Time4ANap

Apparently she was resting up to get up at 4AM this morning.....I'm going back to bed.

I showed this to LaVida and Mark. They are packing suitcases.

The past few days I was thinking something similar and told her the it is not her time to leave. Tonight she is letting me know that it's dinner time and is stalking and attacking the stuffies, then flinging them across the room. LaVida is back! She's even doing an airborne 180 when she throws the toys, so I guess the cumulative effect of the gabapentin was really doping her up. I'm not so sure that the diagnosis we received yesterday is going to hold. I think there is some LP, but not sure it's the one involving the rear legs after watching her run around here today. It's still an option. Waiting for lab results before changing / adding or trying anything new. We also back off the carprofen to once a day just to see how much she really needs, as the really bad mobility started when the carprofen dose was increased. She will go back for a re-check once we figure out what she needs. Thanks for the comments everyone! We will update when we know more.

Thanks. We stopped the Gabapentin yesterday and this morning I had a little girl with a wagging tail running all over the place. She's not 100% but the Gabapentin was obviously making the rear legs way worse than they actually are, She walked around looking for any crumbs that Mark might have dropped in the area of the treat jar, so I know she's feeling a little more with-it this morning.

We have a standing prescription at the McD's down the street. Definitely not what we were expecting to hear, but I am glad that we have a vet with 27 years of practice under her wing including previously owning greyhounds. (This is the same vet who got Mark to throw up the rock.) She is awesome with Mark and LaVida.

Thanks Ducky and Miss Jan. The vet suspects that LaVida has GOLPP - a combination of Laryngeal Paralysis and Polyneuropathy affecting her back legs. We ran some bloodwork to rule out things such as Valley Fever and Tick Borne Illnesses, as well as checking other finctions, so when those results come back we will have more info. In the meantime we are discontinuing the Gabapentin which may be exacerbating the impact to her back legs, and also cutting back the Carprofen until the labs come back to see how she does. She will likely not be having her dental in July, and the vet has advised against doing tieback surgery. We may revisit that once we have labs back and see how the change of meds affects her. Not exactly the news we were looking for, but we will take this a step at a time. The good news is that there is no pain in her back legs, they are just wonky. One of her front legs is likely hurting, so we do need to keep some pain meds on board and decide further courses of action once the labs are back. Thanks everyone. Link to info about GOLPP - https://cvm.msu.edu/scs/research-initiatives/golpp/living-with-golpp

The Burt's Bee's Hand Salve works well for corns. Petunia and Kate both had terrible corns. We used this on their paw pads nightly and it definitely helped.

Thanks for this info. The vet recently recalculated the carprofen dosage and felt that we should increase it a little to get the correct dosage for her weight. As a result she has gotten way wonkier. We are seeing the vet today to do a re-check to make sure there is nothing new bothering her, and see about adjusting the dosage or trying a different med. She was much better on the lower dosage of carprofen. She's obviously not hurting because she runs like a racing dog when outside, but she walks so "all over the place" that I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself while walking or getting up, or that she will fall on one of the concrete or tile surfaces outside because they are usually a little dusty from the desert and slippery. We noticed the increased wonkiness within a day or two of the increased dosage, so I'm thinking that's the culprit. Will update when we know something. I did Adequan injections for Rocket which worked well until it didn't. That's on my list of questions for today also.

Hi Punkin! Looking gorgeous as always!

That looks awesome!

There's a phone number showing on their FB page. https://www.facebook.com/people/Houndstown/100076194100881/

If we aren't back from a walk by 6:30 AM in the summer, the walk isn't happening. So from May - October, very few walks happen here. They will still run in the yard and do an occasional walk if we get a cloudy or rainy day during our monsoon season, but for the most part, Mark and LaVida really don't care. Maybe because they are both older, not sure. Walks just aren't a priority for them. The last time I took Mark for a walk, we got one house away and he turned around and headed home. No idea what that was about. I found that using anything as a cooling coat or even a wet towel only really works if there is air moving over it. We put a fan on high and pointed it any of our dogs who overheated while changing out wet towels or the home made cooling coat as the garment or twoel warmed up and the cooling effect was lost. Here, we also really can't walk in the evneing as the residual heat on the sidewalks and streets is still too hot tothe touch for paws. Even after sundown concrete will still be well over 100 degrees for hours. Camp Greyhound has an indoor pool. Jus' sayin....

He went right back to normal and hasn't missed a meal since. He was just Mark, being Mark.

Good info, Miss Jan. Mark had a day last week where he only ate dinner. I could KNOT get him to eat all day until dinner rolled around no matter what I offered. He's kind of a brunch guy anyway, but I hope he doesn't start this thing of refusing all food. Even the magic chicken didn't entice him that day which is highly unusual. We had a 4 legged houseguest for several days so I'm chalking it up to that and things just being outside of the normal routine.

Congratulations on the adoption and your recovery! Banjo is gorgeous, of course Mark says I may partial to those big black boys with white paws.

Look around during your walks and see if something in particlular is blloming that isn't normally present. When we had this happen there was a massive ragweed bloom in our area. Rocket also licked his paws to the point of being pink or red. He had to have steroids and and allergy drug to get it under control. At the time, all of the other dogs that we usually saw on our walks were having the same issue, and as we talked to other owners we learned that they all had ended up at the vet and prescribed pretty much the same meds. We also used baby wipes to clean the paws after every walk and every trip outside. If you don't the problem just continues.

I'm sorry you are dealing with this. I think the obvious thing is to avoid the car for now as it obviously stresses him out. Remember that his whole world as he knew it has been turned upside down. He may be used to having other dogs around as part of his comfort level, and went from a kennel environment to a house which he has not experienced before. I realize he's been there a little while, but it sounds like he's still not acclimated. Is there another greyhound owner nearby who can bring their dog over to go for walks with him? Having another grey on the walk may calm him down and let him see that everything is okay. I would start with short walks around the neighborhood to get him comfortable instead of trying to get him in the car. You need to work up to going to the park eventually once he;s comfortable with the house and neighborhood. Also make sure that he has a space in your house that is his and his only where no one bothers him. He needs to have a safe space, whether that's a bed or crate. A crate may be better since that is what he's probably used to from the kennel. Leave the crate door open so he can come and go as needed. Others will chime in with other ideas to help. Many people here have been through similar issues with a new hound. Good luck!

Looking awesome, Wiki!

Mark wanted a couch. Then he found out that you had to stand up to get on one. Looking good as always, AnnIE.

This was always the instruction with Gabapentin. Starting at a lower dose and building up is the only way we've ever had it prescribed. If I'm remebering correctly, we upped the dose about every three weeks until we got it to the desired dose while watching for any negative side effects with each dog that has taken it.

I'm getting the hard stare...

Good job AnnIE! My mom has one of these screens across her balcony door. A bird got through it the other day and started nesting in the fake tree in her living room.