PrairieProf

Oh shoot, I'm so sorry. I'll be checking for updates. You mentioned something a while back about thinking Dorie's issue was pancreas-related ... have you actually tested her enzyme levels? Beth did turn out to have a problem with that (but got and has stayed better once she went to a low-fat, moderate-protein diet [the I/D, and care about anything else] and had a course of metronidazole, so that's different).

Um, well, I just had to update ... today is Beth's 3rd Gotcha Day on the calendar, and she just chewed up my cellphone. WHILE I was in the house. But I made the mistake of leaving it on my bed, and she was looking for something to get into because I was on the computer and it was time for her walk.... Off to the Verizon store now....

Beth also has bunny fur and has started shedding a LOT in the past week or two. I asked on Facebook and a bunch of friends said their greys are shedding copiously right now!

I am so very sorry.

Scary -- hope you get it figured out! I'd agree that poor Dorie probably needs fluids. Beth goes on metronidazole the minute she gets D -- it quiets inflammation as well as the antibiotic effect. My vet is also big on 24 hours fasting. (Fortunately no more D incidents since she went on I/D full time in the spring -- and fortunately she likes it fine, I put about 1/4 can on top of the kibble each meal.)

Welcome! Joe looks like quite a character. His sweet face reminds me of a friend's hound, also a black and white Flying Penske baby.

I have no experience with any of this but I wanted to add that I've been following the thread and like everyone else am full of concern for Steak and you and your family and am sending good thoughts and best wishes. So hoping the new neurologist inspires confidence and trust.

Hope so ... she seemed to be, not limping exactly, but walking pretty stiffly on it when we went out at midday for a pee ... but she got better as we continued, so I'm thinking probably it's just like human post-workout stiffness or soreness, right? If she still seems off when I get home, I'll probably give her a Deramaxx.

I got Beth to do some controlled recall runs Monday with no problem, and then today (our next trip to the park) she took off on her second big zoom, longer this time than last week. I let her poop in the park for the first time rather than leash-walking her before we went, and she just took off immediately after! I really really take seriously the advice to take it slowly; on the other hand, if I'm going to let her off leash she's going to get a hair up her butt sometimes. She seemed to run OK, certainly full speed (maybe a bit more bunched up rather that stretched out behind?) and then when she stopped she held up her foot again. I was a distance from her, and as I was walking towards her (I've hurt my back and can't run myself at present) she eventually put it down and took a few gimpy steps and then walked normally. And she continued to seem fine in the five minutes or so we remained in the park -- walked, trotted, and did one very short recall run to me. Still not sure how to feel -- her holding up the foot makes me sad, though I figured it was probably OK this time, and I'm glad she resumed a normal gait after a little break. The run in the cool morning must have felt good to the rest of her, though! That she kept it up longer must have meant the foot must not have bothered her too much as she was going. (Just for the record, her surgery was at the very end of May.)

Yeah, Beth chews plastic or other stuff too, especially if I've stepped out or am not with her. She gets plenty of exercise. But she gets bored, or slightly antsy, or just thinks chewing plastic is fun. She's five, I've had her three years, and she still will do it. There's no way I can police all the stray pens that might be around. It's one of the many reasons I still crate her when I'm gone. I'd use a muzzle if you don't want to use a crate.

Congrats! What a happy girlie!

Thanks everybody. It was a pretty short run as things go, maybe six seconds? She would probably run to me unless she got distracted by sniffing -- I do recall games with her. "Another person" would take arrangements. I am planning to take it really slow, as much as I can control. I AM really happy to see that she is ABLE to run in a more or less normal way. I hope she will self-regulate -- isn't there the problem of the greyhound drive to run overcoming pain signals, though? Or is that only in heightened situations as with chasing a lure, not ordinary yard or park play? I have recently started her on Dasuquin, BTW, to try to stay a step ahead of arthritis, though I know it might or might not help anything. The knuckle on the remaining middle toe of that foot is notably enlarged already, though I've fretted about it to my vet several times and he assures me it's not a reason to worry, just calcification which helps stabilize that toe.

Oh that makes me feel a little better to hear about Melody. Update me after the move, please! I think if/when I get over my terror at letting her run and seeing the effect, I'll be OK (if she is) -- Beth is just five and definitely still wants to run! This first zoom was triggered by Beth's habit of playing "keep away" with a piece of poop she found at the park.

So this morning Beth did her first zoomie run since her toe amputation early in the summer. I have seen her do a couple of short, lopey runs in the past week (taking her to the park in the heat of the day when she's lazy). I was delighted to see that her gait seemed pretty normal on those, as I've often seen a skippy limp in her run when I've gotten her to do a few strides on leash. Today I decided to bite the bullet and take her out in the cool morning. The good news: she can still go! I couldn't watch her feet too well as she was headed away from me and quickly became a white blur but her run looked OK. She did a sharp turn when she reached the corner too, yikes! The lousy news: as she was stopping, she did a few skippy steps, then held up the amp foot. Oy vey (although I was prepared for that as a possibility, so I didn't totally freak). The decent news: I rubbed the foot and checked the remaining toes which seemed intact, and once I convinced her to put it down she walked off with no limp, and later did another short easy run that looked OK. I stopped by my vet and got him to quickly check that foot, and he confirms that her toes are fine. So there's no lasting effect, though I'll be on the watch for any soreness later today or tomorrow. I know she might get used to running on that changed foot and not always hold it up that way, or she might not ... I'm sad that she hasn't has a great an outcome as other toe-amp hounds seem to have had. Though at least she can run, which I wasn't sure of. I feel like I need to be really careful about letting her run for the rest of her life, I'm not going to do it as much as I used to -- but I do want her to be able to be off leash and to play with other dogs as she's enjoyed in the past.

Just seeing this. I'm so very sorry.

So sorry to hear he's unwell again! Hope the Flagyl helped!

Oh no, so terribly sorry. What a shock. I have been traveling the past few days and am just seeing this.

I'd have pancreatic function checked too. Beth went through a spate of not wanting to eat normally for a week or two last winter, and by early spring (after a prolonged D incident) we diagnosed her as being just under the borderline for pancreatitis. Given that you're feeding him Evo, a high-fat food, I'd want to rule out any pancreatic issue because if there is something a food like that is definitely going to make it worse. Beth is doing much better on a low-fat diet.

My friend's dog (non-grey) has severe hypoparathyroidism (as an autoimmune condition) and has to take prescription-grade calcium supplements. He's been doing it for years, and he's fine -- just needs regular blood monitoring to make sure his blood calcium is in range (going too high is as much a danger as too low). So just to reassure you that even if the parathyroid never returns to normal function, your girl can have a perfectly long and normal life on supplemented calcium. I know from human thyroid surgery (which I had last summer) that the surgery can (though it doesn't always) damage the parathyroid glands because they're so close by, but I don't know that there's any precise way to estimate when they might recover.

Looking at Silver's beautiful photos again, I just wanted to add a little safety note -- most of us believe it is much safer not to have the tags attached to the martingale's D-ring, since if the tags were to catch on something it would be very bad. Safer to attach them to one of the other, non-tightening metal fittings on the collar. I also learned from GT that it was safest to keep martingales for outside/walks, and use a plain tag collar in the house if I need a collar on at all. Hope you're having a wonderful time with your gorgeous boy!

Worked perfectly! What a very handsome and sweet-looking boy -- congratulations!

I am so sorry. Gentle pets for him and hopes he'll adjust.

This is completely normal no matter what you're feeding. The latter poops have not, um, been in the pipeline for as long and are not as, er, ripe. Normally Otis wouldn't have to go, but the long walk stimulates him and/or he's sort of poop-marking. Absolutely nothing to worry about. When we're doing a walk in the woods (an environment which seems to really stimulate her to go), I can guarantee Beth will poop until it's just a dribble.

Welcome! I'm another lifelong cat lover who is now obsessed with greyhounds too.

Welcome from Waterloo! Silver sounds great. He is a Gable Dodge boy, I see! To post pictures here, you have to put them in a photo hosting site like Photobucket and then you place the IMG code from the image into your message. There are more instructions here: http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/121707-how-to-post-a-picture/