PrairieProf

If he's new, it may just be dry sunburned skin. My new girl was in Florida before she retired and she too has a dry nose on top. I am quite familiar with discoid lupus but I really don't think it is that. I've been giving her sardines and coconut oil and the nose is already showing improvement. Mine has dry skin overall, and the vet said there was no point in even considering anything medical about it until she has been home a few months.

More detail is needed here. Is he crying when you're there? Under what circumstances? When you're gone? How is he left? Have you done alone training with him? Have you read the book(s) recommended for new adopters? Have you been in touch with the foster family? They will know the dog best and can give you the most informed advice. Your adoption group expects to be available as a resource for new adopters (or they should). Everything is totally new to him at two days. Some greyhounds are more stressed by adjustment than others, and some are more vocal than others.

The NGA office in Abilene KS should be able to get you contact information. Congratulations and welcome to the cult!

Hmmm... the upper part of her tail, above where it was shaved for surgery and the hair is thicker, shows brindle. Her mom is such a dark brindle I do think she'll look like that eventually. Nothing against black dogs, but I hope she is brindle! Mom Lorraine, and identical pup Cocoa:

I lost Beth with terrible suddenness two weeks ago today. But the great thing about being an experienced greyhound person is that people start telling you about available hounds -- and I knew I wanted to adopt quickly, ideally before the academic year starts in two weeks. So thanks to what feels like fated timing and the wonderful cooperation of a number of people, this weekend I adopted Cocoa (DC Chocolatedrop) through Rescued Racers in St. Louis -- she was still in Memphis waiting for a foster spot but got transported up to MO for me to meet her. Cocoa (her original kennel name, not so original but I was asked not to change it) is two years old and just retired in June. She belongs to Wanda and Dennis Curry, who love their dogs so much and want them to go to people who will keep in touch and give them the opportunity to reunite. I have become friends with them since winning the naming rights to DC Doc Myles last summer at the GEM gathering in Abilene. Fortunately they live only about three hours from me so a reunion is definitely in the works! Cocoa's mom Lorraine (DC Dont Rainonme) is retired as their pet. And her dad is Flupascrackerbox!!! (Yes, I've been in touch with Gazehund about that.) Cocoa is cat safe, and really affectionate and outgoing to people (a Beth trait I wanted in my next dog). She seems very smart and like a good, good girl. The odd thing is that she is actually NOT black as she appears now -- she is a very dark brindle, but was shaved at the track in FL and her coat is still growing in so the brindle doesn't presently show! I do have puppy pictures showing the coloring she should regain eventually, and her mom is that color too. She also unfortunately needed (or at least got) a happy tail amputation when she was spayed a couple of weeks ago. She has the waggiest tail I've ever seen on a greyhound, so I totally see how she injured it or would have in the future. So, welcome Cocoa! Such a strange mix of excitement and happiness and grief and exhaustion I'm feeling. . . . Not a black dog. Really. It's so weird. My friends had a surprise waiting when we got back from Missouri!! She really likes this.... Glamor shot.... One of her puppy pics, with her sister Eve. So presumably what she'll look like in some months!

So very very sorry.

Thanks to all for your kind words. It is still unbelievable to me that she could be gone in a flash like that. She was so amazing and so very many people loved her. However, there is good news . . . I am traveling to Missouri tomorrow to meet and adopt the new greyhound girl who will become part of my family. I will post her introduction once it's a done deal and I have some decent pictures!

I still can't believe I'm posting this . . . my beautiful, perfect, sweet Beth, the creature around whom my entire life was organized, is suddenly gone. She was perfectly fine Sunday, made me dizzy doing wild leash zoomies in the morning and leaped around more on our last walk of the evening. On our walk Monday morning she started fine then midday through she started dragging badly and collapsed. At the vet she seemed to recover and acted normally at times but showed signs of heart problems when stressed. Her liver values were off a bit but a chest xray didn't show anything my vet particularly noticed; he sent out info to a veterinary cardiologist. Tuesday morning early she lost color again and just died. And I was not there, although she LOVED everyone at the vet where she boarded too, and her very favorite tech was among those with her. She said she told Beth I loved her. Thank God she did not die alone. We are not doing any further investigation but my vet things ruptured hemangiosarcoma or a pulmonary embolism are the likely possibilities for sudden death in a seemingly healthy and vigorous dog. I am out of town right now writing on a terrible hotel computer and can't even begin to think of how to talk about what Beth meant to me, or to her legions of fans in my area and online as well. She had (has) a literal Facebook fan club that has people who never even met her as members. I adopted her when she was two; her seventh Gotcha Day would be in less than a month. She was my first (and only) greyhound and totally changed my life -- now much of my socializing involves greyhound friends and activities, increasingly in the racing world as well as adoption. And much of my daily life was about taking her for four walks a day and never leaving her for more than five hours or so and petting her and snuggling her and gazing at her and enjoying her mellow but goofy behavior. My Bebecita, my Babaganoush. I am terrified of getting back home from my trip and facing a house and life without her. I've already begun searching for my next hound, though, as I don't want to be without a greyhound for a minute longer than I have to be. But nobody will be as beautiful as Beth. I'll see if I can post some pictures later today -- I can't face it right now.

My power went out last week on a very hot day and I took my girl to the vet for day boarding immediately. Fortunately they are close and she loves it there. Didn't want to risk it.

I am so very sorry. What a terrible shock.

You know, Bernie may also be fine with other dogs. It happened so fast, he might not generalize it. At any rate I don't think anything is gained by making Lauren fear the worst before she has any evidence. Beth has been attacked a couple of times -- admittedly much less severely -- and it didn't change her relationship to other dogs at all, even temporarily. She was scared of the exact location where one of the attacks happened (and where the offending dog lived, fortunately not any more) for a while, but she got over it.

Oh nooo!!! How awful! Sending healing thoughts from me and Beth to sweet Bernie and to you!

I have no problem with parasites, but I've used Advantage Multi for years. It is what my vet stocks and recommends now because of what he says is its superiority for internal parasites over all other heartworm meds.

If you are on Facebook, join the Three Toed Greyhounds group. All I can say is experiences seem to really vary dog to dog. My girl had bad problems with sores and ripping sutures from her weight bearing toe amp years ago but walked on it from Day 1 after surgery. Everyone does seem to be fine eventually that I know of. I am wondering if your vet gave you adequate pain control. Also cold laser therapy will help speed healing.

I am so, so sorry.

My vet doesn't trust any sample to be clean that's not from cystocentesis (direct draw). Fortunately the clinic is five minutes from my house. I appreciate not having to mess around even if it does cost more.

So I thought I'd do an update for Literaqueen. We tried again today, with my hound Beth and another friend who despite her small size is impressively adept at carrying greyhounds on stairs. Beth did the basement stairs beautifully both on leash and off leash, though Fly was almost afraid to watch her, but you could see Fly interested in Beth being down in the basement. Then our friend carried Fly to the bottom of the stairs and she got to see how nice and fun the basement was (and got chicken!). Then Literaqueen and our friend arduously moved Fly up the staircase (again, carpeted and well-lit but pretty long and steep),having to move each of her rigid legs one by one until she jumped up the last few at the top. After that we tried again, only our friend carried her only part way down and she had to walk down the rest (humans moving her legs). Then more chicken and up again, still with us moving her legs but she seemed a little closer to moving them on her own. So there's a lot more work to do, but we both think she'll get there with more practice. When she first came home she was terrified to get in a Volkswagen Bug, and now she jumps into an SUV without a problem. It's just inconvenient that, like me, Literaqueen lives alone, so people have to come over to practice -- definitely takes two for now.

I have a single short flight of seven stairs in my house, but at least last year we couldn't get Fly up the four front steps to my scary porch. She is more confident in most ways so maybe this year, but at least at her home we don't have to deal with the scariness of a new place. She does do outdoor steps without an issue!

I am the friend. This was the most intense, terrified statuing I have dealt with. Fly locked her legs and wouldn't let me even bend a joint to lift one foot, and had her butt all the way to the ground as we tried to move her forward -- just skidding on the floor. It seemed impossible to even get her front legs down one step without lifting her entirely off the ground. She sat back as we tried to move her to the edge. Going to try bringing Beth over to show her how it's done. Neither of us feel good at picking up greyhounds, especially ones who are freaking out.

So very sad. Yet also maybe a tiny bit of a blessing; it would have been worse if it happened a week or month from now. What a gorgeous boy Quinn was.

I don't worry about mercury. But I think tuna is mostly a waste of time nutritionally. (Yes, I make sure to eat sardines regularly too!) http://chriskresser.com/5-reasons-why-concerns-about-mercury-in-fish-are-misguided/

Sardines would do the job and give you much more health benefit -- vastly higher Omega 3. I give mine a sardine in tomato sauce almost daily. Or you could do salmon, or jack mackerel. No problem with tuna that I know of.

I've been following the thread. So sorry. Wishing you and your sweet girl peace.

Yep, mine got her hormonal [spay] incontinence right around when she turned 8. (Note that this tends to be a diagnosis of exclusion -- there is no way to test for it directly. Mine had a UTI too but after we treated that and her bloodwork was perfect and she still leaked, we made the assumption.) As I said above, she is now perfect on Incurin. Zero leaks once we got the dose she needed figured out.

If she's getting wet on the hind end lying down it's probably urine leakage. May not be a UTI but hormonal incontinence (or they can get a UTI second to hormonal incontinence as the urethral sphincter isn't tight enough). My girl developed this problem last spring and going on Incurin (estriol, the safest form of estrogen) fixed her problem 100%. (If it is diagnosed as incontinence, your vet will probably suggest Proin, which works fine for plenty of greys but has caused grave and even fatal side effects in others, so research it plenty.)