rascalsmom

Have you given him a pepcid? Maybe he's got an upset stomach.... A couple of months ago Jack was having eating issues. He was put on pepcid 2X/day, plus he got carafate, which really helped, as well as an injection of cerenia. Now he just takes pepcid 2x/day and he's been fine. Also, depending on what the vet says of course, there is always syringe feeding. We did that with Ruby after her accident, and it kind of kept her going till she felt better and actually wanted to eat. We used canned rx food initially (high calorie), then switched to regular mushy canned food mixed with baby food cereal (the dry flaked kind, mixed with water).

$1200 for a dental?? Holy cow!!!

I remember the "emily" story, too. It was awful. And as someone whose dog DID get seriously injured, please, please, if you have any doubt, DO NOT remove whatever you have on the door. I would not want ANYONE to go through what Ruby (and we) went through. I seriously thought my dog was dying before my eyes. It was an absolutely horrifying thing. While Ruby recovered, she was never quite 'the same' again, and she only had four more months with us. I often wonder how she'd be doing if that accident had never happened. Probably fine, as she had no health issues.

Yes. Ruby was 12 when she tried to WALK through the sliding screen. She was in no way running AT ALL. She went down instantly, was not breathing, her tongue was turning blue....she spent two days at the emergency clinic, and still could not walk when we brought her home. After that, I will not remove my screen guard until Jack is gone.

Yep. You can't rely on the dog remembering that the door is there. They get excited or frightened, they can't see the door, and you end up with a seriously injured or tragically dead dog. Not worth it. Absolutely. Been there, done that, and it was only the sliding SCREEN that Ruby tried to go through. Leave the tape/sticker/suncatchers up FOREVER, to avoid what we went through. For the screen, we got one of these: Screen Guard I hate the way it looks, but I never want another dog to go through what Ruby did.

Welcome....and yes, I believe I probably have more photos of my dogs than my kids. OK, not strictly true, but definitely more DIGITAL photos of the dogs than the kids!

Our vet uses small hemostats to get the corns out. Similar to the tweezer method, I suppose. After I loosen the edges with the dental instrument, I cut the rest off with a small pair of embroidery scissors.

Our dental hygienist gave me a tool that they didn't use any more. One end is flat-tipped, and the other end is pointy and curved, and very thin. I find that the pointy skinny end works better to work around and under the corn. I will take a picture soon and post it. My tool doesn't look anything like the one in the Grassmere link.

I am so very sorry to hear of this, Judy. You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Neither of my male greyhounds ever attempted that.

Dremeling: never did it Duct tape: worked well to 'soften' the corn, which can make it easier to get out. It can also make it break off in pieces, thereby being harder to get out. Recently, however, the duct tape isn't sticking well--don't know why, as it's a new roll of brand-name stuff. Salicylic acid: never used Bag balm: have used it to soften the pad, but it doesn't prevent recurrence Special cream from Murray Ave.: used it, didn't work Bee propolis: I have some, but due to the stickiness/staining issue have not really used it. I was told to use a little round bandaid to cover the propolis, but I cannot get those to stick for any length of time. Vitamin E: used it, but not consistently enough to know if it would work or not Hulling: this is what we do. Our vet showed me how to do it, as Jack gets very nervous at the vet, too. When I do it he doesn't 'enjoy' it, but pretty much lays there and tolerates it anyway. Our dentist's assistant gave me a little tool to use--don't think it's really a 'root elevator', like they say to use, but it has a sharp end that works well to loosen the edges and underneath the corn. I use that along with some embroidery scissors to remove the corns. As you can see, I have tried a LOT of things. I would give $10,000 if someone could figure out a way to make them GO AWAY FOREVER.

From what I've learned, greyhounds are the ONLY breed of dogs that gets corns. Lucky us, eh? Our vet says that they 'think' it's caused by not enough fat tissue on the pads. Also that they've ruled out that corns are viral (like a wart). Our vet also suggested removing Jack's worst corn, but admitted that 'about 50%' of them come back. Sorry, not good enough odds for me. Besides, if it's caused by too little fat tissue, how could REMOVING tissue help?

Jack only wears his tag necklace in the house. He rarely wears a martingale anymore, since his corns preclude many walks.

I am so sorry. Sometimes, though, letting them go is the only thing we can do.

This dog has always been a 'heavy drinker', at least since my friend adopted her. That's about six year now.

I'm so sorry.

Her appetite is good. She is a member of the Clean Bowl Club. She does not have hair loss, muscle loss, or anorexia. No large abdomen either. I got an email from her 'mom', and I emailed her back that I thought she might want to talk to the vet about the water intake. She thinks it's 'psychological'. Not sure if I'd agree with that.

The very first greyhound I ever met did NOT like to have her ears rubbed--or even touched. She never got over that; it's just the way she was.

I am truthfully not sure if her 'mother' has questioned the vet about this or not. I intend to ask her, though. Judy, what are others signs of Cushings, do you know?

I am dogsitting for my friend. One of her dogs is about 10 years old, female, and she is a heavy drinker. She will drink half the two quart bowl of water if you let her. I know this, so I don't allow her unlimited access to the water. This, however, isn't really fair to the other dogs--her other two, and my one--not having water available. AFAIK, she has been like this since they adopted her (she was around 4, I believe). If you tell her, "Enough!", she will stop drinking, but you really have to watch. Of course she has the occasional accident in the house as a result--last night she peed in our dining room. I've been watching her like a hawk today, and only giving her water occasionally. She does still occasionally pee in her own house, too. Just a few weeks ago my friend told me that she STILL doesn't trust this dog. Obviously, this isn't ultimately MY problem, but it is for this week. Any thoughts?

When we took Ruby to the e-vet after her accident, they also suggested an MRI. That is probably the 'best' way to go, but we were hesitant to spend that kind of money--mostly because Ruby was nearly 12 at the time. We worked with her at home for two days (after she spent two days at the hospital), when someone suggested the chiropractor to me. At that point we were considering euthanasia, because sling-walking a 60# dog is not easy, and takes two people, she wasn't eating and we were syringe-feeding her, and 'was it fair to her'....etc etc etc. We figured we had nothing to lose by trying the chiropractor. He said the vertebrae in her neck were very messed up (she tried walking through the screen door--jammed her neck). He also said to bring her two more times that week, and then he'd be able to gauge if he could help her. Well, while getting ready to take her the very next day for a treatment, she got up and walked about 30 feet, from her bed in the living room into our laundry room! Truly amazing. While Ruby left us about four months later, the chiropractor did give us those four more months with her.

Don't rule out chiropractic. When Ruby injured her neck last year she could not even get up on her own. After her first chiropractic treatment, she was walking in less than 24 hours. It took awhile for her to get back to 'mostly' 100%--and it was never again 100%--but she did get to the point of being able to walk alone, and take care of 'business' alone, without us supporting her/sling walking her. I never thought it would work--it was a last-ditch effort on our part, but it really did the trick. A bonus was that the chiropractic treatments were only $30 a visit. If you go that route, ask around and see if you can get a recommendation. The guy we went to was a chiropractor for humans, who also treated pets, and was recommended by someone we know.

Jack is 85 pounds, and he takes one 20 mg Pepcid two times a day, in a ball of cream cheese. He loves his 'cheese ball'.

I am so sorry for your loss. Echo was always one of my very favorite GT hounds. And in my opinion, one of the MOST beautiful ones.

It's not that much more work. More poop to pick up, but you have to pick it up whether there's one or 10. More food to lug around, more bowls to wash, more beds to wash, etc.... Since we adopted our first greyhound 10+ years ago, we have had three at most. Right now we are down to one, and I will say there is a certain 'calmness' in just having one. After all those years of three, one is a welcome thing to me. I am enjoying it and so is Jack, since he gets ALL the attention. Next week we'll get our friends' three greyhounds for a week, while they are on vacation, so my 'need' for multiples will be satisfied for a while. But I'm sure I'll be happy to see them go home at the end of the visit.