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I am posting this on behalf of a friend's dog. This dog is not a greyhound, but a lab mix mutt adopted from a shelter. She was apparently a bounceback. Yesterday I witnessed extreme uncontrolled aggression toward another sweet, timid, half blind dog. If the owner ( my friend) hadnt had a good hold on her, her dog would have attacked this poor sweet thing. I want to help my friend. What do you guys suggest? How does one find a trainer experienced at this kind of thing?

Well, I would have thought we would have made more progress by now. He's been on Flagyl 750 mg twice a day for the past 4 days. I have only fed him chicken and rice. ( the vet suggested feeding 3x/day because he's lost 4 lbs). He doesn't poop when we walk him. He's having accidents in the house: usually 1 small poop about the size of a hamburger patty. The poop is really wet: smears when I pick it up. I was also given Lomotil to give him, but I'm reluctant to give it to him be use he rarely poops! He used to poop twice a day, and now it's only maybe once in 24-36 hours. Can I advance his diet yet? I also considered potatoes instead of rice. Actually, I shouldn't be giving him chicken, because according to salivary sensitivity testing, he's sensitive to it. I've cooked some hamburger for him( he can eat beef and lamb) and will try that with potatoes to see if that helps. Will also touch base with the vet today. I'm thinking he needs Tylan (?) powder. He did well with that previously. Can you give him the Tylan simultaneously with the Flagyl?

After pooping and pooping repeatedly Tuesday night, he finally settled down around 1:30 AM. We took him to the vet yesterday. Dr. Andrew thinks it's just a non specific gastrointestinal bug that started up top (vomiting) and is now working its way through the colon. He prescribed Flagyl (1 and 1/2 tablets--I forgot the milligram dose) and Lomotil for the diarrhea. He was pretty lethargic through the day (although it is really HOT here in CA and he's just sitting inside in the airconditioning). He bounded up for his dinner (boiled chicken and rice) and then...up went the tail!! I hustled him outside to the driveway where he pooped about 3 patties that were the consistency of mashed potatoes. At least it's not watery or explosive!! We are going to keep him on the chicken and rice longer and then add hamburger and kibble S-L-O-W-L-Y until he's back to normal..

Update on Nico: Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that he pooped. The bad news is that it was diarrhea again. It was my bad judgement to try to wean him back on his normal diet (chicken, hamburger and kibble). Since he was doing okay on chicken and rice, I put a little bit of hamburger and a half scoop of kibble in his food. Bad idea. Profuse diarrhea for about 5-6 hours last night. Poor guy. I feel so bad. He is still drinking, so I don't think he's dehydrated. I called the vet and will take him in this afternoon. Thank you for all the tips: I didn't feed him this morning. I'll keep you posted.

4 days ago, Nico, our 12 year old grey vomited after his morning walk. I didn't think anything of it: he'll do that every once in a long while. But the next day, he had PROFUSE watery diarrhea in the morning.( all over the house multiple times, I might add!) we immediately put him on boiled chicken and rice. He ate that night and has eaten regularly since. But he has not had a bowel movement in 48 hours!!😳😳 is this normal? Do I need to take him to the vet? He doesn't seem to be in any distress and all else seems pretty normal.

I need some advice for my senior boy who doesn't seem to want to eat anymore. Nico will be 12 years old in August. His medical issues include Laryngeal Paralysis and some LS/hind end weakness. He also had a soft tissue cancer removed from his old old fractured right hock area 4-5 years ago. For years we fed him Nutro Ultra and he always had a healthy appetite. Intermittantly he had the occasional bout of diarrhea which would resolve with boiled chicken and rice, pumpkin, Flagyl and the like. Over time, these incidents became more and more frequent and every time we put him back on the Ultra, he would get diarrhea. We finally put him on boiled chicken and rice and did a salivary sensitivity test. Apparently everything we were giving him, he was sensitive to! So, basically, he can eat beef and lamb. Even chicken showed some sensivity, although he does fine with the boiled chicken. At long last, we found limited ingredient beef kibble and limited ingredient lamb. We boiled chicken breast and cooked hamburger, mixed it with rice, put in the kibble, made a gravy and a dollop of pumpkin on top. His poops were perfect, his coat improved (less shedding) and I swear, his farts weren't as smelly! He's been doing so well for the last 6 months. Slowly, he began to turn up his nose at the food. We are switching off between beef kibble and lamb kibble. I was told the Stella and Chewy's dehydrated lamb was like "doggy crack", so I've been crumbling it on top. I even shredded a tiny bit of cheese on top. He's only eating about 1 meal a day (a little over 2 cups). We weighed him last week at the vets and he's down from his usual 81 lbs to 75.8 lbs. I'm stressed because I don't know if he's just sick of the same old food or if there's something medically wrong, or if this is simply old age (and the beginning of the end, God forbid). I could use some help and any advice you can share. Thanks.

We are also dealing with this with Nico, who is 11.5 (will be 12 in July). I'm almost 100% certain he has GOLP (geriatric onset laryngeal paralysis) which is also associated with hind end weakness. He has had noisy breathing and episodes of stridor (inspiration through a closed glottis--almost like he's inhaling through a straw) for about 1 12/ years now. He had a right rear hock fracture while race long ago and subsequent soft tissue cancer surgery on that same site, so that leg has always been a bit wonky. But within the last 2-3 weeks, he's become very wobbly on this back legs and occasionally nearly collapses. We have an assistance harness for him. I'm reluctant to start him on medications as his stomach is sensitive (we're still trying to get his poops straightened out) and very very compromised kidney function. At what point do we consider letting him go? It is so painful to watch him become so incapacitated. Luckly, according to what I've read, they are not in pain. What do you think? I also need some guidance here.

I just don't get it. Nico has been eating the same food for months!! The kibble is Nutro Ultra and we mix in a bit of W/D canned to make a nice mush. Plop on canned pumpkin as a dollop on top. That seemed to be the ticket. After our Frappy passed 2 months ago, he had diarrhea from all the upheaval. But it went back to normal pretty quickly. Now, within the last week, he is starting to get pudding poo again! What gives?? Do you think I should take him to the vet? I've added back in a probiotic. I was thinking he needs Tylan again--he responds really well to that. I saw a previous thread about it. Is that principally an antibiotic? Do you need a vet's prescription to get it? Are there undesirable side effects of long term chronic use? Thanks for your help.

Just got word from the neurologist. It is not good. She has a 3.6 cm mass in her brain, near the olfactory center. The mass effect and edema it is producing extends for over another 1 cm. It has the hallmarks of a meningoma. Because of its size, he does not feel he can improve her quality of life significantly. DH and I have decided to help her cross the bridge this evening. Thank you all for hanging in there with us and giving us encouragement and hope. We love her dearly and want her to be at peace now.

Latest update: she had yet another seizure after I posted yesterday. Talked to the neurologist. He is concerned. We both agreed to move up the timetable to get the MRI. She is getting it done today. Last night she was clearly stressed. She looked so different than the day before. Her tail was tucked under her legs, she was shaking, panting, drooling. Her eyes were glazed, and she was very wobbly. She backed away from me, which broke my heart. I was hoping my presence would offer her comfort & security. Thank you, Hawthorn, for the link. It looks great. I understand the doctor's dilemma: she was so immunosuppressed that she couldn't mount any sort of immune response to fight the infection. So, at that point, the arm took priority. If she did not have this infection, she would still be at the higher dose of immunosuppressants. That being said, it was a very scary wake up call for both us and the medical team. We can't wrap her in bubble wrap for months!! I will keep you all posted with the results of the MRI.

I've been off GT for a few days as I was out of town. Last Friday we were ready to help Frappy cross the bridge. The situation looked sad: the doctors couldn't seem to stop the infection and the surgeon was recommending amputation of her limb. She was a poor anesthetic candidate, being so compromised, and with the immunosuppressive drugs, the wound would never heal. Friday morning we got a call from the doctor. "Well, let's just say it didn't get any worse last night" was the news. At that point, that felt like pretty good news to us. The surgeon backed of his recommendation, stating it would be okay to defer the decision for a day. We just let it ride. During the weekend, they continued the IV antibiotics and cut down her immunosuppressants. The doctors called us twice daily to let us know how she was doing. The swelling started to go down, she started to predictably put the paw down and was eating and drinking. Last night when we came back, we went to see her. She was like a new dog: the paw and leg were nearly normal sized and the drainage slowed and stopped. We were ready to take her home!!!! Until....we got a phone call this morning: she had 3 seizures last night. I talked to the neurologist this morning. He is concerned that there is something in the brain we are missing. In his experience, usually with a myelitis/meningitis, the dog responds to steroids and immunosuppressants and then you can decrease the meds. The fact that she is having breakthrough seizures may indicate there is something more is going on. I was concerned that she would not survive another general anesthetic. I know she has lost even more weight this time around and I know we are at least 11 lbs. down from her normal weight. Dr. Berry suggests taking her home and letting her "recover" from this crisis. Then bring her back for an MRI at a later date--we are talking weeks down the road. What do you guys think?

Just returned from visiting Frappy in the ICU. Today the swelling on her leg progressed rapidly. It has spontaneously drained in several areas (I thought they did fasciotomies on her!) The surgeon is concerned that the leg may not be viable. If amputation is indicated, she is a poor anesthetic risk due to her compromised condition. Also the intensivist says that a front leg amputation is much more difficult than a rear leg amputation because 60% of the dog's weight is carried in the front, as well as the head. Multiple specialists have seen Frappuccino today and they are all very concerned about her. I asked if this was it: is it time to let her go? She said she did not want to sway me one way or another. That the decision had to be ours alone. It was not wrong to keep on going , neither is it wrong to stop now. If we decided to keep trying, the recovery would be very difficult and long. They are just frustrated because they can't get on top of the infection. After many tears, my DH and I have decided that barring a miraculous turnaround tomorrow, we will be helping her cross the bridge. Our hearts are beyond broken, compounded by the fact that we are headed to my father-in-law's memorial service this weekend. It was so sad tonight, gazing into her eyes. Her neuro status has improved so much: her eyes are bright, she is alert to all that is going on around her. I love her with all my heart.

Thanks everybody. The latest of Frappy is that now she is back in the ICU. The little abrasion on her toe has turned into cellulitis of her entire right front limb. They expanded the spectrum of the antibiotics and have her on Unisyn (IV form of Clavamox --what we know as Augmentin) and Baytril (I think that is a fluroquinolone--like what we know as Cipro). The swelling is actually fluctuant (feels boggy, like fluid inside) versus indurated (hard), but they are still calling it a cellulitis. The surgeon took a look at it last night and determined that there is no focal area to drain. The intensivist thought there was some component of a vasculitis. (actually, the title of the disease is SRMA: steroid responsive meningitis and arteritis(vasculitis). So they are stuck between a rock and a hard place: on one hand, we think it is an infection, and you'd want to decrease the steroids and Cyclosporine to allow her immune system to mount a defense, on the other hand, if it is a vasculitis, you'd want the steroids to mediate that inflammatory response. She has also stopped eating and drinking--a sure sign that she does not feel well. The vet called this morning. She is a little worse than when we brought her in last night. The swelling has not spread, but the color of the limb is darker. Actually she got some spontaneous drainage from the dorsum (back) of the paw last night. (remember the injury is on her TOE, not the top of the paw). Bloody purulent drainage came out. They have re-institued IV fluid and added an appetite stimulant to coax her to eat. The doctor says she doesn't think she is in danger of losing the limb....yet. I have a few photos and will see if I can figure out how to post them. Can I post to Greytalk from Dropbox? Does anyone know? Thanks.

Well, the tiny abrasion to her toe has now progressed to cellulitis of her entire right front leg. Her toe, foot and arm are all swollen up to the elbow. (Don't know the dog-anatomy terms). Needless to say, I'm a wreck. The speed at which this tiny thing went so bad so fast is making my head spin. I know it is because she is immunocompromised. The vet has put her on stronger antibiotics (Clavamox) and recommended soaks. On the good news front, the diarrhea is getting better! She had a fully formed blood free stool this afternoon. Funny the things that make me happy.

It never ends. ( ). When we picked her up at the vet's office, we noticed that her right front pinky toe was bleeding. Looks like she abraded it right above the cuticle. We hadn't even gotten to the parking lot yet. We brought her back in. The vet tech shaved the area (now it looked really big!! ) and gave us antibiotic powder to put on it. Well, when I got home this noon to walk her, the entire toe and leg (?what I would call her wrist) is swollen. She cannot put her toes together. She is not licking it, thank God. Took photos and called and emailed the office. (this is the second call from us today. I think they hate us). I'm worried it is infected and that it is spreading. Very dangerous, as she is immunocompromised. We'll see what they say.

Update on our little Miss Frappy: Overall, I think she is doing better. We have her on 15 mg Prednisone & Cyclosporin twice a day. She is walking, although very slowly and her eyes look more bright and alert. She is able to hold her head up and shake. We had to board her at the vet's office this weekend, due to an out of town wedding we had to attend. (If I could cancel all of my out of town committments to stay with her, I would). Since we got her home yesterday, we've noticed two things: diarrhea and she's not eating as well. The diarrhea is pretty bad. Not even soft serve. It's pretty watery. She is also "grazing" instead of eating her whole bowl of food. She'll eat a little bit, wander around and then eat some more. It took a LOT of coaxing and some hand feeding to get her to eat most of her dinner. I'm thinking it might be the Cyclosporin. Just for full disclosure, she did have a wee bit of diarrhea last week. It was something related to the food, because our other grey, Nico, had it too. Nico's diarrhea responded well to Flagyl and we started her on it as well and it was responding just as nicely before we sent her to the vet's office. I don't know if this is food related diarrhea or medication induced diarrhea. This morning, DH noted some blood in her stool. We called the vet and she said it might be colitis from the diarrhea. Treatment? Carafate & Flagyl. So here we go again. Thank you for the tip on the freezer!!! I will definitely try that. No mention of Denamarin. I did ask about blood tests to check her liver, but they don't usually do that for several weeks out. Does anybody else have experience with the colitis/diarrhea or other side effects from Cyclosporin? Thanks everybody!

Sorry, I just re-read the blog and realized Zephyr had Lomustine, not Cyclosporine!

She is home!!! As of right now, she looks pretty good. I found out that they gave her 5.4 mg of Dexamethasone( steroid) + mannitol to decrease the intracranial pressure. (Ps: I googled it: 5.4 mg of Dexamethasone equals 36 mg Prednisone). So she basically had a whole days dose of steroids to get the inflammation down. They discharged her on: Prednisone 15 mg twice a day. Phenobarbital32 mg in am and 48 mg in the evening, and Cyclosporine 100 mg twice a day with food. The Cyclosporine capsules smell nasty and they say you have to use gloves or wash your hands after handling!! It sounds really caustic. Hiking hounds: did Zephyr get nauseated with the Cyclosporine at all? I am pretty scared. Please tell me we are doing the right thing. I was wondering what would happen if we just kept up the higher dose of Prednisone for awhile.

I just got off the phone with the neurologist. She has perked up quite a bit. They gave her Dexis, Mannitol as well as her medications. She is now eating and drinking and standing on her own. Wow. What a change from 8 hours ago!!!!! They feel that it may be a combination of the inflammatory reaction still going on in her brain on top of the sedating effect of the phenobarbital. They are planning of starting Cyclosporin (okay, in unison everyone: "I TOLD YOU SO!!"). They are concerned because of the rapid deterioration that occured. I'm actually hoping they don't discharge her too soon. It seems like she does well in the hospital and then when she comes home it all falls apart. Thank you, hikinghounds, for your blog. It not only gives me insight as to the side effects of the Cyclosporin, but encouragement as well. My plan is to get a good night's sleep tonight, knowing she is safe and in the best place for her.

After a night of a near comatose state, we had Frappy admitted to the hospital this morning. I lobbied hard to get her Prednisone increased to 1 1/2 tabs twice a day and her phenobarbital lowered to 1 tab per day. I hated giving it to her as she was already so gorked out. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she could not stand, let alone eat or drink. We were somewhat successful early in the evening using the turkey baster to shoot water in her mouth (she did make a licking/swallowing motion), but when we tried it at 11:00, the water simply dribbled out the other side of her mouth. She did not pee all night, which had me worried. Because of her dehydration, I was worried about her kidneys shutting down. But at 5 am, she woke up, walked pretty steadily to the back yard and peed. She came in and drank water. I was ecstatic. I went back to bed thinking we turned the corner. Alas, this morning, my husband told me she was still pretty gorked out when he tried to walk her and that she fell over a few times. She had no interest in drinking water, let alone food. So he brought her in. The neurologist (from what my husband told me) thinks her symptoms are more related to the encephalitis than the phenobarbital since she is on such a low dose. She is admitted for IV rehydration and I was told they are going to switch her medications. I will call the neurologist later today to get more details. Please keep the prayers coming. We need them so desperately. Thank you.

Thank you for the reference. My thought process is exactly that: I am worried it is progression of the encephalitis/meningitis. I have broached the subject of chemotherapeutic agents, but it seems that the neurologist sees them as the "third line" of treatment. In his experience, he only goes to chemo agents if the dog's symptoms return after weaning down the steroids. I don't know how aggressive to get with this neurologist. As I said, this hospital is very grey savvy, so he knows greyhounds. What should I say? Do they have to wean her off the steroid concurrently with the chemo?

tbhounds: she is on 10 mg Prednisone twice a day and one and a half tabs of Phenobarbital (off the top of my head, I don't remember how many mg) twice a day. I agree. It seems too much to me too, but the ER vet yesterday says it is appropriate for her weight. I know, she is a greyhound and they are more sensitive to meds, but this hospital is very very greyhound savvy.

As of today, Frappuccino has stopped eating and drinking. She is so woozy she fell over this morning while peeing. She's fallen and crashed into furniture several times today when we try to rouse her. She's literally as close to a coma as you can get. I have a call into the neurologist again. I think they are tired of hearing from me. I know the phenobarbital makes you feel wierd, but this seems like an overdose. This veterinary practice is very greyhound savvy: they have multiple greyhound patients. I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm at the end of my proverbial rope.

Thank you all for your encouraging words of support. It means a lot to me to know there are other greys (and their humans) who have lived through this. Frappy has been home form1 week now. At first I was so encouraged: she seemed like a new dog. But within the last 3 days, she is back to stilted walking and only out to the front yard to pee. She is very ataxic and lethargic. Today, I was so alarmed I brought her back. The neurologist on call feels it is all due to the Phenobarbital. That at 1 week out, she is reaching therapeutic blood levels and that is causing all her symptoms. I sure hope so. They are telling me to wait it out 3 more weeks. It is going to be a very long three weeks.

Thank you for the great advice! So far, so good. He had his first poop this evening and it was solid. We did the chicken and rice only. I thought about what you said and it makes sense. It might have been bad sardines of all things. Luckily it was only a tiny tiny bit, so hopefully it will all be good in a few days. Thank you so much!