cleptogrey

feed what works for your dog and your pocket book, that's my philosophy. over the past 40+ years of owning dogs i never jumped on the band wagon for rocket fuel (high high protein kibbles) or raw. i figure they(dogs) have managed as scavengers for who knows how long, a little improvement in that type of feeding(kibble) should work and generally it has for MY dogs. dogs have not been feral creatures for quite some time and haven't really hunted for themselves. raw feeding works for some people and their pets, kibble for others, home cooked meals for some.... me...kibble and water and fish oil. that's it- K.I.S.S. i always tell myself. now, if i was living in alaska and had sled dogs working for a living...i might think differently.

how about calling the manufacturer's customer service #. i did that with Nutro and yes they did change their recipe. Nothing was on the bag, no new/improved wording what so ever. that and the results of the stool sample will solve the mysterious poop situation. hopefully "museum quality" poops will return- i love the term!

aside from checking out the meds that henry is on to see if there are any side effects which can cause this can henry now be at top weight and he's cutting back? some dogs do this. he also might be telling truman to knock it off- for what ever reason- maintaining his standing between the two of them. i would reduce the amount of food, feed in separate rooms and time how long he has to eat.i give dogs 5 min. and then remove the kibble until the next meal. i also would cut out the peanut butter and treats and have him focus on plain old kibble. a good knock it off from the other room should let henry know you don't want the guarding/growling and being hungry should get him back on track. hopefully this is not med related. if you think it's a bad batch of kibble the store should take it back with out a problem, but that wouldn't cause the growling. is henry licking the air? it's a strange behavior that dogs do when they are nauseous.

i don't know if tractor supply carries blue seal crunches(i serve lamb & rice, but the pork and barley is a good choice as well). my sensitive stomach dog is doing really well on it and my pocketbook loves it as well.

all of the advise given is great, basically by the time you find a trainer and class that YOU feel comfortable with and wait for the start of a new semester the timing should be perfect. always take signals from your dog. what i mead by this is if your dog shuts down it's not the right thing. all of my dogs have succeeded in obedience classes, some more than others. annie, shut down, she hated it. we tried everything to make her comfortable, but she just went to sleep and did not look happy. she learned the basics and felix took over her spot and reviewed. annie works better at home and has taken a good 3-4 years to really come into her own. but she is ALWAYS the first to come, sit and down when treats are dispensed. just remember that greyhounds do not like to repeat the exercises in class over and over again as labs and goldens do. bring a non-skid bath mat for downs and sits and make sure you have fun! don't feed before a class, greyhounds can not digest and work at the same time.

my scottie used to chop on rocks as well as chucks of our downed oak tree...talk about a need to chew!

felix had a reaction very similar to what you describe. i called my vet, he prescribed benadryl as mentioned above but i believe it was only 2 benadryl tabs every 8 hrs. he was fine the next day. there have been no other reactions to future inoculations.

has he been on a regime of probiotics yet? has tylan powder been considered as well as the possibility of giardia or another parasite(there is one killer that birds carry coxisomethingoranothere)? i agree w/ alicia and a mid-range kibble might serve both your dog and pocket book. having owned and showed dogs in the past, pre iams,science diet, eukunaba...the first of the fancier kibbles....it was triumph, kennel bisket and the new purina pro plan that were around. we never had the choices of what's on the shelves today. lots of dogs/champions at mediocre kibble and lived long and prospered! if you have any blue seal feed dealers locally a good alternative to both kirkland and iams can be blue seal lamb and rice or pork and barley crunchies kibble, blue seal has a vast array of foods, i stick with the "less is more" principle.

is your vet that far away that you can not get to him for a quick refill and then ask for a script so you can buy the HW meds at a discounted price?? i am not one to want to pay full price for anything, but when it comes to health care basics it's a must. i now buy the preventative at costco, good price, good service.FYI- when i ordered flea/tick preventative from Australia it took many many weeks to arrive. maybe i wasn't lucky, but i remember waiting and waiting and waiting.....

both emily and felix participated an annual workshop for vets led by the well respected dr. petri(i think that's his name, Jean-Paul Petrie, DVM, DACVIM/Cardiology guy- 50s very sweet) cardiac specialist. you name the test they did it- it's the entire list in your first paragraph! felix who was the youngest dog they ever had on the table was a superstar, they never examined the heart of a 9 month old and every vet in the room was busy testing out all of the equipment on him. but 6 year old emily had what they labeled the "typical" heart murmur- the it's been a while and i forgot the technical name but basically the muscle at the valve(mirtrical ventricular something or another??) was worn and blood was seeping back into the other ventricle. as a pet she had no problems what so ever. but i was assured that this was as i had mentioned the norm w/ these ex-racers. i hope all works out for your hound.

scullysmum, she survived and now has 2 dogs of her own. one who freaks in the car but doesn't puke and one clown. it added character to her disposition and stamina!

i have always used an awful EAH-EAH sound. it's short and abrupt, to the point and ALL of my dogs (and daughter included) stop what they are doing. the first time i used it i spit out EAH-EAH WRONG! then leave the wrong off. it's works for me..... short and sharp and once. all of the trainers who i have worked with(some one must have taught it to me 40+ years ago) laugh, but they agree it works. all i have to do is one EAH and a dog will pick it's head up out of the garbage pail- if they have a moment of lost self control!

willies wonka had the worst car sickness in the world. just backing out of the driveway he peed, getting to the main road- 1 block away-pooped, vomited by the time we were on the highway and continued to proceed w/ all of the above as long as he was in the car. i kept him in a new paper lined crate and covered the back seat w/ newspaper as well. but i took him to the train station every night, had dd sit in the back of the car(no wonder she didn't like him) and kept on taking him everywhere. at 9 month of age we brought dd to music camp a whopping 6 hrs away. he ran out of bodily fluids and was fine after that! it might have been age, he may have finally stopped being nervous, who knows....but it stopped.

wd-40 is basically fish oil! so, if you do not have any try olive or another oil. i remember my salukis walking on oil based paint, veg. oil and rags were used to remove it. don't even think about paper towels, they make a mess. good luck!

sounds like YOU WON! keep on reseeding and watering. from what i have been told pasture grass is pretty durable and does well in our zone. we too were thinking of reseeding but i don't think either felix or annie are going to slow down on their craziness. so it's cedar shavings for us right now.

if she has managed this long another 2 days won't really hurt. going to the EV will hurt your pocketbook. do talk to your pharmacist and describe the situation and name exactly what you were using. was it a combo of dexamethasone, bactracin and neosporin? that's what i use for annie's pannus. allergies have been awful and one of her eyes had a good discharge. i washed it out by dripping water into it from a cotton ball, then wiping the area clean and upping the daily dosage.the combo eased what ever was going on. she has improved greatly with in a day. but honestly i was going to try a benign eye drop if that didn't work.

has your vet tried ichtammol?? it's a really good drawing salve, sometimes hard to find but it works. read some of the reviews and check it out online. recently felix had a puncture wound in his paw-a piece of cut down tall grass punctured the edge of the pad going straight up towards the webbing. i washed and soaked it in epsom's salts but it became hot and swollen. the vet injected the ichtammol directly into the puncture, had it come out the other end and reinserted a clean amount. for 5 days, i injected(a syringe with out the needle) it directly into the puncture. voil`a!!! it cleared up. i have used it on myself in the past to help w/ splinters, my parents used it for boils, ingrown hairs etc. it's an old time remedy. btw- no antibiotics for felix but it was a 2 person/muzzle needed job to insert daily....but it worked! http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=ichthammol+ointment+20&tag=googhydr-20&index=hpc&hvadid=11430162347&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=209816371286530560&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_4hgul8yw54_b

they heal really quickly, just let him run. felix's hocks look like they have been thru a war- all the stopping and starting when he plays soccer. it's the dew claws that people wrap during coursing. felix has had only one really bad laceration down to the tendon on his hock during his 7 years of craziness, then it was bandaged for 2 weeks and he perfected removing vet wrap. the rest are knicks and dents. just wash with water and leave it to heal, saliva does a great job.

he was diagnosed at 2.5 and lived to 12.5! pretty remarkable, just couldn't tolerate the heat or cold..... honestly your dog's episode sounds like what velcro went thru. hope things work their way to a successful conclusion.

as i read thru the post the symptoms sounded all too familiar to my scottie's onset of addison's disease. he was fine, a tad tired after a week of camping then he crashed. but your vet said he doesn't have it...mmmmm lethargic, no appetite, no drinking, licking the air since he was so nauseous. poor velcro couldn't get up to go out- i carried him out for potty and he nearly fell over every time. basically he was shutting down. then one aspect of the test looked like addisons. my vet was hydrating him daily- 7am visits for his sub-q hydrations and then he gave him a shot- this is going back to the early 90s. steroid?? maybe. but it was as if a light switch was turned on. food wise, we tried everything to get him interested....saute` steak w/ soy,ginger,garlic, pasta w/ olive oil and garlic, graham crackers, pepperidge farm cookies- you name it he didn't eat it. and this is the dog who used to break into the food bag and bing. can you possibly send his blood work out for a second opinion? it's a hard one to diagnose. btw- if it is, predisone and florienff worked much better than the precorten shots. easier to adjust the dosages, but a PITA since they need to be administered daily.

i agree with both comments posted. if your boyfriend totally ignores her she will eventually come around and figure him out. annie was mortified of my son in law, she ran to the far end of the house and hid. he's a talk, dark and handsome spainard who adores dogs(the kids have 2 rescues). he has always played soccer and kidded around w/ our other greyhound but annie just didn't trust the fun loving behavior he shows dogs. when annie finally approached nacho(sil) he sat still and that was it. eventually annie's casual look developed into taking a treat. she now rubs up and looks for pets from him. btw...when i was dating and had one of my salukis the only person my saluki approved of is now.......my husband(36 years later). dogs do are a good judge of character.

also the original dawn dish detergent will kill the fleas, but w/ our greyhound's thin skin it's a killer. you still need to put a monthly preventative on, i find front line plus still working. do vacuum everywhere and wash the bedding as well. you might need to spray your yard.

we always take our greyhounds with us unless we are flying somewhere. they travel really well, so the weekend get-away will be a breeze. as to boarding, if you have someone reliable and affordable it's always nice to have them come to you. if you can find a home like situation to board the dog- do a pre-visit and check it out, go for it. i feel super comfortable leaving my 2 w/ a friend who boards dogs,only the greyhounds stay in the house w/ her pack. she treats them like her own, what ever she does is fine for me. if i was a dog, i should be so lucky to stay there. where are you located? maybe some GT people will have referrals.

felix participated in a research program that a grad student at columbia university was conducting. it was posted a couple of years ago on GT. he too, even though he was pretty young had a much more blasé attitude response wise. the researcher found it pretty interesting, even though he was a very very animated 2/3 year old under the testing conditions he was at his best behavior. i personally think that for greyhounds it takes a longer time to warm up and their true nature and skills come forward.

sounds like the kitty nicked a capillary- some quick stop should help clot it and then you might not have to bandage. the only thing i could think of is the way danes and dobbie pups have their ears bandaged when they are cropped. we didn't need antibiotics w/ annie's last kitty incident, just a rabies booster, the scratch was cleaned well and there was no sign of infection. ah, another member of the kitty zappers- like lay's potato chips they just can't have one!