PatricksMom

I really, really hope this isn't the case, but Murphy's swelling went way down with antibiotics, but he still turned out to have Lymphoma and they swelled right up again as soon as the antibiotic ended.

I think so. Patrick was either a clutz or thin skinned, we were constantly bandaging him up or taking him to the vet. I thought that was normal for greyhounds, but we haven't had to to taken in Murphy, Henry, or Leo yet and we almost never have to bandage either.

Also, I don't know what your leasing agents are like or if they're in the office most of the time, but our boys love, love, love to go visit the ladies in the office (who keep treats for them) and as we've dealt with various issues it's really helped that they know and love our boys.

Honestly, from everything I've read here, I'd be asking my adoption group to take my dog (they're right across the state border) while I had him properly medically checked out, just to be on the safe side, you never know what animal control will do and getting the dog out of state is safest if that's geographically reasonable. Once you're sure your dog is safe and if it turns out there's nothing medically wrong, I would get professional behavioral help. Is it possible something negative happened between your dog and the dog walker? Not that the walker necessarily did something, but maybe something really scary happened on a walk and now there's a bad association in your dog's mind for some reason. Some hope too, when we first adopted Patrick, his thyroid levels were low but he seemed asymptomatic. Until he bit me in the face for apparently no reason. Fortunately, I was fine and the city/state didn't find out. Once we medicated him, he never did it again, although he would get growly with me if the generic changed, switching to name brand Soloxine cleared that up and for some reason he never got growly with anyone else. So there can be easily treatable medical issues that can cause this behavior.

This won't help when you're out with Padfoot, but I suggest taking a picture every time you see the dog off leash and you safely can, and send it to your rental office. We had to do this and it helped, plus you'll be creating a "paper" trail if you do have to kick the dog to keep Padfoot safe or if there is an encounter. I'm sorry you're dealing with this. Off leash, aggressive dogs make our work with Leo so much harder, although he's still doing remarkably well.

A real quick phone screening question is to ask about collars. What do they permit/require?

Granted, Leo has other issues, and we are using an anti-anxiety medication, and a kong, and a belly band....and sometimes he still pees in his crate. But, what seems to have helped recently to tip the balance is playing NPR while we're gone. If the new boy is hearing something that's scaring him, maybe some talk radio would help smooth over the scary sounds. Is he showing any signs of fear/anxiety about anything else in his daily life?

I'm so sorry you lost your beautiful Nadier. He loved you so much and he knew how much he loved you. As impossible as it seems in the moment, and I know personally, he would want you to remember everything you did for him and not beat yourself up. They all go to soon, no matter what we do. Be gentle with yourself, just like you would be gentle with any of us facing your circumstances.

Poor Aston, hopefully with the worms treated he'll feel better.

I would also do a vet visit, check for pain, thyroid issues, anything else the vet thinks might be going on with him. Keep in mind how you would feel if you were hurting and someone walked up and kept touching you and making it worse, no matter how many times you told them to stop. If nothing medical comes up, keep in mind that many greyhounds don't react well to being petted while lying down, particularly when they are newly off the track and still adjusting to being disturbed in that way. It may be your friend pushed him too far, too many times. You'll likely get better advice from more experienced people here than me about learning to work with him.

I am absolutely not a dog trainer or a vet, but these feel wrong to me, like they would create fear and mistrust, and so I won't use them. I think all of us need to listen to our guts when we feel like something won't work for our dogs and our families.

Once you're sure it's arthritis, you might consider adding a fish oil supplement to the Dasequin. If cost is an issue, Costco sells Cosequin which is pretty similar to Dasequin and made by the same company.

Welcome to GT and I'm sorry, I know how stressful it is to find health problems in a newly adopted dog. She should handle the loss in the long-term just fine, there are dogs who have had all their teeth extracted and manage just fine. I would talk to your vet about antibiotics (I think most prefer them with that level of dental disease) and whether or not they have Amicar on hand in case of bleeding issues.

He's beautiful, and he's 11, and having health issues. Whatever you can feed him, that makes him happy, and doesn't make him feel ill, you should go with, imo.

I guess it depends. I seriously don't want to have to think about my total vet bills over the last 2 years and I've never had a problem paying a higher rate to have a good vet and a clinic backing them up (the ability to do the more advanced tests in house is valuable to me and I understand that runs costs up). But charging a prescription fee (which in my case with both Patrick and Murphy at $10 would have been more than the cost of the medicine itself, so more than doubling my monthly bill--I think at $10 it would have been something like $60/month in those fees alone) feels like nickle and diming. And the one vet practice I saw that did that, was a terrible practice, the lower costs overall were absolutely not worth the poor care. On the other hand, both Patrick's care at the University of Pennsylvania and Murphy's care by several board certified surgeons down here was not cheap (but totally worth it), but none of them charged to write a script. I teach, and this feels like teaching my class for their tuition, but charging extra money to meet with them in office hours.

So do you pay your doctor for his/her time when s/he writes you a script, beyond the cost of the appointments where your medications are decided on and monitored?

The only vet who did that was the horrid practice we left (not for that reason). I realize it takes some time, but I can't see that it takes any more time than it does for a human doctor and I've never had one who charged for writing/calling in scripts. Most vets I've seen won't send scripts to internet pharmacies, but that seems to be more of a safety concern.

Heck, Patrick was detered by a body pillow across the doorway.

Giselle, Neylasmom thank you for the explanation.

If I can intrude, I thought that dogs found direct eye contact to be threatening? We've been training Leo and Henry when we do"look at me" to look at our hand on our chest, not to look us right in the eyes. Is this incorrect?

Godspeed Jesse--how fortunate you were to find the perfect home where you were understood.

Despite 4 meals a day and lots of treats, Murphy kept dropping weight rapidly on Predisone. I'm not sure how much of that could have been the Lymphoma though.

I've had four greyhounds xrayed now, and none have ever needed anesthesia to get good scans (xrays have included lungs, bladder, kidney, leg, and probably something else I'm forgetting).

I will pray for you and your husband and Joey, that you all find peace, that he finds a job, and that you can see what is right for Joey and your family.

It must depend--my boys think they're getting a special treat, no disguising Trifexis necessary.