Hawthorn

I found this the other day on Canine Health Concern's website. I've read it several times and will need to read it a few more times to fully take it in, but I am finding it very thought-provoking. I'm posting the link here in case it might bring comfort to anyone who is suffering grief or guilt at the loss of their friend. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/k9health/wwwchc/spiritual.html

I'm so sorry - rest in peace Tansi.

I'm so sorry you had to say goodbye to beautiful Mango.

Beautiful words and beautiful Polli

I'm so sorry you lost two special boys so close together.

That's so sad to lose one so young - RIP Ginger.

I'm so sorry Onyx had to leave you but he will always be in your heart.

I'm so sorry for your loss - rest in peace Billy.

I just watched your tribute video and saw one very very happy greyhound who was obviously very much loved. No greyhound could ask for more. I'm so sorry you had to say goodbye but may your many happy memories bring you peace. Rest in peace, Abby

I was at a garden centre yesterday and saw a lovely pale blue rose called "Misty Blue". I instantly thought of your little girl as I have always loved the picture of her gentle face in your signature and somehow the rose reminded me of her. I am so sorry you had to say goodbye.

To be honest I can't remember - it was quite a few years ago - but I don't remember it as being a very long-winded, messy procedure. I used to wait until Charlie was lying on his side asleep and then just drop it carefully on - sometimes he didn't even wake up!

When I used it I applied one drop neat directly on the corn every day, followed by one drop of vitamin E oil. You have to be careful that they don't lick the Tea Tree oil off though as it can be toxic if ingested. Most dogs hate the smell though so won't go anywhere near it.

Penny's story is one of saddest I have ever heard and I'm not surprised you're having problems coming to terms with what happened. You know in your heart that you loved Penny and whatever decisions you made for her were made out of that love and with the knowledge that you had at the time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I'm sure we can all remember situations where we'd have made different decisions had we known then what we know now. My first dog was killed by another dog 35 years ago and I suffered terrible guilt over it even though I was just a child at the time. It still haunts me, but not so often these days. The pain does gradually fade and over time you'll find things that help you to cope - poems, things people say, new ways of thinking about it. None of this was your fault and you have to try to forgive yourself for being human. You know that your intentions were good. If you believe in such things, maybe you could try to find a good animal communicator to help you find some peace. Please try to be kind to yourself on your journey.

I would also have it removed and sent for pathology. Sunny and Sophie have both had something that looked a bit like it and one turned out to be a cutaneous hemangioma and the other was an angiokeratoma - both benign but if left could progress to cutaneous hemangiosarcoma, the malignant variety. I personally would never accept my vet telling me something was benign just by looking at it - I would at least request a needle biopsy.

Would something like this help? I made it out of the sleeve of an old sweatshirt. If you used something nice and thick hopefully she wouldn't be able to lick through it. If it's bothering her that much, though, are you sure it's not infected? Can you speak to the vet about some medication to stop the itch? When Sunny had some itchy stitches I found that running colloidal silver over the wound several times a day helped somewhat.

Poor Fallon and poor you for having to deal with this. I don't have any experience of this sort of thing but I wonder if an holistic vet might be able to offer any advice? Please do let us know how Fallon gets on.

That's disgraceful! I hope Fallon is much better soon and look forward to seeing pictures .

Teddy Charlie Thank you!

Glad to hear Blue seems much better. Did you ask your vet about chiropractic or acupuncture?

Sounds like it could be his neck. We've been going through similar problems here with Sunny the last few months with intermittent lameness on his right front leg. Our regular vet could find no reason for the lameness so we took him to a greyhound vet who diagnosed it as a problem with one of the joints in his neck between his shoulder blades. Rest and painkillers + muscle-relaxants didn't cure it so we've been seeing a McTimoney chiropractor which does seem to be helping. I wouldn't say it's been an instant cure but we are going for longer and longer periods without problems.

I've only dealt with one corn, but I used tea tree oil and vitamin E oil - one drop of each directly onto the corn every day. It took about 6 weeks for the corn to disappear completely but it never returned. You need to be very careful, though, as tea tree can be toxic if ingested. Info about corns

Years ago, I had a greyhound who was lame on a rear leg but I could find nothing wrong. I took him to the vets a couple of times but they found nothing either, even after an x-ray. Eventually, I took him to see a track vet, who said that the outside toe was dislocated at the third joint up from the ground. Once he pointed this out, I could see that this joint had a more acute angle than the same joint on the other leg, but it wasn't glaringly obvious. If you can, I'd try to find a vet that treats racing greyhounds to have a look.