Hawthorn

I love this story - so inspiring. One thing I'm curious about, and would love to hear more about, is how you got into the essential oils and herbal supplements. Did you go through an holistic vet for these, or did you educate yourself about how to use them? Reason for asking is that I'm very interested in alternative therapies myself, but wouldn't know where to start with essential oils, especially for such a serious condition. Congratulations Lazer and family!

Any news yet?

So sorry you are going through this ... so very stressful. I went through (am still going through) something similar recently. Initially the vet thought it was a neck/spine problem, as my dog was limping and walking hunched over, but when we started to get fevers, lethargy, swollen joints, I knew something else was going on. It turned out to be IMPA - Immune Mediated Polyarthritis. I'm no expert, but you mentioned that your dog has had auto-immune problems in the past, so I'm wondering if perhaps something auto-immune is going on here? That could cause fever. If it something auto-immune, the steroids will hopefully help. Will be checking for updates.

I had a similar experience with one of mine who had a lump. I had a FNA done and it was sent off to the lab, and came back as inconclusive but possibly some sort of cancer - can't remember the exact terminology. I scheduled Sophie to have the lump removed, but a few days before the op the lump started to shrink. I took her in to see the vet who was due to remove it and she agreed it was best to wait a few days and see what happened. The lump continued to shrink and disappeared completely within a few days.

I don't have any similar experience, but I remember reading something about greyhounds and Vetergesic recently and have included a link, in case this helps at all. https://www.greyhoun... ... cle13.aspx I hope Sid feels better very soon.

When I first saw the pictures of Hester that you posted in your initial post in Introductions, they really reminded me of my first greyhound, Charlie, whose portrait is my avatar picture to the left. Now that you've posted this picture of Hester with you, I'm reminded of Charlie even more, because he would also walk at my side or a little behind me without any training, just like Hester. I can't tell you how many photos I have of Charlie like this (lots!) - he'd have his run and then return to my side: I have to say that the three greyhounds I've owned since Charlie have not been like this, although all have been thoroughly recall trained and all have been off-lead in certain situations; none of them has been quite like Charlie though - he was an exceptional dog and I miss him. As far as injuries go, Charlie had a few cuts on his feet from running over rough ground in the early days, until I wised up and became more careful about where I allowed him to run. These days I am hyper-careful about where I let my hounds run (as regards surfaces, trees and other objects, barbed wire fences etc), and so far we have not had any injuries at all. The worst injury I've had in 18 years of greyhound ownership was in my own fenced garden when Sunny and Sophie ran head first into each other. Charlie and I walked many happy miles together for over ten years and I would not have missed a step of the journey. I wish you and Hester the same.

It's not that the dog (or kid) doesn't like what you're serving, it's that they simply choose not to eat it. If a child says "I don't like green beans" when they've never eaten them, they're just being stubborn. Do you say "Well, okay then, what else can I make for you?" I doubt it. When a dog turns up its nose at what you put in the bowl, it's being stubborn and hoping that you'll give him something else to eat. If you do then he'll always be expecting something else. I make choices for myself and my pets and if I had kids I'd be making choices for them as well (obviously within reason). A 5 year old shouldn't be dictating what they eat, what time they go to bed, what they watch on TV etc and my dog should not be refusing to eat food simply because she's being stubborn. If she were to refuse it now, she'll get it at the next meal. When my pets get a job, pay for their own food, get their drivers licenses and move out of the house, they can make their own decisions but until then, I'm the boss. That's not a hard attitude, it's taking responsibility for my dependants. Sandra in FL There's so much I could argue with here but life's too short so I'll bow out now. And in any event, Sophie's demanding I make her a salmon and cucumber sandwich .......

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if he doesn't LIKE the raw food, why continue to try to make him eat it? I'm not against raw diets, nor am I fanatically in favour of them. Mine have a commercial raw food for breakfast most days, and absolutely love it, but their other meals are home-cooked (which they also love) or kibble/commercial wet food (which they also enjoy but not as much as the raw or home-cooked). If they didn't like a particular food, or liked it for a while and then went off it, I'd stop giving it to them and find something else. I just imagine what it would be like if someone tried to force me to eat sushi, or something else that I find equally disgusting, no matter how "good" it might be for me or how much other people might enjoy it. Food is something to be enjoyed, surely? You asked for thoughts, and those are mine. To answer both of your posts....other than searing or freezing liver and organ because they're a very necessary part of the diet, I wouldn't do anything to cater to my dog to get her to eat. What is served is what you get. If you become their personal chef and start adding "special" ingredients or doing things differently all the time then your dog will come to expect that and you'll create a very picky eater. I've been lucky that both my greys ate anything I gave them and especially love organs, but if there was something that they didn't eat at that meal, they got it the next meal and that continued until they ate it. Sandra in FL What you do is up to you of course. I love my dogs and want them to enjoy their (healthy) meals. And I disagree that giving a dog a varied diet creates a picky eater - just a happy one. I can't imagine being so hard-hearted as to force a dog to eat something it doesn't like in the way you describe, any more than I would treat myself that way. I made myself a salad for lunch yesterday, had a few mouthfuls and then decided I didn't like it and had something else. Maybe I should just keep serving it up to myself until I eat it - that'll teach me . OP - apologies for the hijack. I don't feed raw although I do keep looking into it and might make the jump but the way I see it is, you treat your dogs like kids ..... if kids don't want to eat their vegetables, meats, fruit, milk (like many don't) you tell them to eat it usually. You can't compare your diet to your dogs either for the varied diet since we require a more varied diet to get all our nutrience. Also obviously if the dog has an adverse reaction to a certain food you obviously stop. In the end to each his own You mean there are people who would just keep serving a meal up to a child until he/she ate it? Really? The way I see it, there are lots of healthy way to feed dogs, and I would rather find a healthy diet for my dogs that they also enjoy, rather than forcing them to eat a diet that I think is healthy for them but which they don't like. I just don't like/get these hard attitudes, but as you say, to each his own.

Sunny and Sophie have asked me to add that in their expert opinion the very best way to cool off a hot hound is ICE CREAM.

Would he lie in front of a fan? Our hounds would consider hosing with cold water to be extreme abuse!

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if he doesn't LIKE the raw food, why continue to try to make him eat it? I'm not against raw diets, nor am I fanatically in favour of them. Mine have a commercial raw food for breakfast most days, and absolutely love it, but their other meals are home-cooked (which they also love) or kibble/commercial wet food (which they also enjoy but not as much as the raw or home-cooked). If they didn't like a particular food, or liked it for a while and then went off it, I'd stop giving it to them and find something else. I just imagine what it would be like if someone tried to force me to eat sushi, or something else that I find equally disgusting, no matter how "good" it might be for me or how much other people might enjoy it. Food is something to be enjoyed, surely? You asked for thoughts, and those are mine. To answer both of your posts....other than searing or freezing liver and organ because they're a very necessary part of the diet, I wouldn't do anything to cater to my dog to get her to eat. What is served is what you get. If you become their personal chef and start adding "special" ingredients or doing things differently all the time then your dog will come to expect that and you'll create a very picky eater. I've been lucky that both my greys ate anything I gave them and especially love organs, but if there was something that they didn't eat at that meal, they got it the next meal and that continued until they ate it. Sandra in FL What you do is up to you of course. I love my dogs and want them to enjoy their (healthy) meals. And I disagree that giving a dog a varied diet creates a picky eater - just a happy one. I can't imagine being so hard-hearted as to force a dog to eat something it doesn't like in the way you describe, any more than I would treat myself that way. I made myself a salad for lunch yesterday, had a few mouthfuls and then decided I didn't like it and had something else. Maybe I should just keep serving it up to myself until I eat it - that'll teach me . OP - apologies for the hijack.

What a great set of pictures! I love the beach pictures too - he looks so happy. He sounds wonderful and how lovely that he has a girlfriend.

I used to use Frontline regularly on mine and they always had very sparse fur on their throats, but I thought it was just a "greyhound thing". One day I was reading the information leaflet and read that one of the side effects is alopecia ... so I stopped using the Frontline and the fur on their necks grew back lovely and thick. Not quite the same as your situation, but in your place I would be suspicious of the Frontline given the timing. These days, I would only use it if absolutely necessary.

done

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if he doesn't LIKE the raw food, why continue to try to make him eat it? I'm not against raw diets, nor am I fanatically in favour of them. Mine have a commercial raw food for breakfast most days, and absolutely love it, but their other meals are home-cooked (which they also love) or kibble/commercial wet food (which they also enjoy but not as much as the raw or home-cooked). If they didn't like a particular food, or liked it for a while and then went off it, I'd stop giving it to them and find something else. I just imagine what it would be like if someone tried to force me to eat sushi, or something else that I find equally disgusting, no matter how "good" it might be for me or how much other people might enjoy it. Food is something to be enjoyed, surely? You asked for thoughts, and those are mine.

I put the suncream most of the way along the top of the muzzle where the fur is thin and rub it in well. They do make a few half-hearted attempt to lick some of it off but I don't think it tastes very nice and most of it stays on. I use an organic natural sunscreen without the toxic chemicals that most sunscreens contain. I only put sunscreen on mine if they're going out for a walk so they don't really get the opportunity to lick it off and once we're on our walk they forget about it. As soon as we get home (before I take their leads off) I wash it off. Mine don't hang out in the garden unsupervised so I don't have that issue - would be difficult to stop them licking it off in that scenario. Mostly we avoid the sun so I only have to do this occasionally - having to do it several times a day for two dogs would be a bit of a pain!

I was just going to mention.. White dogs in the sun a lot are more prone to cutaneous hemangiosarcoma. Yes, mine have both had cutaneous hemangioma, which can progress to cutaneous hemangiosarcoma if left. The path report also said they would be more prone to squamous cell carcinoma.

I keep mine out of the sun as much as possible, but if we do go out in the sun I do use sunscreen, mainly on the skin above their noses and on any bald bits. Mine are both white and both have had pre-cancerous skin growths removed, so it's especially important to protect them from the sun.

Exactly! I think you have to develop the art of walking away from morons like that ("Would you please excuse me for a minute" and then just walk off) or my husband's favourite (from the film Run Fatboy Run): "Excuse me, can I just stop you there" and then when they look at him enquiringly "Oh, I don't have anything to say... I just wanted to stop you there." I was in a vet's waiting room with Sunny recently, sitting next to a woman with a cat in a basket. Sunny approached the woman for lovings and she stroked him and then said "Greyhounds are lovely dogs but of course you can't ever trust them with cats". I listened politely to what she said, and then said quietly "Actually, Sunny is fine with cats and my other three greyhounds have been too. I even had one that was regularly loose in the house with a pet rabbit". I don't think she believed me, despite the fact that Sunny was not taking the slightest notice of her cat. Some people are just so entrenched in their views that nothing will change their minds. People like that are just not worth wasting your energy on.

Yes, you can. There are many greyhounds who are completely cat-safe. I've owned four of them. It's just a matter of finding the right one. I'm really sorry for the bad experience you had, and FWIW, I think you did totally the right thing too in handing your greyhound back to the group.

He look so uncomfortable in those videos. If your vet can't find anything wrong, I think I'd try to find either a vet who is very experienced with racing greyhounds, or a chiropractor. IME, chiropractors can often find things that are missed by vets, and some things don't show on xrays. If something's been going on with his back for some time, and he's been compensating for that, it's possible it's had a knock-on effect on his neck/shoulder.

Could be a trapped nerve in the neck. Sunny showed very similar symptoms to Legs: yelping and holding one of his front legs up for a few seconds after running or playing and then acting as if nothing had happened. The other symptom he had was pain when pressed on the neck between the shoulder blades. I was scared witless too, thinking it was osteo, as I had just lost my last one to osteo at the age of 6, but our vet could find nothing wrong. Eventually we took Sunny to a greyhound vet, who diagnosed the trapped nerve in a matter of minutes. It causes pressure on the nerve than runs down the leg, hence the pain and lifting of the leg. We went to see a chiropractor, who sorted Sunny out in a few months, although we still go for occasional treatments. Probably is a good idea to have xrays, but just be aware that xrays may not show a trapped nerve. If your vet cannot find anything, I'd consider a second opinion from a greyhound vet and/or a chiropractor. Sometimes rest and anti-inflammatories and/or muscle relaxants cure these things, but not in our case. Good luck and try not to worry too much until you have to - easier said than done I know.

I'm so sorry . Rest in peace, Lola, loved and remembered always .

Yes, I agree. They are all different, as are their owners. I have one who comes from a long line of successful racers but has no interest in chasing - so much for "generations of breeding"! I'm not sure I'd say mine NEED to run but they certainly ENJOY it - and that's what it's all about.

Cathy: I hope Jackie will be OK. One of mine (Sunny) has a neck problem which flares up from time to time. I've learned how to manage it and he leads a very normal and happy life, but it has made me very aware of some of the less obvious signs of neck pain.