MaryJane

The antibiotics can remove the good bacteria from the GI tract and that allows the bad bacteria to get a toe-hold. You probably want to get a probiotic for a few weeks to replenish the good bacteria. Or, you could give yogurt instead but, if your dog is milk-intolerant, it could result in another mess........

Yes, Angel Memorial is good but, very expensive. Ask the surgeons what the best result you could expect from the surgery and then ask what the worst possible outcome could be. Ask the same question about just observing the eye and doing eye drops with maybe a patch so the lid is not constantly moving over the rip on the eye. I'm sorry you ended up in this position so soon after your recent loss. I suspect that the answers might be the same -- that either surgery or a wait-n-see could result in a "fixed eye" and in the worst case for both (surgery and wait-n-see), that the injury may damage the eyesight to some degree.

It's a no-brainer -- Take him for x-rays. The cons, it will cost for the x-ray The pros, you will know if the keys are in him and can take emergency measures while there is more time to figure options and you will get peace of mind if the keys are not in him.

The FDA is going to start regulating pet food. Not sure if it will be better (or worse) but, this is a direct result of the contamination of dog food from Chinese ingredients years ago (caused deaths of so many dogs). http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/26/health/fda-moves-to-regulate-food-for-animals.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0

Whipworms are very tough to get rid of in the ground. They actually have a shell casing and because of it can survive in extreme temperatures. The link has a picture and some more information on it's survival. http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/dog-whipworm.html

Looks like P&G is shopping for a buyer for IAMs pet food. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-23/p-g-seen-enticing-del-monte-foods-to-iams-deal-real-m-a.html

Doesn't matter how much they "oversee" the process as there are always ways around it if the people are not respectful of law or don't care.

They have been testing the treats all along but, haven't found the cause yet. It could some real obscure chemical or pesticide.

It's amazing that they are testing the treats but, haven't been able to find the problem yet.

If you give him fish oil capsules, make sure to stop between 7 to 10 days before the procedure as fish oil ca act like aspirin and discourage clotting. This would be important if a tooth (or more than one) needs to be taken out. Also, pulling teeth could be bloody so you might want to get a prescription for Amicar - this helps to make sure that clots stay intact as sometimes greyhounds can have trouble with bleeding. Even though Lucy only had to have 1 tooth out, I still put her on Amicar after the procedure.

FDA issued a warning today on Jerky treats from China. http://www.businessinsider.com/fda-warning-pet-deaths-jerky-treats-2013-10

Do you feed once a day or twice. IMHO, the less amount in their stomach, the less chance of a problem if they start running. I also try and get them to let off some steam about 2 hours before eating, less chance of them doing it after eating.

When Lucy got an infection in a broken tooth - 1/2 of her face swelled up and she was still eating and I couldn't tell anything by just looking. It could be countless other things but, that's why you want to see the vet.

Could be a tooth issue - maybe broken/infected. Needs to be seen by vet pretty quickly so they can assess and probably give antibiotics.

7 - 10 days before surgery.

You probably should keep the muzzle on Vinny all the time until you research this further and maybe find a cause. It could be that he will have to wear a muzzle all the time. When you leave the house, you probably want to make sure that the dogs are separated - separate rooms or crate both of them and if there is a chance he could get out, maybe muzzle Vinny. I know that this sounds like much trouble but, I always separate my two boys from my female (different rooms) when I leave the house and in addition, they are all muzzled. My female is an epileptic and while my boys have never attacked her, they might one day -- so I HAVE to separate them. My female can also be aggressive so I have to watch her constantly in the house (and sometimes muzzle) and she gets always gets a muzzle when all the dogs go out to play.

I second what was said earlier - talk to the adoption group. Dogs with space issues usually work better in homes with no children.

It depends, some dogs do OK on beans, others get too much gas which could potentially led to bloat. So, must exercise some caution here. Instead of beans, look at giving rice (or noodles) and hamburg with some fully cooked veggies mashed up and tossed in. If you make a habit of doing this, you'll need to supplement with calcium and and vitamins. On the calcium, oyster shell is best and make sure that it does NOT have Vitamin D added. You could also give eggs instead of hamburg but, some greys might be a bit finicky about the eggs.

All three of my greys are on home-made food. They get rice, veggies, meat, potatoes, oatmeal and calcium/vitamin pills. They love their food and so far, none has left any in the bowl. I usually just feed beef (rarely pork) as one of my boys is severely allergic to chicken. They also get applesauce and yogurt in the evening along with toast in the morning as a snack.

Thank you for the update - this is a great reference for others that this might happen to.

It's not that they don't care (my Dad's doctor is great), it's just that so much has changed in the last 30 years since this became endemic in the northeast. Every year brings out more information/studies that a GP doctor just can't stay on top of the piles of data. There are also very few doctors that specialize in Lyme that a GP doctor can call and get a quick consult on your case.

My female is like that with my newest boy - they each try to get the other to play but, at some point, my female gets "attuned" (for lack of a better word) and then she is out for blood. It happens in an instant. She just turns nasty with the youngest. For safety sake, muzzles on all.

I'm sorry that you had such a tough day. I didn't want to explain earlier but this just happened recently with my dad. He had a tick (less than 24 hours on him) and I wanted a Lyme test. His doctor talked down to me about how these ticks don't cause Lyme and so on .... he didn't want to treat. I went back with my dad in 6 weeks got the test and it was positive (the arguments about even getting the test were quite long). He already went through the 4 weeks of antibiotics but, still not feeling quite right.

There are different forms that the spirochetes can turn into - this article explains it better although it's a bit too wide of center for me in its agenda. http://mylymediseasetreatment.com/lyme-disease-general/lyme-disease-causing-spirochetes-as-shape-shifters-implications-for-treatment/ A few months ago I came across some interesting articles about autopsies showing the spirochete in organs of "cured people" - I'll have to see if I can search for those articles. This is not to say that it happens to everyone that gets a tick bite but, a small percentage of people are just not getting better with the current protocols. edited to add -- this is one of the articles with results of an autopsy http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-05-16/news/9505170342_1_circular-rash-lyme-infected-ticks-spirochete This article talks about different forms and the results of a few autopsies but, those were not current http://arizonaadvancedmedicine.com/lyme-disease-article/ I don't mean to sound heavy-handed but, this is personal for me - many of my friends have been diagnosed with Lyme and even after antibiotics, some never fully regained their stamina. Decades ago they face many issues with their doctors not believing their symptoms and even today, some doctors don't recognize the symptoms.

This is the link to the Center Disease Control for Lyme ... http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/treatment/index.html Important note is that it says the symptoms are alleviated but no mention that the bacteria is gone. I've done quite a bit of research on this over the last few years and that was one of the reasons that I opted for the vaccines for my dogs but, I'm in a very high incidence area.