MaryJane

Some dogs with an amp prefer to have flatter beds until they learn to "hop" better. Some times the height of a new bed is a little tough for them to figure out until they get better. It's not necessary but, if he is lying on the incision, you might want to see if you can slip a pillow in there before he lies down to bolster him a bit on that side. He looks great! Glad to hear that there are minimal problems. Hope the following days a good.

The values are high even for greyhounds. Get a urinalysis (first morning specimen) - should be checked for specific gravity and whether protein is overflowing into the urine. They should also check for bacteria/blood cells as this can impact protein levels in the urine. With these values, I would suggest starting on a lowered protein dog food (maybe k/d diet or home made) sooner rather than later especially if there is protein in the urine.

You also have to be very careful of any type of wooden sticks in the yard especially things like handles to wheelbarrows, rakes, shovels and so on which a grey could get impaled on. Make sure that they are put away at the end of day when working in the yard or face the handles in the direction that they greys never run in. At the track, a grey never expects to run into anything when racing so check out what is at their level in the yard.

My angel Onyx had osteo and I decided on the amputation and the chemo. It was done at Angel in Boston back quite a few years ago now. Ask the surgeon to contact OSU about the surgery and while there is probably nothing new that he will learn, there is a chance that OSU might have some slightly different recommendations that could make a difference long-term since they are doing so much research on osteo in greyhounds. As someone suggested, the amicar is now recommended for many types of greyhound surgery. This is a tough decision either way that you go and even all my preparation did not prepare me for the first week. I did take my boy home the day after the surgery which is pretty early for an amp. Just remember .. your boy Tempo (and he is quite beautiful), will adjust and be happy and will be flying around the yard in the not-to-distant-future. The first two weeks are the toughest and during this time you will wonder why you ever went down this path. The pain meds can be tough for greyhounds and sometimes will make them worse with the panting and the pacing. You might have to help him get up and down. Make sure the dog beds are not too fluffy and are firm enough so that he will not catch his foot. You WILL HAVE to make sure that you put non-skid rugs down so that your boy has some firm footing until he learns to work his legs better. One obvious fact was that the pain from the amputation was not as bad as the pain from the bone cancer and was controllable by the pain meds. Once the recovery set in, it was fast ... one day he hopped into the yard and then started running and I was holding my breath .. my boy was back... The chemo did cause some setbacks but, only a few days. They have better stomach meds now that will keep the nausea at bay. Hope the surgery goes well and that you smooth sailing in the days ahead.

I have used this book too and the recipes work great. I just picked up a new recipe book and it has some great recipes ... http://www.amazon.com/The-Organic-Dog-Biscuit-Cookbook/dp/1933662956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363272582&sr=8-1&keywords=organic+dog+treat+recipes

His story is amazing ... and it continues to be... Good luck on the cleaning and let us know how it went.

Good to hear that it is still being controlled - hopefully they can figure it out, come up with a plan of action, and get this beat. Keeping your sweet boy in my thoughts.

My opinion, I think that this dog should be in critical care in the hospital. Have your ER vet do a consult with OSU and send pictures.

The MCV is the size of the RBC and as I suspected - the calculated value is low. When they draw her blood they will take a "lavender top" tube - make sure that they gently invert the tube a few times IMMEDIATELY after filling it with the blood draw. The tube has an anti-coagulent that prevents the blood from clotting. They should not let it sit while they finish drawing any other tubes - if they do, there is a chance there could be small clots forming. I have been know to pick up the tubes myself and invert them if I don't see a technician doing it immediately. Let us know what the new results are. Note, if the Hematocrit comes back a different value, ask for your money back (or a credit) on the other bloodwork.

The MCHC is one of the indices. It is calculated from the Hematocrit and the Hemoglobin and indicates the amount of hemoglobin relative to the size of the cell. What are the other indices like MCV and MCH? If this was my dog, I would repeat the Hematocrit. Numbers are not adding up and it could be the true result, but before continuing down any path, I would want confirmation. I'm thinking that it's a possibility that the original blood got clotted and they didn't notice it - doing cell counts on clotted blood would give you strange results. I would think that your vet would have a way to do just a Hematocrit in their lab rather then sending it out. It's a pretty simple test to do. The vet doesn't have to do it either - they can have the vet tech draw the blood and run the sample (if they have the equipment). Check to see if they did a smear - that is usually where the reticulytes show up (if I remember right). From checking the web, yup it is seen in the blood smear and they usually do a special stain to see them (link) although it looks like there is automated equipment available now to count them.

My area has many Lyme cases in both people and dogs and my property has quite a few trees and a brook with deer regularly coming by for water and because of this, my dogs are getting ticks every few days when it is the season. I have been vaccinating my dogs for a few years now. The newer vaccines are better and there are less reactions than previously. One of my dogs has seizures and I even vaccinate her as I will not use any flea/tick preventive on her or on the other dogs (because of her seizures).

I would repeat the hematocrit with a fresh sample of blood because something's screwy... usually you can take the hemoglobin x 3 and it approximates what the hematocit is - which tells me it should be about 45 (vaguely remember this from decades ago) , the RBC is about what I would expect for a hematocrit of 45 also. I would also ask for a smear and have them look at the cells - there could be some deformity that makes the RBC smaller than they should be (for example, sickle cell anemia in people cause the RBC to have a distorted shape) - check to see if they did something called indices - that calculates the size of the RBC based on the RBC count and the hematocit. Of course they don't do lab tests the same way as when I worked in a lab so I could be off here. 45 would still be low for a greyhound but, not like 38.

Good to hear he is doing well. Lucy was on it for about 1 1/2 years before we added KeppraER. She went about 5 months at one point without a seizure and then she had a cluster ...

The time change is coming Sunday and for people with seizure dogs you might want to start adjusting the med times by 10 minutes each day (if your pup very sensitive, 5 minutes each day) starting today so that by Sunday (or middle of next week) your dog will be on new schedule. Here's hoping that all our seizure dogs make it through the time change without seizures.

Greyhound Adventures is a Sunday dog walking group for greyhounds http://greyhoundadventures.org- you might want to try one of their walks and see if someone knows a dogwalker in your area.

A beautiful boy ... condolences on your loss

You are correct, it would be 3.9. This falls into what would be considered normal for greyhounds.

It seems to be that the "pre-existing condition" in this case might be lethargy and no appetite. Since no bloodwork was ever taken to confirm, I can't see how the insurance can stand by and say that it was a pre-existing condition. I might suggest asking them to re-evaluate since "those symptoms" could have been caused by many other issues other than a tick issue. I would not think that finding two ticks would mean anything except a "possibility" of a tick borne issue .. not a confirmation. You might also talk to your own vet and see if they can back you up. Good luck.

I also find it odd that they didn't do an x-ray. When my Larry sprained one of his toes on his front foot we got an x-ray for confirmation. For a sprain, not much you can do except cut out the exercise. The healing took a few months. I'm not an expert but, if it is broken I would expect some type of splint to hold it in place so it will heal ... otherwise, how is it going to heal if it keeps on getting flexed with every movement ????

I'm sorry for your loss during what would have been expected to be a normal medical procedure. My thoughts are with Coyote and you.

Does this vet work with many greyhounds or he/she just vaguely familiar with them? The yelp when the vet moved the hips could have just been a normal reaction from a dog that was tensed up and you try and manipulate them .. could be something but, then again, maybe not. The diarrhea is something that greyhounds can have trouble getting rid of once it starts and it's hard to say whether changes in diet, allergies, worms are the initial causes. IBD is a concern when diarrhea doesn't resolve itself. It sounds like this has been taken care of. Quite a few greyhounds have corns and they can be difficult to deal with it - sounds like you have managed that well. I'm not sure how long this dog has been with you but, it can take a year or more before a greyhound really settles in and feels comfortable. With this in mind, some of what you are seeing might be getting worse because of stress. As suggested, a tick panel, maybe some bloodwork (thyroid but make sure they take the right tests) and a urine would be a good place to start but, having said that ... some greyhounds just like to sleep and some look grumpy all the time (well, maybe not all the time :-) ). The ingestion of foreign materials can be a big concern, have they done follow-ups on that? Can you be more specific on what the symptoms are? Have you talked to the adoption group to get a feel what they think?

Have your vet talk to OSU about the amicar as there is still time to get him on it. That he wasn't bleeding at the time of the surgery is not usually an indication to not use amicar - my impression is that it's more of a spontaneous type of bleeding that starts a few days later and that is what amicar prevents (greyhounds and their funny platelets). Not all pharmacies carry amicar so, it could take a day to two to get it - it took me 2 days to get it when Lucy had her "emergency dental" for a cracked tooth. Also, if you are giving any fish oils as supplements, I suggest that you stop them for about 1 week as they act like aspirin and prevent clotting.

Check the country of origin .. if any of the ingredients (fish, oil, gelatin) are sourced in China or if it's "assembled" in China then throw out the pills.

I'm sure the vet already checked but, just in case he/she was so focused on the bites .... are the eyes OK? From what you are saying where the bite marks are, it seems that the eyes could also been scratched and probably need to be examined with the special tool they have. The eyes, nose, throat, ears all seem to be interconnected as a medical specialty so, I would ask whether this would cause any issues in the ears or the throat (get the eyes checked per above) .. if I remember right, when the sinus fill they will drain into the throat (?) and if so, could the bone get dislodged and move into the throat ... probably not likely but I always "think out of the box". I would be concerned that the holes are opening and closing when she is breathing because it means that the quantity of air that is being taken in is not reaching the lungs ... granted, it's only a small amount that is escaping but, it could cause some breathing issues.

While small vendors might sound like they have better control over their products, in many cases the opposite is true. Many of these vendors outsource making the actual product to processing plants which take ingredients and turn them into the kibble. Most of these processing plants also provide the final vendor a choice of the ingredients to put into the food - so in effect, they get the ingredients (guess where they come from) and they usually look for the cheapest source. The processing plant usually also does the QA, not the final vendor. I discovered this when I tracked down data for a top-rated food that I was mixing in with one of my dog's diet. Turns out they picked the food they wanted from the processing plant's options. This seems to be the reason that once a particular dog food brand has a recall, it could affect many other brands because the problem was at the processing plant. I also hate to mention that if they do not clean out the machines well after each batch, different foods could get mixed together. With this information, I shifted my thinking to move towards the larger dog food brands that had their own processing plants like Iams and so on ... These companies tend to control the sourcing of the ingredients, the making into kibble, and the QA - in effect, they control the product from start to finish. If there is a problem with their product - they can't push the responsibility someplace else and most of these companies have shareholders who do not like bad publicity. Sorry, this is probably not what you want to hear .....