greyhead

Without knowing the test values and ranges, it's hard to know what "high" means for your dog. How high was the creatinine? I can tell you from experience that a BUN in normal range doesn't mean good kidneys if the creatinine is too high. (GH's can have higher creatinine than other breeds without being pathological, but even they have limits -- which tends to vary by individual and the nature of the kidney trouble.) Did they test for any other TBD's besides Lyme? Have you done a fecal for worms? That not-eating-early happens at our house when there is a worm resurgence. And there is grass-eating and feeling punky. Poop is not necessarily abnormal in appearance. You could also have a fecal culture, to see if there's a bacterial overgrowth. (Here the poop should show some abnormal appearance.) That's what we had to do a few years back, because none of the other testing showed it. (Well, in retrospect, the cobalamin/folate test that showed intestinal malabsorption indicated probable SIBO, but my vet didn't quite get it.)

Thanks, Pam! We're hopeful, and he is definitely happier and feels better, but the continued stumbling is of some concern. Thanks, Jey. I went out and got a DAP diffuser plus their spray. I don't know if that's why, but he has been doing fine since he recovered from that spell. He's able to sleep two floors below us instead of in our room for the first time in weeks! I don't know what else there is left to try of a medicinal nature. But he's seeing a neurologist on Thursday, so we'll ask about that along with everything else.

Due to LSS pain, hookworms, and insecurity, Shane has been having terrible anxiety at night. He was jumping up every 20 minutes, panting, pacing, etc. He had had a paradoxical reaction to Xanax previously, so this time we thought we'd try trazodone, since some people said their greys had done well on it. Well, not this one! He had *acute* panting/pacing/dis-ease from 10 pm to 4 am and then had to sleep the whole next day and didn't eat until 3:45! (The vet said she herself had a terrible reaction to it, including leg cramps and racing thoughts, but hadn't wanted to mention it because she didn't want to turn us off to trying it.)

We need to hear from people who have gotten Depo Medrol shots for their greyhounds. Shane got his first shot last Friday. How fast have you seen improvement? He clearly feels relatively fantastic compared to before the shot! But there's still some stumbling. (In fairness, Friday night was a nightmare due to a bad reaction to his first -- and last -- Trazodone. So Saturday he was sleeping most of the time, and it probably shouldn't count as a day in evaluating the effect of the shot!)

Eeesh, and it's 4th of July on Friday? I'd have trouble leaving too. If you feel like you should stay home, you probably should, and I hope no one pressures you about it. Good luck with the hookworm. We just gave three rounds of Panacur, which is stronger than Drontal, and he's much better. We gave the second round after 2 weeks and the third round 10 days after that; the 10 days was based on recommendation from a greyhound trainer. We learned that the very act of worming itself causes hookworms to start popping out eggs, and it induces encysted hookworms living in tissue to hatch, so that's the reason for the shortened time frame for redosing. Our dog was a wreck until we got this figured out, lost weight and muscle, etc. We were on the verge of getting the Strongid as Tracy recommended, but he seems fine now.

It sounds like a kidney problem, and with the low platelets it could be connected to a tick-borne disease. Have any tests been run for that? Improving thyroid function can help the kidney situation indirectly, by contributing to optimal blood flow through them (to carry out wastes). Not that that's how you treat kidneys, of course! I can provide citations from human medicine if you like.

Hoping it's not osteo and holding you in our thoughts.

Must have missed the humor in this, cuz I don't get it. Whether no detectable thyroid is okay for a greyhound depends, I'd say, on whether they are also symptomatic in some way, or do you disagree with that? I'll never forget Energy11's Goldie and her no-detectable-hormones. And as long as I do remember that, I'll keep popping up with a yeah-but.

You have been through a lot, and I just want you to know that I can feel your fatigue and your tremendous caring for your dog! (We haven't been sleeping well around our house for quite a while due to our GH's health, so....) I really hope things improve.

Yes, hypothyroidism can cause all kinds of things, including musculoskeletal pain/weakness. And it's such an easy fix, so it really pains me to know that people just blow right by a low thyroid finding and will test for everything else in the world without even trying to learn if their greyhound is one of the greyhounds who is truly hypothyroid. Please, do the panel, and don't be persuaded that *no* detectable thyroid hormone is okay for a greyhound.

There's nothing like beagle ears, especially when they are borne by a Gift from the Universe like Skeeter! I'm so very sorry for the loss of your dear old friend.

I'm curious why your vet stuck to Drontal for the hooks rather than Panacur. As my vet said, Drontal is theoretically a weaker treatment than Panacur. (This is very much in the front of my thoughts since we're dealing with hooks too. Even with the Panacur we've had to give extra treatments, but it's working finally.)

What a great dog! That was a lovely tribute too. I'm so sorry he had to leave, and so suddenly.

You can't imagine how elated I am to report that that information above is correct AND it has led to 95% symptom reduction in one day! We all slept through the night, with no episodes at all. Poor Shane has spent months with restlessness, panting (to the point of blue-grey tongue), and jumping up as if he'd been bitten by something. After one trip to the ER and two trips to specialists (an internist and a cardiologist, who recommended that a neurologist be the next step if pain meds didn't resolve the problem), we're retreating for worms and, voila! I am so praying that this continues in the right direction. He's too old for this cr*p! ETA: He does have significant pain from musculoskeletal problems, and the meds made a huge difference in that. But that was one thing, not all the things contributing to his distress.

I'm so very sorry for your loss, and that it was so sudden and shocking. It's a blessing that you were there with him. As others have said, he was too young. Nothing breaks at the Bridge, sweet Tractor.

Bless his heart and yours too. What a scary ride!

I can't seem to post clickable links on GT anymore (and haven't had time to figure out why). So here it is in the old fashioned way. From this site -- http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/hookworm-in-dogs -- I learned today that retreating for hooks in 3 weeks may not be soon enough. "Treatment should be repeated in one to two weeks, because the initial deworming activates encysted larvae and causes a new crop of adult worms to appear in 10 to 12 days." That's what seems to have happened with Shane, who was treated about 10 days ago. This gives me courage to go ahead and retreat now. He's really suffering. (Weird. It actually posted with a clickable link. Yay!)

Thanks so much for having the necropsy done and sharing the information with us. It's noteworthy that neither labs nor imaging had indicated a kidney issue of any significance. You did everything right, Judy. I hope that helps.

I'm terribly sorry.

I'm so very, very sorry for your loss, Claudia. You and Sarge fought the good fight, and he was a well-loved gangly boy. RIP Sarge.

Maybe Sara is saying that now she can go into grandma's and anywhere else she darn well pleases! Yes, I've had several dreams of Spencer since he left in March 2013, and I always enjoy them! Once when I was feeling poorly, I imagined that I was stretched out beside him with my arm draped over his side. Not only did it relax me enough to sleep, but he was in my dream too. Bonus!

I absolutely do remember your pit-bull fight, Ron, and was appropriately impressed! Just to elaborate what I said before, our Shane was having the same symptoms as your Leia. Like you, we thought some form of anxiety, be it from CCD, environmental, whatever. We even had a pest-control guy come out to see if we had carpenter ants in the walls! We were giving some pain meds, because we know he has pain issues, but I'd been backing off on them, for fear they were making him anxious. Finally, we saw a cardiologist and found that his heart is basically sound (although the vet had thought it a bit large), and he recommended we up the pain meds and add more. That has solved the problem. Also, melatonin helped get him correct his sleep/wake cycle back to normal over the course of a week, but after that it seemed to do more harm than good, so we stopped it, and all was well. Really, if the vet ultimately finds her heart is strong, I'd change tactics and try treating for pain -- even if the x-rays don't show the source -- rather than for anxiety or cognitive dysfunction. (Yes, I'm a psychologist by training, now retired.) Pain absolutely does create anxiety, especially in a being that can't tell anyone what's wrong, and each reinforces the other. Treating anxiety doesn't usually relieve pain, but treating pain relieves both pain and anxiety. That's the bottom line. And I hope it turns out to be just that simple. (And ruling out thyroid issues is never a bad idea.)

We had to limit protein sources in our IBD situation. But for extra calories we used vanilla Ensure, original formula (so it's not too rich). We started with 1/3 bottle per day, went to 1/2, and then 1/2 twice a day, going slow to make sure we didn't induce diarrhea. It's about 220 calories/bottle, 9 grams protein. That would help with the hydration too.

What a beautiful tribute to a well-loved girl! She had a fabulous life with you. I'm so very sorry she couldn't have stayed forever. Godspeed Dory.