PatricksMom

Please recheck all your products too--that's how what happened with Henry, the company had switched sweetners from one safe to dogs to Xylitol. Personally, I've banned the stuff from the house.

Well, from Leo's mom to another one, congrats! Leo's are very special. Just don't steal are nickname--"Leo, Leo, Lion" And he's stunning, I someday would love to adopt a black hound, but others keep finding their ways into our lives.

Usually, and I'm the best example of this out there, it is the people that are the problems, so yeah, I'd suggest your partner stop rough-housing and find a way to interact without encouraging/allowing jumping. Throwing tennis balls outside works well as does "4 feet" tug of war? Just some thoughts.

There is going to go hours of my life, I can't stop laughing.

Not including the evet visit (which was necessary since his blood sugar did drop and they fixed it), we've probably thrown $500+ at this alone already. I checked, his consults seem to range from $60-150. The peace of mind alone would be worth it. I emailed to ask if he did and what lab he thinks is best to use. Thanks for the advice, you guys are helping me calm down some.

Now I see what you mean, since it's the only elevated value. We asked and asked about that, if he could just run high, she didn't seem to know. I'm not super-confident in our vet, but our friends and I who are picky about our vet care have collectively tried just about practice in town and have all ended up here, we're short on options. Does Coutro do consults for things like this, or only cancer issues?

Right, but the normal range I believe was 18-180ish (should have asked for copies, can't until Monday). So over three years, he's had only 1 normal value. I should add, except for the pre-neuter bloodwork, all of these have been in house tests, one done at the evet, the 2nd to last one done 2 different ways at our vet, the last one done at the vet one way. Adding, I've seen how far he is outside the normal range in terms of the bar lines, and he is running 2-3 times the max of what this equipment/process considers normal.

So after the Xilotol incident, we checked Henry's liver values again, even though poison control thought he'd be just fine because he ingested under the threshold for liver damage. So here's what we have. 3 years ago (pre-neuter): around 200 (current vet missed originally since it wasn't done at her office, she found it once we started trying to figure this out). pre-dental in February: 75 (lowest on record)--no prior medications given. w/in 4 hours of xilotal ingestion: 204 after fluid/glucose suport and 4 days of Denamarine: 175 after 2 weeks of Denamarine + 2 weeks off, 418 after 2 more weeks on Denamarine and Clavamox (just in case there was an infection): 368 We had also recently added fish oil to his diet, but Leo takes that too, and we just ran Leo's blood, including ALT, which was all normal. We're still pulling him off it for now, just in case. He takes no other medications or supplements. Every other darn blood value is normal, including liver values. He is a healthy weight, has a healthy appetite (on the same food as Leo). His weight is normal and stable. He acts 100% normal for a greyhound. He loves his life and has a no signs of illness or pain that us or the vet can detect. He's basically bomb-proof temperment wise and that hasn't changed at all. Current plan: All the Denamarine dosing has been 2x day, 425mg/dose (1 hour before eating), we're staying at that for now (that's double the normal dose). Vet said to wait 30-60 days to retest, so we're waiting 30 days. Things we haven't done: ultrasound the liver for a tumor--can't do that here (seems highly unlikely according to the vet giving his past history of 3 years of this and comlete absence of signs). Tested for cushings, again she seems convinced he couldn't have done that. Done a complete thyroid panel again--completely asymptomatic and when done pre-neuter was normal. Ideas? What are we missing? Anyone seen this before? Is it possible he just runs eratic and using Denamarine (or long-term if it works the vitamins purchased separately) to supress it would help?

Take him on walks in his new neighborhood ahead of time. If you have an overlap between when you settle and when you get kicked out, spend a couple of nights reading for a few hours with him in the new house (bring his familar bed, comfort object/favorite toy, and treats), to normalize the space. Then again, I did none of this when I moved with Henry and Leo, and we were fine, even though Leo is high anxiety. I do agree to get him out of the house completely to someplace safe while you move--to huge a risk of someone leaving a door open and him slippping out, and crating him in that chaos would be stressful, even if he's normally ok with is crate.

Hmm, you've done most of what I've done. Have you tried a verbal command? Ours is "4 feet." Can you ask guests to also turn their backs and ignore him--they're like kids, they listen to anyone else but Mom for some reason? For some reason, doing this while crossing my arms over my chest seemed to help more. And, if the dogs are just having a crazy day, I put them in the yard to burn off a little energy before letting them in the house.

Short term: I like Metacam (also called Meloxicam) for short-term use. It loads very rapidly in the body, so you will get the inflamation under control faster and potentially use the drug for a shorter time period (those with actual medical training please correct me if this has changed, this is what my vet told me and I confirmed 5 years ago). For pain, it can be temporarily or long-term paired with Tramadol, which won't help with swelling but will help with pain. Long term: For longer term inflamation, I like Cosequine sprinkle capsules--3 dogs, and I've never had a problem with just putting it on their food. Fish oil supplements also help with a variety of inflamation issues in the body, I take them and both my dogs take them, but they're really a long-term thing, not something that will help right away. All of us take the Costco (Kirkland) human version brand.

Interesting, thanks for sharing. Maybe I should switch to just Trifexis, we've been doubling up with Frontline for Tick protection, but given that they mostly walk around are neighborhood and don't interact with other dogs (because of Leo's fears), maybe I should stop or just use a collar when taking them higher risk places. Eta: Sorry if you've answered this before, but what protection do you use when taking them other places? Would a collar work for ticks for just a few hours?

Read my thread. While I'm not the best person to give advice about anxiety in dogs right now (our health/life upheaval is seriously stressing Leo out which makes me feel terrible), it really doesn't sound like a good idea to ban him from your bedroom unless you MUST for some reason. Leave the door open if that's a possibility, make sure he has plenty of comfortable places to sleep, and let him pick. Don't be surprised if he decides to stay with you, or if over time he starts sleeping elsewhere. Can you buy him a second bed, and put it by the back door and give treats to him there? That way he's not forced to be in the scary place (by putting his only downstairs bed there), but you can help make it a positive place where he gets yummy things. Also, what anxiety meds was he given? Some help, some make things worse, some are more appropriate for one kind of anxiety than another.

I'm not sure how often your stores do this, but ours puts their specialized holiday toys on sale super cheap after the holidays. I would go buy one of a couple of different kinds while they're on sale and see what she likes. Also, no cat experience, but lots with greyhounds and rabbits. My first dog was scared of our rabbits (and outdoor ones), Henry was a little interested but left her alone, sadly they are no longer with us but Leo would eat one if he could in a second. It all depends on the dog and has nothing to do with their interest in toys.

I have no personal experience with this (peeing on carpet yes, concrete no), but just a thought, there are concrete sealants. I wonder if following their cleaning process and then using one before replacing the carpet would be a good idea?

So far, they pouted and pouted and pouted, and have finally settled for getting to kiss me goodnight and sleep in the guest room with DH (and their water bowl and Leo's comfort object and beds--they're not suffering) and seem fine although Henry's still not happy he can't sleep at the foot of my side of the bed. But they're fine as long as DH is sleeping with them. I'm mostly wondering if we can't get them back in, and switch them to DH's office should Aaron sleep on the floor in there for them for a couple of days, to help them adjust? Or something else? Henry's just the usual adorable bratty greyhound when he doesn't get what he wants, but change stresses out Leo.

Do you want to trade dogs? Just kidding, yours won't sleep in your room, I may have to evict mine.

You asked for details, hope these aren't too much The noise isn't that bad. it's just that my insomnia is very complicated and I had to stop taking the only medication that has ever worked due to dangerous side effects. And please, no sleep suggestions or medication suggestions for me, trust me, I've tried them all, the new sleep specialist is quite sure this is an undiagnosed medical or sleep architecture problem. Hopefully with an actual diagnosis of the problem we'll get this under control. But my doctor is cautiously optimistic that maybe in a year we'll get me to the point of a decent night's sleep 6 out of 7 nights so this isn't going to be a quick fix. It's that the occasional yipping in his sleep when he has a dream or getting up to change beds is enough to wake me up right now and then I can't get back to sleep for hours, even with a white noise machine and temporary sleeping meds that are not a long-term option. He also gets up in the morning before me and paces or whines for breakfast, which when I have been up for 4-5 hours in the middle of the night and he wakes me up makes me an insane person. DH has been exiled with the dogs to the guest room (he's being really great about that) for things like coming to bed quietly in the complete dark, rolling over and accidently touching me, etc. I'm having that much trouble. Leo is least anxious at night, so I don't think his behaviors at night are unusual or a sign of his anxiety. He doesn't have SA as long as Henry is home and he can choose to be with Henry (Leo has run of the house, Henry has to be crated because he gets into so much stuff). But he doesn't do well if one of us is at home and he can't be around us (say if we're remodeling and can't let him in the room). For those who haven't been following our journey, Leo has made huge progress on his anxiety since we adopted him 2 years ago, and with DH switching from working at home to commuting, the dogs will have to be at home alone probably 3 days a week with Henry, although I can stop by mid-day easily enough. So medication may be coming anyway, but it's not going to fix the nighttime problem because it's really my problem, not his. We've tried meds unsucessfully before for Leo and have had far more sucess with changing our behavior and his environment. If he needs meds because of the change in DH's work routine, then he needs them and that's what we'll do. But I hate to have to drug him because of my medical problems, not his. I would consult a behavioralist in a second, but I've been told by multiple vets there isn't even a local dog trainer that they'd send a grey to, and there aren't any behavioralists around here. I have gotten far better advice on GT And maybe I'm worrying about nothing, but I'd like to start thinking about a plan, since with Leo changes have to be made very gradually

My insomnia (14 year battle) has re-emerged with a vengence, and so DH and both dogs have temporarily relocated to the guest room. We hope to get it under control enough in the next few months to a year that DH can move back in, but I'm not sure the boys will be able to. Leo is super high anxiety, and he's the biggest culprit in terms of noise at night. Any suggestions for helping him sleep downstairs or in DH's office at the end the opposite end of the hallway? Obviously Henry would have to be with him. He was upset enough at having to sleep just with DH that he kept barging my bedroom door for a week before he gave in--made me want to cry.

Good news, In the future, bread is almost always a good idea for something sharp, can't hurt and may cushion as it passes through.

This is also true, predinsone has some nasty side effects and I wouldn't use it unless there weren't better options, but it gave us 4 weeks of good quality time with Murphy, and he loved those 4 weeks.

Have you checked for food or environmental allergies? Both can be a common cause. Eta: Sorry, quoted the wrong person, I meant this for Kar.

Poor baby--a rash and getting kicked out of bed. How long will she be on it? You can expect her to be very hungry on it too, likely, and may need to feed her extra small meals.

So these are regulated products? My concern with medical (or recreational use in people) is that the dose/purity is a real unknown. I'll be interested to see what the clinical studies reveal, hopefully this will help some dogs, it's certainly helped a lot of people.

Henry's a total chatterer, scares vets until we explain it, they think he's terrified. Glad you found something else he enjoys