PrairieProf

Oh no, so very sorry.

Okay, I will change it.

Thought I'd update on this since I hate reading medical threads that trail off and never let future readers know what happened! The short version is that Beth definitely has hormone-responsive incontinence, and Incurin is definitely fixing it. Beth had zero leaks after starting on the initial dose of two pills a day which she was on for over two weeks, nor on one pill a day which she was on for two weeks -- you are supposed to gradually lower the dose to see how little they need. Well, early this week a few days after moving her down to half a pill every day, she leaked badly again in the evening and the following afternoon. Very distressing BUT it stopped immediately when on my vet's advice I moved her back to the original dose of two pills. She will get that for a bit then go back down to the one-pill dose that she seemed OK on for two weeks. I wish she could have gotten by with a lower dose, but I am super happy the Incurin works so effectively and with zero side effects that I can detect. And this does really confirm both the problem and the solution. Lemme tell ya, once you've had a leaking dog, having a non-leaking one makes you very, very happy. We did another urinalysis this week with the renewed leaking, and the vet did find some white blood cells, though not a lot and no bacteria. So she's back on antibiotics just to be on the safe side.

Oh no, so sorry, so young.

Well, they already have plenty of American-made treats if you look. I buy Colorado Naturals beef jerky for Beth at Petco -- it explicitly says American made from American-sourced beef.

One arm around/under the chest, one arm in the tuck or under the butt. Lift from your knees. If you can....I am a small woman and do not find it easy to lift even my girl.

Well for those who are interested, Beth's UTI is well cleared but she is continuing to have intermittent pee incidents (always on the weekend, for some reason). Not TOO bad but we have some travel coming up and I can't have her wetting motels etc. It seems to happen when she has a pretty full bladder and doesn't get out soon enough, soon enough being earlier than her typical next walk. My vet agrees it is probably the onset of hormone-responsive incontinence (and the UTI was probably triggered by the looser sphincter). So we are going to try her on Incurin. He actually hasn't used it before--has had excellent success with DES--but he was not at all averse to giving it a try. So they are ordering it and I hope it will come in tomorrow. Mucho expensivo compared to DES but I presume Beth's insurance will cover it.

My hound had a major course of metronidazole to relieve inflammation related to her mild pancreatitis. I mean like a month. Has Gomer had any meds? What is the basis for assuming he is not having issues related to that still?

Beth had a near brush with pancreatitis (her reading was just under the acute level) and has been perfect on I/D in the years since (and an extended course of metronidazole at the time to relieve gastric inflammation). She loves it and is seems great for her overall health -- no more poop issues like we dealt with early on and she has the softest coat. Expensive as hell but it has been so good for her I haven't wanted to rock the boat by switching. She gets 1/4 can of the canned I/D as a kibble topper because I am an indulgent mom. 18% fat is an unusually high fat kibble! I never feed Beth anything that high in fat, not even a dog biscuit. For comparison, I/D is 9% fat (and 22% protein) -- low fat, moderate protein is the kind of food you need. I also never give fish oil, as I'm pretty sure that is what triggered her issues. I do her give one sardine canned in water or tomato sauce most days as a snack, away from other food. Everything else she eats I keep low fat.

Do NOT NOT NOT put her on thyroid medication without a full thyroid panel. If your vet just looked at the T4 he doesn't know what he's doing with greyhounds for sure.

Hey, thanks for asking about Beth. The news is mixed and a bit confusing. Last Tuesday: She did have a raging bladder infection, and was put on Simplicef. Her bloodwork at the time was normal, one liver enzyme a little elevated but the vet wasn't too concerned. Thursday: I got the report that nothing grew in the urine culture (even though they'd evidently seen bacteria as well as red and white blood cells). This freaked me out a little. The vet did an ultrasound and it showed no tumors, no stones, no thickening of the bladder wall, nothing of concern. She seemed to do well during the week -- no further peeing in the house, though I took her out a lot. She does seem to be drinking extra, though not a HUGE amount. Two days ago: We did a 5K walk in a town about an hour and a half away. She drank quite a lot of water while there, but I assumed it was because she was active and it was warm. On the way home we did a rest stop and I found she had made a puddle in the car. She definitely had a full bladder though. Yesterday: After we got back from our late afternoon walk within an hour she seemed very restless, pacing around. I took her out for a pee. She continued somewhat restless but finally lay down after I gave her a chew treat. But about forty minutes later I found she had leaked on her dog bed. This restlessness and leaking shortly after being out was exactly what happened the first time I posted, although not quite as bad this time. I took her out for a longer walk and after she came back she settled down, had no more leaking and eventually held it through the night just fine. This morning: hustled her back to the vet first thing for another urinalysis. Her urine is not great (still RBC and WBC) but they said greatly improved -- no bacteria, and it was dark yellow rather than orange-brown as it was last week. So evidently the Simplicef is working on the UTI though it's not all gone yet. Vet also wanted to repeat bloodwork. Later reported that that was normal, great, even better than last week. So she is getting better from the UTI, but there are still big unanswered questions about whether the leaking is from the UTI or something else. She did after all have her first incidents in early March after an extended course of Simplicef for a toe wound, so it seems unlikely she had a UTI then. Could be hormone-responsive incontinence, but then what the extra drinking and pacing is about and why has she never leaked in the overnight hours. It looks like further testing is in the future if she has another episode -- but it's a little unclear what might be going on. Atypical Cushing's is one thing we'd test for I think. Meanwhile, most of the time and in most ways she seems perfectly normal. Eating and pooping well, good energy (even though I'm dragging her out for walks like seven times a day instead of four!), no signs of discomfort most of the time, just perhaps hitting the water bowl a bit extra (but it has also finally gotten warm here).

Well no further incontinence incidents, though I've been taking her out extra. Still anxiously waiting on the culture. I did realize last night that her previous incontinence incidents or a day or two in the beginning of March came right at the end of a long course of Simplicef for a wound on her toe. So either that is not the right antibiotic or the incidents are not directly caused by a UTI. My vet thinks that's a possibility too, but obviously we have to get rid of the UTI before we can speculate about anything else. He also thought such widely spaced incidents did not sound like the traditional onset of a regular incontinence issue.

Good news, more or less! After a a rocky start to the morning involving the vet being home with stomach flu, Beth had a full workup with full bloodwork and they found she has quite a bad bladder infection. No signs of kidney problems. So while incontinence cannot be ruled out yet, he thinks the infection is almost certainly what is causing the issue. She's on a course of Simplicef (unless the culture reveals in two days that a different antibiotic is needed). He said she should feel better quickly. Meanwhile, thank Dog I have insurance -- it's a $480+ bill.

Beth is at the vet but unfortunately the vet is home sick with stomach flu. The techs are waiting for him to call them back so they can get approval for tests. I am so stressed out!! I suspect she will have urinalysis and a culture started, I am doubtful they will do bloodwork today. I have already read ALL the past GreyTalk coverage on Proin vs. DES (and Incurin). The good news, I guess, is that Beth had a full blood panel about five weeks ago, which was after the first incontinence incidents in the late winter. The vet didn't see any problems with that, though he might have said one liver value was on the high end, though he wasn't concerned about it. All the techs are saying to me it's not spay incontinence this long after a spay, it's age incontinence, though that violates everything I've read online. :/

I am worried about Beth. She had a couple of pee accidents in resting spots in my house maybe six weeks ago (I found wet spots on my bed and on a dog bed). Was going to take her to the vet but nothing further happened. She had peed in the crate once maybe last summer, her first accident in years. Yesterday afternoon she made a medium wet spot in her crate when I left the house for a couple of hours, though I returned before her usual "out" time -- I could see from her wet rear it was pee. Tonight she seemed barky and restless soon after dinner but as it wasn't too long after our walk around 4:30, I disregarded it. She did drink some after dinner. Sometime after 7:00, I found she had peed a small spot on the carpet and then a BIG spot on her dog bed, while lying in the same room with me. Took her out at 7:30 and she peed a good bit. Just about fifteen minutes ago I saw her stretch her legs while lying on the bed and yes -- another sizeable spot of pee! Took her out again and she peed again. Her peeing while out seems normal (she is leash-walked and pees multiple times -- she's a marker), as does her behavior. She did regurgitate her food yesterday morning, which is rare. I'd already planned to try to schedule an afternoon vet visit tomorrow, but now I think I will take her in first thing so she can pee on their bedding while I teach in the morning. I know about spay incontinence and that Beth is the prime age (8), but is this a little extreme, two big resting pees in one night while on a normal walking schedule? Do you think at UTI is possible? Should I be worried about worse possibilities?

I am so very sorry.

Oh dear. Thinking of you.

It is the saddest of days. Last winter my friends Tracey and John decided to add a second hound to their greyhound family and adopted the gorgeous broodie Lily from Abilene through Shelley Lake. Lily was beautiful and sweet and a wonderful family member to her greyhound brother Gus, her mini-schnauzer sister Tolee, and three cats (especially recent addition Luta who really loved her). Lily just turned ten last month and was the youngest-looking ten year old you can imagine. Less than a week ago, Lily was diagnosed with osteo in a rear femur. After consulting with Shelley and others and knowing what a good candidate Lily was, they decided to go ahead with amputation and chemo. Lily had the surgery this morning and the initial report was that she had come through well. But by this afternoon, despite being on Amicar she wasn't clotting properly and had low blood pressure. They couldn't turn it around and now Lily is gone. The vet thinks she developed a blood clot. Please send your condolences to John and Tracey -- I will share the thread with them. They are heroes by beginning their lives with greyhounds by adopting two seniors and loving them so well, and as you can imagine they are absolutely devastated by all they have been through in the past week and by this shocking unexpected loss. RIP Lily. At least you got to be a much-loved pet as part of your full life. http://www2.greyhound-data.com/d?z=g7Aiky&d=gable+lillian&sex=&color=&birthyear=&birthland= :f_pink One of the pictures that made them fall in love with her: Happy girl: Last week:

Whatever is going on now, if his broken leg healed it wasn't osteo there.

No experience with this (my greyhound has a full toe amputation) but it seems to me it would make more sense to proceed to a full amp at this point rather than a half-measure that might or might not solve the problem and might or might not prevent it from recurring. But I would probably want a second opinion from another vet.

Why remove a part of the dog's anatomy unless it is causing a problem? They are there for a reason. I've read about medical stuff endlessly here for six years and there are only rare and minor issues with dewclaws.

So very sorry.

I have always found it cheapest on Amazon too.

Beth has been through advanced obedience (well, the Petsmart version) and still rarely sits on command without knowing there is a treat in the vicinity. In fact she doesn't do many of the commands without a reward involved (and sometimes knowing I have a reward in one hand makes it act like a lure). And she is a natural sitter too (FWIW the missing toe makes no difference to her sitting; I can imagine Ozzie's hock might be stiffer). Congrats she's doing so well!

Bag Balm heals even deep cracks impressively fast. In the lotion section of drugstores.