that thin skin, low-hair coat, and long neck? No way. To me, it seems like putting a shire horse harness on a thoroughbred racehorse and expecting it not to cause problems. Apart from which, what happens when a greyhound in a pinch/prong collar decides to lunge after a squirrel or a cat? Torn skin? Severe bruising? Fractured larynx or neck injury maybe? I shudder to think. I do know that if I were the one using a pinch/prong collar on a trainer's advice and something like that happened to my beloved dog I'd be absolutely devastated and would probably never get over the guilt.

True of Jeffie too. We have him on the puppy kibble mixed with meat at the moment, but he still picks out the meat first and often leaves a lot of the kibble.

How did the vet test them? Did he do the skin scrape and hair sample, or just the blacklight? I ask because I was convinced that Sid had it last year and my vet told me that he'd be very surprised because dogs almost never got ringworm - cats, yes, but not dogs. It's not impossible of course. I got them to do the scrape and lab test it anyway and it came back negative. I watched the person do the scrape and she did do it properly, from several sites and went deep enough to get blood and included hair and scabs from the edges of the lesions but nope. No ringworm, even though to me it looked classic. If you don't have cats as well, is it possible that your dogs picked up debris from the kennel? If it was just the blacklight test, try bathing them and testing again. Of course, if it was the proper skin scrape then you do have dogs with ringworm. If they do genuinely have ringworm, then I do know that there are two antifungals you shouldn't use: terbinafine and griseofulvin (and they may not be the only ones). But there are alternatives, so tell the vet and get them to prescribe something safe - perhaps you could check also with your doctor?

It's so hard to see them age. I agree with GeorgeofNE in that there's probably not a lot you can do, though a vet visit is always a good start for geriatric blood panel etc. There are threads already on here about seniors losing weight and the difficulty of keeping it on some of them. There are threads about weak back ends. There are threads about doggie Alzheimers and incontinence. I'm not sure anyone has the answers, but If you have access to a specialist in canine geriatric medicine you might try that route. I'd be reluctant to put a 14 yr old through much in the way of invasive procedures though. Once you've ruled out the obvious medical problems, I think half the battle is managing pain and weight. The bottom line (for me) is this: what is the answer to the question 'is she enjoying life?' and I think that once they reach 13-14 years old, it's a question that needs to be asked almost on a daily basis.

This was my thought. I mean, I don't care for them on any dog and I don't think they're at all suited for permanent use, but on a really strong, high-discomfort/pain threshold dog with a good layer of subQ fat and a nice thick coat they'd be an entirely different proposition than on a sighthound. No subcutaneous fat, thin skin and low hair makes them 100% unsuitable for a greyhound in my opinion. Even with the rubber tips - that might prevent them from tearing the skin, but there would almost certainly be bruising, unless the owner was extremely skillful in using it - and if it's possible to use it so that it never 'grabs' the dog and gives the correction, why are you even using it?

Unfortunately, counter-conditioning doesn't work for all of them. I have spent much time trying, with previous dogs, but as I said, with Jim no amount of tasty food treats would induce him to set one foot on the floor. He would honestly have starved - and if he had tried, he'd have injured himself again and for what? Yes, the world is full of slippery floors, but mostly not in the places I want to go with my dog. Sid, who is a registered therapy dog and a tripod, used to wear Pawz rubber boots on his hospital visits. There ARE ways round it. And I don't want my dogs injured just to try to make them walk on floors that scare them. I see no point to it.

Yes, please use some rubber backed mats. Chances are she slipped and hurt/scared herself while you were out and that's why she's behaving like this. Some can be persuaded to get over it, but most (it seems) can't. The trouble is that once they've slipped and become nervous, they tend to walk on in such a tense way that they are practically walking on their nails and much more likely to do it again. Our first greyhound did this, and injured his tensor fascia lata very badly. The referral centre said it's a muscle injury they only ever see in greyhounds, and there wasn't much they could do about it, the op to repair it only having a 50-50 chance of success. Since he was an older dog and very nervous, we chose not to put him through it. Always after that he refused to walk on anything that looked slippery - one time I put a plate of warm turkey slices a yard inside the slippy room and he wouldn't go and get it. He danced on the threshold and moaned in frustration but would not set one foot onto the Evil Floor. Since then most of our dogs have experienced the slippy floor syndrome - we have rubber backed mats everywhere, but eventually someone will get over-confident and slip on the uncarpeted bit, and then will never again set foot on it.

Yes, we do, with Jeffie (12). It's such a battle to keep enough meat on his old bones to keep him from being skeletal instead of just thin. He has no parasites, his bloodwork is fine and he's just finished a month-long course of doxycycline for a potential chest infection. He does have some thickening of the bronchial tubes, but after a long course of antibiotics I can't think it's infection - the other possibility was senior dog 'airway syndrome'. He also has a very small question mark over his heart function - they did ECG (read by a consultant), x-ray, etc and the only thing that came back 'off' was this lack of certainty over his cardiac enzymes. It wasn't even 'we think' it was 'we can't be sure'. He also has something going on with his back end which may or may not be and LS type issue. He's on anti-inflammatories for that. Jeffie, too, eats what he wants. I cook a stew as add-in and he's now on Almo Nature Holistic puppy kibble which he really likes. I've tried reducing his protein but his weight drops frighteningly fast so he's back on high protein. The simply fact is that as he ages he's losing muscle. He has a tiny bit of a 'soft' chest (the 'boob' syndrome ) but the rest of him is pathetic. We've switched several of our seniors onto puppy food as they became 'senior' seniors. Some of them do just seem to need the extra calories. We haven't had any issues with that. I've tried offering him a third meal but he usually turns his nose up at it. It's a thought, but not in Jeffie's case. His poop is perfect; brown, dryish, small and firm. With absorption issues you usually get foul-smelling and often light-coloured and/or greasy poop.

I agree with every word of this. So sorry to hear about your girl, KF. It would be one of my fears. Again, I agree. In fact, two of our dogs were diagnosed with inoperable cancer and we chose not to bring them home again. I only wish that I had known sooner for both of them so that I could have spared them some suffering.

Yes, I can see a case for using one as a training tool in that case. Well, exactly. It's the way I'd go; bloodwork, thorough exam by a grey-savvy vet, check things like 'is the pavement too hot' and 'are we going too far', and then it's down to gentle, understanding persuasion, and slow conditioning IMHO. My lovely Renie statued when we first got her, so did Jeffie. These two dogs were/are very, very nervous and unsure because they were new to me and the sights and sounds in my area. Both were/are gentle, sensitive souls. If I'd known no better and had a trainer tell me to use a prong collar ... well, I think it would have caused so much silent suffering for Renie, and I doubt she'd have become confident enough to become the great therapy dog that she was. Actually, of course, they wouldn't register a dog on a prong collar - she wouldn't even have got into the assessment room wearing one. And Jeffie would almost certainly have started biting me through fear and stress and then who knows? Poor little guy might even have paid for that with his life in the wrong home. It makes me sad and stressed just thinking about a greyhound in one of these things. Um, yes. I was absolutely shocked that a trainer would suggest it. I can only hope s/he is not of the Cesar Milan school of thought - it brings Baby Girl back to mind and I'd really rather forget the torture that she went through for nothing. If you haven't heard of Cesar Milan and Baby Girl the greyhound, trust me, you don't want to hear it.

I'm afraid so, Sambuca. Recommended by a trainer, no less.

This latest instance isn't even about pulling, Jey, it's about a greyhound statuing or lying down on walks.

It seems to me that 'pinch collars' are basically the same as 'prong collars' - is that correct? If not, what is the difference? I find the whole concept of using pain as a training tool bewildering and disturbing, but it seems there are still trainers around promoting the use of these things, even for greyhounds. I have no experience of either pinch collars or prong collars (other than the one time someone came into the vet where I worked with their dog in a prong collar and were taken aside by the senior vet and given a talking to), so tell me; is there a difference and would you call a pinch collar acceptable? I personally have quite strong views on the matter, but it is possible that the 'pinch collar' is kinder. What do GT's trainers say?

Poor Laci. Sounds as if she really sliced herself there. I hope she heals fast. Do they not want you to continue with a dressing on it at all? That seems most unusual. Sid had a small accident and partially de-gloved the upper part of a toe and they kept it wrapped for several days and then asked me to cover it when he went out if it was wet. On the bottom of the foot I'd have thought that it was even more important to protect it.

Barb - Please, please PLEASE do not use a pinch collar with a greyhound!! I can't say this strongly enough. If a trainer told you to do this, get another trainer, ASAP. Greyhound necks are delicate, and greyhound skin is thin and tears really, really easily. They bruise easily too. What's more, if you hurt him (which it will, I promise you, whatever the trainer said) it can cause all kinds of behavioural issues which can take a very long time to resolve. These are sensitive dogs. What's more, it will mask the real issue; there is a reason he is doing this. It may be that he's new and overwhelmed with his new world and that being so, being forced along with a very negative and painful training 'tool' is simply not going to help - it's going to make things a lot worse. Oh, it may appear to help at first, but that's the trouble with these darned things. Greyhounds are very eager to please, and try hard to be adaptable. If he's baulking and lying down on walks, there is a reason he's doing it! Far better to work on that than take a short cut like this which will end up putting a huge roadblock in the way of your developing relationship with him.

Good to hear she's feeling a bit better! I was imagining a whole yardful of concrete slabs, but even so, I guess hitting a short stretch of concrete at full speed and then turning on it could potentially cause problems. Hopefully it's nothing worse than a sprain or sore muscles.

Yep - I agree with the others. Take her to the vet and let them know what you've given her in the way of meds. Cover it with gauze/soft bandage and vet wrap if you have it (first aid 'Elastoplast' type tape if you don't), but I wouldn't add the plastic bag, not if it's hot where you are. Wounds sweat horribly inside plastic and it encourages the growth of bacteria.

I don't know how old your Sidney is, but it doesn't do any harm to get a check up, especially with an older dog. However, many dogs do go off their food in the warmer weather. They simply don't feel like eating because they don't need the calories - they don't have to keep themselves warm, and they're not running about so much. Even my Sidney is not eating breakfast and he's a real pig at the trough usually!