greyhead

So sorry to hear this. But we'll keep you and Gee tucked tightly in our hearts and prayers. Praying a little rest will give her strength, and then that nasty needle can be taken out.

I'm so sorry for your loss. But honestly, reading your heartfelt tribute, I confess to be beyond happy that you had each other, even if for a short time.

Good-bye to a most excellent greyhound.

Does he chew at his sides at all? Or jump suddenly for no apparent reason? Could be hookworm.

Your boy sounds symptomatic, and 1:320 is a high titer. We treated a symptomatic grey with a Babesia titer of 1:40 1:80 saw nothing but improvement in all the areas you mentioned. Up until then, he had been living a sub-optimal life, with the lameness, overheating, low stamina, urinary leakage, etc. Clearly then, I'd treat that titer! Another consideration is if your dog ever has to take an immunosuppressant such as prednisone, it will be a bad business if he has untreated Babesia! Edited to correct typo above.

The world is a less beautiful place to me without Bee Wiseman. I am so very sorry.

Lotsa prayers and good thoughts from here!

That's how Shane was before we found his TBD! I'd surely test Timo.

That's just the BEST!

Well, I should emphasize that the two weeks' rest was prescribed after the vet saw it, which was soon after we noticed it, which was apparently weeks after it actually happened. So in your case two weeks might be insufficient. ETA: Our GH group leader told me that if the gracilis tear had happened after we got him, we would have KNOWN it -- presumably, by the sound he made! But even if she was wrong about that, you'd think we'd have seen bruising, which we didn't. So we think it was maybe his career-ending injury.

Our first GH started pooping out after a half-mile at age 5, shortly after he arrived. For that and other reasons, we ran a thyroid panel and found him to be hypothyroid. After that he can easily do two miles even at age almost-11 and with lumbosacral stenosis. He'd do more if we let him. Our second GH had varying stamina and problems ranging from kidney issues to musculoskeletal issues to -- and this was critical to him -- Babesia. He still has the first two issues, but he's much better in the stamina department since TBD treatment, which also had involved overheating easily and slowness in recovering from exercise.

Shane came to us after his tear happened, and it took us a while to notice the muscle dropping and dropping, as they continue to do. At the point vet said no walks for two weeks, leash for outs.

I'd take her to a vet and demonstrate the problem using a towel. It sounds like it could be a hypersensitivity that a vet could address.

Hypothyroidism can cause muscle cramps and spasms. I know because I get them, usually in the wee hours of the morning. Here's an endocrinology link that discusses it: http://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/thyroid/hypothyroidism-too-little-thyroid-hormone Yeah, I know, this is about people, but... When dealing with a non-English-speaking species, I take my hints where I find them. So I thought I'd mention it.

Goodbye, gorgeous Dorie Greyhound.

I couldn't be more sorry, Chris.

We're using only CQ-10 for Shane's kidney problems, along with Royal Canin MP (medium protein) kibble. The K9 Kidney list ran a poll on CQ-10, and the results indicated that it works best for dogs whose creatinine is between 2 and 3. So far, so good.

Tomorrow is Dorie's birthday, right? She's gonna be 11!

Yay Dorie! Keep it up!

Amazing tribute. :grouphug

I'm so very sorry!

Just quickly, here's a link to Dr. Stack's page on greyhound blood values: http://www.greythealth.com/blood.html Btw, I've seen where high CK correlates with muscle loss. Since it's already clear there's been weight loss, maybe the vet isn't surprised to see the CK high. Hoping all the test arrangements can be set up to your satisfaction!

We've been feeding raw venison to our IBD greyhound for almost three years. In fact, venison is the only protein he can have. But the raw venison we get is commercially prepared by Primal Pet. We tried a batch of venison through a local raw-feeding group a few months ago, which we shared with another venison-only IBD dog, and it gave them diarrhea for whatever reason. The other owner suspects it wasn't really venison, and that that was the problem. I don't know. But if I were ever getting something non-commercial again, I'd ask a lot of questions about where it came from and how it was handled! But then it's a life-and-death thing for an IBD dog. If he weren't sick to start with, I might not worry quite as much. ETA: We gave some of our unused venison from the "bad" batch to a healthy boxer, and he had no problem with it whatsoever!

Chris, just a couple thoughts to share that may help. First, metro tastes vile, and that alone can produce nausea as well as lead to distaste for food for a while. We had to put Spencer's in gel caps (size 00), which we got at a health-food store. Nothing magic about the health food aspect, just that that's who had them. Now we just plant them in generously-formed meatballs made from canned food. Maybe you're already doing this, but I thought it was worth a mention. Second, the low B-vitamins from the malabsorption lead to neuro symptoms, like the confused wandering in the yard (as well as lowered appetite and difficulty with coordination). Spencer did this too. So I'd step up the B-12 injections. (He got his every day or two at the beginning, and the vet was fine with that when I asked about it.) Sorry that I don't know anything about using cyclosporin for this purpose, but I hope it does the trick. If Dorie gets through this, I hope your vet will reconsider budesonide. (My vet researched it and said, "Well, everybody ends up using it, so I think we should start there.") I've no doubt that we would have lost Spencer without it. Btw, I got a lot of support and good advice from tbhounds two years ago when Spencer was really struggling and the vet wasn't quite on the ball yet. I know she wouldn't mind your PM-ing her. Sending much love and prayers for strength, Mary

I don't want to add to your worries either, but kidney problems can be the result of TBD's. Your vet may not have diagnosed and treated them in WA (where we live too). If s/he were very familiar with them, s/he would have reacted to the word "Arizona." (We had trouble getting two vets to recognize hookworm in our first GH here, because hookworm didn't used to be in this state and they weren't expecting it. And the first vet even considered herself a greyhound vet! At that point it was more like an aspiration.) I wonder if you could post your dog's BUN and creatinine values from the bloodwork when it comes back, just so we can see how elevated they are. (Get a hard copy of the results if you can. It can be very educational.) We're managing our ex-TBD-dog's kidney issues with kidney food (Royal Canin Medium Protein) and SAM-e CQ-10 from Costco. It's working great too! Holding good thoughts for you and for tall, dark and handsome Ace! I know how stressful this can be. ETA: Not SAM-e, CQ-10! (We give SAM-e to our other dog for liver maintenance, and for some reason I get them confused sometimes.)