Time4ANap
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Posts posted by Time4ANap
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We've had a number of seniors that made their way here due to deaths of owners, owners going into nursing home etc. We have loved every minute of every senior. Some of them stayed for years, others were only here for as little as 3 weeks before we had to make the decision that none of us want to make.
It sounds like you have done everything possible to care for Leo. At some point, you have to consider if he still has an adequate quality of life. We found ourselves constantly asking that question with some of the dogs who obviously had numerous health issues when they arrived.
Our first boy, Rocket was my heart dog. Eventually after all of the treatments, injections etc, he lost the use of his back legs about 90% of the time. We made the decision to let him go before he injured himself further because he would try repeatedly to get up, even thoough he could only manage to do so once or twice a day. We are of the belief that a day too soon is better than a day too late when it comes to having to euthanize a dog. Rocket no longer had the quality of life he was used to even though he was otherwise healthy and spoiled rotten. No walks, no car rides, no running outside or sunbathing in the yard, and we knew his time was up. Those were all the things he loved and they were no longer an option.
If you are risking injury to yourself, you have to take that into consideration as well. We were both risking serious injury every time we had to lift our 85lb boy.
I would have this conversation with your vet and maybe reach out to some other local greyhound owners if you know any and get their perspective and long term prognosis You will know if it's truly time, but often we are so wrapped up in the care of the dog that we don't stop to think if we are doing it for them, or actually doing it for ourself. Only you can decide the right course of action, but be sure to take quality of life into account for both of you.
We wish you and Leo the best. Spoil him rotten for all of us here while you can.
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Apparently she was resting up to get up at 4AM this morning.....I'm going back to bed.
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I showed this to LaVida and Mark. They are packing suitcases.
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7 hours ago, ramonaghan said:
We almost let Sweep go earlier than we did because we thought her mobility had gone so far downhill. It turned out it was the Gabapentin, and I am eternally grateful we tried ditching that first. She never did seem to build up a tolerance to it.
I am glad LaVida's back to feeling more like herownself!
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.
5 hours ago, FiveRoooooers said:This is such a happy read! Keep feeling better, La Vida!
At some point would it be worth backing down her previous dose to see if just a touch of Gaba could be enough to help her? Just a thought.
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.
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11 hours ago, Remolacha said:
I am sorry she didn’t get better news but at least this sounds manageable. I hope she can be comfortable.
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.
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3 hours ago, FiveRoooooers said:
Oh man, not the update we were hoping for. But I’m glad that you at least have a diagnosis and there are/may be some options. You know that any protocol will contain fries, amirite La Vida? Sweet girl
2 hours ago, ramonaghan said:
And ice cream! Hugs to LaVida and her people.
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.
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5 hours ago, macoduck said:
Don, so far we've tried carprofen, adequan, gabapentin, Fresh Factors, and galaprant for Howie's bone on bone elbow pain.
My vet with the strong pharmacology background said let's try meloxicam. It's an oldie but a goody and inexpensive. So far it is the only med to show definite improvement in Howie's mobility.
2 hours ago, FiveRoooooers said:La Vida
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
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On 5/11/2023 at 9:23 AM, greysmom said:
Looks like this one is the closest to what we used to use. But any cream used for "repair" or cracked heels or foot cream or rough hands - ultra moisturizing cream - will work.
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.
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On 2/8/2023 at 3:07 PM, cleptogrey said:
carprofen is rymadial, right? i use less carprofen then the prescribed amount since i noticed that sighthounds get more than wonky from it.
for arthritis- metacam and Pecid AC before dose/meals. Adequan seemed to work the best but it is a royal PITA loading up to the full dose.
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.
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Hi Punkin! Looking gorgeous as always!
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56 minutes ago, Mercsmom said:
We have an outdoor pool and I can't wait to get Jupiter into it. So far, it's been a big NOPE but maybe as it gets even hotter....
You may remember my Mercury got used to the pool.... eventually.
That looks awesome!
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There's a phone number showing on their FB page. https://www.facebook.com/people/Houndstown/100076194100881/
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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....
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19 hours ago, FiveRoooooers said:
Don, I hope you're right about Mark's upset being just a change to his normal routine
Even the magic chicken didn't work here either. When these dogs are off, it just sets the tone for the entire day, sigh. So far so good after the single dose of Entyce.
He went right back to normal and hasn't missed a meal since. He was just Mark, being Mark.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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Looking awesome, Wiki!
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Mark wanted a couch. Then he found out that you had to stand up to get on one.
Looking good as always, AnnIE.
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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.
5 days post amputation - we can’t get her up
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted · Edited by Time4ANap
typo
I will second that the Gabapentin may be causing the issue. LaVida has been on Gabapentin for pain and her back legs became so wobbly that she had trouble getting up, and trouble walking without being completely wobbly. We had to discontinue the Gabapentin and just leave her on the Rimadyl. Definitely give your vet a call as your dog will likely still need some pain control to replace the gabapentin.