GeorgeofNE

I have a breakfast bar in my kitchen that is too tall even for a Greyhound to casually sniff. Yes, I imagine he COULD get it if he really tried, but my dog never has. It's easy enough to get a baby gate that either comes with a cat sized hole in it, or you can cut one if you get the kind of gate with mesh in the main gate area. Or you can mount a baby gate up off the floor about six inchs so the cat can easily get under it, but the dog cannot.

I would cut out the rice and most certainly the milk. There is no reason to give a dog milk and many dogs cannot digest dairy--so while the rice MIGHT firm him up (pumpkin or Metamucil works better), the milk could give him diarrhea.

He's never heard the word "no"? Perhaps he's also never heard the word "stay." He's walking all over you. Some basic obedience training is what you need, not "restraining techniques."

Tramadol would be an excellent thing to try.

George makes 10x more noise when he is asleep than he does awake! He runs, growls, yips, barks, and wags his tail madly! Have you tried leaving her out of the crate?

Please don't beat yourself up. My FATHER, who has Alzheimer's and is not able to express anything rational, had a UTI that was so bad he had to spend two days in the hospital.

Around here, they typically start the dog or cat on antibiotics a few days BEFORE the dental and continuing for a week or so after. Your hound does not need pain mess if there are no extractions.

Angell?? Angell Memorial in Jamaica Plain is one of the best veterinary hospitals in the country. It is certainly the gold standard in Massachusetts. Not sure you need a specialist, sounds like she needs to be sedated. Poor thing. Must be awful for her. Oh, you can check out Angell at www.mspca.org

I used to live in So. Cal., and we had a really bad problem with a dog paw and a fox tail-- As to the cat/kitten/dog-- You can't assume a kitten is going to "bond" with a dog more easily than a cat. Some cats LOVE dogs. Some don't. And some dogs that are perfectly fine with cats get too worked up over kittens. You can understand that to a dog, there's a big difference between the quiet comings and goings of an adult cat, and the spastic nature of a kitten. If you've never had a dog before, I think it would be really pushing it to attempt a dog AND a cat right away. I will probably be flamed up the wazoo for saying this, but Greyhounds are unique, and not for everyone. You've already stated you're not willing to have to put in the time to deal with SA. Well, how about housebreaking an adult dog? Teaching it about windows, mirrors, shiny floors, the ceiling fan. All of these things are foreign to most Greyhounds. You can't expect to bring in a Greyhound and head off to work on Monday morning and have it standing around wagging it's tail happy to see you 9 hours later right away. Please be TOTALLY honest with whatever adoption group you choose to work with. And be prepared to wait a while for a dog that is as easy going as the one you're going to need. Good luck!

My guess is that she doesn't NEED Soloxine. Very few Greyhounds really have a thyroid "problem" even if their numbers are off, or "abnormal" when considering another breed of dog. Absent any of the COMMON symptoms of thyroid problems (hair/skin issues, weight issues) it's really more likely than not she doesn't need the drug. There is a very informative article on this very issue on the OSU web site in the Greyhound Health and Wellness area. You might consider printing it and giving it to your vet.

Marc, what a beautiful tribute. And Pat, what a good friend. I will always remember Nadia, as George's first virtual girlfriend. They had such a lovely time together on their "trips." Bless you for letting her go before she suffered for too long. That's a wonderful gift. Hugs, Susan and George

Deb and John-- I'm not sure I've ever heard this full story. What a lucky little girl Maxi was to find you. I am SO sorry. Run free little Maxi. You were loved. Susan

I never buy any of those things from the vet--they charge way too much. I used glucosamine for over a year on my last dog and found it was useless. I'm an arthritis sufferer myself, and my doctors do not believe it offers any benefit. I don't think it does any HARM, but it can be expensive, and while some people swear by the stuff, there is little scientific evidence it really works. Omega fatty acids (in the form of fish oil), on the other hand, are good for us and for our dogs! They've helped George's skin a lot. I use Grizzly Salmon oil that I get on Amazon.com

George has a PROBABLE diagnosis of LS. Prior to this (trip to a specialist) the vet put him on the NSAID because he was having some trouble getting up the stairs. He now also takes Gabapentin (100 mg) once a day. I give him the 50 mg Deramaxx in the morning with his breakfast, and the Gabapentin at night. Since starting this regime, I have noticed he is SIGNIFICANTLY less grumpy. He has bad days, and on those days he gets a Tramadol. There is nothing to share in terms of lab results. As I said, they are all normal (well, normal Greyhound--although his creatinine is a little high, even for a Greyhound, but since it is always high, and nothing else is off, Dr. Couto said it is safe to assume it's George normal!). Normal ultra sound. Normal everything. Positive response to the manual test for LS. Suspicious spinal x-rays showing a narrowing of his spinal column in the lower lumbar region.

I'm just guessing that Buzzy is referring to my dog. It did indeed SEEM as if long term antibiotics "cured" his persistent pee problem. In retrospect, his peeing stopped when he was put on an NSAID for aches and pains. When he started his peeing again two years later, I put him back on antibiotics, thinking that they had been the answer. Only after a very depressing 10 or 11 months of failure did I realize that his pee problem started up again almost the day my new vet changed his NSAID dose from 50 mg. to 35 mg. Since we returned him to 50 mg., he has not had a single accident. I cannot tell you how much money I have spent trying to figure out WHY. At this point, I don't care why. I'm just happy he can now hold it! Use of NSAIDs on a regular basis requires regular monitoring of the blood to make sure the liver function isn't being compromised, but I'm more than happy to deal with that versus having my dog in a belly band every day. He has never had a single thing found in his urine--no blood, crystals, bacteria. His specific gravity is normal every time. He had an ultrasound. His bladder and all other organs are normal, and in the proper places. There is NOTHING wrong--but when the vet told me it was behavioral, I just knew she was wrong, and I insisted we continue to try different things. It was really quite an accident that we found the answer was an NSAID. Disclaimer: there is no reason to believe this would help anyone else's dog. This is just my experience.

Bored. To keep the peace, I'd get your kids into the habit of closing their doors, or you could put gates up to keep him out of those rooms. Try and find a way to give him some speciall attention -- something new maybe. Could you take him for a 15 minute leash walk on those days your schedule has changed?

What the others have said. Stop stressing over it, first of all. You're really rewarding his picky habits. I have no idea how one punishes a dog for not eating--but forget about that. I had a mixed breed dog once, and he was a very sick puppy, so I had gotten into the habit of feeding him whatever he wanted. Once he was healthy, I realized I had to knock it off unless I wanted to spend the rest of his life handfeeding him, so I started with the 15 minutes with the meal, and take it away. Took two days, and then I had a normal eater again, and in 12 years he never reverted.

All of what Jey said is true. Listen to her. I love me some good fried chicken liver byproducts.... Jay and Pam know what they're talking about. We have to remember something; dogs are NOT furry toddlers. What is "crap" and disgusting to a person is not to an animal. Anyone who has seen their dog happily eat a dead animal or a pile of poop understands this. Obsessing over food is a relatively new trend. If your dog likes the food, if he looks good on it, if his weight is stable, and his output is good--then the food works for him.

Probably just a tendon moving around. If it isn't bothering him, I wouldn't worry about it myself!

Stomp your feet to alert him to your approach. He will feel the vibrations through the floor. Deaf dogs can do just fine; we had one that was deaf as a post when I was a child. He lived to be 15, and being deaf didn't seem to bother him a bit!

It may not make you feel better, but a heart murmer diagnose can be very subjective. I was told my last dog had a serious problem requiring all sorts of testing--and a few days later a different vet laughed out loud at that assessment. Told me my dog had one of the strongest heartbeats he'd ever heard and suggested the previous vet might need a new stethoscope.

You've already got the advice you need--work on alone training. I just wanted you to know you CAN beat this! My dog had pretty bad SA when I got him, and he's just fine now. Hang in there. Are you confining him? That drove my dog nuts. As soon as I gave him free access to my condo, he stopped the howling.

It's not "bad behavior" if he had to poop and no one was there to let him out. "Scolding" him is only teaching him that you are unpredictable,and sometimes when you come home, you're mean. Don't waste your time correcting him unless you catch him in the act. Then just tell him no, and get him outside quickly. Suggest you have him checked for a UTI, and then if that's clear, start from scratch and take him out on a leash on a very regular schedule until he gets it. You can walk in your fenced yars if you have one, but you need to monitor how often he goes, and praise him to the heavens when he does.

Purina has had a couple of very limited recalls in recent years - I think they were single lots each of dog, cat and horse chow. I'm feeding Pro Plan Selects now as that is what Buddy came with and he hates Iams. Also like the Purina One Beyond Chicken and Oatmeal but didn't do my homework on calories and Buddy gained weight on it. When you consider that the company has been around 118 years and makes a MASSIVE quantity of food not only for dogs and cats but also horses, monkeys etc. that is quite a track record. Some of their products are not so great (though when times were tough all mine ate Dog Chow and did fine) and some of the Pro Plan and Purina One products are actually very good. I'm still a huge fan of Iams for sensitive tummies but like Pro Plan and One too. I've said lots of times that it is interesting that the true dog men and women of the world almost always feed Purina products. If your dog raced previous to 3 years ago odds are good s/he ate Purina Hi-Pro. My friends father that breeds high end gun dogs won't feed anything but Purina. Somehow the people that make their living off their dogs aren't privy to the secret world of high end dog food. Yup. We raised a very beautiful show dog on Puppy Chow and Dog Chow, and also a litter of his pups. They were all healthy and gorgeous. And he also hunted with my Dad, when he wasn't being shown or being a fine pet!

My George has LS, so far very manageable with common sense care and medications. He gets 50 mg of Deramaxx in the AM, and 100 mg of Gabapentin in the PM. The vet said keep his muscle tone up and his weight down. Minimize jumping on and off things, and keep exercise steady and regular but not excessive. We saw a woman doctor who owns greyhounds, did her surgical residency in Florida at one of the clinics badly injured racers go to, and has a special interest in pain management. Surgery was the only other option she gave me, and I would not subject a pet to that even if I had the money for it, which I don't.