MaryJane

As someone suggested, talk to the vet and have a list of the types of teas and the ingredients and how many tea bags are "missing". Your vet may recommend calling the poison center for dogs or may want to take x-rays. They might also want to examine to dog to see if there is any abdominal discomfort.

Mid-day dog walker. It sounds like he is already getting used to "going in the crate" so I would get him out mid-day or it will become a constant.

They haven't done studies in dogs that I am aware of but, I read in the WSJ that they are doing studies in people and some of the studies are looking at the increased use of antibiotics in protein sources like chicken. There are some mumblings in the scientific community that it kills off the "good" bacteria in the gut and leaves the "bad" bacteria to thrive. This weakens the functioning of the GI tract and brings in even more problems with inadequate absorption of nutrients and so on ....

I've been checking the BPs on my greyhounds for about 3 years now at their annuals. Problem is that the dogs get nervous at the vet and it makes the pressure go up. Vets are also not very proficient in doing it and not all know that the dogs should be lying down and I believe it is supposed to be done on the back legs. The readings can be very erratic, so just as long as one of the readings is 140 or less I don't get too worried.

This link just came over on an epilepsy list -- http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=28696

I'm sorry for Tessie's diagnosis of lymphoma. There are thickeners available on the market and those are intended for people who have difficulty swallowing - not sure what they have for ingredients. For those unfamiliar with this condition, the swallow reflex does not work well with straight liquid, works best with food the consistency of let's say a pudding. If Tessie is trying to drink water, then she probably needs more fluid. You might try making yogurt drinks or give ice cream. You can also try adding more water to the canned food and making sure it is well-mixed.

Thanks for letting us know this - it's not something that is obvious. My dog's blood pressure is usually high at the vet's office and they have to do it 3 times and then they average the readings from that. I have it done yearly and the vet charges between $20 to $40 for the procedure. There are also some recommendations like having them lie down, only using the back legs and a few others that I can't remember now. It seems like it's becoming more of an issue with getting good readings and with that, I'm thinking of getting a blood pressure cuff for the doggies and measuring it myself a few times a year. Have you considered that?

I would talk to your vet about getting Amicar - it's for bleeding in Greyhounds/ You don't know what will happen tomorrow for surgery and since there was a hematoma yesterday which was likley from not keeping pressure on the site .. but, maybe it wasn't. Better be safe and get the Amicar. It can take a few days to get it ordered - not many pharmacies carry it.

The CDC piece identifies that Dog #4 was a greyhound.

This just across my facebook feed -- http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/watch/18776320/injured-dogs-amazing-recovery/

The information in these 2 posts is very good. I would suggest checking what they have suggested rather than going into a biopsy. I might also suggest moving to a homemade cooked diet of veggies, rice or potato, and a protein - preferably meat (maybe fish). Do not use not chicken as they indiscriminately add antibiotics to the feed and that will make the any GI problem worse as it gets rid of the good bacteria.

You had mentioned that she gets stressed in the car and it was because of that incident with the leash. Dogs have a rather narrowly focused memory (sometimes) and it could be that she is going to get stressed out "only in the car where the leash incident took place". Once she is better and completely over her current mishap, maybe have a friend bring over their car (mini-van would be best) and take her for a long ride in that car and see if the same symptoms appear. Knowing that it only happens in your car would make desensitizing possibly easier by just building up the activities that you do in the car. Either that, or just buy a new car

Get a culture done in addition to the urinalysis as it sounds like an infection.

Having another treatment is going to cause side effects for few days and having said that, I would probably go ahead have it done. It could keep the cancer from getting bigger and he could be stable for quite a while. When my Onyx went through this and developed nodules in the lungs, he was still going strong lung-wise but, he had a tumor near his spine and that was the one that started to grow out and it was in a position that as it started to grow inward, he was going to wake up one day and not be able to walk. The tumor on his spine got to a critical point 2 months after the x-ray of the lungs - the lungs were still OK at that point.

We won't know where it comes from because there would be a good chance that China would take the imported chicken and mix it with something else (there was an article awhile back about rats) to increase their profit and export it back to us. And there appears to be an effort underway to make sure that the products are not labeled that they come from China.

I just wanted to say thank you for sharing how you think this situation may have occurred. I for one, even with all my years in the medical profession, would have never made the association with panting and a subsequent change in the body chemistry such that it would precipitate this attack. I'm also thankful that your sweet girl is doing well enough that they're talking she might come home soon. It sounds like you acted quick enough that there is likely no damage resulting from this.

I've been seeing "Made in China" showing up on quite a few different types of cans. I recently stopped buying any rice unless it says "USA" on the package.

Have you tried oatmeal at all - it's high fiber and is usually in dog foods that are for sensitive stomachs. All three of my dogs get it each morning mixed with a bit of rice and hamburg. Only one of mine has severe food allergies in addition to slight kidney issues. I might suggest moving to a home-cooked diet. You can start with one ingredient, maybe rice or potatoes and see if you can add that to the food without having issues. If that works, you can add a protein like beef or fish or pork. Personally, I would stay away from chicken, it has too many antibiotics that plays havoc with the GI tract. If Senna can tolerate the the carbo and protein, then add some veggies like green beans, carrots (cooked) but, it's best if they are like mush. The problem with any dog food that you end up using is that they can change their formula and then you are back to square 1. With homemade, you control the ingredients. There are veterinary nutritionists that will put together a diet for you that will also include vitamin supplements and calcium.

The best advice I can give you is to make an appointment with a neurologist. Make sure that you take some video of what you are perceiving to be the seizures. Most regular vets are great with a seizure every few months and using just 1 medicine but, if it gets complicated, you need to have your pet under the care of a neurologist. That would be the best person to ask about using valium or pheno after a seizure. Using ice cream won't hurt although the reason for the ice cream is to quickly get sugar replaced into the body because of the massive use of sugar during a seizure. If your dog is not going through the convulsions, the sugar will not likely be depleted but, check with the neurologist. Using an icepack or ocular compression are all things that might help as they are used before or during a seizure. As a note, greyhounds seem to have a more traumatic early life than many other dogs with the types of brain injuries that could result in seizures. Hitting the railing, falling head over heels, collisions with other dogs - their early life is filled with the types of accidents that cause brain trauma.

Larry has been allergic to chicken so I hardly ever feed chicken to the dogs and I'm a vegan but, this article was unsettling.

China is on the road to import chicken products to the US http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/31/business/chinese-chicken-processors-are-cleared-to-ship-to-us.html?partner=socialflow&smid=tw-nytimesbusiness&_r=0

I've checked some web sites and that dose is probably not going to do it. But, I'm not sure if it is the same Valium as I use so I'm hesitant to voice my concern strongly. This is a website that talks about 0.5 mg dose per kg (Lucy is 70 lbs = 31.75 kg and that x 0.5 is about 16 and she happens to get 16 ml. http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/rectal_valium.htm Again, it seems that most regular vets are doing an oral dose rather than the rectal dose.

Not enough ... either that or I have been overdosing my dog but, she's OK so I don't think that is the case. Where are you located? Maybe someone will be in that area and can provide a neurologist that they use.

Start thinking of anything unusual in the last few days. Also, any poisons that the dog could have gotten into? Was there any spraying for mosquitoes in the area? Any landscape companies do any treatments? Any renovation going on in the home that could release lead. Any change in detergents, cleaners, or dog food? Also, see if you can get a neurological consult.

Lucy is now on: 1500 mg Keppra tid 300 mg Zonisamide bid 1.5 ml Kbr bid and she has been on thyroid meds for about 3 weeks. We switched from the KeppraER to the regular Keppra as the neurologist informed me that you get better seizure control with the regular but, the dosage does have to given about every 8 hours so it would be impossible for someone working a full 8-hour shift. The thyroid just come up as a problem recently and her levels were fine last year. I really wonder if her seizures "going out of control" lately were due to her low thyroid - but no evidence one way or the other ... We are at about 3 1/2 weeks seizure free which I'm hoping we can get back to the "once a month" which is where we were before things went out of control around the March/April timeframe of this year. Recently, when I thought that she might be more seizure-prone, I was giving ocular compression every few hours to see if that could make a difference. Lucy also has most seizures around 1 to 2 am in the morning and when I thought she might be in a more susceptible period, I kept her up past that time. In both those cases, it just seemed to delay the inevitable seizure. With that in mind, I'm also investigating some acupuncturists in my area and considering a monthly treatment to see if that makes a difference in "discharging the electrical activity".