MaryJane
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Posts posted by MaryJane
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As noted by someone else, it could also be urinary incontinence. If it is, you can use DES to treat it. DO NOT use Proin as that can result in sudden death in greyhounds by causing high blood pressure.
When you take her out at 10, is it for a walk or just a quick bathroom break. Do you actually see her pee? You might want to spend more time outside at her last outing and see if it makes a difference.
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Thanks for pinning the trust link. When I did meet-n-greets I had paper copies that I would give out to anyone interested in a greyhound. However, whenever I needed to find the link to provide it online, it was difficult to find.
People may disagree on the value of the information but, I do hope that it makes one "think".
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You mentioned scans but, not clear whether they checked her remaining legs - maybe she got a fracture?
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Are you on the old prison protocol for the hookworms where you give both on the same day -- might mention that to the vet.
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I cannot find the original information that I had referenced. However, it had stated that each one should be given 2 weeks apart and each one can only be given once a month - so, alternating treatment every 2 weeks. I suggest having your vet contact Bayer and affirming what they recommend.
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As far as I know -- you are not supposed to give them together. The protocol has been revised to clarify that.
You'll need to check with the manufacturer with their recommendations. The original prison protocol had dogs exhibiting neurological symptoms.
I wish I could find good links for you but, none so far has identified the issues and also provided the manufacturer recommendations.
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As someone already suggested, bring a poop sample into the vet's and they should be able to check it before the appointment and if necessary, prescribe something. It would be a good idea to do a rice & hamburger (90% lean) diet although, I would not fast if you do the bland diet because it is easy to digest. You might want to add some cooked oatmeal to the food as it has fiber and can help to firm up the poop. You might also consider getting some probiotics from either the vet or Amazon as that can help settle the GI tract.
If it is hooks, be aware that there is a drug-resistant strain of hooks and that getting rid of them is not easy. There is a thread on this problem - I suggest that you read up on it.
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Note that if the stairs have "open backs", it is more difficult to train greyhounds to go up them. I had a set of about 5 steps going from outside to a porch and I eventually had to close the backs because the dogs refused to go up.
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There is another bone cancer FB group that you might want to be aware of. It is not breed specific and much good information on how people have done with conventional medicine (amputation, chemo) along with alternative methods (be careful - some strange ideas out there). There is also some people trying the new vaccine so hopefully, they will be sharing with that group.
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I've been through amputations twice - once a front and once a back leg.
Prepare that the first 2 weeks are going to be hell and then once you think you have made the worst mistake in your life, your greyhound will turn the corner and not look back. During the first 2 weeks, they have to get used to their "new normal" and it is a bit strange as your dog might just stand there not really knowing how to move. This is where a sling comes in really handy - you can use this to help your dog get up and to get them moving. It also helps to get your dog outside and back in and help them "learn" how to hop. Once I got my dogs outside, they would be able to hop around a bit to pee and poop but, they would get tired. At that point, I would sling them up again and help them into the house. The meds can make them more anxious and because of that, you might need to sleep right next to your dog for the first week (maybe two).
It's really important that you cover all the wood and tile floors with non-skid rugs. As your dog will be hoping, you don't want them to slip on an uncovered floor and possibly break a leg.
Neither of my dogs needed help at home getting up from their beds after the surgery but, they did appreciate the harness (mine was fleece-lined). My first greyhound stayed in hospital for 2 nights, the second for 4 nights but that was only because we were having trouble getting Amicar in pill form, so he stayed in hospital to get the IV one.
My second one had some serious issues with over-temperature - this was not during the surgery, rather it was from anxiousness after he was coming out from any anesthesia. It also started happening with his visits to the vet where he would get too anxious so, we started to give him gabapentin to "chill him out".
It's really important that you get the Amicar which I'm sure is part of the information that you are getting from Dr. Couto.
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Vet appointment and needs an x-ray.
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Add an extra small meal to keep some weight on - it is difficult to do anything about the muscle unless the dog is able to exercise. Maybe try Fresh factors by Springhill as a supplement - link is
You might want to consider water treadmill therapy for your dog. It takes the weight off their legs while getting the legs moving. You might have a vet that offers it in your area.
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I might be mistaken but, didn't this happen with other greyhounds with cancer and that had insurance. I vaguely remember some mentions of it.
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The OP has already explicitly stated several times that they are working WITH their adoption group on this rehoming process. I don't think it's necessary for everyone to keep telling them to send the dog back to the group. I think a lot of folks probably didn't read all of the posts and maybe haven't seen the responses from the OP, but it's not that long of a thread so we really should. If the group is aware and working with them on the issue, then there's no need for the dog to be stressed unnecessarily by going back to a kennel environment. As long as the group is aware of what his issues and concerns are, potential adopters will probably get a better sense of him in his home environment than in a kennel environment. It doesn't sound like the OP is rehoming this dog all on her own.
Thank you for pointing this out. I'm not sure why people didn't read the posts from the owner.
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We had a member here recently who had fed her dog "home cooked" food for, literally, years, in an effort to stay away from commercial dog foods (which she didn't trust). She ended up destroying her dog's digestive tract and making her dog very sick, leading to her death. It was a cautionary take for all of us.
Care to share who that was? I don't remember any members stating that in any posts since I have been on this forum..
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Long time reader, first time poster. Glad someone made a post on this topic. MaryJane, that is all very helpful information on what you feed in a day. My girl does not like kibble and will refuse eating every few days because she wants our food. We really do not give her scraps but have fallen for the sad eyes and grumbling tummy and given her dog safe veggies or ground beef in her kibble then she gobbles it up. This time though, I'm really trying to wait it out and see if she will just eat her plain kibble. She has only eaten maybe a cup of food over the last two days.
My question is, I experimented by feeding her some oatmeal with her kibble for a week and she LOVED it. Chowed it down as soon as the bowl was down. However, it caused a UTI flare-up. Our vet wants to do x-rays for bladder stones if these keep recurring (she's had 3 UTI's this year so far), but I really only have ever noticed her get a UTI when I've changed her food or now when she had the oatmeal. Two instances we found a very high protein food to cause a flare up, and now seemingly the oatmeal. Are there foods you would recommend I could add to her kibble that are grain-free, similar in texture to oatmeal?
I don't want to keep putting her on an antibiotic. As soon as I have to give her medicine in a certain treat/food, she doesn't trust that food going forward. She doesn't trust cheese, peanut butter, or pumpkin. She is not a food motivated dog whatsoever. She does not like any kind of broth or yogurt. She only trusted eggs once. Oatmeal was the easiest, cheapest, and best thing I got her to eat. She looked so much healthier from eating for a week straight (she came to us at 49lbs and we can't get her to gain more than 1-2lbs). She is a very petite girl, she stresses me out so much when she won't eat! I don't mean to hijack this post, I just would like to find a diet for her that works and keeps her happy. You mentioned your girl has kidney issues, but my girl seemed to get her UTI from the oatmeal. As soon as I stopped feeding the oatmeal, after a day she was fine and no more blood.
If your girl had blood in the urine, then she needs to have a urinalysis and a culture done. You would need to collect a first morning sterile specimen - that would tell you which bacteria it is and the proper antibiotics for it. As your vet suggested, you might want to do follow up tests to see if there are bladder stones.
When my dogs have kidney issues, then the oatmeal might have a bit too much protein and in that case, I used to do a mixture 3 parts oatmeal to 1 part grits - they do have 5 minute grits. You can also try brown rice as that can have a nuttier texture which some dogs like but, it has more fiber so give less of it (also has more protein).
you can also try to give veggies - mine absolutely love corn but, it passes through them undigested so I mash it which breaks it down and it is absorbed better. You can also try white potatoes - boil them and then mash and see if that perks her interest.
My Lucy also has recurrent UTI's - at least every year.
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That was a super informative reply, thank you so much for that. Much easier for me to understand the ratios with clear measurements like that. My boy Jim doesn't do so well with dairy but everything else sounds entirely doable and not hugely difficult to prepare. Can I ask, what weight are your hounds? I would love to really try a 100% homemade diet but the conflicting and confusing information has dampened my excitement for it somewhat!
Also are those quantities for both girls or per dog? I should also add, it sounds delicious and nice and varied
My girl is about 68 pounds and my boy is about 75. My last two boys were 80 and 90 pounds and they got a bit more food. My boy before that was about 85 and the one before was over 100 pounds. Depending on how they looked on the diet - I might add more protein or carbs or veggies (or toast). Some of the dogs had kidney issues and in that case, the protein was adjusted down.
They also get cucumbers which I have to cut very small for my girl (no teeth) and they love romaine stems.
Two of my boys developed osteo between 7 & 8 and their lives were cut short. One developed osteo after 12. One boy lived to one month short of 14 - he was a big boy. My current girl is almost 12 (1 month shy) and healthy except for seizures, IBD, recurrent UITs, and long nerve disease (yes, that is quite a bit but, she is doing OK) and my boy is 6.5 years old. My dogs are healthy and they have blood work and urine every year to confirm that along with the vet's acknowledgement.
Please note that I originally went to a vet nutritionist at Angel Memorial in Boston to have the diets formulated. I went back for additional diets (kidney and cancer). As I noted, I am looking for a new multl-vitamin as the one that I was using was reformulated and now has phos - I would rather have one without it because this would be a "no-no" for kidney dogs.
The calcium that they get is --the boy gets three 500mg of oyster shell calcium (1500) and the girl gets two 500 mg a day (1000mg) - this is without the Vitamin D. I get it from Amazon. My dogs do not get bones so, this is important.
As I noted, I only give one fish oil a day and this is because my girl could be prone to pancreatitis due to seizure meds. She has also had problems with platelets in the past and fish oil can act like aspirin (slows clotting).
As an aside, when I make soup for me, I take the leftover skins from carrots and stem pieces from celery and boil that up for about 30 minutes, strain it and use it to add some liquid to their dinner.
I do not give cabbage or pork - all my dogs had trouble digesting and seemed to have tummy aches.
My dogs rarely have gas and the poops are usually pretty good - the boy does have hooks which we are treating for.
Good luck!
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I'v been feeding home-made for more than a decade.
I don't feed chicken as it is one of the most contaminated proteins (when they eviscerate, it goes over everything and to fix that - they do bleach baths). For my regular dog - I feed 90% lean hamburger and for my girl who has seizures and IBD (needs special protein and no preservative), I feed tilapia, white fish.
For breakfast - I now feed a bit more than 1 cup cooked oatmeal with some milk and honey along with about 7 tablespoons of protein (meat or fish). Before I was mixing some rice to the oatmeal - doesn't look like they need that and the poops are better (more fiber). If you have a dog with kidney issues, you can do a mixture of grits and oatmeal.
They get a snack late morning of toast with some butter and about 1 tablespoon of peanut butter - peanut butter needs to be check that "bad sugars" were not added.
Dinner is 2 cups (or a bit over) of white rice (cooked according to directions), and about 1/4 cup mashed veggies like carrots and peas or string beans and about 7 tablespoons of protein (meat or fish)
snack later in night is 2 tablespoons yogurt with 1 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce.
They also get a special pumpkin cake as a treat 3 times a day. My older girl had teeth removed so she cannot do cookies anymore. She also cannot get preservatives, so I cannot do regular commercial treats.
They also get 1 fish oil a day along with calcium supplements. I recently stopped the multi-vitamin because they changed the formulation.
If your dog is a working dog, you might need to up the protein.
I give quite a few snacks during the day because one of my dogs is a seizure dog along with IBD and some of the seizure medicine she gets is tough on the tummy.
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Buy an AC unit to put in the window - you might be able to find one for sale since it is end-of-season. Should be enough to keep one room cool. Otherwise, do you have a friend where the dog can stay for the next 2-weeks.
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No advice .. just wanted to say that he is really cute!
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What are you feeding, how often, and how much at one time? Also, was it right after exercise?
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Wonderful news!
You might want to try full fat yogurt, just make sure that it does not have "funny" sugars in it. My dogs that had amps would usually respond to yogurt and one just loved cheerios in it. They liked the vanilla flavored one.
Osteo Thread Part 9
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted
I'm sorry to hear this.
Adam also had bouts of over-temperature which seemed to be attributed to coming out of anesthesia and also stress likely vet-related. He would get so stressed out at the vets that they would need to go through a cool-down procedure which took about 30 minutes during the visits (cold wet towels, fan, and gaba). What eventually helped with the stress of vet visits is giving gabapentin -- two 300mg about 2 hours before visit.
Hope that you get past this.