Thanks so much, Pennymom! It was interesting to see the note that greyhounds might need more, not less, of a dose. I told Wife, and gave her the URL. Shane got the methadone before we had a chance to object. He is in a pen where lots of staff are able to watch him. He has pillows. The other dogs in the room are being good. The internist has been consulted. We think he's in good hands. Now we just have to do the spiritual part.
We have fluids started. There is an ultrasound in the works. We're hoping to get clues to where the inflammation is to see what kind of antibiotic we need. Probly a night at the vet's place for my puppy. The methadone suggestion is because we want to make sure the pain isn't contributing to the fever. And Wife isn't going to allow ACE.
We are letting the vet know that we are against the methadone idea. (Wife's smart phone isn't smart enough to let her get here directly, so I am the relay in a game of telephone.)
Hi,
You all might know Greyhead, my wife (pronounced woof). She is with Shane in the ER. Shane has a 105 fever and his back hurts. The vet is thinking methadone. We are wondering, is there anything about greyhounds that contraindicates methadone?
Thanks for your input.
I liked the advice about routines. I remember when we first got Shane. He really didn't do "Weird". Regular meals at regular time, Weekly trips to playgroup, Regular routes around the neighborhood. After a while he saw that he could be comfortable and safe with us.
When Shane knows we are going for a walk, he will get very excited and try to "herd" us on our way. He will try to herd me into my underwear. He's not very good at it, usually pushing me in exactly the wrong direction. But he does it with heart. He will bump and rub and every once in a while, nip. Never hard. We yelp when he does, and he stops. It's never been bad.
If Rossi has a puppy to sleep with, maybe she won't need to have you and DH? My thought is that Ross is First Dog, and it might be OK if sis doesn't get the same privileges right away. You might have time. My suspicion, though, is that you are going to find more room on your bed than you thought you had.
I would never let my pups nip, because I won't let dogs nip my pups. A little nip turns in to a big vet bill. We only take our dogs to greyhound playgroups where the rules are always muzzles.
If he's happy, bouncy, sniffing, smiling on his walk, I wouldn't worry. If he stops, statues, plods, or drags l would start to wonder. It took us a long time to recognize a tick-borne disease in our younger fur kid.