greyhead

Wow, did Ollie gain a lot of weight too? Somehow I wouldn't expect that with alopecia.

Kelly boy, here's hoping it's just silly little stones that will be easy to treat once they're discovered!

I just ran the Petz Life gel and spray by Spencer's internist today. The gel just might upset his delicate, IBD digestive situation because it has salmon oil, and he reacts badly to salmon. However, she pointed out that the spray not only doesn't have salmon, it *does* have peppermint and ginger, both of which she says are excellent for his GI tract! So if any of you have dogs similar to Spencer, you may get a two-fer benefit by using the spray! ETA: Reading the label, I don't see that it has ginger, just peppermint. So I guess vet was saying to find a way to give him ginger too.

I agree that you shouldn't go the tough-love route when the issue is medical! If her liver is a problem, she needs milk thistle. It's not wise to do a lot of wait-and-see with the liver. So something like milk thistle that helps the liver will go further toward improving her appetite than changing foods will. On the other hand, do whatever you must to get her to eat, because not eating makes the liver worse. Vicious circle. Break it any way you can. Does your chiropractor not do acupuncture also? Ours does both, and acupuncture can do wonderful things for organ problems.

Lots of good thoughts for sweet Kelly!

Kerry, I PM'd you with a link to one of Spencer's IBD threads, relating to his ultrasound findings. For anyone else who's interested, here's the link: Spencer's ultrasound and particulary post #27. It reminded me about the "lymphangectasia" and "dilated lacteals" that the US found and which pointed to IBD, thus avoiding surgical biopsy when endoscopy wouldn't even work. I'm hoping Merlin's ultrasound at least showed what area of his intestines has the problem and am hoping to help Kerry ask her vet about it.

Well shoot, I would've mentioned budesonide if I thought you were this solid about the IBD possibility! I can't say enough good things about it. It suppesses the hyper immune response that hypes the inflammation. But unlike prednisone, it doesn't lead to muscle wasting, weight loss, increased drinking & peeing, etc. In short, it targets the gut for its effects rather than affecting the dog's entire body! The only down side is some loss of fur (legs, sides and chest for us). While it's not a cheap medicine, we found $40-ish dollars per month to be worth it to keep Spencer around! ETA: We inherited some pills from Xan's Happy, bless their hearts. After that we have it compounded at a pharmacy in AZ called Roadrunner that my vets have worked with and think well of.

Okay, I've reread all the pages now and remember we were all thrilled that the US ruled out lymphoma. But I'm sure that if IBD were involved, structural changes should have been observable in some part(s) of the intestines and/or stomach, specifically changes in the thickness of the intestinal and/or stomach walls and changes to the structures in the cell walls. If there was nothing like any of that, I'd doubt it was IBD. So does that leave HGE? or some kind of colitis? I don't know anything about what that would look like on ultrasound. But if this were me, I'd be questioning the vet more closely about what was and wasn't noticed on that ultrasound before agreeing to scoping. (We didn't scope Spencer because the equipment can't reach the places that the US revealed to be the places of inflammation! Only a surgical biopsy could have gotten to those, and we decided not to subject a dog his age to that when we already knew from the US that he had IBD and where!) So sorry things aren't coming together more nicely and faster! But don't underestimate the power of Tylan and of capsules! And if that doesn't do the trick, consider adding Flagyl (hidden in capsules) to the Tylan regimen.

Spencer takes both Flagyl and Tylan, each of which has to be put into a capsule and then wrapped in a meatball. I was surprised at how much Tylan helped, actually, though my first thought in Merlin's case was to be surprised that your vet discontinued the Flagyl and didn't just add the Tylan. I have felt, though, that sometimes Flagyl has put Spencer off his food. My DH, who has taken Flagyl, tells me that it really affects the taste of everything you eat, even with food eaten much later than the pill. So I've been known to give Spencer a day or two off from his Flagyl when his appetite has become iffy. Forgive me for forgetting, but has Merlin had an ultrasound? That how Spencer's IBD was diagnosed, and it was much cheaper than scoping or surgery, not to mention non-invasive. Oh wait, I remember now, that was inconclusive. Sorry. Lots of hope and good thoughts going out to you and Merlin!

That slideshow refreshed my spirit. Please don't ever take it down. What a beautiful dog, wonderful life, fabulous places, loving companions.

Lovely, lovely girl and pictures. I'm so sorry she couldn't stay longer. Her last years were surely well-lived and well-loved.

Now, that's what I call a study! Thanks very much.

Lots of prayers for Sarge and for you!

Well, it doesn't sound normal, for sure. Probably the most useful thing i can mention is that when Shane had his months-long UTI, the urine always looked good when visually inspected. That was the reason it took months and Shane becoming hard to rouse before a culture was done and showed the germs. And even then the urine still looked good. So I wouldn't be persuaded by the visuals on the urine, I'd be more swayed by the behavior. Sorry. Maybe someone else will happen along and give you a more optimistic interpretation! Hugs and scritches to sweet Kelly! P.S. I'll update Shane's old thread soon, as soon as I'm not feeling as lazy as I am now.

Welcome from Washington State! Titan looks like a gorgeous boy, there with cute little Molly! (Sounds like a perfect name for him too.)

Prayers you shall have. May I ask what her BUN and creatinine numbers are? And whether Dawn is on any kind of special kidney food?

Jeez, there's a lot of this going around! Best wishes for speedy recovery!

No advice, just lots of good wishes for you and Legs! (Spencer has been on Flagyl for 2.5 years, sometimes at a higher dose, sometimes a lower one, but it's for IBD so not the same as HGE. But maybe, now that I think of it, you and your vet could plan to give more Flagyl for x days and then taper off on a lower dose for a little longer, just to ease him on his way?)

It's such a beautiful thing that you and lovely Greta found each other and loved each other so. I'm very sorry she had to leave.

{{{{Johanne}}}} We didn't mean to make you feel bad. You are clearly a fine and caring dog-mom! When most of us come to GT with situations, our implicit question, whether we say it this way or not, is "What would you do if you were me?" So often when we answer, that's what we're offering. YMMV, as they say. The fact that you may not have the best vets around you is a complicating factor. But you're not the Lone Ranger in that. (I myself recently had to sneak around behind my vet's back to see an internist because she and I vehemently disagreed on whether one of my dogs had a primary UTI or primary incontinence.) Maybe some of the ON peeps can suggest a better vet. Maybe on the Health and Medical forum there are more people who would recognize what this constellation of symptoms means and can share with you the experience of their dogs. Often we take that kind of input to our vets, and it leads to better treatment, especially because greyhounds are so different from other dogs in so many ways. I think vets that don't see much of the breed have problems diagnosing them because they're so stoical in their presentation that they don't reveal as much in exams as most breeds do. If they're not gonna say Ouch...you know. Please don't take this as a criticism of you! But I'm a little skeptical about the vet's telling you that Kasey just had an atypical reaction to pred, especially since you've expressed such disappointment in the vets you've seen. And I'd say that just because Kasey turned out okay last time he had this reaction on pred, it doesn't mean it's normal for him and that he'll come out okay this time. We have *all* at one time or another used that reasoning! Some of us have had cause to regret it. As one of *those* people, I'm just sharing that with you, with the best intentions, and with the hope that everything is going to be fine. It's just that a lot of us have had a bad experience with the symptoms you've mentioned, and we don't want you to have one too. You've come to the right place (GT) with your concerns. Some of us have more of a taste for argument, discussion, or disagreement than others, and some are less tactful in their wording, especially sometimes those who pride themselves on their concise replies. Which would obviously not be me. And you know what can happen when words are typed rather than spoken. So I hope you'll find a way to get comfy with the culture of GT and stay with us and let us help because, I promise you, we do care very much about Kasey and about you.

Tracy, I'm so sorry. She was a very special girl.

That's one big, handsome boy. So sorry he couldn't stay forever and ever.

Me too. I'd pay a lot of money for anything that could have kept Spencer from getting a seemingly permanent case of hooks. We use Interceptor too, and it keeps Shane hook-free and keeps Spencer's from getting worse. We still have to dose Spencer with Drontal two or three times a year, as the ones encysted in his body hatch. And if as Batmom says hooks are everywhere... Well, that tears it for me!

If you're absolutely sure that there's nothing still driven up into the tissue where it's hard to see, do you know your vet well enough to call and get something for the pain? Here I have an e-vet that will listen to a situation over the phone and tell me whether to bring a dog in or what to do at home instead, but that seems to be an unusual practice. But if they've seen the dog previously for something else, they might do it because at least they have some history in a file/computer to refer to. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you except that it doesn't sound trivial and I hope it gets all better fast!

At the risk of being a bother, I'm confused. Why would pred lead him to having trouble peeing? Doesn't pred generally make them pee more, and quite freely? Walking really slowly and looking faint sound more serious than allergy to me. I guess all that is suggesting urinary trouble and maybe infection to me. And adding shortness of breath to those things makes me kind of concerned. Neither Pepto nor Gas-X should have hurt him in any way. ETA: Looking back at all the symptoms he's had for 24+ hours, I wonder about even worse things, like organ difficulty. Maybe I'm a worry-wart, but I'd be running this past my vet as soon as I could. Or maybe at least shift this over to H&M to get other people's take on it.