MaryJane

I just want to mention that I think the amputation and follow-up care has been done at Angel (please correct me if I'm wrong). Angel is a first-rate hospital and their charges reflect that ... while I would not say they are the most expensive in Boston, they are not the cheapest. I think they fall between middle to high cost (corrections welcome if you feel differently about their prices). Also, Boston is not a cheap place to live and probably ranks up there in cost between middle to high cost among all US cities. When you take both of these factors into account, they are likely adding quite a bit of cost to what would be the "average" US charge for osteo amputation and follow-up. With this in mind, best to check costs in your area before making any firm decisions one way or the other. And Tempo looks great -- enjoying life to it's fullest.......

I also think it's a bruise but, when I looked at one of the closer shots, it almost looked like the skin was raised/bumpy. If the skin is not smooth, then another reason could be an allergy to something like a new detergent. But, the location of this doesn't appear to be something that could be easily caused by contact to an allergen. Although, contact with a plant or ... maybe insects could do it ...

I've been vaccinating my dogs for a few years and my female is a seizure dog, so I don't take vaccines lightly. Lyme disease is very prevalent here in Mass and most people don't know just how insidious the disease is. If you read some books on Lyme they discuss the possibility that you may never really get of Lyme even with months of antibiotics, instead it may lie dormant in the muscles and when there is an issue with the immune system, it springs into action. There just hasn't been enough research done to get the facts.

Thanks for the link. I've asked for the "free poster" - I'm going to see if my library/schools can use it.

The beef and rice are a great idea as that should sooth the GI tract. For getting the poop firmer --- try oatmeal which has plenty of fiber. All three of mine get oatmeal mixed with rice and hamburg in the morning - each gets over 1 cup but, I would not suggest starting with that much -- mix about 1/4 to 1/2 cup into the food in the morning and if within 24 hours the poop is not worse, then increase the amount each day until you are up to 1 cup. Important -- do the 5 minute type of oatmeal, not the instant. Also, make sure it is cooked for the full 5 minutes.

You might want to go to a neurologist -- my regular vet was sure my Larry has an LS problem and I went to one neuro (exam fine) and the regular vet wanted a second opinion, so I went to a second neuro she recommended and that neuro also said exam fine, not LS. Larry does have some muscle atrophy, more on one side than the other and also has corns on two feet. It might be LS in your case but, sometimes regular vets are not quite up to snuff on neurological conditions. Also, just reread that your vet lifted both hind legs and applied traction ... neither of Larry's neuros did that. After Larry's exam which include mild pressure on the spine more to feel the spine rather than to elicit reactions (from what I saw), what both neuros spent most of their time doing is watching Larry walk - each one watched for about 5 to 10 minutes. One watched him walk back and forth down a long corridor and the other had him walking in a huge arena.

You might want to consider talking to your vet about getting Amicar. The only reason that I mention this is that it seemed there was quite a bit of bleeding at the onset and the Amicar will help control any further bleeding post-incident. When Lucy had a broken tooth removed, I had her on Amicar for a few days afterwards. This is just because of greyhounds and their "funky" platelets and as a result -- bleeding issues. edited to add .. hopefully "tbhounds" will chime in here because I think there was mention that OSU recommends Amicar now for dentals -- hopefully, I'll get corrected if I'm wrong in this statement.

It sounds like much of what she was saying was the truth but, she just didn't have a good bedside manner. I might recommend trying one more trip and see if you get a better impression and at that point, if you don't click, change back. Working in the medical field decades ago it was pretty obvious to my co-workers and me that many of the better doctors were the ones whose "bedside manner" was lacking. They would usually get so wrapped up in the patient and making sure that the patient followed all their instructions or understood what they were talking about that they were usually very concise and tight with their wording (and clinical). And, they were usually very busy which didn't allow for much socializing. And the stairs .. one of my greys has been in for stitches a few times because he often misses a step on my back stairs and will tear his skin.

Not safe, my second grey could chew through a leash in 30 seconds and did twice - once when he was in the car for a minute and the other was when I had him tied to the tree next to where I was working on my unfenced side. Never again. He also taught my third grey how to do it ...

My Larry has had kidney issues with severe food allergies for years - he runs a higher creat with a low specific gravity. He can't have chicken or noodles because he will get liquid poo. If he gets too much protein, he will start drinking up a storm and peeing like crazy.... What he gets (my other greyhounds get the same but with more meat) is about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of hamburger or meat chunks at each meal, twice a day. For breakfast, about 1.5 cups of cooked oatmeal with grits and some almond milk. For dinner, he gets about 2.5 cups of white rice (not brown, too much protein) and about 1/2 cup of veggies. Supplements are very important AND ARE NOT OPTIONAL. He gets 1 multi-vitamin a day along with about 4 (500 mg) oyster shell calcium (NO Vitamin D added). He also gets 1 fish oil pill. Larry weighs a bit over 80 pounds but when he was younger he was closer to 90. He is now 11.5 years old. He also gets some treats during the day like toast and yogurt with applesauce. It's important to identify what the issue is with the kidney so you can make sure to monitor that there is not too much protein in the diet. If protein is showing up in the urine, you can get the dipsticks yourself and start checking it weekly (on the first morning specimen) and use that to determine whether you need to increase or decrease the protein in the food. If the symptom is the specific gravity of the urine or the BUN/creat, then you'll need to have the vet do the tests. I originally used Dr Remaillard who used to be at Angel Memorial Hospital in Boston to formulate the kidney diet. She also did a cancer and regular diet for one of my other dogs. She has her own site now and does consultations over the web. link = http://www.petdiets.com/

When my Onyx got osteo and this was back 10+ years now, I remember checking out Colorado University which had a vet school because they were doing limited surgeries on osteo and saving the leg but, I think it was only front legs that were suitable and (I could be wrong here) I think they took most of the bone out and replaced with some type of rod. I decided to go looking again and I found this article http://www.news.colostate.edu/Release/4536 it talks about radiation first in the article and then later it talks about using cadaver bone. Doing a little more digging - its looks like they are currently in a study with controlling pain in dogs with osteo link = http://www.csuanimalcancercenter.org/nv-01_pain_palliation_osteosarcoma

I can provide a recipe for a home-made kidney diet that one of mine has been on for 5+ years but, before going down that route .... do you have the results of the blood work and the urinalysis.

I'm glad someone else mentioned this. I've been told by a few veterinary professionals that I respect that Dr Dodd is "on the fringes" meaning that other medical professionals sometimes have a hard time understanding her results and subsequent plan of action. I had planned at one point of re-doing Lucy's (my seizure dog) thyroid tests and her lab is pretty cheap, in some cases 1/3 as much as other labs but, I've subsequently decided that when her tests get re-done, it will be at a lab that has a high standing among medical professionals.

What you have described could fit a dog that is getting too much thyroid medicine. What tests is Rocky scheduled for tomorrow?

Another plug for Dr. Sisson -- just wanted to add that while I found both neurologists competent, I really like Dr. Sisson but, he can have a "sharp" bedside manner that some people may not be accustomed to. I tell people that I have referred to him that "he is for the dog, not necessarily for the owner". With Lucy's seizures, he wants to be notified whenever she has one and he will respond within a couple of hours. I don't know many vets today that have that level of dedication.

I'm sorry to hear that about Zero - hope you get to the bottom of what the problem is. Larry had something similar about 1.5 years ago and he would have been about 10 then. He was loosing muscle mass on one back side and he was having trouble with one of the back legs. He had pulled a muscle previously and he did have some problems with his front feet all of which may have caused some instability at the back, and .. he was tiring on his walks. The concern was LS - make a long story short ... I ended up going to two neurologists (my regular vet really thought it was LS - hence the two opinions) and both said that it was not LS. Since it was not an LS issue, I decided to try a chiropractor treatment (from a chiropractor licensed to do animals) - he gets monthly adjustments since then and it seems to keep him "loose". I was also going to try acupuncture but, it turned out the adjustments have done what I hoped. Angel has a great neurologist, Dr Sisson and there is Dr Silver at Mass Vet Referral in Woburn. Larry saw both of these vets, in addition, Dr Sisson at Angel is Lucy's (one of my other greys) neurologist for seizures.

Try giving about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of hamburger with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cooked veggies with about 2 to 2 1/2 cups of white rice twice a day. You will also have to give a multivitamin once a day and about four 500mg calcium (oyster shell WITHOUT Vitamin D). If you want a little more variety, you can give hamburger (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup) with about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cooked oatmeal (5 minute type, NOT the quick) and about 1/2 cup rice for the morning meal - mix in some milk (or almond milk) to give it a stew like texture.

Grain-free is a new trend in dog food ... it's the new flavor of the month. As far as I know, there have not been any independent studies done that prove that it is better (or worse) than dog food with grains. IMHO, the big issue to worry about today regarding processed dog food is that the meat (and grains) are likely being sourced from China. I have been making home-made food for my dogs for 5+ years (probably closer to 8 now) and my oldest is 11 1/2 and seems to be doing OK as he has severe allergies to chicken/noodles and slight kidney issues. My middle girl is 6 1/2 and has seizures so I need to be careful of preservatives in her food so home-made is the only way to get complete control of all ingredients. My youngest is 3 1/2 and can eat anything but, he ends up getting the same food as the others. They get plenty of grains, although I feed white rice rather than brown because of my oldest kidney issue means carefully watching his protein intake. They also get other grains, oatmeal and grits for breakfast. They all get yearly vet exams/blood work and urine tests to make sure that their diets meet their nutritional needs - so far, the blood work has been OK. Their diets were formulated by a nutritional vet years ago. As a side note, a dog's ancestors in the wild would have eaten a high percentage of the animal that they killed and that would include stomach contents which in many small and middle size animals would include digested grains, nuts, and berries. But, many breeds are so far removed from their "wild ancestors" at this point that it would be hard to classify what exactly is a natural diet for them.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Shelby will be in my thoughts.

Lucy has the same problem but, she also has seizures - so, you might be interested to know that she had her ultrasound today and I also allowed them to do a needle aspirate on the bladder which they will do a urinalysis and a culture on. Her last two cultures have come back negative. She is currently on the DES EVERY DAY until we get the culture results at the end of this week. Her ultrasound looked OK, no stones and the organs looked OK. We have not done an x-ray - not sure what that would show.

I'm not sure if this is still right but, one of the chemo drug treatments which happened to be the one my Onyx got had to flushed with enormous amounts of fluids - I had been warned that my dog would have to go outside quite frequently for most of the day ... maybe you might want to check with the oncologist whether this might be happening.

Bad water can cause quite a bit of sickness in dogs including the "watery" stool and vomiting. Chances are, it will not clear up by itself and you'll probably need some Flagyl and maybe something for the nausea.

As a next step, I would probably check a first morning urine to make sure the specific gravity is OK and that there is no protein leaking through.

This is correct in people - it builds up and stays in the system for a few days but it also does depend on what type of medicine you are taking (Armour which is natural for example versus a synthesized medicine). It looks like dogs are different in that it does not stay in the system as long as in people and that is why twice a day dosing is recommended - reference Dr Dodds book on canine dog issues. But, I'm sure vets differ on their opinion on thyroid and dosing ....

Typically, it needs to be given 1 hour before eating (at least 30 minutes) or 2/3 hours after eating. Also, no calcium/antacids or soy at the same time because these will bind ...