KingsMom

I am so sorry for your loss; your words were so sweet, it's good for you to write about it. I'm sure it will help others. A dog I am very close to (though he isn't mine) will have to be at the bridge soon as well. I understand what you're going through. :weep Thank you for trying to help others in your time of loss. God's grace on you and your family.

That totally clears it up, thank you both!!

I'm not sure how factual this is but our vet told us that greyhound saliva is so thick that it can sit on their teeth and wear on them, which can cause teeth problems. I do tend to believe our vet though, because he has greys of his own. Also, our adoption group recommends Pet Z Life Oral Care Gel. Link They say it can actually remove tartar. For a hound that has bad teeth and doesn't like to have his teeth brushed we're hoping it will really help! We just bought some so I guess we're waiting to see. Good luck to you!

After reading the other post about Orion I started to wonder exactly what knuckling is. I tried to google it but didn't come up with much. Could someone explain (or possibly post a pic) of what knuckling looks like? We've got some tile floors that King slides on sometimes... we're working on rugs... I'd like to know what to look for to be sure he isn't hurt! Thanks for any information!

What an awful thing to go through.... Hugs to both of you! Keep strong Alex!

I have no experience with this but offer hugs to you both!! I'm sure it was awful for both of you!!

I agree, good for you! It takes guts to walk out of an appointment like that and they clearly were not being respectful. Before we took King to our Vet, we really debated between 2 vets, mostly because of cost. In the end we decided to go with the one a couple of our friends reccommended. When we got their and found that the Vet has Greys of his own we knew this would be the best possible choice. I hope you find someone greyt! There should be a lot of Vets in Orlando, I'm sure you'll find the right one, just like Lola has found her perfect forever home!

Welcome, welcome! Can't wait to see your pictures!!

I can't believe that happened!!! When we walk King he is always super nice with other people and dogs, but sometimes the smaller dogs will bark and growl at him. He just backs up and looks at them like 'what's wrong with you?' When the other dog do that I immediately back off with him, I would be devastated if anything like that happened to him! I'm glad she is doing better and that your vet is taking responsibility. Best wishes for all of you and her quickest recovery possible!!

I am so sorry for your loss, I can't imagine the pain! God's blessings for you and your family.

Thanks for the input everyone! My husband put some aloe on his snout tonight and we'll buy some strong kids suncreen asap. I'll also buy some in the spray bottle incase we think his belly needs it, seems like the spray would be easier to use on the belly...

Update!! King is doing better already... he has had mostly good poops (aside from one slightly mushy one this morning, but we'll keep watching!). He has transitioned nicely to the new food and we gave him the rawhide back today. Hopefully all will go well because we could tell he definately missed it! We're slowly adding things into his diet and hopeuflly soon we will know if it was just the kibble or if it was something else too. His personality is truly starting to show. We got him on the couch and he slept there all night (because my sister was also in the room). But just getting him comfy on the couch was a big step. His pee is significantly improved and I don't have any worries about it now. I guess the antibiotics did their job! We're keeping the house a few degrees cooler now and leaving fans on all the time for him, he seems to be panting less (at least while inside). I certainly appreciate all the advice and information everyone has to offer. I posted a new thread about what might be a sunburn on his snout, I'll wait to see what everyone thinks of that... Thanks again!!!

We recently noticed that King has a spot just above his nose about 2 inches long that is very pink. See pictures below. His hair is light there and we live in South FL so I guess it is possible. Has anyone ever had a greyhound with a sun burn? Any thoughts about what it might be or what to do with it are greatly appreciated!

Well, we learned something new again today... Thanks for the magic eraser suggestion... It worked especially well on the glossy parts and moderately well on the flat paint. THANKS!!

Ok, so it's definitely "Happy Tail" We found the elusive 'crime scene'. It's not obvious, but there are small blood lines on the walls. Any one know how to get blood off of white walls? Thanks!

The tip, not near his body... I hadn't thought that perhaps he whacked it, again the trials of a new mom I guess... I does seem more like he just whacked it. We'll wash it off and put some gauze on it just to help him out. Thanks for the info... Sometimes I'm just a worried mom... So glad I have you all to let me know... Thanks!! Here is the proper link though, I had a wrong slash - www.geocities.com/stermenwedding/KingsTail

We had to leave King for what was supposed to be 8 hrs today, it ended up being 9 because of unforeseen circumstances (mostly traffic). He's never been left for more than 8 hrs at a time and we have only had him 3 weeks. He is crated while we are gone. He's always so excited to see us when we get home that after our greeting, we always take him right outside. While he was standing there peeing, I noticed that the top of this tail was covered in blood! After we got him in the house and looked at it, most of the blood was dried. I tried my best to take some pictures but I'm not sure how well they will show... I can't upload here yet, please follow this link to see them. www.geocities.com\stermenwedding\KingsTail I'm not sure if he just got nervous and started chewing on his tail or if something was bothering him there and he chewed it. Maybe it got caught in something, though I have no idea what... Should we clean the blood out of the hair? If so, what do we use? Does this warrant a trip to the vet? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated as we have to leave him for 8 more hours tomorrow and I don't want him to get worse!! Then tomorrow night we're planning to go out of town (with him) for a couple of days... Is he just really stressed? Is there anything we can do to help? I gave him a kong this morning with kibble and pumpkin (we're working on his food) he ate most of the pumpkin, but has a hard time getting the kibble out. We also left him a milk bone that he didn't eat. He's done that before, it's like he saving them for when we're around because if we don't take them out of his crate he goes and gets them later..... Any ideas? Thanks!

I believe he raced in FL and VA... I'm surprised to see on the poll that I started that so far most people keep their house around 68. We'd be shivering!! I cropped the pictures to be smaller and only show him, but I guess it makes it hard to tell his size... He's about 78 lbs. I put up a couple more that aren't cropped and give you a better view of how he compares to me (or at least the bottom half of me...)! www.geocities.com/stermenwedding/King His poop this morning was still loose but it wasn't as bad as yesterday; however, my husband didn't realize he was supposed to get the pumpkin with dinner, so he only had it in his Kong yesterday and that wasn't much because when I came home there was still some in the small end of the kong. I think he just can't figure out how to get stuff out of the small end. Today I put some kibble in the Kong and then the pumpkin on top of that, hoping it would help him get more of it out. I guess we'll see how he does. He also got a bit of pumpkin in his breakfast this morning! His diet is now a 75% new 25% old mix of the 2 kibbles (but tomorrow is the last day for that, Wed it will be all new) some oil that is reccommended for his coat, pumpkin and milk bones . I wanted to try and leave the milk bones out but I think he would go nuts if he didn't have anything to chew on, I think the milkbones are the least likely culprit, but if I have to I will take them out. He wanders around at night looking for his raw hide or something to chew on, I feel bad... It's like his little routine, go upstairs, find raw hide, lay down, chew, chew, chew for 10-15 min then sleep, but now he's missing his chewing. It's kind of odd because the first day he had a raw hide he didn't touch it but all of a sudden bed time, he couldn't get enough! He wakes up earlier than we would like as well, so we're trying to just give him a milk bone for a while and then get up but he does better with the raw hide, so I'm hoping we can get his system sorted out so we can try the rawhides again... If those don't agree with him I'll have to find something that lasts a while that he can chew on. One last thought, I remembered that he pooped the first day we got him and my husband says he believes it is the best poop we've ever had from him, does that seem odd considering we think he was eating Beneful? Does anyone think we should go back to the Beneful? Just wondering... Thanks!!

I haven't been able to decide what the best option will be for storing photos online that I can upload here... If you'd like to see some pictures of "King Boy" as I call him you can see all I have so far at the following link. www.geocities.com/stermenwedding/King I tried to put one of the "Personal Photos" up, but I don't see it so I'll have to look at that again... We'll work on simplifying his diet to make it easier to find the problem. Thanks so much!!

Wow! Thanks everyone for your helpful advice. I apologize if this ended up in the wrong section, I thought it was medical but it seems like it might belong somewhere else… The trials of a new Mom I guess. Lets see… Rawhide: How much is a lot? He chews on it for about 10-15 minutes per day… Usually late at night or early in the morning. We only allow him to have it while we’re home and we only buy American made. It’s my understanding that if it is made in America is doesn’t have the chemicals we worry about… I’ll see if I can find any raw bones though… never heard of that. Panting: We live in Southern Florida, so it is hot here, but my husband and I are natives so we are comfortable at 78-80 in the house… I’ll try lowering it a bit and see if it helps him. We really hadn’t considered the fact that he might just be hot! He walks normally, but when we did let him off leash at the dog park, he really didn’t run around at all, just sniffed everything! But it also isn’t a great dog park… Poop & Food: When I took him out this morning it seemed even runnier than before… I didn’t have the pumpkin for his breakfast but I did put it in his Kong this afternoon with a small amount of peanut butter and he will get the pumpkin at dinner. I’ve been putting some of the new kibble in his Kong but either he doesn’t have interest or he can’t figure out how to get it out. We’re not sure which. I’ve stopped the yogurt for now. If his poop isn’t improved in about a week, I’ll probably try cooked chicken and veggies only for a few days and then slowly add in some Purina One or Nutro and see how he does with it. The only real treats we give his are small chicken rounds (which he only sometimes likes) greenies once a day because our vet recommended them because he doesn’t like to have his teeth brushed, and milk bones. I don’t know if I can get beet pulp or not, I’ll look into it. If none of that works, I’ll take him to the Vet for the parasite check. He was evaluated very well before we got him and the Vet said it should get better with new food, so we’ll see. Our Vet has Greys of his own, so I trust him! Couch: Thanks for letting me know that it can take a long time for him to have interest; I might have been worrying for a year or more! He has probably not seen a couch before he came to us; I don’t think he was ever actually in a foster home. My sister and her dog will be visiting us soon; perhaps her dog will show him the couch is ok! Walks: We take him out for 10-30 minute walks at least 2-4 times per day. If it is only twice per day they are longer walks. Usually with these longer walks he seems more tired than we are by the end! We don’t have a fenced yard, so we also take him out just to tinkle a few other times throughout the day and night. If he needs to go out he does let us know! I’m trying to just keep on like everything is normal (except the poop). My husband is better at that than I am. He keeps telling me, “You’re going to make a great Mom, you worry about everything and make decision about almost nothing…” Thanks again… I look forward to being an active member of this community!

Thanks for the pumpkin thought... I'll try that! We haven't tried shake or speak yet, I think I'm waiting for him to relax more and stop panting. He doesn't seem nervous when he's panting, usually he's just laying around or looking to be petted... I'm wondering if he just really misses the other greys, we don't have any other pets around...

Thanks for your reply. The house is about 78-80 degrees. We walk him 2-4 times per day, but he pants even when he hasn't been out in a while... We can't seem to get him interested in toys. When he is excited he just likes to jump (which we're trying to stop) we try to engage him with some of the squeeky toys we have, but he just looks at us. We also can't get him to get up on the couch to sit with us, I think it would help him feel more loved to be with us on the couch instead of on the floor while we're up but he just doesn't want to be on the couch so we haven't forced him. He does like Kongs and Rawhides though! I'll stop the yogurt for a week or so, by that time we should be on 100% new food, I guess I'll give that a couple of days and if it doesn't work we'll try the Purina One. Thanks again, I'll take any advice I can get, I just want to be sure King feels loved!!

Greetings everyone! I'm a new mom to 5 yr. old King. He just finished racing in August and has been through the Second Chance at Life Greyhound Prision Program, so he is trained pretty well. He's been with us for almost 3 weeks. I've read a lot of info here on this site and really appreciate how everyone supports each other. My husband and I have never had a dog before so we're a bit unsure of some of the things King is dealing with. First, he seemed perfectly normal when we got him, he was panting a bit more than I thought was normal but the adoption group said that he was just nervous and it would go away. My concern is that 3 weeks later, he's just laying around the house panting heavily for what appears to be no reason. He doesn't do it all of the time, but I notice it frequently. Last Monday, March 3, I noticed that he had been having trouble peeing for a couple of days. He would go out and stand there for 5 minutes or so with out any output then it would come out in a slow stream. I was concerned so we took him to the vet. He said that his urine PH level was a bit high but other than that everything seemed normal. He did check his prostate and it was not swollen. He gave him an antibiotic. He's starting to seem better but it's almost like the opposite is happening. He goes outside and can usually get started rather quickly with a strong stream (like he did when he first came to us) but then at the end is seems to dribble off. What's normal!?! I just don't know what to expect any more... Next, we think he was on Beneful while with the adoption group but we didn't want to keep him on that so we switched to Natures Receipe venison. I had intended to get the lamb formula but there was a mix up at the pet store and we ended up with the other one so we decided to give it a try. Well since we've had him he has only had one solid poop. On March 2 we started to switch him to the Kirklands brand Chicken Formula because I read that it was reccommeded on this site and the ingredients look good, but after 5 days of slowly increasing the amount of new food (today we're up to 50% old & 50% new) his poops are still very runny and might even be getting worse! I don't want to upset his stomach up by changing food too often but I don't know how long to give the new stuff or when to expect a change, I think the vet may have said a week but I honestly can't remember. I have been giving him yogurt, but I admit it probably isn't the best yougurt to find probiotics in. Finally, today I noticed some drips from his nose while we were inside and outside. He hadn't just had a drink or anything and I've never heard of a dog's nose running! I know when my nose runs I'm uncomfortable, is it the same for him?!? I know this is a lot to digest but I certainly appreciate any advice you can offer to a new mom. Thanks!