KF_in_Georgia

Feel his toes and compare the temperature on the bandaged foot to an unbandaged foot. If the bandaged foot has warm toes, you're okay. If the toes are cold, try warming them by holding the foot in your hands, and see if they keep that warmth. If they won't warm up or if they go cold again, then the bandage may be too tight.

Yay, Henry!

I'm following this thread, so every time you post, I'll get a message. And I'm planning to be up and awake for another 3 hours or so. Here's hoping he just sleeps--and you too.

The site where I found that quote (I couldn't believe Ozzie hit the number right on the nose) didn't make it sound like "rush to the ER" stuff. But I'd have my purse handy, make sure I know where my keys are, and stuff like that, so I could move fast if I needed to. Tigger (formerly Clem, formerly Flying Clemenza) had a night of vomiting not long after I adopted him. The only things he'd had to eat were a bit of cheese (on an empty stomach) and his regular kibble. He threw up several times that night, then again in the morning. The vet (not ER) did x-rays and saw signs of an upset stomach (no kidding), but no torsion or anything scary like that. My best guess is that the boy is just lactose intolerant. I haven't given him any cheese since then, and there's been no repetition of the event. But he needed a shot of Cerenia to calm down his stomach--and he screamed and screamed. Turned around, stared right at the techs, and screamed at them. He was hurt and outraged. I took him back to the vet's this weekend so they could give him cookies. I don't want him scared to go in there. P.S. Check the color of Ozzie's gums.

Found here: I don't think e-vet if other things look okay: he's not dehydrated, not panting, stuff like that.

Go to this site, put in your zip code, and see if it helps: http://www.goodrx.com/aminocaproic-acid/price

Connie, I'm so sorry. You should have had more time with your boy. Godspeed, Carl.

She'll still be able to squeak them. She just won't be able to puncture and kill them. Good luck. And yes, put her on Amicar.

My girl gets a cup of kibble at mealtime, twice daily. She gets a quarter-cup more kibble at bedtime. For Kongs, I put in about half a cup of kibble, put a tablespoon or so of yogurt in at the top and freeze that. (The dogs only get Kongs a few times a week.) Once she's licked the frozen yogurt out, it doesn't take her long to finish off the kibble. For training treats, she gets cut up turkey franks--cut into tiny pieces. She gets half a frozen turkey neck once or twice a week. She does the R.E.A.D. program, and when I need to lure her into a down, I use string cheese. (It's neater than a biscuit that would crumble.) But she gets very small pieces, and I'd be surprised if she got more than an inch from a stick of cheese in a one-hour session. For other treat occasions (and there aren't many), she gets one of these: 6 calories each. I work from home, so there aren't treats given daily as I leave. When I do leave the house, I scatter a quarter-cup of kibble into a blanket, roll up the blanket, and leave her hunting out the pieces. She hardly notices I'm leaving. On weeks when I have to be away from home a lot, I'll give her less breakfast to make up for the extra good-bye treats. For kibble, she's getting Iams in the green bag, but she gets the smaller-sized pieces: the mini-chunks (or whatever), not the large-dog version. (I get the bag with the border collie on it.) The Iams large-breed pieces are so huge. My girl is convinced that a quarter-cup of tiny pieces is way more food than a half-cup of large pieces. When I've needed to work on getting weight down on a dog, I started measuring out a day's worth of kibble in the morning and putting it in a lidded plastic container. The dog got what was in the container. If I needed to stretch a meal, I gave frozen green beans. If you've got multiple people feeding your girl, measuring out a day's worth of food might be a good idea if you can get everyone else to feed out of that container rather than the refrigerator.

They have an individual prescription card and the family card. Be sure to get the family card. When I got the new boy, they let me add him at no extra charge since I already had the family card. (My card is up for renewal now.) I've been without insurance for about 19 months, and I used the card to get a discount on my flu shot. The internet and I have been fighting today about letting me sign up for insurance, but I'll finally have coverage. The card still might be cheaper than insurance prescriptions for me, and I know it'll save me on the dogs.

Hold a dime next to it and snap a photo now. Then you can hold a dime by it in June and let your vet compare sizes to see if there's been much change. (That's more efficient than my usual method: "I don't think it's any bigger...")

I have a Walgreen's Prescription Savings Plan card. It's $35/year for your entire household (me and both dogs), and I think you can get a refund of your $35 if it doesn't save you at least that much during the year. Mine usually saved that much in one visit. The Walgreen's is less than a mile a way, has a drive-thru window (so I could stop even with a dog in the car--or in my pajamas), and has much better hours than my vet. (The nearest Costco is 6 or 7 miles and 20 minutes and an eternally packed parking lot. Trips to Costco are a nightmare.) And although the Walgreen's nearest me isn't a 24-hour place, there is a 24-hour branch nearby; I could order refills online and specify which store I wanted to pick up from. I kept this in mind in case I had a sick dog and accidentally dropped a bunch of pills down the sink. I haven't had to fill these prescriptions since I lost Sam last August. But here's what he was taking from Walgreen's: Gabapentin: 100mg capsules, as many as 9/day: $15 for 180 capsules Methocarbamol (a muscle relaxer): 500mg tablets, 3/day, $20 for 90 tablets Tramadol: 50mg tablets, I usually gave 3-4/day: $12 for 60 tablets Metronidazole: 500mg tablets, half every other day: $22.50 for 30 tablets I only mention that last one if someone's dog is having poop problems on top of everything else; Sam was on a maintenance dose. Sam had an ulcer, so no NSAIDS. (His problem was arthritis, a herniated disc, failing kidneys, and old age--not osteo.) Rimadyl typically won't be available from a people-pharmacy because it has no use in humans.

Yes, they're working out what to do with Dr Couto, I think. Or at least, with his input and with the local SEGA vet, who's had more experience with greyhounds than any other vet I know. (He's been treating SEGA's dogs for more than 14 years.) I think the experts have about decided that it's a tumor, but not definitely a malignant one.

A local greyhound adopter is going through this with her girl. The dog limps, has funky-looking leg x-rays (but pristine chest x-rays), and none of the experts (including Dr Couto) can state that it's cancer. The dog has even had an FNA and a bone biopsy--with indeterminate results on both. The mom has ruled out any more tests, but she still hasn't decided what to do. The dog is a bounce who arrived here malnourished and with a limp. She's an older dog, and the adopter just wants the old girl to be comfortable for as long as she's got left.

I just remembered something: I know of a dog that's deathly allergic to an ingredient in canine toothpaste (she wound up in the ER after her first toothbrushing in her new home--scared her mom half to death). The dog now gets her teeth brushed with plain baking soda. (And I think there's an IBD dog on Greytalk who can't tolerate the flavoring in toothpaste or heartworm meds without having an IBD flare-up.) So toothpaste could conceivably be something Max doesn't tolerate well; at least add toothpaste to your tracking for him.

It was just discussed here two weeks ago. I think it's too new for many of us to have experience with. But note that it only claims to deal with one kind of tick (the one that carries Rocky Mounted Spotted Fever); it doesn't mention dealing with deer ticks and others (which are the ones we get here in Georgia). And it's not a heartworm preventative, so you'd still need to use that, too.

Try keeping a record of everything Max is eating--and I mean everything--including the time he eats it. And also note poop patterns (so much fun) and every med or supplement he takes. I plotted things out on a calendar the summer my angel Sam was having gastric trouble. We'd put him on metronidazole for 10-14 days, Sam would be fine, he'd finish his meds, and the diarrhea would return within four days. My vet looked at the calendar and put Sam on a maintenance dose of metronidazole (half a pill, every other day); the diarrhea stopped. (It came back once a month, like clockwork, the day Sam took his Heartgard Plus, so we changed his heartworm meds, too.) For now, cut out all the add-ons: no dairy (some dogs are lactose intolerant), no pumpkin, use his regular kibble as a treat (if I do "happy voice", my dogs think everything is a treat). Make sure Max gets frequent meals, including a little something at bedtime; lots of dogs will have gas and other trouble overnight if their stomachs are empty. A quarter-cup of kibble at bedtime might make a big difference (if you're worried about him getting too many calories, just cut back at dinner). If you haven't seen any benefit from the probiotics, you might stop them. And if he's been having trouble on his bland diet, he might have a problem with rice (not unheard of); try pasta or potatoes instead. (Potatoes might be safer. Some dogs don't do well on wheat.) One bland food dogs often do well with is oatmeal. I'd cook it in the microwave, then refrigerate it; I'd pull it out of the fridge at mealtimes--maybe heat it some, although my dogs will eat it cold. I could cook up a day's worth before bedtime, refrigerate it, then dish it out by the spoonful the next day. I usually served it plain, but sometimes I'd put in a spoonful of Manuka honey (which is known to have healing properties); I'd add it while the oatmeal was still warm.

According to Seka's blog, Heather's already giving her rimadyl (150mg 1x day) and--3x day: gabapentin (300mg) and tramadol (100mg). Heather, I'm so sorry to hear of Roxy's diagnosis.

I've long suspected that a greyhound's food drive overwhelms most other issues. I have a friend who takes yummy canned food or peanut butter in a Glad cup-sized food saver when she goes to the vet. She holds that under her dog's nose, and the dog licks intently, totally ignoring blood draws, injections, and anything else the vet wants to do. Wishing the best for you and Carl next week.

Oh, it has the words. I bookmark all the good stuff.

For a while, my angel Sam wasn't eating his kibble. If I added something yummy--rice, chicken, oatmeal, yogurt, Ensure, etc.--he'd eat the add-ons but leave the kibble. I was worried about his weight. I also needed for him to eat frequent meals (4 a day) to cushion various meds he was taking, and I was worried about him not getting a balanced diet. I started sending three cups of kibble through the food processor each morning. I'd scoop some of the kibble into his bowl, add the yogurt or cooked oatmeal or whatever, and stir it up. Sam would clean his dish. This went on for several months. Then, one morning I was running late with grinding his kibble and I tossed him some kibble pieces to distract him. He ate the pieces, and from then on he'd eat his kibble--which I still usually fed with add-ons. So if Leia's weight starts to be an issue, or if she's interested in eating fancy add-ons but not her kibble, you might try grinding the kibble and mixing it in. Then you can be reasonably sure she's getting a balanced diet. P.S. Aside from Sam needing to get multiple meals a day to cushion his meds, he was having trouble with his back and his legs, so staying on his feet for a big meal got to be a problem. Four meals a day meant smaller, shorter meals, which seemed to agree with him.

I don't know about Spectrum, but if you've given Daphne Interceptor or Sentinel, you've given her a worm preventative. Both of those heartworm preventatives work against multiple parasites. My guys get a topical, Advantage Multi: Advantage Multi doesn't do anything about ticks. If ticks become a problem, I'll have to look into something else. But I needed a topical because at least one of mine is prone to diarrhea after oral heartworm meds. Advantage Multi is really, really smelly for the first 24 hours; by 36 hours, the smell and most of the oiliness is gone.

I'm not a horse person, but none of them seem eager to step up and post the link.

I'm reasonably certain that "unobtrusive" and "happy tail" don't fit in the same sentence. The problem is that anything small can be reached by a muzzled dog, and it's pretty much impossible to pad the tail for protection, leave the tail open to the air, and keep the whole thing small and unnoticeable. Methods like the curler or the Press 'n Seal don't leave the wound exposed to the air. The toilet paper (or paper towel) tube can be fastened higher up the tail to protect the wound while leaving it open (like the water bottle does), but they're hardly unobtrusive. A piece of foam pipe insulation will do the same thing, but that's going to be harder to acquire than a curler. The water bottle works reasonably well because it's so lightweight that the dog is less likely to pay attention to it. Some dogs will tolerate having the tail protection tied loosely to a back leg: a loose loop on the dog's leg, and the other end of the tie (often, gauze bandage) fastened firmly to the protection on the dog's tail. You leave enough slack that the dog can wag its tail, but not so much that the protective tube is being smacked into walls. But I wouldn't trust this when the dog can't be supervised. What works when you're home and able to distract the dog is not what's going to work when the dog gets bored and you're not there as a distraction.

Jen, see the photo in this post. This method has the advantage of protecting the tail while allowing it to remain unbandaged.