MaryJane

Use tilapia as the protein - my girl with IBD (also seizures) has been on it for a few years now and she does great. I give her rice, white potatoes, veggies and oatmeal with it and also add in calcium (oyster shell) along with fish oil. Note that tilapia is very low fat, so you will have to give more carbos to compensate for weight loss. Note - I stay away from chicken for my dogs -- too contaminated, fed to much antibiotics, and they use bleach baths - it just overloads their systems.

When I used to foster greyhounds, I would take them into the bedroom at night and block off their bed to make sure that there were no incidents of them getting up and moving around or someone stepping on the dog accidentally. Usually within a few days I could remove the barriers.

Vet - if Pablo is dehydrated then he needs fluids.

I'm sorry for what you are going through. Might I suggest that you stop the Ultramand (you have to ease down or you will have withdrawal symptoms) and try another drug - some of the side effects of this drug could be causing the symptoms you noted. You might also want to go get a round of antibiotics for the mouth as an infection could also fit some of the symptoms you are describing.

Get a consult with Dr. Couto. My dog has IBD and she is treated with diet (fish protein and home-made diet), Vit B12, and probiotics. She is a seizure dog so, we decided that we would not use either pred or bute since she is on so many other meds. Also, you want to check what may have caused it and the likely suspects would be a tick borne disease like Lyme or erlichia or an intestinal parasite like hooks. If yourvet has not already checked - the platelets might also be affected. My Lucy's IBD was caused by one of the medicines for seizures. Right now it is under control just as long as she gets her diet and her monthly B12 shots which I give her. The probiotics are not as necessary now as in the beginning when we first started to treat.

Each group is going to have different "normals" for what they do on the dog. Check their website and see what they say about prior testing and treatment on dogs.

Your dog is still relatively new so, some of this is due to being anxious and nervous. As you continue the same walk, your dog will smell his last markings and will continue to find newer ones until, he finds that there is less to mark overall and then will settle into one or two to do a "refresh". As to the poop, he's nervous and he's just not getting it all out. I would expect that as he gets used to his "new normal", he will settle into a one or two poops on a walk. This will not resolve over a week or two, will probably take 3 to 4 months.

If it was the second pee, it was diluted and a diagnosis on that would not be accurate. Bring in a first morning specimen and you probably also want to make sure it is put in sterile container (and also clean him with warm water the night before - no soap). You should be able to get sterile container from vet. If they see bacteria in the urinalysis, they will be able to do culture and get reliable results if the urine is sterile.

As far as I know, natural products do not work on heartworm and that is why you do not see any "test results" being provided by the manufuacturers. I suggest that you find a heartworm product that treats for heartworm rather than one that also does fleas and ticks as that would be the least amount of chemicals. As others have suggested, talk to your vet about a reputable heartworm preventative that would have the least side effects. I have included a link to information on treatment of heartworm positive dogs. I include this so that maybe you can understand that heartworms are pretty serious and because of that, a reliable preventive is a intelligent path to select. https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/infectious-parasitic/how-treat-heartworms-dogs

Was the urine a first morning specimen ?

What is the problem with the teeth -- tarter, infection.. ?

I usually do exactly what you did - wash it with face cloth/warm water and then put Neosporin or Bacitracin on it

You might just want to try the Gabapentin alone and see if that makes a difference. How much gabapentin did the vet prescribe? Also, when was the last time Ruby had hearing checked?

Stairs can be a problem - they may try and jump down a flight a stairs so keep on a leash going up and down until their actions can be identified. Sliding glass doors need to have decals put on them otherwise the dog may run through them. Keep on leash outside even with a fenced in yard until you know if dog will try and scale fence and always be outside with dog as they could run into something. Rremove anything from yard like a wheelbarrel that has protruding handles that a dog could run into. If you have greyhounds too, muzzle all dogs until you can determine whether there are any space issues Feed dogs separately (fenced off from one another) until you determine whether there is food aggression.

Thanks for sharing. Looks like I will be talking to my vets about switching to the Interceptor ...

I've fostered quite a few greyhounds and this can be common. One method I use is to tie 2 or 3 leashed together to give them privacy and also turn sideways so I am not looking directly at them.

Do a home-made diet. You can use white fish like tilapia, white potatoes, white rice, cooked oats, and veggies.

I suggest that you do a urinalysis and maybe a culture to rule out a UTI. If she is going pee quickly outside, maybe she didn't finish. Take her out on a leash and walk around the yard for at least 5 minutes and see if she is one of the females that marks (bits of urine in multiple places) and if so, then you need to keep her out longer.

Dogs that are nervous might drink more water - he is still new to the house and routines so that could be stressful. I also suggest taking him out more than 4 times a day especially if you are home.

I'm so sorry.. You both fought hard ... it was a race well run. My thoughts are with you.

I got this one for my front amputee. I love that it rests over the front shoulders rather than the middle of the dog. This allows you to help carry the weight of the front so you can help with the hopping. The only thing that I don't love is that I wish the strap that goes around chest was covered with sherpa to make it more comfy. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A9X5ZOO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I noted before that using the both at the same time can cause neurological symptoms (I can no longer find the links) -- it was my understanding that the prison protocol was changed to reflect using each only once a month and separated by 2 weeks.

I posted in the spring that Frankie had a positive hookworm test. Per the vet, we used the strongid every 2 months for 3 months and the heartworm Iverhart plus every month - note the strongid was given inbetween the heartworm doses and never within a few days of each other. Frankie's fecal yesterday was negative for hooks. Unlike last year, we will continue the heartworm through the winter and get tested again for hookworms in the spring.

I was wondering what the symptoms were and in Poodle's case, if he fell over it was likely spinal or head. I'm not a big fan of MRI's on dogs unless it is going to change treatment plan. I think this vet is in contact with Dr. Couto so, I'm not planning on contacting him yet about this case although, I have talked to him in the past about my other dogs.

The swelling was in an area of the leg not usually associated with osteo and the swelling has gone away as well as the pain. He is on nothing right now and no pain or swelling so, not sounding like osteo although, if it swells or looks like he has pain, the x-ray will be the next step. Very interesting and I'm sure that we went to the same vet. This is exactly the information that I was looking for - the potential for the microclots ... seems to be in greyhounds and maybe in certain genetic lines. It's good to hear that Calvin is on the aspirin and no side effects from that. That was something I was hoping someone could provide for a greyhound with their funky bleeding issues. Thanks!