[Gi Dog Needs Prayers]

Your Spencer is getting all the good thoughts I can generate. Be well, big boy!

 

(I looked at the other thread and you talked about medical tests. I'm not familiar with Spencer's history, so I'm going to ask what's probably a dumb question: Has your vet had a full panel done for tick-borne diseases? I've just heard that those things can surface long after the original tick-bites and can cause all kinds of otherwise-unexplainable ailments.)

 

Best wishes to you both.

 

[Annie Could Use A Prayer Or Two]

Oh and her total weight loss was 12 pounds! I knew she lost a lot but the actual total had me shaking my head on how overweight she was!

 

She looks great at the lower weight--she got her nice, lean tummy back. Sorry about the ear--and the shirts--but I bet she'll do fine. Both my guys have wonky ears.

[Just Got My Rescue Greyhound]

That's a funny story, Kathy! I love that. Still having hard time getting him to settle on the couch. But he has taken to the bed well. I think the couch might be too small for him - too narrow. Oh well, at least he's close at night with us.

 

he's such a good boy.

 

When I got Jacey, she was very muscle-bound--not limber or flexible at all. She had run a so-so first season (some promising fourth-place finishes), and I think they overworked her during the off-season. She came back after the track's winter break, ran an awful seventh-place finish, and was immediately retired. When I got her, she had trouble flexing her legs well for getting on and off the furniture, going down the stairs (up was okay, but her back legs didn't flex well for going down and she sort of bunny-hopped with her back legs, both feet hitting the step at the same time). After a few months of couch-potatoing at my house, she became much more limber, and narrow sleeping spaces were fine. (Both my dogs like to curl up in smallish, nest-like dog beds.) Jacey now often sleeps with her back feet hugged up under her chin, and she'll curl up tightly if it's at all cold.

[Help Asap- Our New Guy Just Got His Tail Stuck In A Door]

Keep an eye on how and where William wags his tail. Dogs quite often will bang their sore and bandaged tails into walls and cabinets, and you'll have to be the one who keeps him from doing further injury. If he's happily knocking his tail into a wall in excitement when you come home (or when you go to the kitchen, or when you do anything else that gets him excited), be prepared to lure him quickly into an area where he has more room to swing his tail.

 

I once stayed at a motel with my two dogs. My girl would stand near the door to greet me when I came into the room--and she'd whack that tail into the corner of a desk that was near the door. She had her tail bleeding slightly the first evening. Rather than rearrange the hotel's furniture, I just draped a big bath towel over the corner of the desk, so that her tail was hitting the towel rather than the sharp corner of the bare wood. That was enough to protect her. You may need to do something similar for William.

[Not Peeing Enough?]

I'm hoping for good news about Rocket, but Rocket's problem sounds much like what my Sam went through this summer. I'll give a quick summary for for folks who might encounter something like this with their dogs:

 

My Sam normally is a huge water drinker. But last summer there was a day when he was drinking less. He'd want to go out to pee, but would pee very little when he got out. Over one night, he hauled me outside nearly every hour.

 

The next morning, I watched him trying to pee, with very little coming out. Then I thought I saw some "color"--got a paper towel and blotted his penis and found the fluid was pinkish: a little blood in his urine.

 

I took him to the ER (this was a Sunday morning; Sam never gets sick during vet hours). They diagnosed a UTI, but also wanted to take xrays to make sure there were no stones. (There weren't.)

 

It took three weeks on antibiotics--with Sam on unlimited quantities of drinking water--to get the UTI cleared up.

 

So, while a UTI might trigger unexpected peeing in the house--and peeing large quantities--it doesn't always run that way. Dogs putting out a reduced quantity of urine can be suffering a UTI as well. And although UTIs in male dogs are less common than in female ones, they're not actually uncommon.

 

P.S. Keep some of those small, disposable plastic sandwich-size containers around the house: great for collecting urine samples and sealing them, and you can label the lid with time, date, and dog's name...and anything other message needed to warn people poking around in your refrigerator.

[Odd Wheezing Attacks]

What causes reverse sneeze? Any complications down the road?

 

I've never heard of any complications, and when I mentioned "reverse sneezing" to my vet, he didn't even blink...didn't think it was anything to be concerned with. Sam's been doing reverse sneezes--about as often as your girl--for the six years I've had him, and he's healthy as a horse (give or take the occasional binge on raw potatoes, animal crackers, Valentine's candy hearts, loaves of bread, or paper towels--not all at once, thank heavens).

[Just Got My Rescue Greyhound]

on a side note, did you have to teach your grey to get up on the couch?

 

Nearest I can figure, Sam was born knowing how to get on the furniture...couch and bed.

 

Jacey-Kasey needed lessons. The first night she was home, we all slept downstairs (spiral stairs, and she was too scared of them). I was on one end of the couch, Jacey was on the other end, and Sam was in the middle. I had boosted her onto the couch in the first place and steadied her while she got settled.

 

Later in the night, she started to slip off and climbed down and whined. Sam immediately stretched into her spot. I prepared to sleep on the dog bed in front of the couch with Jacey and leave Sam the whole couch. I put my pillow and blanket on the dog bed, turned around to get Jacey...

 

...and found her curled up on the couch in the spot I'd abandoned. When I took her collar to encourage her to get down and join me, she pulled back and clung to the couch cushions.

 

So Jacey's first night at my place was spent on my couch with Sam...and I slept on the dog bed.

 

Spoiled? Not much.

 

 

Kathy

[Neyla Fell Getting Out Of The Car]

Don't worry too much about Neyla's head. Her head was the third impact, and the first two impacts will have reduced the force with which her head hit the ground. (I'd worry much more if the head hit first.)

 

The others are right about symptoms to watch for, but she'll probably be fine. Seriously? My two greyhounds have whacked their heads together hard enough that I expected blood or concussions. Instead, they both shook their heads and trotted off just fine. I'm just worried that the loud, echoing sound I heard indicates there's not much brain in their skulls.

[Odd Wheezing Attacks]

Sam's spells never last long enough for me to get to the Rescue Remedy, so I guess we're fine. If he started doing longer spells, I'd probably be more worried.

[Odd Wheezing Attacks]

Please post what your vet says. My Sam does this fairly often. Sometimes it's while drinking (or just afterwards), and I've wondered if he inhaled some water (the way he tends to inhale his food). But sometimes it starts up when he's dozing on the sofa. It's very much the reverse-sneeze except that it lasts for an extended period.

 

I don't think it's serious. Sam (he's nearly 9) never shows any ill effects afterwards. I sometimes slap him on the back (like "hard" pats--what you'd do to someone who's coughing). It doesn't seem to help with what's going on, but it makes me feel better. (Sam just looks at me like, "What do you think you're doing?")

 

But it's odd that Sam does it...and Jacey-Kasey never does.