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Hawthorn

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Posts posted by Hawthorn

  1. I am very scared by cancer too. I read somewhere (can't remember where unfortunately) that 40% of greyhounds die from cancer of one type or another; 20% from osteosarcoma specifically. I lost a 6 year old to osteosarcoma last year and personally I found it especially difficult to lose such a young dog, as I couldn't console myself with the fact that he'd had a good long life :( . I have a 2 year old now, and hug him tight every day, just in case.

  2. Hello and welcome :wave I was interested to learn from your reply to my introductory post that you live in Welwyn Garden City as I live just up the road in Letchworth Garden City! Dusky is lovely and reminds me of my first greyhound, Charlie, who was also white ticked and black :wub: Hope you enjoy GT! Happy birthday Dusky :confetti

  3. Hi everyone

     

    I'm new here and have recently posted some pictures of my boy Sunny in the Introductions section.

     

    I wasn't really expecting to be posting so soon in this forum, but last Wednesday Sunny had a small skin growth removed from the top of his neck, between his ears. After reading other posts here I didn't want to accept the vet's advice to "wait and see" as it was "probably" a histiocytoma so went ahead and had it removed. We should have the lab results in a few days.

     

    Sunny has 4 stitches. Now, although I've owned greyhounds for the last 12 years, this is my first experience with stitches. I've done a search on this forum to learn as much as I can, but I still have a couple of questions.

     

    The wound seems to be healing OK as far as I can tell, but Sunny is finding it quite itchy and tries to scratch it with a back foot. I am rinsing the whole area with sterile saline several times a day, which seems to help for a while, and also putting some soothing balm on the shaved skin around the wound but not on the wound itself.

     

    We rang the vets for advice yesterday but, as he can't have an elizabethan collar due to the stitches being on his neck, they could only suggest that we try to cover the stitches in some way. So yesterday my husband went out and bought a load of dressings etc and we tried to concoct a dressing but without much success. We tried to make a gauze dressing and hold it on with micropore tape, but the tape wouldn't stick. Then we tried to secure the gauze with elasticated bandages that stick to themselves but this just made Sunny paw at his head even more, so that came off. The other thing we bought is some melolin dressings which have an adhesive border ie they are shiny and non-stick in the middle where they cover the wound but sticky all round the edges. I tried one on myself and it seemed to stick well, but I'm scared to put one on Sunny in case it sticks too well and hurts his wound area when I take it off.

     

    Has anyone used this type of dressing on their hound, and was it difficult to get off??

     

    The other thing I'm wondering about is Benadryl, which several people on here have mentioned. Is this the tablets for humans and if so would you use half the dose for a greyhound??

     

    I realise that many people here are dealing with much more serious problems, so don't want to take up too much of your time, but any advice on this would be much appreciated.

     

    At the moment we are keeping Sunny on a lead in the house and either my husband or myself are sitting with him constantly to make sure he doesn't scratch. Now, whilst being attached to a greyhound 24 hours a day has its appeal, after 24 hours the novelty is starting to wear off a little!

     

    Many thanks in advance.

     

  4. Hello everyone

     

    I just wanted to introduce my lovely boy Sunny. He's 2 years and 5 months old and I've had him for 4 months. I asked for a big boy who is good with cats and he certainly is both. He's almost 30 inches tall and weighs 40 kilos, which I think is about 90 pounds. And he's been completely indifferent to our 18 year old cat since day one. His racing name was Come on Flo, but he never actually raced. He's got a happy, very good-natured disposition and is quite lively and playful which is great fun. He's also very cuddly and will come up to you and collapse against you when he wants a cuddle!

     

    He's the third greyhound I've owned over the last 12 years, having lost my previous 2 last year. Needless to say, I am a total greyhound addict! It certainly helps a lot having owned greyhounds before as now I don't panic when little teething problems arise, as I know they will pass. We go to training classes once a week and he's so good with all the other dogs. He's the first greyhound I've had that sits naturally.

     

    We live in Hertfordshire, England, by the way.

     

    Anyway, I know how much you all like pictures, so here he is (hopefully, if I've done this right!):

     

    P4110092.jpg

     

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    Here he is in our garden, having a bit of a bad tail day

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    And in his new paddling pool (took a bit of persuading to get him in the first time)

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    As you can see he's made himself at home

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    He's very bendy and can curl up really small

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    But hasn't quite worked out how to fit his whole body on the bed yet

    P5290007.jpg

     

     

    Poor Sunny had a small op on Wednesday to remove a growth on his neck, but I'm going to post separately in Health and Medical about this.

     

    I'm looking forward to being part of such a knowledgeable and caring forum.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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