joejoesmom

I am sorry I ever chose Healthy Paws. Last year, 2 months before my greyhound turned 11, they raised my rates from $56 a month to $98 a month for my one dog. This year, again two months before my greyhound will turn 12, they have raised the rate to insure one dog to $199 per month. This from a company that originally promised never to raise rates due to a dog's increasing age. When I total my premiums and subtract the payouts I have received, Healthy Paws still has $3500 of my money. I am not going to pay them another $2400 this year. I will just have to go without insurance.

Thank you for such a complete response. I was checking to see if Advantage Multi was ok. Someone posted the Grassmere recommended list, which includes Advantage Multi. It sounds like you would agree. I did want to clarify something in your post. I have had blood donor dogs at OSU since 2008. I have never been given K9Advantix for use on my blood donors. They give heartguard and Frontline Plus. Frontline Plus is still effective in central Ohio, but there are reports that it is becoming less effective. This does not mean that they feel K9Advantix shouldn't be used on a greyhound -- I have no clue about that. For anyone who might wonder where I have been. I have taken on a new venture. I have started rescuing the many greyhound mixes that are used for non-sanctioned racing and field trials in Ohio and surrounding states. These dogs are often kept on chains and live outside most of the year. Most of the ones we get are pure untattooed greyhounds to about 3/4 greyhound. We act as a middleman and get these dogs off their chain and transport to a greyhound group that will take them. In the last ten months we have gotten 96 dogs off of chains to groups who find them loving homes. https://www.facebook.com/groups/329757577168024/ The Lurcher Project Website is: http://www.ohiolurcherproject.com/ And our WebStore is: http://ohiolurcherproject.webs.com/apps/webstore/

I was just getting ready to post this, but Cora beat me to it. I am a bit confused as this article doesn't have Dr. Alvarez's name on it. He was doing the greyhound genetic study at Children's Hospital in Columbus.

Sorry that I have been absent from this thread for a long time. I needed a break. I just participated in Dr. Couto's IDEXX webinar. He said something that explained why OSU had a longer greyhound survival time than other facilities (14 months versus 12 months) after amputation and chemo. I don't know why the answer didn't occur to me before: Greyhounds naturally have low neutrophils. This is a key measure in determining whether it is safe to give chemo to a dog. Dr. Couto will give chemo to a greyhound (not other dogs) with a lower neutrophil count than would normally be suggested. If the oncologist is using the same level for a greyhound that he would for a non-greyhound, he would likely delay chemo one or more times during the course of the chemo. Delay of chemo is known to effect survival time. So the short version: Have your oncologist contact Dr. Couto or an oncologist at OSU for the greyhound neutrophil level that is acceptable. No one is saying that all greyhounds should receive chemo on time. Many will need a delay. But use the appropriate metrics for a greyhound in the determination.

Maybe it did. For whatever reason, I got 8 more months than the median survival time. I am forever grateful to Dr. Couto and his team for this.

Joe received Palladia every MWF. He got cytoxan on TuThS. He got artemisinin every day. On Sunday he only got artemisinin. I'm not sure any of this is helpful because Joe was getting this metronomic protocol in hopes of preventing visible lung mets. Ultimately, 18 months after his amputation, a secondary osteosarcoma tumor was discovered in the diagonally opposite leg. He had recently (I think 3 to 4 weeks prior) had a clear lung x-ray.

Interesting, It was Dr. London who told me almost a year ago that the study investigating prevention of lung mets didn't pan out. If my memory serves, she had said that there was a slight improvement in the median time of survival with the dogs in the study that received Palladia (as part of a metronomic protocol) than those that didn't. She felt the improvement was statistically insignificant. I will say that I don't believe this was a "formal" study (double-blind etc.). They gave dogs Palladia and monitored whether these dogs developed lung mets and when. They compared this with previous results from dogs prior to OSU's use of Palladia. Earlier, they had seen some evidence that when Palladia was used in dogs with previously seen lung mets, it delayed the growth of these mets. She told me last December that she hadn't seen similar results with a larger sampling. Once again, I don't believe this was a formal study. It sounds as if additional information or a more detailed review of the outcomes has caused her to revise her opinion. That is good news. edited to add: I also believe most dogs have handled the Palladia well. After Joe developed his second primary osteo tumor, we took him off the metronomic protocol (Palladia/cytoxan/artemisinin). His spirits and appetite did improve noticeably. I don't know which of those drugs had been affecting him though. In any case, he did enjoy life during the year he was on the metronomic protocol, even if in hindsight it was clear it had affected him somewhat. But with Dr. London's statistics of having a 40-50 percent chance of giving him an additional 4 to 6 months, I would definitely try it if I could afford it.

I wanted to let everyone know that Dr. Couto is available for e-mail, phone, and video consults. coutovetconsultants@gmail.com 614-664-9177 The consult fee is US$120, payable via PayPal, and includes up to 3 follow ups via email; telephone or video conference. Jane edited to add that a portion of the consult fee will be donated to Scooby to help the galgos.

For your information: http://www.csuanimalcancercenter.org/consult-service Jane

So it is official. Dr. Couto will be retiring as of August 31. To read more about his retirement and the plan for the transition regarding the Greyhound Health and Wellness Program: https://greyhound.osu.edu/ Jane

So it is now official. Dr. Couto will be retiring at the end of August. To read about his retirement and the interim plan for the Greyhound Health and Wellness Program: https://greyhound.osu.edu/ Jane

I am so sorry. Adam knows that you love him. You are allowing his pain to end, despite wanting to keep him with you with all your heart. That is true love. Jane

Edited to remove my entire post, as I didn't realize that this was an old thread. Sorry to waste anybodies time who bothered to read this. Jane

If you get an electric zapper, don't get just a lighted bug zapper. This mainly just kills moths and other insects that are attracted to light. You need a "machine" that puts out carbon dioxide to attract the mosquito and then some system to kill/trap the mosquito. Some of these products also produce heat and moisture (other things that attract a mosquito. Essentially you need a trap that "pretends" it is a living being. You place the trap away from your outdoor recreation area (i.e. you don't want to attract mosquitoes to where you will be sitting but AWAY from where you will be). My brother has a Flowtron similar to this: http://www.flowtron.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=F&Product_Code=MT-275A&Category_Code=FTPR He says it works very well but it is expensive. He got his a number of years ago so perhaps there are less expensive models on the market now. We typically stay in my screened porch and my dogs don't go out that much in the summer. By the time the mosquitoes get thick it is too hot and humid for us. Yes, we are wimps when it comes to heat/humidity. If I need to work outside when mosquitoes are out, I have found that the OFF personal repellant device works well -- as long as you aren't moving around quickly. It clips on your waist and the little fan disperses repellent around you. Much nicer than wearing the stinky slimy DEET stuff. Of course I have no idea what the health implications are of having a chemical repellent dispersed around you versus wearing DEET versus getting bit by mosquitoes. If you are walking around it doesn't work well because it can't build up a repellent "wall" around you. If the mosquitoes are really, really thick, I find I need to use both a rub/spray on repellent and the little fan thingy. Of course, none of these (except for the big carbon dioxide machine) work for a dog. So this post probably isn't that useful to you. Thus ends Jane's treatise on mosquitoes developed from years and years of despising the little buggers.

Poor boy, those are some huge corns.