MaryJane

I'm so sorry

I'm sorry for your loss of your sweet Bijou.

I keep all the dog stuffies in a big toy chest in the living room - as each new dog comes in they seem to learn from the others that they can dig in and take things from here. The floor is also considered their territory for stuffies. They don't take things from the bed although sometimes a foster will and then it just takes a gentle reprimand and taking the "thing" back and putting it in it's place. It should be too difficult to take it one step further and get them to understand that items on a bed or in a "child's toy box" in "a particular room" are not to be touched.

My Larry get chiropractic treatments and I waited until he was stable before starting them. In his case, he had stopped limping and his toe fracture had healed. When they do chiropractic adjustments, it will cause inflammation so it could exacerbate the issue.

I also went back and forth over the course of 2 months or so as to whether to do the MRI - I also posted on this site to find out how many people had done it and whether the results changed anything in the treatment plan. From talking to my Lucy's neurologist,the only time having an MRI would change the treatment plan is if you would go ahead and have brain surgery for your dog if there is a tumor and if that is the case, having an MRI and spinal is appropriate. Since not many people move ahead to do such risky surgery, the MRI does become unnecessary in the whole source of events - nice to have but, not necessary. And,if you decide, you can always do the MRI and spinal tap later. Check what I just said with the neurologist and make sure that they concur (what the MRI provides in treatment). Also, try and get an appointment with a neurologist that doesn't require an MRI and spinal (some do). One note, if your dog does have a brain tumor, in many cases it usually becomes evident from the progression of the symptoms anytime from between 6 months to about 2 years after the initial seizures. Because of this, I decided not to have the MRI initially - if Lucy's symptoms progress dramatically and it becomes more evident that we might be dealing with a brain tumor, then I would most likely take the option to have the MRI at that time to see whether there is a chance for her - in effect, it would have turned into a "life or death" decision. As you noted, MRI and spinals are very expensive (2K+) and while it might not fit into some people's budget, it might be OK financially for others but, even for those, they might only be able to do one. If you are one of those people that would be OK with getting one, then it becomes a question of when would it do the most good.

I can't believe the digging !!! He looks great and so happy.

I suggested that you go a neurologist before - I am suggesting it again. I give my Lucy 15 ml of valium (1 1/2 bottles) after each incident - it sounds like the 1 ml was prescribed by a regular vet. That's probably why she kept on seizing but, I'm not the vet - so you need to get the dose checked by a neurologist. By the way, Lucy weighs about 65 -70 pounds. As to the sweet - give her ice cream - about 2 tablespoons after a seizure - it can help to cool her down and also help regulate the sugar. It helps my Lucy stop pacing almost immediately - don't know why but it does. Be careful giving the ice cream - I usually use a spoon but Lucy tries to actually swallow the whole spoon - so be cautious... 2 weeks ago Lucy went into clusters which she never had before. Her last seizure was almost 4 months ago. During the clusters, she had 6 seizures over the course of about 30 hours. I did not bring her into the ER, I gave her the rectal Valium myself and I was in touch with the neurologist over email (he's really wonderful) and he did not think I needed to bring her in. My mistake was that I did not give her the rectal Valium after the first seizure because she never clustered before - lessons learned..... I asked my neurologist if he needed to see her after the clusters and he didn't think it was necessary as long as I wasn't seeing any neurological deficient. You can manage most seizures at home but, I would strongly suggest talking this over with a neurologist and making sure that they provide you with all the information that you need to do this successfully - they should be able to go over all the procedures and the correct dosages of rectal Valium to use. They should also give you guidelines as to when you will need to bring your dog in. If the seizures are not getting controlled by the pheno, then you may need to either up the current med or add another med into the mixture and again, this is where a neurologist is going to be important.

I'm in Mass - how far can you go?

If your dog did not already get a rabies booster, then you probably need to get one for your greyhound. I'm assuming that you don't know if the other dog was vaccinated ... maybe you can ask the animal officer to find out. If the person lives there, he will have to show his face eventually. As others said, don't post signs or put things in mailboxes - that can escalate an issue. You mentioned that these people just moved in and it could be that maybe the dog got loose accidentally and it's not going to be an every day occurrence (but, then again, maybe it will be). It sounds like the gent got upset about having his dog taken away so maybe in the future he will be careful - if not, the police can follow up and make sure the dog is contained to ensure the safety of the neighborhood children (and dogs). In the heat of the moment people can make threats that they will never follow thru on when they are back to being "level-headed" again. I'm sorry this happened, it can be devastating to have your dog attacked and then to have the owner of the other dog become threatening but, it sounds like your husband keep his cool. Talk to your neighbors and let them know what happened and most of them will probably be concerned enough to also be on the "watch" for the dog.

Please don't assume that it was Payne, you can't be sure - it could have been one of the other dogs.

The dogs should be muzzled while you are gone - as they can attack each other or other animals especially since you now have three dogs. Can you put the cats in a separate room? My three dogs are always muzzled when I am gone and I also put my seizure girl in a separate room with baby gates. edited to add-- I'm sorry this happened, RIP little kitty

I just wash it with warm water and use very gentle side motions with the wash cloth to get it off. Once it gets wet enough you can also use your finger to scrape it off pretty easily.

if you could handle it, you might want to talk to a nutritional vet and see if a home-made diet could be put together that would let you bring the med dosage down so you are only using it for flare-ups.

I'm sorry for your loss. He was a beautiful boy.

Good to hear that he ate some food and hopefully he will start getting better. I'm so sorry that it is such a long road to recovery for him.

My Adam does the same thing when excited - what works for me is to get my hands down to his level and pat him. If my hands are in the air or above his head - he jumps up and mouths my arm. Same thing when I am walking away and he thinks he's gong for a walk - he tries to grab my rear - I just slow down so he can catch up.

If she won' eat rice/potatoes, try giving oatmeal - use the 5 minute type and add a touch of molasses. give her a few tablespoons of oatmeal to start with. Oatmeal is added into many of the "sensitive stomach" foods and has fiber - both of these can help calm the tummy and firm up the poop. As someone mentioned, the treats could have been made in China - actually, the chicken could have come from china, or they could have processed the meat there, or ingredients to process the chicken could have come from China - so you want to look for labels that state the chicken is from the Americas, the processing factories are from America, and all other ingredients are from America - Otherwise, "china stuff" can still creep in there. Bad treats could cause the vomiting and diarrhea that you have been experiencing.

Where was the cabin - is it a tick area?

I agree that this is not simple and the OP is concerned about the dog. And I'm truly not trying to make any judgements about any direction where this might be heading or not. But, when I hear "about doing the right thing" or "how it is not fair to another dog" and "wanting to take hikes", then my mind starts to drift in the direction of whether this couple is prepared to have a dog that may not fit into the lifestyle that they envision, at least at this time. As noted in the original post, the owners are hurting and concerned about what is going on and want to make the right decision. One of those decisions seems to be the option of returning the dog (it's the white elephant in the room). I may be off-base here and if so, I apologize for that.

Did they do a stool culture? Did they check for tick diseases (Lyme especially). The water borne parasites are also something to check as someone already mentioned. Another possibility - could something have bitten her .. I'm thinking maybe a snake or a spider maybe even a lizard. Sometimes reactions to bites can be difficult to diagnose. Also, is there a possibility that she ate something like a frog? One last item is that if this was at a lake and the temperatures were hot, she may have gotten heat stroke (greyhounds are very sensitive to heat) but, that should have resolved after a few days. I only mention the heat stroke because the symptoms would likely have been vomiting and diarrhea. You mentioned doing OTC treatments at the beginning - what were they?

I'm sorry about your previous dog - that must have been difficult. I'm not sure I'm reading this right ... you want to return a dog because it has corns? Did I misread this? One of my dogs has corns and I have been able to use creams and get them hulled so that he can do walks and such. At one point, he had a few corns but, with treatments it is down considerably. If you get another dog, there is no guarantee that you would be able to do runs with that one (corns or not). Some dogs are not going to have the stamina to run slower speeds and longer distances as they are sprinters better suited to run short distances at fast speeds. Some people have had luck training their dogs to run but, again .. no guarantees. I guess I'm trying to get my head around what I feel about someone returning a dog because of corns but, you sure as heck don't have to worry about my opinion - it's the adoption group that counts. I would imagine the group would take the dog back but, what would their attitude be on getting you a replacement dog -- can't say .. maybe others on the forum would have a better idea. If you get another dog, they could have other problems .. maybe more serious ones. Corns are treatable but, you might have to make adjustments in your life until you get them to a manageable point and there is a question whether that would be possible although my opinion is that you can probably get the corns better -- maybe not perfect but, better. Whether you decide to deal with what life has handed you is your choice (and I don't mean to say a particular choice is good or bad). Also, being an astrologer I can't stop myself from adding - "sometimes life hands you what you need, not what you want". If this is one of those "situations", then you might take the dog back but, something else will come in as a replacement to teach the same lesson. Tough decision ...

Was she ever put on Flagyl? It doesn't mention it in your post but, I might have missed it.

I give about 2 to 2 tablespoons a day to my dogs with no ill-effects. It helps with the gas and it keeps the good bacteria replenished in the GI tract.

You might also want to include "lie down" and "stay", both of which are easily taught by hand signals - in fact I find it's usually easier by hand signals. You might want to see if he still responds to vibrations, maybe things like bells or even hitting one of the walls or stamping your feet. Also, if you have intercoms he might hear those better and you could train him that if he hears it come on to go into the kitchen .... And, you are not being paranoid - I think a better name would be "being prepared". Let us know if you find some great tricks or devices to use !

The first incident with your niece - the dog had a chewbone? oops not such a hot idea. Also, neither one of you know whether it was the bone or her dozing that was the problem and that seems to me that the niece and the dog were not being watched for a little while .. maybe not just a slip of a second or so. I know, it's hard to watch a dog and child all the time but, it is necessary if they are both free to do damage. Maybe invest in a portable wire kennel that you can put around the dog when you and your sister want to have some time without watching the "kids" constantly. As to the running incident - use a muzzle on all the dogs. I have three greyhounds and a fenced in yard and they get muzzled if they are going out to run (or even pee). Otherwise, one (typically my female) can get rough and do some damage to the boys. IMHO, the two incidents can be prevented from happening in the future and they do not necessarily indicate an aggressive dog.