MaryJane

You can do an on-line consult with Dr Remaillard at Angel Memorial (in Boston). She formulated a cancer diet for one of my dogs that consisted of mostly beef and vegetables and very small amounts of carbohydrates and supplements (calcium, fish oil, vitamins).

I would check with the vet whether you can give them a blanket (that will be destroyed after) that your dog can lie on. Because of the toxicity of the material, many places do not have any "extra" materials in the pens/runs and thus the dogs may be lying on concrete. I would also check to see if they will be giving medicine for the upset stomach that happens with a chemo protocol. When my dog has his amputation, it was not a common practice to give anti-nausea medicine and as a result, my pup was barely eating after the chemo treatments although, he would usually take a few laps of "yogurt and cheerios". With chemo they also overload on the fluids so your dog may be peeing quite frequently during the night. In my case (which is extreme) my dog needed to go out every 20 minutes or so until the wee hours of the morning and by that time he finally seemed to rid himself of the extra fluid and settled in to sleep. Good Luck ... edited to add ... You might also consider bringing in some treats for the "oncology staff". I used to bring in coffee/muffins just so they would remember me and hopefully treat my dog better. In my case, whenever I came in for my appointment, the oncology nurse would come out immediately to get him rather than us waiting ... so it seemed to help.

You can also add a pound or two over 2 or 3 weeks by giving toast with butter once a day

Regarding a vet, you might also want to contact the nearest greyhound adoption agency in your area and see who they use for a vet. If that vet is not close enough, they may be they can refer one in your area.

I sense that times are tough for you right now and I do feel for you but ... I'm not sure that treating a dog with thyroid meds that does not have an underactive thyroid is the best idea. In effect, you could be creating a "hyperactive" state and that can cause a host of other problems such as racing heart and weakness in the legs to name just two problems. If complications do come up, they would likely end up being more expensive to treat then getting the blood work.

I should have mentioned that; George has been taking cranberry tablets now since the initial "cure." Another vote for cranberry tablets .... My Lucy got a urinary tract infection last year and I put her on the cranberry tablets before she even finished the antibiotics. Luckily, she has not had a recurrence.

I wouldn't worry yet (and I am a person that tends to worry about the smallest things with her dogs...) In this case they will probably do a culture and sensitivity of the urine and place your dog on the proper antibiotics for the bacteria they are seeing in the urine - if the primary site of infection is the kidney it would be the same bacteria and thus, would take care of it. If the antibiotics don't clear up the infection (which the vet can check by doing another urinalysis) then you would need to be proactive and get your dog on another antibiotic. Note, while your dog is on an antibiotic you should supplement the food with a one or two tablespoons of yogurt daily.

From the vet that handled my previous grey's amputation, they carry 60% of their weight on the front legs and 40% on the back. You may want to "3-leg proof" your house by making sure that slippery floors (and corners) are covered with non-skid rugs. If you have stairs, you may need to have a plan to help your grey navigate them as I found that the vets can be "too optimistic" about how quickly a dog will be able to do them. Some can do them easily but, my grey was not one of them. Good luck on the surgery.

Not too sure what you are asking ... Usually with a "foreign invasion" (ie, the bacteria), the body mounts a defense which is when the white blood cells "attack" the bacteria. Thus, you would expect to see white blood cells in the urine sample. But, if is early in the infection, maybe the body has not mounted a "visible" defense yet. It could also be that the bacteria are not "irritating" to the body, or the body is not perceiving it as a threat (immune issues, or that this is not the primary site of infection. I don't see this as something that I would worry about at this time with what you have said. edited to add .. of course the bacteria should be treated with an antibiotic - what I meant to say is that you probably do not need to worry about the lack of white blood cells in the urine unless other symptoms start to show up ..

My general rule of thumb is that IF all the other kidney values such as BUN, urine protein, and urine specific gravity come back within normal ranges then I would not be alarmed about a creatinine at 2.2 although I would repeat values at least every year to make sure there are no changes.

It's not very likely but, it could also be an inner ear problem which can cause "disorientation".

I would seriously reconsider having any surgery at this point until you recheck the kidney values. Someone earlier in the thread also mentioned this and I concur .... You probably also want to check the urine protein levels and it's better if you have a "first morning specimen" to do this. When you get the specimen, you also want to make sure that your dog doesn't pee overnight (it dilutes the sample) so that you are getting about 8 hours worth. ETA -- later you can buy the urine protein dipsticks and check the urine each morning yourself -- it really helps in getting control over what might help in the diet and what might be causing an "overload".

As I recall, some heartworm medicines also treat hookworm. If you are on one of these meds, then treating the hooks shouldn't be a problem but, what will be a problem is that the dogs will keep on getting reinfected if the ground is not treated (as someone previously in the thread spoke about).

Unless there are extenuating circumstances, I like the vet to draw the blood from the leg rather than the neck. Most greyhounds have great veins in their legs so it should not be an issue. If they do draw from the neck, they need to keep pressure on for a longer time as there is more likelihood that it will bleed and if the person drawing the blood is not very experienced, they may not know this. As someone mentioned earlier, when you draw blood from a person you usually do not do it from the artery and there shouldn't be any reason to draw it that way for a dog. Years ago it was a common practice to have "procedures" (like blood draws) done with the owner in the room but, it seems in recent years that more practices prefer to take the dog in the "back room". I'm not a fan of this "back room" and I usually try to stay with my dog if I can.

The only thing that I can think of is trying a dog bed with bolsters (higher on three sides). It makes some dogs feel more protected and thus, less anxious and more likely to sleep all night. But, I would not expect that it would help much during thunderstorms and on those nights you would probably need to crate in the other room like you have been doing.

My heart goes out to you as I know that this was likely a difficult decision. Many on the thread have already responded with great information on "3-legged proofing" your house. I found that corners in my house were especially difficult for my boy and I had to go get more slip-resistant rugs. Getting into the car was going to be another difficult area so I went and traded in my SUV and bought a mini-van - not sure if you have a challenging car or not.... I changed my dog beds (got rid of loose comforters and so on) so that they provided good padding but were not likely to "catch" his back foot when he hopped on them. My boy came home in less than two days and he had a real difficult time with steps. You need to be prepared to have some type of sling if you have stairs. The first day or two was difficult because my boy had to figure out how to maneuver with three legs but, he caught on and after a few more days he was doing pretty well. With the leg gone, the pain from the cancer (very hard to control) was also gone and it seemed that the pain from the amputation was controlled by the pain meds. After a few weeks my boy was running in the yard and it was beautiful sight. Good Luck

I'm so happy that Jamie has hit the "1 year" point and that he is managing OK with three legs. Your note made me remember how I felt when one of my osteo boys ran circles around my house for the first time with three legs and I could see how happy he was to "just be".

To second what was already said, panting and/or restlessness may indicate pain (assumes that the room is at a comfortable temperature).

In the past Larry has two incidents of his foot swelling up to twice the normal size and both times the vet put him on antibiotics and wrapped up the leg to help the fluid get assimilated. It took quite some time for the swelling to come down.

I'm in Mass and Lyme disease is a pretty big issue in this area according to the vets. Rather than chance it, I've decided to give my dogs the vaccine this year. So far I haven't seen any adverse reactions from my boy who got his first one two weeks ago. I haven't used a flea or tick preventative so far this year but, do checks for ticks on a daily basis. I'm glad that you asked this because I'm curious to hear what other people say about this.

As some already mentioned, care needs to be taken with the other dogs as they are likely to "want to know" what's going on and they may attack the dog having a seizure. I might also want to mention that years ago I had a doberman that had taken some "diarrhea" meds and a few weeks later presented with what seemed to be a seizure but, it turned out to be an inner ear problem (side effect of the diarrhea medicine which I didn't know at that time). You might also want to think back and see if there were any neighbors spraying or putting pesticides out on their lawns. I mention this because I just recently applied some "poison ivy" spray on some bushes and this is the time of year that the Northeast area would be doing this and this might cause "similar" symptoms if the products are toxic as they would affect the nervous system. Good Luck

Try cooking the oatmeal (1/4 to 1/2 cup each time) and adding it to both meals and see if it improves. You mentioned that the oatmeal helped before so I'm not sure why you want to remove the oatmeal now..... maybe you should try an allergy dog food like the Natural Balance Limited ingredient. I especially like the Venison and sweet potato (for my fosters with poop issues) but, others on the forum have used the NB fish successfully also.

Do you think you could try some applesauce mixed in with the yogurt to give a little more substance to the liquid. The reason that I mention this is that some dogs will start vomiting bile if they have an empty stomach which would add another complication you don't need right now.

I would suggest stepping outside the situation and looking at it like an "animal control person" would. You have a dog that has been aggressive twice with a child and at one of those times damaged a child's face. There may be valid reasons for the aggression but, statistically the possibility of a negative outcome at a M&G has been increased.

I agree with this post. If this girl is having a tough time seeing and hearing then she is probably not getting any warning that either you or the other dogs are close until she gets "touched" and thus, causing an immediate defensive reaction on her part. Do you think she might hear something like a cow bell if it was put on the collar of the other dogs or maybe "hear" a vibration like clapping your hands or tapping your feet?