KF_in_Georgia
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Posts posted by KF_in_Georgia
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"A dog’s normal body temperature is between 101 – 102.5 degrees. "
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Are you seeing an eye specialist? One might tell you if there are other options or give you some reassurance if you're getting the best advice from your vet.
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The vet for Southeastern Greyhound Adoption (SEGA) recommends this. It MUST be administered by a vet; this isn't something vets should send home with pet owners and let them do it themselves. This is one of the few meds that has been reliably successful, but the veterinary community is unwilling to risk owners giving less than the complete dose (because the dog spits it out or fights it); giving a smaller dose is the sort of thing that triggers weakened resistance to a med, and the veterinary community could wind up with its only successful med suddenly becoming less reliable.
If you're interested, have your vet call SEGA's vet: Dr Toby Carmichael, Lake City Animal Hospital at (770) 974-3536. He's willing to advise interested vets.
Several of SEGA's members have used this. I don't have experience with this because I've managed to dodge hookworm-hell; I got my two greyhounds before every dog coming out of Florida had drug-resistant hooks. But Dr Carmichael is the vet SEGA members call if their regular vet needs greyhound advice or if their dog needs something tricky. -
My Silver had a lump on her side. Her vet and I discussed removing it, and we did pre-op lab work. Her liver numbers were way out of line, and the vet recommended an ultrasound. I left her with the vet while I went grocery shopping. The vet called while I was in the grocery store. The ultrasound revealed a growth on her heart that had not been on x-rays a month earlier. The ultrasound expert thought she might have a couple of days before the growth ruptured.
I walked out of the store without the groceries and stopped at McDonald's to get cheeseburgers on the way to the vet's. Silver and I shared the burgers in the exam room. (She spat out the pickles.) Then I told her goodbye and her vet let her go as I held her and talked to her. That was the first--and last--day she needed help getting into my car.
Nothing would have been made better by biopsies or surgery or detailed knowledge about what was going on. We've called it hemangiosarcoma. Whatever it was, it wasn't fixable. A few days later I brought home an 8-year-old brood bitch to keep Q company. I called the poor girl "Silver" for the first week and cried on Q because I missed Silver. (The new girl wasn't interested in cuddling...like Silver.) Silver was absolutely the best dog I've ever had, and I still miss her, but I've never doubted that we did the right thing. -
When Sam was 13, he had a night where he'd had his usual pain meds but still panted and didn't sleep all night. That was it for us because we were already at the limit of what meds could do, so I sat up with him all night and told him he wouldn't have to do that again.
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I'd leash-walk him until your vet says he's safe to run.
Video him from the back as he walks and save that to have a record of how he moves now if you think his gait has changed in the future.
Ask the vet for x-rays for comparison. My broken-hock boy arrived here with a CD of xrays showing the pin in his hock. (I uploaded those xrays to a photo storage site so I can access them any time to show them to an emergency vet or something.)
CRT QUADEER0004 -
Take a picture of the bruise.
Mark the edges of the bruise with a Sharpie marker.
Watch the bruise overnight to see if the bruise continues to spread. If it does, then yes: Stella needs a vet--maybe the ER.
If the bruise stays about the same size, call her vet tomorrow, email them the original photo and a new photo that shows how the bruise has grown, and see what they think.
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I wouldn't rely on it. For my girl, it didn't fit snugly enough around her neck. Notice the gap where there's only a strap between the thicker parts of the pillow. If that gap lands in the wrong place--and it will--the pillowy parts won't help.
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Maybe an "absence seizure" (petit mal rather than grand mal). Jacey had what we thought was a few of those. I'd call her to dinner, she'd come in the kitchen and stand there and stare at the bowl like she couldn't figure out the next step. I'd hold the bowl up so she could smell it and she didn't react. After a while, she finally started eating. It was as if she zoned out somewhere between hearing me call her and seeing and recognizing the food bowl.
Vet did blood work and it looked fine. She was too old to assume epilepsy, but the vet said maybe that, maybe a tumor. A few such incidents, and then they stopped. -
I'd ask the vet. I know the drug comes in Extended Release formats.
Does the label hold any clues? Like "take one pill, 2x daily" or something like that?
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Just got an email from Healthy Paws. In 60 days, they're going up nearly $30/month on my policy that covers two dogs.
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My 11-year-old girl has it. My boy doesn't.
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The everyday name for the problem is "stud tail" and it's not exclusive to greyhounds...or even to dogs. You can see more info, including treatment advice, here: https://wagwalking.com/condition/stud-tail
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Hi, neighbor! (Another SEGA mom here.)
Yes, soft tissue injuries can linger. He also could be heading into arthritis issues. Our area has some vets experienced in hydrotherapy and rehabbing injuries. Give Remy some more time with leash-walking precautions. Then you might want to consult one of the rehab specialty offices.
I've got Q, a broken-hock boy. He arrived with x-rays, so I know what I've got. He's got a screw in his hock from January 2016. He limps, and I restrict his running, but he's happy to gallup up and down the hallway in my condo and he doesn't appear to be in pain. He's an incorrigible chicken, though, so he's not interested in running with the cheerleaders at Pope High School football games. (He's afraid of the tubas.) -
We had had Silver in for x-rays to check her lungs for cancer, and we accidentally got a good image of her heart, so the ultrasound expert had that to work with three weeks after the x-rays. Silver's appetite was still good; we shared that last cheeseburger, and she predictably spat out the pickle. The only odd behavior with her was her unwillingness to try to jump into my car that morning (she put her front feet on the seat, flexed her knees a bit, then looked at me to do the rest). I had just retired her from therapy dog duties on the grounds of her age (11 and a half), and she usually slept next to me all day while I worked from home.
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Jen, Q enjoyed his soft kibble. He ate all of Jane's, too. She wasn't interested in eating until I took a bowl of soft kibble to where she snoozed on the loveseat. She gobbled it all down. Did seven days of chewable antibiotics and a couple of days on the pain meds. Q didn't have to take any meds.
I have Healthy Paws pet insurance. It covered Q when he broke a canine in his crate, but it won't cover these dentals. If someone gets sick soon (Jane's working on something), I think Healthy Paws might cover part of the vet visit and lab work we did before the dentals. We spent $717 on the vaccinations, exam, and lab work before the surgery; we spent another $1,010 (that's after a 12% discount) on the dentals. (Q's was $441, Jane's was more with two extractions). I say "we spent," but these lazy dogs haven't paid their share. December has been painful. My CareCredit has a credit line of $8,000 (I had enormous dental bills in 2018), but I'm afraid to let the dogs know that.
The vet found a black bump on Jane's ribs--not the usual blood blister thing. She offered to remove it, but I felt Jane had been under anesthesia long enough for one day. I'll let Jane's dermatologist deal with it; I hope to get her in this coming week, and then I can fax her recent bills (regular vet and dermatologist) to Healthy Paws. She has a high deductible and a low pay-out percentage because of her age, so I usually need to collect several bills before Healthy Paws does me much good. -
We had tried all the sensible stuff. Needle biopsy results came back from the vet school lab as "indeterminate." Nothing said cancer, nothing said not-cancer.
Silver was my best dog. She was a therapy dog, a R.E.A.D. dog, and had enough personality for three dogs. She was the second therapy dog I lost in 2016, and I still miss her. -
I lost Silver to hemangiosarcoma in 2016 with a hard lump on her rib cage. We had decided to operate, and my vet did lab work. Her liver numbers were horrendous, and he recommended an ultrasound and called in a specialist (traveling ultrasound expert with his own equipment; he's in the area every couple of weeks). Specialist found a growth on her heart that had not shown up on x-rays three weeks earlier. He predicted she had maybe 48 hours before it ruptured. We put her to sleep that same day, after she ate a McDonald's cheeseburger. That day was the first day she couldn't get into my car without help.
I wish I had something better to tell you.
If they haven't done an ultrasound, ask your vet about an ultrasound of vital organs to see if something else is going on.
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A couple of years ago, my boy (now 7 years old) broke a canine tooth and had to have the roots removed in surgery at the ER. They advised soft food for a week; my vet later changed it to two weeks. I fed him canned food, but I had a hard time getting the calories right, and I think the canned food was too rich for him. He's usually a walking upset stomach--in fact, he had a bad bout of diarrhea in November--but I swore that if I had it to do over, I'd only feed the softened kibble he was used to and thus avoid upsetting his stomach.
Fast forward to this December 17, when the boy and my 11 year old girl both went in for dentals. The boy's teeth just needed some cleaning; the girl had two teeth pulled. She was on chewable antibiotics for a week and pain meds for a couple of days. I fed softened kibble to both dogs, and we avoided diarrhea issues, even for the girl taking antibiotics.
So for future occasions when you need soft food, you might want to stick to the food you're already feeding and just soften the food as necessary. (You also can grind kibble in a food processor, so that the result is something the dog can lap rather then chew.) If the dog needs antibiotics, ask the vet about Forti Flora (or another probiotic product); Jane didn't need a probiotic, but Q did back in November. If your girl was on antibiotics, make a note of what she had and see if your vet is willing to prescribe something different the next time she needs antibiotics.
For toothbrushing, check a local pet store for a finger brush--a soft rubber item you put on your finger and use that to brush. (Or you can try wrapping gauze around your finger.) Don't use a lot of pressure in the area where teeth are missing. (Luckily for me, Jane's two extractions were aligned teeth, top and bottom on the same side of her mouth. And she was willing to take her pills as long as I buried them in a glob of peanut butter on the side of her bowl.) -
Jane's awake, and I can go get the dogs about 3pm. Another of Jane's teeth turned out to be a problem when the vet started to pull the other one. There was granulation tissue between the roots on the second tooth and you could see between the roots. She gets soft food for two weeks. (When I got home this morning after dropping them off, I went ahead and dished up their breakfast kibble, added water to the bowls, and put the bowls in their crates for this evening.)
When Q broke a canine and needed to have it removed, I learned my lesson about dishing up canned food. Both dogs will want to eat it--not just the one that needs it. It's hard to get the calories right so no one gets porky. And you go through cans so fast. And it screwed with Q's digestive system. I swore that next time I'd just stick with softened kibble. -
Q's out of his dental and on his feet already. I didn't have the heart to tell the vet he stays on his feet when he's nervous so he can get a head start on his escape. (He rarely lies down at meet and greets.)
Jane still needs one tooth pulled. Vet says she's lost a lot of bone around that tooth. -
A sympathy post, anyway. My 7 year old and the 11 year old are headed for the vet's at 8am for dentals and possible extractions. I didn't budget for two dentals at Christmas, but thank heavens for CareCredit.
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If you take newspaper or cheap paper plates outside with you, you can stop bad poop from hitting the ground at all. It's easy to clean up if the dog's having soft poop, and easy to collect a sample for the vet. (I say "cheap paper plates" only because you want a plate that's flexible enough to enclose in a poop bag.)
Put a clean poop bag over your hand. Hold the paper plate in that hand. When the dog starts to go, slip the plate under. (The first time, your dog's reaction may be "What the---?", but they get used to it.) Catch the poop. Curl the plate a bit as necessary and pull the poop bag down off your hand so it encloses the plate.
I can't comment on the current protocols. The last time I had a dog with hooks was 2016, when the hooks were still relatively easy to treat. He and my girl get retested every year, and they're fine.
I buy Interceptor and Bravecto at Allivets.com. I buy six months' worth at a time for two dogs. -
Lucy's kibble has all the moisture removed, so it looks like a lot less than it really is. The meat/rice mixture still has all the moisture.
Greyhound attacked unprovoked
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted
Take a damp paper towel (a white one is best), and wipe her down all over carefully. If there's a hidden injury, the paper towel should show a bit of blood. This is good for finding injuries hidden in skin folds or otherwise hard to spot.