PrairieProf

I'm glad you're on the other side of the procedure and that nothing major is wrong!

Oh no! Sending many good thoughts. I'm sure the x-ray procedure will be fine, though.

I brush Beth's teeth daily -- or alternate brushing one night with PetzLife spray the next. When I have time I do them both in a day, at different times (I'm a little fanatical about her teeth). I'd say Petzlife is my favorite product -- I really do see it make a difference. On TV I saw an ad for a spray called Plaque Attack that sounds quite similar, but I don't have any experience with it.

Oh no, I'm so sorry. Crap. When you were just talking D and not eating yesterday I started wondering whether he needed a probiotic to counter the effects the Flagyl (I've had Beth on Proviable, which my vet feels is the best, daily), but this is clearly beyond that. I was thinking about Z/D too -- IF he has IBD that is based on a reaction to protein(s), this (or another hydrolyzed protein food, such as Purina HA) will help. (The I/D might have helped temporarily then because of the change from the fish in his former ProPlan to egg and chicken, but it might explain why it didn't work long term.) Z/D is what RobinM's Beau is on, and my best friend's dog has been on HA for years and does great. But it seems it would help to get a little more clarity as to what the problem is. It does seem like good specialists in the Boston area would make more sense logistically than OSU... this is awful but it probably isn't greyhound-specific.

So sorry he's still having trouble. What a pain. I was so hoping/thinking I/D and Flagyl would fix him up as they did Soul and, in a different way, Beth. And oy about the scope. BTW chicken by-products (as defined by Hill's and used in I/D; I've read every word on their site) and animal digest are not at all the same thing. http://www.hillspet.com/faq-ingredients-and-myths.html

I agree he needs a different kibble. It takes many of us a good while of experimenting to find food that works well for our dogs -- do some reading in the Food and Nutrition section archives and you'll see that. Ratings (based on some individual non-trained person's idea of good ingredients, not on any science) also mean very little in terms of what food will work for any individual dog. Be aware that fish oil can produce loose stools in some dogs. Many newly adopted hounds have lousy coats, and his will likely improve over a few months even if you don't do anything.

Welcome to GT! Two adorable houndies -- please post more pics of them! Are you planning to walk them together? That must be interesting.... (Does Titan ever prance on the porch? Is there any risk he could accidentally knock that bike over on himself? Just something I'd be a little nervous about with that setup.)

Or should that be Easter plans dampened? Sorry, not nice to joke about it. Hope your boys feel better quickly! At least you got a quick diagnosis and aren't dealing with a mystery condition.

Here's her poor toesie now, from this morning. It actually looks a lot better -- cleaner -- than when it was healing the first time around without the sutures. It's just going to be hard to be careful and restrict her for several weeks when she feels perfectly fine! Happily, though, she shows no more inclination to mess with it than she did before, and the sock is all she needs on it, plus a Pawz boot outside.

Oh no, what awful timing, I'm so sorry for your loss. Sparkle

Back from the vet where we got the wrap removed -- her toe looks good, very clean and tight where the laceration was. Weird to see it shaved -- looks like a toe from E.T. or something. She has buried subcuticular sutures so she won't need them to be removed, though we're going back for a recheck in a week. Wish we'd gotten it done a week ago, though. She did well recovering from anesthesia last night and seems like her usual self today. So far she still doesn't seem like she wants to mess with the toe when the sock is on.

She's home. Woozy. The vet said her foot looks good, he was able to get two sutures under the skin. Her toe is shaved though! So he said -- her foot is wrapped and I need to bring her back in tomorrow to have the wrap removed.

Well, this morning was nine days since Beth got a laceration on her front toe, and it looked well healed enough to me for us to go back to the dog park. Big mistake. Beth has a wonderful time running, really went flat out several times, but when I got home and took off her bootie I found she'd reopened the wound and it had bled a good bit. So we went back to the vet about an hour ago -- he said the laceration pulled apart and is back to Square One basically. He gave me the options, basically just start the healing process over or put in a couple of sutures (which is what he initially wanted to do the day she got the cut, but then he changed his mind). I went for the sutures, despite the scary anesthesia thing, though he clearly knows what he's doing with that. All week I've thought it would have healed better with sutures. I thought maybe the sock rubbing her toe had reopened it, but he said no, it was the flexion and extension of the toe -- that most dogs would have healed by now. But I guess those long greyhound toes and the way greyhounds run puts more stress on it. I am so so bummed. Now with stitches it will be another 2-3 weeks to heal, and she may have to wear a neck collar if the socks aren't adequate to make her leave it alone. And I HATE her not being able to run (or socialize with her dog friends -- and me with my human friends -- at the park). FWIW he also said the EMT Gel which I put on the wound (because people rave here about it) delayed the healing, that it's not helpful.

I don't have any experience with Cerenia for ongoing use, but Beth recently turned out to have low-grade pancreatic inflammation -- just under the threshold for acute pancreatitis -- so possibly akin to "smoldering" pancreatitis though we didn't use that word. But if that's what the vet thinks it is, I'm not following the line of treatment here. If there is a pancreatic issue, why would you just wait for it to really flare to the acute stage rather than getting it under control now? Cerenia is an anti-nausea drug but the nausea is a symptom of whatever's going on, not a cause. Has Rocket had a Spec cPL or TLI test done, both of which check what's going on pancreatically, instead of just guessing? (Oh wait, I just read you had bloodwork -- hope it included one or both of those!) Is he on Flagyl? Because it relieves inflammation throughout the digestive tract, this is what Beth was put on (full dose for a whole month, now we're tapering down). Have you talked about a low-fat diet? If something else is going on the raw might help, but if it's pancreatitis you're playing with fire, as it's hard to control the amount of fat the dog is getting and it's almost certainly more than is recommended for pancreatitis (typically under 10%). My vet said low fat and low-moderate protein, too. What were the protein/fat percentages in the various kibbles you were using?

Hoping for some answers (or, well, a clear ultrasound because that's good news, even if it doesn't turn up a firm answer). Several weeks of Flagyl sounds like a good measure -- if he's got some serious inflammation going in his GI system it can evidently take longer than a week for it to really heal. Stupid question, but I forget: what are you precisely looking for with the ultrasound? If the ultrasound is negative, would it be worthwhile running bloodtests for folate/cobalamin (for SIBO) and TLI (pancreatic function)? I know Beth's issues were different, not the HGE which is very likely totally different, but it was the first thing that turned up some meaningful data on her. Might be worth asking your vet about at least.

He's so cute. And looks totally greyhoundy in the pic. I'd love to see more pictures -- his coloring looks so interesting, the way the brindling fades out towards the rear. Welcome to GT!

So what's the, er, outcome so far this morning? Sending good thoughts to Miss Piggy Chloe!

Glad you're at the vet -- sorry for the unpromising poop, though. At least you know you weren't making something out of nothing. Those Hill's hypoallergenic treats are designed to go with I/D, D/D, and Z/D. I think their formula is closest to Z/D -- they're made with hydrolyzed protein. They do have different ingredients than I/D, but I would think if Z/D dogs (some of whom have severe IBD) can tolerate them, they're probably OK. But it wouldn't hurt to stop them for the moment, for sure.

Kerry, what does it say about human dosing? OK ... just looked at a box I had in my cabinet -- says no more than two over 24 hours. So it sounds OK to give a second if needed; I can't imagine there's anything very dangerous about it. Still hope too that someone who knows something will chime in soon.

Oh yeah, I've decided a house is not a home without a stock of Flagyl. Hmmm, the timing might suggest that he does need still to be on it. Beth's been on it for about six weeks now, though we're now tapering down on a 250 mg. dose and will be going to every other day next week.... I'll be holding you guys in my thoughts and checking for updates.

Oh shoot, so sorry Merlin's having problems again! I haven't used Pepcid so I can't help with that. I would tend to doubt it's the treats, since those are designed for IBD dogs as well -- Beth's been on them too along with the food. Sending good thoughts -- you must be so anxious. Is Merlin on Flagyl too? I do know it would almost certainly be safe to give him an extra dose if things seem to be getting worse. My vet told me recently in the wake of Beth's pancreatic issue that if Beth has acute diarrhea I should give her two 500 mg. pills per day -- double the usual dose. How long has Merlin been on the dry I/D? Beth seemed to have some gurgly tummy for a while as we were introducing that, pretty loud at first, though it quieted down eventually. I never knew if it was from the food or from some digestive inflammation related to the condition. It never led to D, though, and now she seems to be doing great.

I did the same and I totally understand what you're saying. But, I'm still unsure feeding a hound 1/4 pound of ground beef and 2 eggs a day short-term would be the same as feeding one of the various recipes of satin balls as a big part of a dog's diet. Like I said, I will definitely investigate further. I've e-mailed a couple of grey savvy vets, and that is why I'm here too . I'm just looking for past experiences, thoughts, and opinions. The raw beef and eggs might well be OK for most hounds, I'd think. But I used to add meat like that to Beth's kibble, and I now realize it probably wasn't OK for her, or at some point became not OK. So I'm seeing there are risks in things I thought were fine before -- and I'm hypersensitized about it right now having so nearly dodged the pancreatitis bullet. I guess I'm wishing there had been more voices of caution around this issue beforehand, so I'm being one now!

Too much fat period can cause it. I think salmon oil was part of the problem for Beth, FWIW. I Googled "satin balls" and "pancreatitis" and see I'm far from alone in realizing this as a concern!

As someone whose dog recently had a very near brush with pancreatitis, I now think the satin balls (which I've never used) sound absolutely terrifyingly risky to feed to any dog.

My friend's grey did that and had major D for some days. She has a touchy stomach though and ate the other hound's different food. What goes in must come out though....