KF_in_Georgia

The fishy smell is definitely his anal glands. But it's possible they were full, that he "expressed" them himself when he pooped, and now is fine. Just watch for him scooting his butt across the floor or carpet: that'll be a sign that he the glands need to be expressed again.

If you're not seeing fleas or flea dirt on Sally, it's possible that she's having an allergic reaction to the original bites. Try Benadryl to deal with the itching. I wouldn't advise treating for fleas again unless you actually see them.

Try cedar in your car--maybe the cedar blocks you can put in your clothes to discourage moths. When the smell starts to fade on the blocks, you can renew it just by sanding the blocks to expose a fresh surface. Lavender also is said to discourage moths. First, though, get the interior of your car well-cleaned: vacuum the carpet and upholstery thoroughly, and maybe even use a non-toxic upholstery cleaner. Moths attracted to clothing (or yarn, says this knitter) often are attracted to oils on the fiber.

In her brief spell on Proin, Jacey licked herself so much she was pooping large, visible quantities of white hair. I stopped the Proin: little Miss Obsessive Compulsive didn't need any additional nervous behavior.

A UTI can show up without warning: "fine" in May is not "fine" in August. Shoot, it's not even "fine" in late May. (My Sam went from apparently "fine" to wanting outside to pee every 30 minutes--literally overnight.) And diabetes is a possibility. A vet visit is warranted before peeing in the house becomes an established habit for your girl.

I skip the leptospirosis vaccine: there are eight main strains of leptospirosis that affect dogs, and the current vaccine only protects against a couple of the strains. Also, the current leptospirosis vaccines are killed whole-culture vaccines, which are more likely to cause problems than other vaccines. I once heard that more dogs have bad reactions to the leptospirosis vaccine than to all the other vaccines--combined. See here for more info; note that the site says vaccinations against leptospirosis only protect for 6 to 8 months. This pet education site specifically says: My dogs are city slickers. They go for polite walks on asphalt, pee in the pine straw at the end of the block, and hang out with me in the house. They're aren't getting into bodies of water or other situations that might expose them to the mostly likely leptospirosis sources. (I live in a condo, so they don't even have a yard to race around in.) My dogs are around other dogs on occasion, so they get bordatella "snorts" every six months (and if they get a respiratory-tract infection, we can assume it's canine influenza and treat accordingly, since they're not likely to become kennel cough victims). Rabies once every three years. They've been getting DHPP once a year, but I may ask the vet's opinion of the 3-year version of that vaccine. Sam is 9, Jacey is 6. Neither dog has had a bad reaction to vaccines (although Sam scared the hell out of the vet after a ketamine reaction during anesthesia). I do make it a point to stagger their vaccines: rabies on one visit, DHPP on another, and bordatella on a third. If someone's going to have a bad reaction, I want to know what they're reacting to. (My vet charges for an office visit when there's an examination, and I get the rabies shot on that visit. No office visit charges for inoculations by the vet tech, so the tech does the DHPP and bordatella on those visits.)

A local vet has advised asking the neighbors which flea preventative they're using currently and how successful it is for them. He says that if your present preventative is failing because fleas in your area have developed a tolerance, then find out what's working for others in the area. And, of course, stick to greyhound-safe products regardless of what a neighbor might use. This is the recommendation I give customers at work (I'm a dog groomer). It keeps me from having to recommend one product or another that might then not work well, and it gives my customers a chance to find something that will be successful.

Do you have an ex-pen? You can set it up around Outlaw's bed and leave a gap Outlaw can get in and out through, but you'll have a better chance of heading off the other dogs. ETA: And you can close the gap if you need to leave the room and don't trust the others not to pick on Outlaw in your absence.

Maybe an ear just got bent funny as the martingale was going on.

When I went through this with Sam, he went two days or so without pooping. I was threatening to withhold all food from him until he pooped; I was getting so worried about the possibility that something was blocked up and that more food would make it worse. He finally pooped. A perfectly normal--not huge, not soft--poop. He pooped a couple of times more on that same day, and he acted as if absolutely nothing had been wrong. Just take a deep breath and relax. As long as Lucy's not straining to go and failing to produce, you don't need to worry.

Best wishes for you and your girl. So sorry you're going through this.

When you need an e-vet after hours, start dialing the numbers of regular vets located near you. Many of them will have recordings that say, "If this is an emergency, contact..." and give an e-vet's name and number.

Best wishes for your boy...and for all of you.

Many boarding facilities--including PetSmart Pet Hotels--require a bordatella immunization within the last six months, even though, technically, it's a 12-month vaccine. My guys usually get the nose-snort twice a year. The only "complication" was the time Sam jerked back so hard afterwards that he hit his head on the vet's metal table: I think he dented the table, but he was fine.

Another reason to use the bordatella vaccine, I think, is the canine influenza that periodically makes the rounds of greyhounds. I figured that if my guys got the bordatella vaccine regularly, but suddenly fell sick with a respiratory infection, then we could assume influenza rather than kennel cough and treat appropriately, rather than trying to guess which ailment they had. At least, that's my theory--and I'm sticking to it.

Bitter Yuck is water-based; Bitter Apple is alcohol-based. Bitter Apple is fine on walls, furniture, bandages, etc., but don't use it on a wound where the alcohol will make the wound sting. Bitter Yuck won't sting--but it's not a very strong taste. Actually, it tastes nasty on the first taste, but that first taste pretty much immunizes you to subsequent tastes. (My bottle leaks when I spray it, and I got a sample.) You may need to muzzle with a muzzle guard. If you don't have a guard, you can put duct tape over the holes in the muzzle to prevent licking through the holes.

Also consider the health of your guys: anyone with chronic problems that could be made worse by exposure? And do you need to take your guys around other dogs--M&Gs or the like, where having a sick dog on your own hands would be a big problem?

So sorry you guys are having such a problem. Poor baby. Poor you. If your greyhound group does the equivalent of "silly superlatives"--you know, best kisser, best smiler, softest fur, longest tail, etc.--see if they'll institute a "shortest tail" category. Dax may have more company than you think. Best wishes to you all.

Kristin, Sorry you've all been through the mill. A suggestion: Even if you successfully address Gracey's aggression, you might do well to muzzle everyone for their outside trips--always. Even a playful nip can draw blood. And muzzles will make it harder for the dogs to eat something nasty they might find on the ground (mushrooms, squirrel poop, other "goodies"). If they get into something when you're not out there, you wouldn't know about it until someone started getting sick, so muzzles-forever might save you a lot of grief. (Muzzles won't save your tomatoes, though. The dogs would probably batter the tomatoes, trying to get them through the holes in the muzzles.) And if someone comes in the house dinged and bleeding, you at least can be pretty sure it was self-inflicted, and not a bite. (Unless it's an ear. My Jacey managed to stick her ear in an Alpha dog's muzzle--but the ear was the only damage.) Finally, if there's a squirrel or other critter in the yard, muzzles might save your dogs from squirrel-inflicted bites, which can be nasty. If the dogs can't grab the squirrel, the squirrel won't need to bite to get away. Yeah, the dogs would kill the squirrel, but the squirrel could do some serious damage first.

Got a digital camera? Get some pictures of the rash and hair loss so you'll have something to compare to over time, as you're trying to figure whether things are getting better or worse. My girl had a rash on her butt, and she wound up needing a spray (Gentocin?) to get over it. I snapped pictures so I'd have something to compare to. So, yeah, there's a Flickr set called, "Jacey's Butt."

Tammy, I know you're grieving, but please don't second-guess yourself. If Keena had had the dental in January, you might have lost her then. And it wasn't really elective: she needed the work--needed it in January, needed it in July; the longer it was postponed, the greater risk that she'd develop some nasty infection through her gums. And your husband: poor guy wouldn't let himself even think that something would go wrong. Letting her sleep with you would have been admitting that there was something to worry about. We don't have our darlings nearly long enough. And when we lose them--whether they die of disease, die unexpectedly in "elective" surgery, die unexpectedly in "life-saving" surgery, or die in a tragic accident--none of those deaths is better or less painful (to us) than another.

Yes, I'd think it easily could be allergies--or at least some airborne stuff that's causing irritation. My boy has spells of lots of reverse sneezing, then none at all for weeks.

I'm a belt-and-suspenders type, myself. Do both. Do first catch, give her something to drink, take her with you with a spare cup, and grab a sample in the parking lot. Then let the vet choose which to test.

Best wishes to Jake...and you.

Sorry. It keeps hurting hard. It just doesn't hurt as often. And in between painful reminders, you'll find some good memories: times he was silly, times he was lovey-dovey. You'll remember more of the reasons those 4 years were so wonderful. And although it's painful now, I bet you wouldn't want to erase those 4 years, just to erase the pain you've got now. But I am sorry you're hurting so much.