greyhead

:grouphug I'm so sorry.

{{{Wabi}}}! Just seeing this, Xan. I can imagine how conflicted and anxious you must be feeling. I'll hold you and Wabi in my thoughts.

Whew! It's so good to hear good news! Keep up the good work!

You and Jacey are in our thoughts and prayers.

We're here and praying for you and Kelly. :hope

Benson was a truly shiny and gorgeous boy, just looking at his picture. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet him, and I'm very sorry for your loss. Run free, good boy, and find your friends.

I remember you and True too. I'm so sorry for the sudden loss of your girl. But I'm thankful along with you that she had a great life right up until the end.

I'm so sorry, Lisa.

Budesonide is a great alternative to pred for IBD. Budesonide targets the gut and doesn't have the broad systemic effects of pred. It also doesn't lead to muscle wasting and weight loss. The only side effect we experienced is fur loss. Spencer has been on it for a little over two years and we've been able to decrease the dose down to .5 mg every three days. It isn't cheap, but it's worth it. We started with 3 mg and worked our way down. We have it compounded at a pharmacy in AZ called Roadrunner. Let me know if you want the contact info. They are used to working with vets and ship fast and economically. (I think they overnight the first order with free shipping, IIRC.)

Oh dear, I don't even have words for how sorry I am.

I'm sure you're right.

My male dog has had UTI's, as have several others that have been discussed on GT. This seems a good time to get on my soapbox about docs who practice what I call demographic medicine. If something isn't "common" in a given population, the doc doesn't pursue it seriously. Well, it doesn't matter if it's common, to the one who actually has it! And amoxicillin is not a first-line drug for a UTI, as far as I know. Untreated or under-treated UTI's can easily lead to kidney problems, so I hope OSU or the other vet that was recommended to you can get a handle on the situation. (I spent the better part of the last year with a vet who treated my boy as if he were just incontinent, even after his urine cultured positive for E. coli repeatedly! Now he does have kidney trouble, despite kidney values that are greyhound normal). I'm so very sorry for what you and your boy have been through. You have certainly made every effort to get to the bottom of this!

Thanks for the update. Hope things continue to look better! If he regresses on the old food, you'll probably want to discontinue it pretty quickly, IMO. Let us know how it goes.

Sympathy to all who knew and loved Bernie.

Grain-free works very well for Spencer. Sweet potato seems an excellent substitute for him. Those tests you're running will help a lot, hopefully. Hugs to you both.

T4 drops an atom and turns into T3. When T4 is low, the level of T3 can increase. This has been demonstrated in humans, but I don't believe it has been studied in dogs. Since we're both mammals, it may be true for dogs too. In any case, T3 is the more biologically active of the two hormones; it's what actually gets the work done in the body. So if your dog's T4 has lowered, his energy may be higher because of possibly increased T3. I'm kind of a thyroid geek. I posted a link to an article that discussed the above in an H&M thread some months ago -- like December-ish. If you like reading really scholarly stuff, I can dig it out for you. I agree with the others that a 2-lb weight gain isn't super significant. But I'd keep an eye on things and retest later if the weight gain continues or he develops other symptoms. And although I'm fine with MSU thyroid panels, I don't have absolute faith in their interpretations for greyhounds. But there's no need to argue about that right now. I wish everyone were as observant as you are. The changes in your dog's response to feeding are worth noting. Makes me wonder if that cow hoof could have transmitted worms, other parasites, or bacteria that have upset his natural gut balance. One of our dogs has showed behavioral changes like yours after those sorts of exposures. (Just a coincidence, I'm sure, but ours was hypothyroid. Hope nobody flogs me for saying so.) So I think you'd be right to keep observing.

This wide spectrum of choices is almost funny! Anyhow, Spencer has done all three kinds of snapping, so maybe this will help: When it's playful snapping, he's looking right at me and stretching his legs toward me, usually lying on his side. When it's a bug, there's a bug. When it was a seizure, he wasn't looking at me and there wasn't a bug.

The only thing is, yogurt may be contraindicated for an IBD dog. The Ensure has internist approval, though. I agree about getting the regular formula rather than the Plus, etc. The other formulas are risky because they're too rich, apart from anything else, for an IBD dog.

Can you split the pill and give 250 mg. a.m. and p.m.? That'll help. If at all possible, give some food with it. We always wrap ours in a meatball (after putting it into a gel cap), since that's the only way Spencer will take it. (Well, unless we shove it down his throat, which we don't do often.) If you can get vanilla Ensure into him, that'll help too. And if all else fails, try giving it 20 minutes or so after giving a Pepcid or a Zantac. Spencer's not on Flagyl anymore. When he was, I'd skip a dose if he skipped a meal. Later I seem to recall the head vet tech telling me that it was okay to give it without food. I don't think skipping one pill will spell doom. But that's an advantage of dividing the dose -- he will only miss half his daily allotment if he goes ahead and eats later.

Keep watching and see if he does it again. If so, you might want to speak to your vet. When Spencer started doing that six years ago, the vet said they were small seizures. Along with his defensive "aggression" and lack of stamina for walking a half-mile, this led us to get him a full thyroid panel. He was hypothyroid, and all these problems cleared up as soon as we started the medicine. Not saying your dog is hypothyroid, just that this is what the air snapping meant for ours.

I'm so very sorry he had to leave. He had a great life with you. Godspeed Bandit.

Oh no, I'm so sorry! Godspeed Tess.

Thanks for sharing this beautiful tribute to your gorgeous girl. I'm so very sorry for the hole in your heart but glad for her wonderful life with you.

Seeing these pictures of stunningly gorgeous Brandee makes me sorry I've spent so much time in the H&M forum the past few years and very little in the fun forums where I would have met her sooner. I'm resolving to change that in the future, and I thank you and Brandee for that. I'm so very sorry she couldn't stay longer.

We were lucky, I think. Our vet had her own IBD dog at the time ours was diagnosed. All the rx foods have a lot of corn, and/or chicken, and/or rice, none of which our dog could have anymore. She understood that I didn't want to trust that "hydrolyzed" protein was going to be okay. (I've had bad experience with Hill's food for cats, long ago, and I will never forget it.) Anyhow, our dog's requirements were: 1) novel protein, 2) no rice or other grains, 3) very simple ingredients -- not lots of cranberries, spinach, etc. We found what we needed in the Natural Balance Limited Ingredients formulas. Several are made with sweet potato. While they aren't cheap, they're cheaper than the rx foods. I don't find it to be perfect, but we also feed raw for 50% of his food, so it works out. (By "not perfect" for us I mean too much fiber, not as completely digested as we'd prefer.) I say all this to illustrate that you do have choices outside the prescription foods, even if your vet isn't familiar with them. Lots of people in the Food or Health & Medical forums here on GT can help point you to them. But hopefully you'll observe what your dog can and can't handle and can research for things to fit the bill.