greyhead

Let's hear it for arthritis! Great news, hon!

If there's still a lot of puss, might your little friend need an antibiotic? Sounds bad... Gotta ask, how do PDs and greys do together?

I'm so sorry!

This does sound harsh. Lots of good thoughts and prayers from us! :hope :hope

Adrianne, your tribute makes it entirely clear why Wilbur was -- is -- beyond special. A book doubtless would be needed to cover him, as you said, but the pictures went a long way in that direction. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for your loss.

I'm so very sorry, hon. You've had multiple tough losses and I know from experience how hard that can be. Please take good care of yourself. (And while this might not be the time or place to say this, I have to add that I'm very glad that your ex is your ex and hope you are too!)

Run free, lovely Sally. I'm so sorry for your loss.

You might want to check his heart rate, which you can do with your own hand and a clock with a second hand. Our Shane was behaving the exact same way as your boy a few weeks ago, and with a heart rate of 180. (If you wait for vet to measure it, they'll assume some of it is just due to going to the vet.) A grey's resting rate should be 55-65 or thereabouts. A high rate gets dangerous. the vets did decide it was a pain issue, though they couldn't locate the source. Five days of a generic muscle relaxer and complete rest did the trick.

Just to send you hugs and say that we went through a really long bout of SIBO here, possibly brought on by cephalexin after a dental. Wouldn't have been so bad if we'd caught it sooner and realized that long-term soft-serve yellow poops are not normal for greyhounds! Just keep an eye out that the intestines don't get out of balance from all the anti-b's. It will pass, hon, but it might wear you out for awhile. Sometimes this stuff happens despite people's bests efforts. You're doing everything you can. Try to take care of yourselves, you and DH, and remember you're on the same team. Catch yourselves when you're snappish, take a deep breath, exhale, and apologize. And don't forget to love on Gunny when she'll let you. (I had to work a bit to find times to just be with and be gentle with our Spencer, to reassure him that my presence didn't always mean getting a pill pushed down his throat!) :grouphug

Nobody wanted or expected such an outcome, Adrianne, but it was good of you to let us know. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this painful time. Please take comfort in the love you and Wilbur gave to one another. :grouphug

Well jeez. Sending hugs, scritches, and repeated chanting of Batmon's excellent prayer!

We were so relieved when Annie was rescued! And it's wonderful she had more time with her family, though it's never enough. Please give them our condolences.

Shadow did have a nasty fall, didn't he! Based on my experience of myself, age is definitely a factor in healing time from this kind of injury. And we're having similar problems with our 7 y/o grey. Don't let him overdue it even if he seems to want to.

Definitely pictures! And welcome to GT!

Of course it will work! (Chant) Of course it will work! Good luck, Ann and Cutie.

This is a beautiful tribute to your amazing girl. It can only feel like a tremendous loss. Thank you for sharing this.

Okay, now I'm really curious! Good idea about the runner for the kitchen floor. That's the only way we get our greys out the door, and they don't even have leg troubles! Glad you're feeling better!

Any chance he watches Animal Planet while you're out and has seen scary dogs there?

Hurray for the soup! For a few years we had a cat with CRF, chronic renal failure. That's a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs. My vet at the time said that when you're on a down swing and worried, "Put on an Emmy performance if you have to! Just don't tell the cat!" That strategy worked well for us and the cat lived years longer than expected. If you're like me, you'll be challenged to be an actress at all, much less an Emmy-level one! But love is a strong motivator. And you clearly have lots of that!

Inactivity for this long is bound to lead to muscle atrophy, I would think, as well as something like depression. If so, there's nothing to test. Maybe extra efforts to engage him -- soft petting, stuffy teasing, playful conversation -- would help with the light in his eyes? Not to imply that you're not engaging him, of course. Just that it's tempting to give recuperating critters more space and privacy than Wilbur may need at this point. More frequent small meals is a good suggestion too, I think. Please don't despair.

More hugs

Someone will pop up here soon to tell you about surgery, I hope. Meanwhile, I'll just share that our LS dog was diagnosed a year and a half ago and has been doing very well with monthly acupuncture & chiropractic. It's delivered by a sports-rehab vet with holistic inclinations who used to be a full-service vet. She is fully certified in both acupuncture and chiropractic. You can find certified vets like this with an Internet search, and I'd be glad to help you if you wish. There are lots of people on GT who also treat this way. Our thoughts are with you. Hang in there.

I'm so sorry for your loss. You loved her very much and put her needs before you own. If you feel like talking about it, we love to hear whatever people choose to share about what their beloved hound was like.

My impression from Xan is that it takes a bit of time to get it from Canada, Robin. I'd be happy to express you somme to tide you over, but all I have now is the 3 mg strength, which we split to give him 1-1/2 mg now. If you're going for the 2 mg, Roadrunner will be just as fast as I could be. Your vet not being on their list probably just means s/he hasn't dealt with them before. Getting on the list is probably as simple as phoning/faxing the rx. (But my vet had already dealt with them, so I dont really know if it's a big deal or not.) Just PM me if there's anything I can do. I OWE you one anyhow!

I like the Zoom Groom for cats. The rubber is a little more yielding than the one for dogs, so it's more gentle for greys.