MaryJane

It might be worth keeping a leash on her and when she stops, reverse your direction and go in a circle and then continue on in the previous direction (hopefully) without stopping. You may have to do the reverse trick a few times - do it as many times as you need. You can also just stand there for awhile and then after a few minutes, try taking a few more steps and see if she moves. Sometimes we just have to adjust and go at their speed. As someone suggested, get some yummy treats and see if you can get her closer. Good luck

I've had it happen with my first greyhound and I also wasn't sure why they were suggesting anesthesia to clean it out -- turns out that he still has a good size piece of bark in the there. They got the bark up, sutured, bandaged and it healed good but he had to have a plastic bag on it for a few weeks when he went out. Good Luck

Have the vet check to see if the thyroid is enlarged (and it shouldn't be with hypothyroid). If it isn't, then she should be able to wear any type of collar.

Kudzu did a great job of covering all the points. I might add doing a yearly urinalysis.

She's so cute in the roaching pictures!

What about making some sweet potato chips for treats. Just slice up the sweet potato, throw in the oven at about 300 or so (been awhile since I made them) and cook until they are ever so slightly browning on the edges (maybe about 30 minutes). My dog loved them (so did I).

For whatever it's worth - the ingredients and the consistency of the product are important to me. It appears that many of the specialty brands rely on commercial processors to both produce the product and to source the ingredients (think China). The quality control and overall conditions at some of the commercial processors leave much to be desired and if something goes wrong, it's usually the final product that gets the blame and not the "middle man" so that nothing really changes in the procedures. On the other hand, the dog foods that may not get "great reviews" but, that also come from larger manufacturers who both produce the product and source the ingredient may have better "quality control" than the smaller producers. And, more importantly, they have better control from start to finish and they have plants that are making foods for people (not the same plants) and it's likely that the procedures across the plants are similar. Some of these are -- IAMs is a Proctor and Gamble product, Purina is a Nestle, and I think Science Diet is a Colgate Palmolive product (please correct me if I'm wrong). These large public companies have reputations to uphold and they will think twice before resorting to questionable practices in their procedures although, some problems could always slip through. Also, as public companies, if they are doing something questionable and "Wall Street Investors" find out, their stock price will drop and that usually makes any public company sit up and take notice. I feed cooked home-made for my dogs and I recently wanted to get a dog food that my dogs could eat in case of emergencies and I decided to try Anukeet for one of the dogs and it has some great ratings but, after communicating with them over a series of emails, it uses a commercial plant for the processing and they get their ingredients from that plant. To me, that indicates a potential serious problem with quality control. I next tried IAMs in the light blue bag (fish and barley) with one of my dogs - I mixed it in with his home-cooked and he ate it for awhile but, started to turn his nose up at it recently. My point here is that I will probably try the IAMs with my other dogs too (a seizure and a kidney issue dog) and see if they will tolerate it because in my personal opinion, I trust the brand (and the quality control) more than the specialty brands which use commercial processors.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm sorry for your loss. You are in my thoughts.

Welcome from Mass! The books you mentioned are good and will give you some great information about greyhounds and their ... "quirks". You might also want to see if there is a walking group in the area that you could join occasionally and get some close time with greyhounds and their owners.

Hi, welcome from Mass!

IMHO, you probably need some flagyl for this and you likely don't need to fast - just give a bland diet (no kibble). If the vet didn't give meds you should probably call up and find out why. I'm frankly very surprised that they sent you home w/o meds when you have a dog with bloody diarrhea.

I have been using a chiropractor for my boy Larry (10 1/2) for a few months now. He had some issues with leg ligaments, fractured toes, cut pads and quite a few other ailments over a period of about 6 months and it took a toll on his mobility. Whatever was going on seemed to cause him to lose some muscle mass on one side near his ass and it was concerning enough to take him to a neurologist to make sure that it wasn't LS - it wasn't (at least not yet). I decided to try the chiropractor and have been very happy with the results but, I will caution you that I would not have done it if he was not stable to begin with. In fact I waited a few months to make sure that everything that we knew of had healed. The chiropractic treatment can cause inflammation and swelling when the joints are manipulated which is why I would never do it on a dog that had a "current problem". He's pretty much running like a younger guy again and going up my inside stairs a few times a day. Not perfect but, better than he was. If the chiropractor didn't help I was going to try the acupuncturist but as of yet, had not had the need to. As someone already mentioned, make sure that if you do decide to use a chiropractor, make sure they are certified for animals. There is a web site that lists them http://www.avcadoctors.com/avcadus.htm Good luck.

Give her more time before changing food since she is still new to the house and maybe not sure of the routine and all that. Also, changing the food could cause diarrhea. I might suggest bringing in a sample to the vet for a worm check and also let him know about the smell as that can sometimes signal a bacterial overgrowth in the gut.

IMHO, get an appointment with a neurologist. Most regular vets are not equipped to deal with seizures and do not have the latest information on medicines to treat them. My regular vet (who is great) did not provide the proper dosage levels of rectal Valium), luckily, all that was sorted out when I went to the neurologist. I would also suggest that if you have more than 1 greyhound that you keep them muzzled when you leave the house as the other dogs could attack a seizure dog. There is a seizure group that you can join. You might be able to get more information here: Epil-K9's website: http://www.canine-epilepsy.com Archives: http://APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM/archives/EPIL-K9.html

Bloat doesn't have to happen immediately after eating - it could be a few hours. It does sound like your pup may have had gas issues - maybe from the hot dog and the doggie ice cream combined. Not settling down, stretching, panting (salivating) are all symptoms of what could be gas which could turn into bloat. Check with your vet and see what they would like you to do if this happens again.

I would make an appointment with a neurologist and he will likely put her on medicine to keep the seizures under control. Usually if a dog is clustering (more than one seizure in 24 hours), a neurologist is probably going to want her on seizure medicine. The neuro would also likely prescribe some rectal valium that you could use if she does start seizing and doesn't stop in 4 or 5 minutes (the neuro will let you know the exact procedure). My Lucy started seizing in March of 2011 and went on medicine in October of 2011. She is pretty much under control at this time and has less than 1 seizure a month. She is on Zonisamide for seizure control. Some neurologists will want to have an MIRI and spinal (usually about 2K+ in costs) before they will determine a course of action but, you can usually find a neurologist that does not require that. edited to add -- if she does have a seizure it might be a good idea to give a bit of vanilla ice cream - about 2 tablespoons. Having a seizure depletes the sugar store in the body and the body will produce more but, it might not be enough so it's a good idea to supplement. You don't want to give too much though as you could cause a sugar high. As a note, since I started giving the ice cream, it seems to cut down on the "post-seizure" symptoms. Also, dogs get very hot when having a seizure, if you have a long seizure you might need to get some ice (or cold towel) to try and lower temperature a bit.

Occasionally I pick up 50 pound bags of the green IAMs for a local greyhound group. I get them at BJ's and they are about $40.00 a bag.

Iams has a new food - fish and barley that you might try (in a light blue bag). It also doesn't have any chicken or grains.

Check the state of the tail - if the tail wagging is a fast swishing and is held lower, then it should be OK. If the tail is held out almost level to the back and the wagging is very slow then the dog is in a state that he should be watched because he is "on guard".

Have you had an x-ray of the leg to rule out other possibilities?

A vet visit is in order. I suspect that she is in pain and letting you know by growling. IMHO, you might want to have the vet check for corns on the pads -- I hope you vet is gravy-aware because corns can be tough to spot.

Time and plenty of it. Treats will also help. Your greyhound has been uprooted from the life he knew and put into a house where he doesn't know what is expected. Many greyhounds are "gentle souls" and it can take them a few months to figure out that "it's OK" and no one will hurt them. It sounds like you are doing all the right things. As an example, my last foster (who is now permanent) was nervous and afraid of going thru doors (much more common with greyhounds then you would expect). There was a slow improvement over time and now at 6 months, you would not know that he had a major issue with doors when he first arrived. It will help if your DH does the feedings and takes the dog for walks, short ones at the beginning. Use a harness if there is a chance that the dog may get spooked. The walks help to build a bond. During the walk, move with a purpose but stop occasionally for "letting your dog "smell the roses". Greyhounds sometimes take awhile to "warm" up to a person and maybe in this case, let the dog approach the person rather then trying to give too much affection when the dog is not ready for it. Good luck.

There's also a "light blue" bag now -- it's chicken, wheat, soy, and corn free. But, it still has the beet pulp.

Is Merlin on fish oil by chance? It has the omega oils which act like aspirin and can cause the platelets to "delay" clotting.