PrairieProf

Welcome to GT! Zoey is beautiful and has a lovely expression.

Welcome to GT! You have quite a pack!

Another Iowan here, welcome to GT! Where are you located? I'm eager to hear more about handsome hunky Nadas!

I'm very sorry for your bad news.

If his dinner came up looking pretty much like it did when it went down -- if he just put his head down and horked it up without signs of great distress -- it's not even technically vomiting but regurgitation, is my understanding. (More experienced folks might want to confirm this....) And really nothing to worry about if it only happens once in a while. Beth has done this twice in the year I've had her for no particular reasons, and has been absolutely fine afterwards. (But yes, running around after eating is not a good idea.) This may be of interest to you on vomiting vs. regurgitation: http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=222416&hl

What a cute boy! Best wishes for him, and I'm looking forward to more pics when he's at your place!

I am very sorry for your loss.

Poor sweet boy. I am so sorry.

Thanks Lisa . . . interesting to get your perspective on that. I was feeling so down about Quinn in early August, I thought a visit to QCGA just to see some hounds and talk to people would cheer me up . . . the rest is history. I do wish I had had more time with Quinn but I can't in any way un-wish having Beth!

One year ago tomorrow I had to put my beloved monster-man Quinn to sleep. I was very new to GT then and didn't feel ready to post about it, but I want to remember him publicly now. I adopted Quinn when he was about 10 months old, at the same time as my Carey cat. He was a unique, super-athletic, and very loving boy, with a perfect black nose and adorable black paw-pads (and a little white spot on his boy-parts). He did the most amazing 180-degree leaps in the air to catch toys, loved climbing to the highest places he could find, and loved snuggling with his mom. We would often go back to bed for a cuddle after breakfast, and he'd purr so hard . . . the lovin' was so intense I'd joke that we both needed a cigarette afterwards! When you went to give him a treat he'd grab your hand with both paws and pull it hard towards his mouth -- he was amazingly strong! He wasn't showing any signs of aging at all when early last summer I found a lump under his jaw that turned out to be a lymph node metastasis from an aggressive nasal carcinoma. He had a good summer though, stayed active and happy and got to visit his grandparents in NY one more time . . . even on his last day he was still my purring sweet man. He'd just stopped eating and nothing would get him going again. For a while I'd planned that someday when Quinn was gone, I'd get a greyhound (he seemed stressed by dogs, much more than Carey), but I never thought it would be so soon. I sometimes feel a little guilty, since I went to the kennel and fell in love with Beth and started planning to adopt her a few weeks before Quinn left . . . I knew he didn't have that much longer and it helped to have something to look forward to. But even though I am happy to have her I still miss Quinn every single day . . . I love you Mr. Q-Man-Chu, Quintessential, Quinkajou. He was a very vocal boy: Kitty roach: He loved getting slid around the floor in a box -- we called it his "boat rides": On his last day -- still enjoying being petted:

I am so, so sorry for your bad news. But hoping the antibiotics kick in fast to help the infection and she feels better soon!

Welcome to GT! You'll love it here (but watch out, it's addictive! )

I am so terribly sorry. Your tribute is just beautiful, I totally feel your love for sweet Reggie. I wish you two could have had more time with each other.

Fortiflora is probiotics; digestive enzymes are something different. Prozyme and TotalZymes are some brands I've seen online; I use something called Fresh Digest (same as Optagest) that's available at Petco (but not Petsmart). When you read about digestive enzymes as a supplement for kibble-fed dogs they sound pretty important to me; I've been using them daily for my girl.

I am so sorry for your loss. I am glad Jake's final moments were peaceful ones; the lawn is a wonderful idea.

Welcome from a western neighbor! Beautiful dogs. And I'm so sorry for the loss of Billy . . . Beth is three and I've had her for just a year, I can't even imagine.....

Welcome to GT! I'm looking forward to reading (and seeing) more about your hounds!

Good luck with Maddie! It will be interesting to compare our further results. Feel free to post here or PM me!

I talked to my vet on the phone today. The test they were going to do doesn't use equilibrium dialysis, but I'm paying big $$ to get the full "gold standard" thyroid panel that does -- it has to be sent out and will take about a week to get the results, though I forgot to ask where it's sent (he called while I was walking the dog!); it turns out they do the regular IDEXX testing in-house. I guess if there's any ambiguity in the results I can deal with getting an expert interpretation; my vet does seem very smart and up-to-date and he understands the difference in normal greyhound levels. He said he just wanted to check the cortisol to rule out any adrenal involvement, not that Beth showed any signs of it. My suspicion today is that Beth's thyroid is probably fine and all this testing is just going to lower my wallet's metabolism , but it will be good to know for sure. Anyway, she gets her blood drawn tomorrow and I'll have at least the adrenal results then.

I'll make sure with my vet that those things are tested, but I'm pretty sure we'll be testing them. I'll check on the equilibrium dialysis for fT4 too -- from googling IDEXX it definitely sounds like they do that, but I'll make sure it's not separate from their regular panel and that we get it if it is. Thanks very much!

Another question -- I'd read about sending thyroid tests to MSU and mentioned that to my vet as the "gold standard"; he was familiar with it but said they use IDEXX labs and that they are comparably excellent for thyroid panels now. Any info on this?

I don't think anything specific, at least that he said -- presumably just to be sure that that wasn't what was affecting her thyroid. Thanks for responding -- Misty was the one dog here I remembered who had Cushing's.

Beth had a full blood panel at the vet today, since she needed her heartworm test anyway. Apparently all her results look great except her T4 is pretty low -- 0.5. I know T4 is very far from definitive, but we're going to go ahead with a full thyroid panel and the vet also wanted to test her cortisol -- I didn't quite follow the explanation of how adrenal problems affect the thyroid, perhaps someone can explain? She isn't showing major hypothyroid symptoms, although she has lost a lot of hair on her belly this summer (she's much more naked now than when I adopted her last August). And she's shown a slight increase in shyness -- mainly the statuing outside my house issue that I posted about a week or so ago and slightly more tentativeness on walks around the neighborhood. She still jumps around on leash like a nutball when the mood hits her and is glad to run. She did have a small hotspot recently and has some small cysts on her skin. Could her recent neck pain issue be in any way related? Doesn't seem likely, but the timing is interesting. Darn, I know treating hypothyroidism if she has it isn't a huge deal -- I take thyroid meds myself. But it makes me feel sad and stressed to be hitting so many medical issues in the very first year with my seemingly young and healthy girl.

Wow, just chiming in as well . . . Beth lost a lot of hair on her belly this summer, so that now she's much nekkider than when I adopted her last August. I was assuming it was seasonal too, but I just had bloodwork done today and . . . she appears to be borderline hypothyroid. We're going to get more clarity with the full panel. No other real symptoms that I can see beyond a few very small behavioral changes -- she still jumps around like a nutjob.

I'm pretty sure my vet does chiropractic too. It's something I'd definitely consider if and when we have any evidence that what we've done so far hasn't fixed things -- I see a chiropractor myself regularly, so I'm well aware of how much it helps.