greyhead

Just a couple ideas to add. If he hasn't had a thorough medical checkup, including complete bloodwork (and maybe a thyroid panel), you might consider doing so, if only to rule out a medical cause for his behavior. Things can change after a dog is neutered; change one hormone, it can affect the others. Second, is it possible to have a visit between him and his former foster at your house? It might be interesting to see if he perks up. I think some of these dogs get depressed when they've been shuffled from track kennel to adoption kennel, to foster home, to forever home, and they don't know when it's going to happen again! And all this amidst being neutered and not feeling quite like themselves. It may also reassure him and give him some sense of stability/security to find that people he has known/loved/trusted haven't disappeared entirely from his world.

I hope you'll share the MSU results with us when you get them.

{{{{ Hugs }}}} to you and Sophie. I'm so sorry! Tons of good thoughts for some very good days between now and then.

We've monitored T4 all along but decided to do a full panel when there was frequent whining, esp. at night. That's how we found the fT4 pretty high. The TSH was low too. But TSH can be wrong, while fT4 never lies as far as I know. So in answer to your question, I think a fT4 add-on to blood work is a good way to monitor when there's a question, and it costs about $85. Our Spencer did that defensive aggression thing too, among other symptoms, before we had him tested for thyroid years ago. It's disconcerting, to say the least. At least this time it was only whining!

Thanks, Diane, I'll probably do that too. The thing is, I know doxy is the preferred treatment in most cases. So I wondered if anyone here has used the alternatives for a greyhound. I know there are some greyhound people on the tick list, but not nearly as many as here! ETA: Thanks, Tracy, that's the kind of info I was hoping to get! ETA again: Well, except that it wasn't a greyhound.

We're going to treat Shane for Lyme. He's symptomatic, with IgG 1:64 reported in December. Nothing else we've tried has alleviated the symptoms, so now we're considering the options, which our vet as sketched out as follows: "doxycycline (100 mg tablets) 200 mg PO BID for 4 weeks OR Amoxicillin (500 mg) 1.5 tablets PO BID for 4 weeks, OR azithromycin 900 mg PO QD for 4 weeks. Doxy and Amoxy are much less expensive. Amoxi with probiotics probably the easiest on the gut." We already have a big bottle of doxy, from before (1.5 years ago), but it wasa bit hard on his stomach. We're already giving him sucralfate for morning inappetance now, Pepcid and Zantac both having failed. So do any of you have any experience or knowledge of treating Lyme with amoxicillin or azithromycin?

I'm so very sorry. Neither you nor Huck deserved this after all you've both been through.

Stomach acid? Sore gums? How old is she? Salmon can get to be too rich for some as they age. Wishing you luck!

I'm so sorry, Kyle. He was a sweet, beautiful, ever-blossoming boy and you gave him a truly enviable life. Godspeed Kyle.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your huge handsome houndie. He sounds amazing.

Funny you should bring this up. Wanted to rerun a Babesia canis titer for Shane yesterday along with some other stuff, and was quoted $175 for that alone! And it's just an IFA titer, not a PCR. It's through the Antech lab, but a vet explained that they probably send it to another lab, and everybody along the route takes their cut. But still!

I'm so sorry you lost your amazing Linus! (Since we were out of the country then, I probably didn't say so at the time.) What a character he must have been. And handsome too.

It's wonderful that your vet is that experienced and astute! Scritches to mister Magic and hopes that he feels better soonest.

Joslin's Harley, 4/15. Joslin is jurishound.

How about worms? Hookworms have teeth so are very uncomfortable for them. If hooks aren't native to Hawaii, the vets & techs may not recognize their eggs in a fecal. (That's what happened to Spencer when he first came to WA state.) I notice that Legs has been biting at himself for a while now, which is a behavior Spencer did too where the legs meet the trunk, along with snapping his head back toward his sides. Just a thought if nothing else turns up. Wishing good things for you and Legs!

Hope you and Magic get it sorted at the vet! We'll be looking for a good update.

Lots of good thoughts for Fuzzy and Idol! Glad you had a good vet on tap when you needed him.

I don't know the answer to your question about puppy food. But I thought I'd share, fwiw, that our Spencer (turns 12 in Nov.) has been hard to feed for a while now too, especially in the a.m. We have to let him wait until about 11 a.m., and then we have to get him started by hand-feeding a few morsels. This meal is raw ground venison, and we have to microwave it to just the right temp. The hypothesis, based on other things I've seen with him, is that his smeller doesn't work as well as it once did. Heating the food makes it more recognizable as food! So whatever you can do using what you're feeding, perhaps an additive of some kind (e.g., chicken broth, a sauce made with canned food and water, sardines, etc.) would help. After the first few morsels, Spencer goes ahead and finishes the bowl on his own. Good luck!

What a beautiful boy he was. You know him best, and I'm sure you did the right thing for him, as hard as it was. I'm so sorry there wasn't a way he could stay longer, and for your loss.

I'm so very, very sorry.

Good luck tomorrow, Jeff. Hope the vet can give Betty something that will help.

At some point you have to do anything you can to cool them off, ideal or not. I know the hose works when applied to the underside of the dog. Just keep the flow on the gentle side, and I really doubt that he'll mind at all. You'd probably have to change the towels too frequently for it to be pratical; I just mentioned that in case a hose wasn't available. Ideally, you'll avoid the heat with Indy. Even in Seattle we don't do noon walks in the summer. (For another thing, the sidewalk is too darn hot. They also cool themselves through their paws, so hot sidewalks are not helpful.) We go out in the early morning and late evening. Some days (fortunately, not too many) that means 7 a.m. to avoid the heat and way late at night since the sun doesn't set here until 10 p.m. in July. I'm afraid you folks in the East are headed for a really hot summer, so it's good you're getting this figured out now. If you avoid high heat and still it takes him a long time to stop panting, you might need to consider medical issues. (The first vet we consulted on this for Shane said, "Well, some dogs are just like that, same way some people just sweat a lot." A couple years later we tested and found Babesia. Later tested and found Lyme. And TBD tests don't cover every possible TBD, so sometimes you just throw doxy at the problem and see if anything good happens. Oh, and with TBD treatment, the overheating and excessive panting went away. We wished we'd caught it earlier.)

Sounds very excessive to me. I'd be checking for TBD's and other things. And I wouldn't go out if it's over 75 until I had it figured out. But that's just my approach, having had a TBD dog with heat issues. ETA: The one time we had an episode at a play group where our guy couldn't stop panting like a freight train, the adoption people hosed his tummy and paws down for a couple minutes. And then a rest in the barn. Can you hose Indy like that, or apply cool clothes to his belly?

Just wow. Way to much to deal with, and yet you will. Lots of prayers for Jack and your family.