3greytjoys
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Thank you for asking this excellent question that could help others too.
- Indoor exercise idea if your hound is physically able: If you have (or can find) carpeted stairs to walk up/down inside a building, then repeat, repeat, repeat. (Elevation works muscles well. Ensure stairs are closed back (vs. open riser) stairs for Greyhound's safety.)
- Place kibble pieces (or small plain meat or cheese treats) under plastic cups and play the "find it" game to encourage your hound to find the cups with treats. (No garlic or onion spices on meat; both are toxic to dogs.)- Teach hound a name for individual toys. Then teach hound to find specific toy/s by name.- Play hide and seek.- Place separate types of dog scented treats in individual small cardboard boxes (empty boxes discarded from a grocery or drug store). Teach dog individual scent names, then teach dog to find the correct scent/box, placed on floor level within a couple of rooms.- "101 Things to Do with a Box" helps work a dog's mind if you don't have other interactive puzzles and toys: http://www.clickertr...ng.com/node/167- Hide a couple of toys around the house for hound to find. ("Tuffie Toys", rated 9 or 10 on their toughness scale, are excellent and very long lasting. http://www.entirelypets.com/tuffyringyellow.html)- Puzzles: I try to find slider type wooden puzzles (vs. hard plastic loose pieces, which can be deadly if chewed and ingested). All puzzles should be used only when supervised.Wooden puzzles (see video) here: http://www.activedogtoys.com/collections/dog-puzzle-games/products/nina_ottosson_dog_brickAmazon is a bit cheaper: http://www.amazon.com/Nina-Ottosson-Wooden-Dog-Brick/dp/B003F1JYCQDog boredom relievers:"Kong"Excessive chewers may like "Durachew" bones (by Nylabone), "souper" size works well for Greyhounds, bacon or chicken flavored.If needed, peanut butter can be smeared on it to teach the dog it's a chew toy.(Just my opinion: Softer flexible Nylabones are not safe for Greyhounds because they break chunks apart too easily.)(Entirely pets or Amazon are well priced sources for several items mentioned above.) -
I highly recommend a pill popper: http://www.entirelypets.com/pillgun.html
I've used these for dogs and cats for decades. Last year, I needed to administer over 20 pills per day (including Gabapentin, and yucky, terribly bitter Tramadol). I keep pill poppers in a few places in the house so they're always within arm's reach of pet meds.
Just to be on the safe side, I'd suggest running your question by your vet (or the pharmacist who filled the prescription) to insure your hound's Gabapentin is not sustained-release. (I know there are several different forms of Gabapentin for humans.) The taste may or may not be worse for the dog if capsule is opened. If he's already spitting it out, I'd assume he doesn't like the taste when he bites into the capsule. Another option is to ask your vet if it's available in a pet-safe flavored liquid. Good luck.
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Melissa, I'm so deeply sorry you have lost your sweet boy, Bishop. Our thoughts are with you during this difficult time.
Godspeed Bishop as he joins his littermates across the bridge...
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Do you have any pictures you could share? Might be some consideration for a spring/summer project......
I don't have photos but it's a free-standing covered pergola with a slightly higher roof pitch on one side similar to these: http://www.hometips.com/how-it-works/patio-roof-construction-diagram.html Only the posts are cemented since it's over the ground (instead of over a full patio slab). Clear polycarbonate pre-cut roof panels are available at home center stores, etc. This type of shelter provides ample covered dog potty space, excellent air flow, and natural light. (Helps to see dog poop for easy daily clean up, or better yet, clean after every outing. Excellent air flow reduces heat in summer months.)Here are a few other roof pictures: http://davesnyderrealestate.blogspot.com/2011/05/porch-roofing-clear-plastic.htmlA few tips for any type of dog potty area shelter:- Ensure structural safety for all seasons (particularly snow and/or wind). An angled roof prevents rain from pooling, or weight from snow.- Plan to accommodate adult size humans' upright height for cleaning during/after each dog outing, and for appropriate air flow.- If possible, consider direction from which snow/rain storms approach when deciding size needs and placement.- A hose bib close by comes in handy. -
Many good ideas.
We added a simple roof structure that covers a designated dog potty area (about 15' x 25') next to a house door. It has been more than worth every penny for all our hounds over the years. (Cheaper than vet bills for a serious fall.) Anyone in a heavy snow region would likely need a high pitched roof or A-frame to prevent heavy snow build up.
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Yes, yes, yes you are doing the right thing by keeping the non-cat Greyhound visitor securely crated. I've fostered non-cat hounds and there is no room for error in a household with cats. Be sure to keep the visitor hound muzzled whenever she is out of the crate. (Yes, they can harm or kill a cat when muzzled (+leg pounce) but not nearly as easily or instantly as without a muzzle.) Here, before the crate door is unlocked, the cats will have already been locked in another room. Since cats often bolt out of a room the second someone opens the door, we ensure the dog is locked in the crate before opening the cats' door. Please don't take any chances. The Grey likely lived in kennels all her life before retirement so one week, with daily outside walks, will be fine for her.
Extra hugs to Bus as he temporarily adjusts to his friend occupying his favorite space. Since some Greys don't do as well in boarding facilities after retirement, next time, you might suggest to your friend to post on our local forum to try to find a non-cat Greyhound sitter.
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The best news is that Rocket was diagnosed by a vet so he can begin treatment. Please be sure to follow-up with your vet for a retest after his medicine is finished. Your vet can tell you the best time to retest Rocket considering the growth cycle of the particular type of lungworms. Some worms are easier to kill than others; some take more than one treatment plan.
I assume your vet already suggested to keep Rocket's feces carefully picked-up to prevent spreading of worms. Some people quickly place newspaper (or a paper plate) under the dog for an easy, clean catch.
Good luck, and know that you're not alone, most of us have been there. It's no fun for Rocket or you, but Rocket will feel so much better once all those parasites are gone. It's great that you are taking such good care of him!
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It's possible, but parasites are common and can be picked up anywhere other dogs frequent, including parks and neighborhoods. Which parasite did the stool sample reveal?
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Just in case you (or other readers) have cats; my understanding is Advantix is dangerous to use on dogs who live with cats.
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Robin,
Phene, please send your momma a special breeze with a kiss from you over the bridge.
Thank you for posting his handsome picture. We still miss him on GT too.
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Maybe the vet could do the cystocentesis urine draw at the office instead of free catch. (Quick needle into the bladder provides a more sterile sample.)
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All I wanted to add, really, was that it might be worth bearing in mind that for a dog, being upside down with their belly in the air is a very, very vulnerable position, and if she did suddenly get the impression that what you were doing was 'threatening' the baby it might explain it. She just may have misinterpreted because you were kind of throwing your face down to the baby's belly and making strange noises - to her it might have sounded much like an attack in a serious dog-fight in which a dog will try to eviscerate his opponent. She may have seen and heard you do this many times before, but there may have been something about this time which just triggered something in her brain and made her instinctively respond.
Also, you and your baby were on the floor level (aka: dog's level).
Many years ago, one of our dogs (different breed) charged a visiting infant (stranger to that dog) who was placed on the floor in a carrier seat.
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Welcome to GT! Willow is adorable snuggled under his blanket! Love his silver-heart face! Glad you've had 10 years together so far; hope you have many more. Thank you for sharing his picture. -
You are smart to keep that evidence (and a picture of the ground scene outside). Hopefully, your neighbor is just a harmless non-animal savvy person. I know you are aware that some people do things intentionally to harm dogs. I know someone who lost four dogs (within 4 hours) from something someone tossed over the fence to harm them. (The dogs were mostly indoors but had a dog door into the back yard.)
Hopefully, your dogs are quiet when outside, and the yard is kept clean of feces and urine odor so that neighbor wouldn't have any reason to be upset with them. If interested, reflective ID collars increase visibility of our dogs while we're watching them during yard outings. If you end up questioning whether or not that neighbor will stop his behavior, one idea is to temporarily section off a dog potty area closer to your house, or on a different side from that neighbor.
What a relief that Fintan is okay after that scary situation while you were away. Hopefully, your mention of the expensive vet bill will be enough to stop your neighbor. Good luck.
To Skirtinthedirt: Welcome to GT and thank you for posting! That's excellent information for us to remember. We hope you'll post more on GT.
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A Webcam might help while you are at work. Positive thoughts for Thyme, and you all.
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PetSTEP is our favorite dog ramp for cars to date. We have SUV crossovers (it's not made for big trucks). It has been a lifesaver for our pack which also includes three geriatric aged Greyhounds.
Here is my previous thread about this PetSTEP ramp. http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/297675-dog-ramp-in-emergency/
(We ordered ours from Costco on-line; however, it appears to be unavailable at Costco right now.)
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It might be helpful for your vet if you could journal Peggy's medical symptoms for a week or two including meals, exercise timing, and take a photo of her when actively foaming for your vet. Since there are many causes for excessive foaming, listing any other minor symptoms that may otherwise go unnoticed could help diagnose a root cause, especially if it's something other than an oral/tooth problem.
Peggy may still have too much undigested food in her system even after waiting 2 hours after a meal before hard exercise. If weather and time permits, try waiting about 4 hours before allowing hard exercise. (If I recall correctly, some racing kennels in the U.S. do not feed breakfast on a Greyhound's racing days.) Excessive white foaming is one of the symptoms of bloat too. Understandably, Peggy is still with you so she hasn't bloated, but as you mentioned, better to curb her exercise a bit rather than letting her go beyond her individual healthy limit. Good luck.
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It is strongly possible. Giardia is very common in lakes, creeks, standing puddles of water, birdbaths, and raw food. I'd suggest taking a fresh fecal sample to your vet for a fecal test (possibly ELISA test). After giardia infection, it takes 5 to 12 days to be detected in the stool.
Please make every effort to avoid letting her stool seep into dirt. Giardia can live outside it's host for many months, and can infect humans also. Bleach kills it on surfaces. The longer a dog is infected, the harder it is to treat the dog, not to mention the internal damage the dog suffers.
If anyone is interested, my favorite hound potty area material is tumbled playground bark because I can immediately scoop up the bark along with the stool, keeping the dirt free of parasites. Careful management, including fostering new hounds, we haven't had a yard parasite problem in years. Our potty area is sectioned off and not large enough for hounds to run, otherwise I wouldn't use this bark. This bark is less likely to have splinters, but the bark is small.
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Wow, she was amazing flying over those hurdles! What a special girl she was... your wonderful photos of her are worth a thousand words. I'm so happy you have videos of her to keep her wonderful spirit alive.
This thread topic might get locked preventing people from adding new replies. If it does, please feel free to add a post with your video link about your lovely Lulu in the Remembrance section. That thread would be able to stay open. Thank you for sharing this wonderful video. We can imagine your huge feelings of loss.
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I agree with all suggestions above. I'd go a step further to recommend runner rugs in the kitchen, plus other rooms and hallways your hound frequents with hard floors. It's important to get either rubber-backed rugs, or add rug gripper mats underneath. Greyhounds slipping on hard floors is common and can be very dangerous, even more dangerous later once he settles in if he tries doing zoomies on a hard floor, or on unsecured rugs. Cheap runner rugs and grippers are available at home center stores, etc.
In addition to resolving the hard floor concern, you might try sitting on a (carpeted) floor holding his regular bowl while he eats his meal for a couple of days to see if he feels safer with you holding the bowl. If he's still hesitant of "that" bowl, try a weighted plastic bowl (as mentioned in a previous post) until he rebuilds his confidence.
BTW, there are flat ID collars available that he could wear 24/7. His tags could then be placed on the side hardware of his martingale collar for use only during outings. Good luck helping your boy feel more comfortable eating.
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Oh, I'm so very sorry that Lulu had a brain tumor, and has passed. My heart is breaking for you. I hope you can find a bit of peace knowing there was nothing that could have been done. I am so relieved she was able to spend her final days inside her own home with you. Hopefully, Lulu has already met up with her best friend Malcolm over the bridge. You are in our positive thoughts during this difficult time of loss.
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I'm so very sorry for your sudden, heartbreaking loss of Monty. I've been deeply moved by your thoughtful threads about him and have enjoyed seeing his photo journal. So many favorite photo memories... Monty will be missed. Our thoughts are with you and your family during this most difficult time.
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How old is Peggy now? I wonder if Peggy's foaming may be a bit excessive for a Greyhound.
A few things come to mind to watch, and consider discussing with your vet:
Check her gum color. As you know, many healthy hounds' gums are light to medium pink, but some have darker markings on their gums naturally. (Very deep dark red, purple, or blue gums raise a medical alert flag for us.)
Listen to her panting to notice if it's excessively noisy or labored. Has her voice/bark changed over time?
Smell her breath for clues of possible oral/tooth infection, or internal organ infection.
I assume the outside temperature is not too warm for her to run (increasing her body heat excessively).
I assume she's not drinking excessively while still in a heightened physical state.
Retching or vomiting would be something to consider as abnormal.
Glad you wait at least two hours after meals before allowing her to run. I wonder if you've tried exercising her two hours prior to eating a meal to see if she has the same result. As you mentioned, might be reflux or food related. (Our hounds acid related fluid is usually bright fluorescent yellow.) Rarely, we'll administer 10 mg. of Pepcid with food. (If you don't have Pepcid in the UK, maybe you already use a veterinary recommended mild reliever that is safe for dogs.)
In our case, a couple of our hounds exercise must be limited to walks due to their medical reasons. Good luck. Hopefully it's nothing abnormal.
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I'm so sorry about Lulu. I agree with others to please try to get Lulu in to see a veterinarian or specialist ASAP. Most dogs are very stoic and try to hide pain. Excessive panting (when air temperature is cool and dog is not exercising) can be a strong indicator of pain. You mentioned panting a couple of times which leads me wonder if she might be in fairly severe pain. Shaking/tremors/spasms and jolting forward could also be related to pain.
One of our hounds also had a TIA stroke (entire right side was affected, including head, right front leg and right back leg). She couldn't walk at first, but minutes later she did begin walking but was goose-stepping both right legs. Her vision appeared to be okay. She fully recovered within 10-15 minutes. No recurrences in well over a year.
There are also many eye problems that can cause blindness. A veterinary ophthalmologist would be most helpful. As an example, I've known several Greyhounds with pannus, which leads to blindness if not caught early. A dog's eyesight can often be saved if prescription eye drops are administered at home. It isn't a cure but can slow or halt disease progression.
Might be a good idea to keep an eye open for brusing just in case she was tapped by a car or something. Whatever happened, I'm relieved you were finally able to capture her. Good luck and please let us know how things go with Lulu. Positive thoughts for her recovery, and for you.Here is a veterinary site you might find helpful: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2354
Welcome to GT! Willow is adorable snuggled under his blanket! Love his silver-heart face! Glad you've had 10 years together so far; hope you have many more. Thank you for sharing his picture. 
Grey Eating Her Own And Sisters Bowel Movements. Please Help
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted
A few thoughts:
- As others mentioned, environmental management is key. It's very important to not allow her access to poops. Follow the dogs outside to clean up immediately to help prevent the behavior. (The more a dog succeeds in snagging bites of poop, the sooner it can become a habit.)
- If Addie hasn't had a recent fecal test, please do so to confirm parasites are not robbing her of her own food nutrients.
- Check Addie's kibble bag feeding chart to ensure she is getting enough daily calories for that particular food. (You probably know a healthy Greyhound pet weight is seeing the last two ribs. Many Greyhounds do well eating two meals per day, plus a small bedtime snack.)
- If you decide to use a muzzle with stool guard, please don't leave a dog unsupervised with a stool guard in place. (If the dog vomits, he/she could choke and drown from vomit trapped in the guard cup. When dogs vomit, they typically hang their head down which forces the stool guard into a bowl/cup position.)
- Certain medications can cause stool eating in certain dogs. (This happened to one of our hounds. After we changed the medication, the sudden coprophagia behavior stopped.)
- Good to try to prevent your girl from eating other animals' poop while in public to help prevent ingestion of other animals' parasites, etc.
The following is not Addie's issue. Just a mention for other readers (who might be new to dogs) to be careful to not scold dogs for eliminating in inappropriate areas (e.g. indoors). Better option is to catch them in the act and calmly and quietly rush them to an appropriate dog business area outside. Then happily praise them for doing business in the correct area.
Here is an excellent veterinary page link re: coprophagia: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1613