MaryJane

Also depends on how much and what type of protein is in the food. Sometimes older dogs can not handle a high level of protein especially if it is not the best but, as noted by others ...... sometimes it's more important that they just eat.

So common with all the new fosters that I had - last potty was always tough ... I never let them get away with it because they probably wouldn't be able to hold it through the night since our early morning call was between 6 to 7am so they needed to get out at 10pm or so. I would usually either put the leash on them or stand there with my "I mean it voice" and say "time for pee" and point to the door. If I needed to resort to the leash, it was usually only for a few days and then they would usually get up with no problem after that.

Beautiful boys!

Please .... can we all take a step back and take a deep breath .....

Before making any decisions, I'd have the vet check done - it could be something simple and then .. maybe not.

Just a note that the water shouldn't be too warm -- some people have had problems with their greyhounds passing out.

I'm hoping that they discover what's wrong and get appropriate treatment going for Charlie.

I am so sorry for the devastating news.

Sounds like my Larry! Does the diarrhea go away by itself in a few days or do you need medical intervention? If it goes away by itself then you might just want to try and give a small slice of turkey breast (about a tablespoon) and see what happens in the next 24 hours. If you have no symptoms, then you could try just one knuckle of a neck bone and then see what happens in the next 24 hours and so on .... With my Larry, he would be able to do the first tablespoon of turkey with no ill effects but by about the third or fourth day he would have diarrhea.

Just a note that if it heals over with it still in there it will cause additional problems so as others have said, lots of soaking and if it's not better in a few days then I would do a vet. Also .... sometimes an injury like this might predispose that pad to a corn. To try and prevent that, after soaking puts tons of cream on it to soften it up. This happened to Lucy, she got something in her pad and the vet got it out but, it was still very sensitive as she was limping and our concern was that it would callous and possibly turn into a corn - soaking and creams seemed to help and she is no longer limping.

My Larry cannot eat chicken at all - allergic reaction if he does and it is a pretty fast & severe reaction. I can give him small amounts of turkey on very rare occasions and he will tolerate it but, his system will react if he gets too much or too frequently --- so, I just don't give it at all except a little bit at Thanksgiving.

You were probably looking at one of the grain free formulas. This one comes in a 40lb bag and sells for less than that. I'm actually using their grain free formulas but, not because they are grain free - it's because the ingredients seem pretty good and from my conversations with the company - all the material is sourced from known vendors and none are in China. I'm using them to supplement Adam, my new boy's food since he is still pretty young and he needs to fill out a bit.

My angel Jake had a heart murmur and it was confirmed with an echo. It never seemed to affect him and when he passed it was from osteosarcoma, not from any problem with his heart. I was careful to make sure that he got antibiotics before he had his teeth cleaned at age 11.

If she's still not drinking water/broth try giving her a vanilla milkshake (or yogurt) - it can cause diarrhea because it is so rich but, you do want to get her to drink.

Hope you hear good news

Glad to hear that so far it all looks clear....

It's tough when your pets get sick and it costs money to get them better but, left untreated the results can be devastating. Your pet might have a few things going on which is why it is going to be more expensive to treat. You mentioned a tick and then you cleared the brush .. either one of these could be the reason for the sickness or ... maybe both - there might also be a chance of a snake or spider bite since brush was being disturbed ..... Having a dog sick for 5 days is also something that does not work in your favor, usually you want your dog at the vet as soon as possible if there is signs of either bloody diarrhea or bloody vomiting or just diarrhea and vomiting together. Many pet owners will wait a few days to see if it gets better and in many cases, it just makes it worse and more expensive to treat. The black stool sounds like there might be blood in the GI which is very concerning so whatever is happening with that should be treated as soon as possible. It could be that the medicines that the vet has provided will help the GI issues. Not sure if the GI issue is causing the "tiredness" so that also needs to be thoroughly researched and treated (as that could be Lyme or other tick disease). As to the charges .....One of my greyhounds got into something in the yard that made her very nauseous to the point that she became severely dehydrated in the matter of an hour (drooling by the cup load) - she ended up at the ER vet for an overnight stay and when I picked her up the charge was $600+. Two months later, she had a broken tooth that got infected when it was hit by the other dogs playing and the emergency surgery to remove the tooth and antibiotics for the infection was again $600+. That doesn't include charges for the "anal gland issues" that seem to be running through my pets. If you think the charges are excessive - call other vets in the area and see what they would charge for the tests. as a note, most vets are very aware that the costs for pet treatment can be difficult for the owners to bear and will usually keep the tests/treatment they recommend to the bare minimum.

As already noted, make sure that you keep a log of seizures, what time, what type, how long it lasted, and how was the period before and after seizure, and if anything changed in diet prior to seizure. When a dog is seizing you just want to make sure that the dog is safe and that the other dogs are not able to get close. I usually have a few mats around so I can grab and wrap my Lucy up in. I hold her when she is seizing but, I would not suggest it for other people. As noted by someone else, sugar helps - I usually give vanilla ice cream (about 2 tablespoons) right after the seizure because the seizure depletes the glucose and the body should pull some from storage but, it may not pull enough or it may use it too quickly so I always supplement with just a little bit of ice cream - in this case, you don't want to give too much. If you give it by spoon -- be very careful, my Lucy sucks at the spoon so hard that she could swallow it if I was not careful. The ice cream is also cold and it seems to help to bring her temperature down. You should talk to the neurologist about getting some rectal Valium to keep at home just in case a seizure is not stopping or if there are multiple seizures in 24 hours. The rectal Valium can help stop the seizures but, in some cases you still might need to get the dog to the ER vet - so you want to talk to the neurologist and discuss how you would know that you should head to the ER vet. In addition, some neurologists might want you to increase the medicines the day that a seizure happens - check with the neurologist about that. In talking to neurologists each has their own protocol they follow. Once a dog is on medicine, they may increase meds until there are no seizures at all or they may just want to try and keep to no more than once a month - it really depends on the neurologist. I'm very diligent about making sure Lucy gets her meds between 8 and 8:30 both am and pm (she is on Zonisamide). You also want to make sure that you never stop the medicines without consulting with a neurologist because if done without the proper procedures, could cause seizures. It can be scary but, the more people that you talk to about how to handle seizures the better and more equipped you will feel about it. As already noted, muzzles are a must if you are leaving the house even if you are just going outside for a few minutes - the other dogs could turn on a seizure dog very quickly. Crating can also be a good idea for when you are not there especially if you can get some pads for around the sides. Be careful about being tempted to not take precautions - sometimes when the seizures are not happening regularly to remind you, you can get forgetful about the precautions you have to always take ..... My Lucy is very space aggressive and has a fit if another dog gets within 3 feet of her bed and this has actually worked in our favor as the other dogs give her a wide berth. With another dog I would have corrected the "aggression" but, I let her get her own "comfort level".

Check with your adoption group - they may know of fenced in town fields or they may even have a large area themselves that they let adoptees use.

I think that you should pick up one if the greyhound books or see if one of the adoption groups have a "meet-n-greet" in one of the local pet stores that you could go and talk to a volunteer about greyhounds. When I used to do meet-n-greets the first thing I would say to someone that was considering greyhounds as a pet is that 1) you never let them off-leash, 2) you don't tie them up outside, and 3) you do not use a flexi-lead. If the people were OK with that, then we would discuss the other "no no's" like have to watch them constantly when they are around kids (kids and dog) and being very careful at dog parks (or just not going). Once I would get past all that with a person, then we could discuss all the great things about greyhounds ....

Do figure 8's - the twisting and turning helps to train the dog to stay by your side. Make sure that you use a tight leash and then as he gets better you can loosen up a bit. While having a confident buddy is good - I'd probably hold off walking two so I could just concentrate on the one that needs the leash training.

When I tried my angel Jake on a raw diet the result was a "mucosy stool" - I got him off raw and gave him cooked and it solved all the problems. While worms could cause mucous because of the inflammation that results, there are other things that can also cause the inflammation. Try a bland diet of cooked hamburger and rice for a few days and see if the stools get better.

Mine get about 2 slices of bread/muffin for three dogs each day - if it's store bought then I toast it, if I made it at home they get as is. The store bought can be too "gummy" and when I make it at home it has more "substance" to it. If it's toasted, I put a bit of butter or peanut butter on it. One of my boys has sensitivity to noodles but, he seems to be able to do the bread just fine ...

Sounds like you had one sick puppy ... If you are still getting symptoms like this is could possibly be bloat (gas) that could lead to torsion which is the intestines twisting. The salivating might be an indication of gas. IMO, with these symptoms I probably would have already had the dog at the vet as I tend not to like to wait and see what happens. A vet will at least give something that will settle the tummy. You might want to try feeding cooked hamburger and rice for a few days and see if the situation stabilizes.

If his mouth is still bleeding then you definitely want to mention it. You don't want to take the chance that he starts bleeding again. Have them do a consult with OSU with they are unfamiliar with Amicar