krissn333

Have you completely ruled out a sheath infection? Ozzie just had one and he was touchy if you touched him anywhere below the end of his ribcage. Didn't matter if you were actually anywhere near the sheath. Ace also jumped at me once when she had a kidney infection and I touched her in that general area.

Clarice graduated out of her bedtime kennel but she is crated when I am not home. Thankfully she is happy to snooze on the couch while I take a shower and get ready for work in the morning. She has also had some odd phases being crabby about being touched on her side near her tuck - if you stop your hand, she gets crabby about it. It's odd. I just keep doing it and when she DOESN'T get crabby, I give her a treat. She also had those vulva issues too though so I have always wondered if she was just plain sore and didn't want to be touched/was worried I'd put my arm under her tuck so I could examine her. This is probably wayyy less than what you need for Truman, but, the Adaptil collar has been great for Clarice. She will be 2 years old on June 8th.

So...we had our last obedience class tonight. Everyone gets a certificate; however, there are two types of certificates: completion, and graduation. Completion means you've completed basic obedience. They are not sure if you're QUITE ready for intermediate class yet. Graduation means you've completed basic obedience and they feel you are ready for intermediate class. Here's Clarice's certificate: Clarice graduates!! by krissn333, on Flickr

Clarice will be 2 in a month...she is ribby and poky yet too. She eats like a horse but she is also quite high energy for a greyhound and she is still developing. Since she is completely white with pink skin, EVERYTHING shows on her. I do get comments but most people seem to understand when I tell them that she is still young and still filling out. I think your girl looks just fine

Ace was on it for 4 years for her chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Zero side effects! She took 20mg every other week, with 10mg prednisone every other day. I always timed it so she didn't get pred AND leukeran on the same day.

Everything Jen said above Osteo is awful. Get ahold of Dr. Couto ASAP. Hoping for the best

My pups are usually home about 9 hours a day during the week. I have a webcam to check in on them, but honestly it serves me more than anything else. When I need a little break at work, I check in on them. They're always snoozing away, so peacefully. It's a stress reliever for me to see them snoozing

Something finally clicked for Clarice and she will now reliably do "Down"... As an owner and someone fairly inexperienced with training dogs to do more than sit and generally behave, the feeling I got today when we FINALLY got this movement together is just AWESOME! It seemed hopeless for us earlier this week. I'm still having to do a little bit of luring, but I'm not going all the way to the floor anymore. At the beginning of our session today I was still having trouble getting her to do it AT ALL, even luring her to the floor. She also does "stay" much longer when she is down vs. sitting. I can walk further away from her without her getting up We'll be at my folks' place tomorrow for Easter - I'll see if she will work at their place and if so, I'll have my mom record us

I'm surprised. When Ace had leukemia her white count was through the roof...I can't even remember but it was some insanely high number. We ran PCR and flow cytometry and sent to Dr. Couto for review. She went on leukeran and pred and lived happily for 4 more years.

Yep...worms can make them poop more, and vomit. That's a lot of food for twice a day. I'd do 2 cups of kibble, twice a day, with water on top. We feed Taste of the Wild here and my dogs eat 1.5-2 cups twice a day.

Most grain-free foods are high in protein and greyhounds thrive on good amounts of protein

I remember Alan fondly...and I think of you when other people ask me when it's the right time to adopt again. Because the answer is - there is no right answer. Everyone is different. Everyone's situation is different and everyone grieves differently. Sometimes things change and you just can't adopt again. Sometimes it's too quiet in the house just days later so you go to the kennel just to hear some dog noises again. It doesn't get easier, no matter how many years have passed since they've left. I can still feel Sutra's bony shoulder as I'd run my hand over it. I can still feel Ace's velvety ears, Fritz's needle nose that he loved to have rubbed, Pinky's funny paw pads, and I can still hear Miss Carrie's honk. They're part of us forever. We don't forget, and neither do they.

Ducky I don't know HOW I missed this. I'm so very sorry...what a sweet girl she was

I'm so sorry

Can we talk logistics for a moment? Do your dogs eat indoors? Will they eat at their bowls? We do have a real winter here so there's no way I can be feeding them outside in blizzard conditions, nor can I feed them outside when it's 100+ degrees in the summer. When they get turkey necks they usually take them to their beds and I put sheets on the beds so they can be washed. Obviously feeding raw every day and having them eat like that would have me doing laundry every day, and that's not really how I'd like to live. So how do you handle it? At present Ozzie and Clarice eat at raised feeders across the room from one another, and my iggies eat in their kennels.

I just take them out of the freezer and hand them over. No issues and it encourages them to chew more. Ozzie certainly doesn't mind.

In dogs that young, supplementation for joints, etc. is not necessary. Coconut oil is good for any dog though (and human!) Soft fluffy coat and no itchy skin! I get SO many compliments from people when we're at meet and greets about how soft my dogs' fur is. Clarice's white hair sparkles like fresh snow

I'm so, so sorry. I've lost 4 to osteo. It sucks. Not if that is what is making you feel okay. Everyone has a different timeline. I'm not someone who waits either. I personally feel that the best way to honor a hound that has left is to give a home to another hound who is waiting. But that's me. Not everyone is ready right away. Not everyone is ready at the same time. If that's what is calling you, there's nothing wrong with that.

Oh Jan...my heart just sank when I saw his name show up here. He was a lucky soul to have lived with you, and you were a lucky soul to have had him in your life. One of the most treasured hounds of GT, for sure. Hugs to you and your campers

I'm reading more about this now...Ozzie had a sheath infection and has been on antibiotics for two weeks. Two weeks ago his urine was pretty dilute due to increased water consumption. Today however it was nice and concentrated and there were some struvite crystals. We are doing a fasting UA tomorrow morning. Our vet is concerned about the crystals and of course modifying his diet came up. He currently eats TOTW Pacific Stream. Wondering, if we need to modify his diet, would going raw be an option? I just got a big chest freezer for my garage. It's not huge but it is decently sized. I've pondered going raw for a long time but I am just worried about sources for meat around here, and getting them what they really need so they have a good balanced diet. Every time I sit down to ponder the possibilities I get overwhelmed.

Doesn't OSU do the free chemo anymore? I'm fairly certain that they do. We got the free Carboplatin for Pinky. Just had to pay our vet to administer it (with bloodwork included it was about $250 each visit). From what our vet was telling us though, the Carboplatin is not that expensive if you have to purchase it. I think a couple hundred dollars... I didn't have pet insurance for Pinky or any of my other dogs (by the time things like that were widely available, my dogs were at advanced ages)...so I paid for it all (single income, and not a big one either). I'm still paying for it, along with the other care that my other dogs needed in their later years. I do struggle sometimes financially but I have a roof over my head and a nice car to drive, and a job. And even though sometimes paying the bills is stressful and moving money around is a chore, I'd never EVER change a single choice that I made for Pinky or any of my other pups.

Pinky did 5 rounds of Carboplatin and had, quite literally, ZERO side effects. Healthy appetite, no diarrhea, no lethargy (except being tired after spending the morning at the vet instead of napping but that's from the excitement and activity, not from the chemo itself).

Clarice did really well in class tonight. She's doing better with stays and tonight we introduced Down. She wants to stand up from her sit and bend over to get the bait. She will, however, allow me to pull her front legs forward to get her into the down. I'm wondering now if she will go down from a standing position easier (and if that is "allowed"?).

I'd have the sheath flushed. Dried smegma gets in there and festers sometimes. Ozzie is currently taking Zeniquin for a sheath infection...his urethra was also inflamed.

I would be willing to bet it is the tramadol. I'd lower the dose to 50mg 3x per day and see how she does. The gabapentin should be given 3x per day as well - greyhounds metabolize it faster than other breeds so an every 8 hour dosing schedule is ideal. Tramadol does CRAZY things to some of them - seriously Does she have a Fentanyl patch? That can also cause the panting/restlessness.