MaryJane

I'm so sorry that this is happening ... Some other thoughts .... Did you use any bleaches or cleaning products in the house or the yard? Did the carpets get cleaned recently? Did you use any ant killer sprays in the house or if you have roses outside, did you dust them. Did you change his dog food recently?

I would do the hamburg and rice to try and get the tummy settled. Could he have gotten into anything? Is there blood in the diarrhea? Any change in food lately? Any different treats? How is the weather where you are - did it get hot?

A few things seem a little confusing and one is that usually vet techs are not supposed to give out test results. I'm also very surprised that a vet tech they would say that 75% of the kidney function might be gone. When you do get to talk to the vet, you might want to ask whether it is normal practice for the vet tech to be diagnosing your dog...... I think that if your dog has both an elevated blood creat and protein leaking into the urine then the vet may suggest a diet change. One of my greyhounds had a similar profile and he went onto a special kidney diet and months later his blood values were normal and there was no more protein in the urine.

About two or three months ago there was a great thread about this -- you might want to check it out. It talked about 3d and 4d meats.... http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=227462

Here is a generic that's about $15 http://biousa.com/multistix--chemstrip-gen...CFYZM5Qod1Eq9eg Here is another one with different options... (I believe the "Chemstix" by Roche is the original one) http://www.mohawkmedicalmall.com/Merchant2...p?parentCat=178 Years ago when I bought the protein stix (just the protein) from my local pharmacy -- 100 stix cost me $40.

Try Cheerios and yogurt - when my boy was on chemo this was the only thing he would usually eat for the first day. Spagetti and sprinkle cheese on top or mac n cheese chunks of steak with bits of bacon mixed in mashed white potatoes with cream cheese and butter - i used to roll this up like a hot dog and hold it in my hand and all my dogs have loved to nibble on this fried eggs

If you are going to spend money on getting a test strip for PH, consider getting one that one that has protein, blood, and glucose on it too.

It looks like there may be a little vicious circle going on here -- excess protein can cause crystals/stones causing irritation which provides a growing area for bacteria. On the other hand, using bacteria as the starting point, that can cause kidney issues (if it moved upstream) which could be why protein is passing and possibly providing the components for crystals/stones. There are three separate issues here but, they can all be interconnected. Responses on the thread differ in which they would tackle first -- maybe best thing is to tackle all -- get ultrasound, get urine culture, and get bloodwork for kidney values.....

I tried that with Rex to no avail, but $1.40 a pound is really not very reasonable in my book.... You're right - I should not have made the conclusion that it is a reasonable cost. Thank you for catching that .. I should have noted that it is one of the few dog foods that has no chicken or animal fat (chicken?) as one of it's ingredients. The only other chicken free dog food that I found with a lower price was the Petsmart brand Advantage Lamb and Rice and that one came in at about $1 per lb. All the rest of the dog foods that were chicken free and limited ingredient started at about $1.40 per lb. and went up over $2.00 per lb. So .... what I should have said is that there are not many "limited ingredient" dog foods out there and that the Natural Balance falls in the middle price range.

Try the Natural Balance limited ingredient "Venison and Sweet potato". Or they also have a "Lamb and Rice" and "Duck and Sweet Potato" both of which are also limited ingredient. Solid Gold has a Beef and Barley that is also limited ingredient. I've been picking up the Vension and Sweet Potato for fosters that have "sensitive tummies" and it seems to work well. The cost of Natural Balance is also reasonable (about 1.40 per lb or so on the larger bag) Edited to add -- Also, if you keep receipts and UPC code you can get money for your animal charity -- see link http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/home/charities.html

Protein was showing up the last time she had a urinalysis and even though it is a small amount, I would check that out further by getting some blood work done (specifically BUN and Creat for kidney function) and rechecking the urine for protein. Check out the link below - it has some pretty good info. The first item (on the link) talks about some diets specifically for stones are low protein diets. Since there was protein in the urine, I would want to investigate this further. One of the last items (on the link) talks about adding cranberry juice to the diet daily. I personally don't know of any adverse effects of adding cranberry juice but, I probably would not do 1/2 cup every day -- I would start with about 1/4 every other day or every 2nd day and see how she does on a weekly basis. http://www.ehow.com/how_4500406_prevent-ca...s-crystals.html

Maybe I missed it in the thread - but how do hookworms figure in the equation for IBD?

I agree with this post. Having a 5 year old son and a new greyhound means that you cannot leave them alone for an instant and it just takes to much work to make sure that there will not be any problems. I'd say wait a few years until your son is older .... In the meantime, enjoy your life!

Have you tried a bland diet? If not, I would move to a mixture of white rice and meat chunks (not chicken) for 2 or 3 days (twice a day). On about the third or fourth morning meal switch the rice out for cooked oatmeal. This has worked on a series of my dogs/fosters and usually firms up the stool within 3 to 4 days (usually about 24 hours of adding the oatmeal). If it doesn't work switch out the rice for noodles and if that doesn't work, switch out the noodles for sweet potatoes and if necessary switch out the meat for fish (or lamb) -- you'll eventually get to a combination that works. I have better luck using meat chunks (cut up a roast or steak) than chicken for getting diarrhea under control. I suspect that it may have something to do with all the antibiotics in chicken that has been added over the past decade or so...... I wouldn't fast the dog at all - if you do that you may be dealing with a dog that starts vomiting bile from an empty stomach and then you have a worse problem. A dog with both diarrhea and vomiting can get into a sorry shape pretty quickly and usually needs to get to a vet within a few days unless there is blood in either and then they need to get to a vet ASAP (my opinion). Once the poop firms up, then start substituting in a kibble like the Natural Balance limited ingredient (as someone mentioned earlier in this thread) - I've used the Venison and sweet potato on fosters with great success.

Congrats ... Just a note of caution that you might want to keep muzzles on them if they are running in the yard for the first few days until you're sure they will not have any incidents.

Instead of KeraSolve - try the human variety. I used CVS Exfoliating Moisturizer which you can find in the foot care aisle. As I mentioned in the other corn thread, I also started to use Bag Balm which you can also get at the drugstore. Edited to add thread to other corn thread http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=231694

What is bag balm? What is bag balm? Before I used the bag balm, I also used KeraSolv gel which is a gel that you can only get from vets. The vet also recommended a gel that you can get at a drugstore and I found the CVS exfoliating moisturizing which is in the foot care aisle. That worked pretty well. A few months ago someone mentioned on greytalk they used bag balm and I tried it and it's worked very well but, an important point is that one of the keys to any of these treatments is to get the corn hulled first. Also, your dog cannot walk on hard surfaces while you are getting it under control. On our walks, I walked on the cement and Larry walked on the grass. I've found that this is not something that goes away quickly, with my Larry it's been months and months -- I think it's been more than a year by now. Maybe others can also chip in and let you know how long it took with them. This is a slow process and perseverance works! Good Luck

I have a dog door so she goes outside to be protective of the yard. The Greyhounds never go out if they can help it. Can you lock the dog door so that none of them can get out? I know that when I had work done last year on my house I was amazed at how indifferent the workers were to my dog and the foster and this is after I told them they had to be careful. To solve it, I locked the doors with a key so workers couldn't come in or go out without me unlocking the door. Problem solved.... but what an aggravation .... Edited to add -- I work at home so I could that

Try Sutton Animal Hospital in Sutton MA, she (Dr. Jill) works on my greyhound that has corns and she is greyhound savvy. My dog's corns are just about gone and what worked for him was she had been hulling it with a dremel and I follow up with bag balm.

I've never used it so I can't add anything.... I'm impressed that it has organic chicken for that price and that it doesn't have many of the "additives". If you use it, let us know how it works - I'm always looking for new dog foods for the fosters and lately I seem to be on an "organic chicken" spree.

Dogs can be a little off after anesthesia and it can take a day or so to wear off completely. Depending on what the procedure is, I might hold off doing the daily walk for a day or so. If your dog is on the older side, then maybe you might want to ask about antibiotics. When my 11 year old went in for teeth cleaning he had a heart murmur so he was on antibiotics BEFORE the cleaning.

.8 mg (half a pill twice a day) I just read: usual dose in dogs is 0.1mg per 10 pounds She's only 55 lbs so I wonder why such a high dose? Maybe it will help with her whining With people you don't usually just start someone on a high dose of thyroid medicine because it can have pretty rough side effects - most human doctors will gradually increase the dose up to the desired level after doing blood work and sometimes it takes a year or more to get to the "proper" level. Just my opinion but, you might want to get back to your vet and see about doing this gradually .... or you might want to get a second opinion ...

When my boy goes into his reverse sneezing, I try and gently massage his neck a little. I honestly don't know if it helps him get over it quicker but, at least it makes me feel like I'm helping. Larry's reverse sneezing usually lasts less than 1 minute.

I'm so glad to hear that Sterling is going out and peeing and pooping - small miracles. If he's starting to groom himself - he's adjusting.

My boy had the patch and I didn't have to give him any other meds for pain but I picked him up on the afternoon of the third day -- not the first day. I was supposed to pick him up the second day but that morning his temperature spiked to greater than 105 and they had to keep him another day. The patch is pretty powerful - before giving anything else for pain check with the doctor. you'll both get through this - take it an hour at a time ....