KF_in_Georgia

A friend, Adrianne Kimbrell, has taken my hi-res photographs of the dogs and turned them into hi-res artwork. She changes all the boring background in the photos. She did it as a fund-raiser for an adoption group.

I'm so sorry you've lost your Soji. In 2011, I lost Jacey to immune mediated thrombocytopenia (IMTP). She'd had a well-dog visit with bloodwork at the vet on a Tuesday, and her platelet count was 200,000 (completely normal). By Thursday night, she was lethargic. At the e-vet on Friday morning, her platelet count was 18,000 and her blood wasn't clotting. We lost her on that Monday. She was on the antibiotic Cephalexin for what had appeared to be a sinus infection (she had grass allergies). She'd taken the antibiotic for a couple of days without an apparent problem. We never identified the cause of the IMTP, but I've sometimes wondered if the antibiotic triggered something. I've seen a few other greyhounds on here with immune-system problems: some have recovered, some have not, but it's not that common.

I have. It used to be quite common that a dog didn't have hooks. And if your dog had hooks, they could be eliminated with one round of drugs. I think I've had 4 that didn't ever need meds for parasites. (Oreo, Jacey, and Silver--and now Jane. And Tigger had tape worms, but not hooks.) Jane was a 7-year-old retired brood mom when she came to Atlanta in July 2016. I don't know if she ever had hooks then or earlier, but she didn't have hooks when I adopted her in November 2016, and hasn't acquired them since. (She and the boy dog both tested negative this January.)

It should be fine. Silly pup...

It might be possible for it to be a fungal infection but not be ringworm--but I'm not sure. Did their test culture indicate what treatment might be effective? For you: try Nizoral shampoo as a body wash; Lotramin (the athlete's foot treatment) as an ointment. (I used to be a dog groomer, and I got ringworm from a 4-footed client.) Also, you might want to ask the vet for a referral to a veterinary dermatologist for Bowie. My Silver arrived here with a bad rash on one leg. Scrape-tests didn't show anything useful. Dermatologist did punch biopsies, and cultured biopsies revealed ringworm below the surface and a bacterial infection (from chewing it) at the surface. We put her on ketoconazole, and the fungal infection cleared up. But Silver was never contagious: the rash didn't spread to me or to the other dog or even to her other leg. But I hated myself for waiting more than a year to go to the dermatologist. Her regular vet and I tried all kinds of antibiotics and tests (and racked up lots of vet bills), while she was miserable and itching and had to be muzzled to keep her from chewing her leg raw. Went to the dermatologist, and within a month she was on meds that controlled the itching and in two months her leg looked perfectly normal. Good luck. You can see the irritation on her front left leg.

I'm sorry you didn't get better news. I lost my girl Silver to hemangiosarcoma in October 2016. She had a growth on her side, but needle biopsies didn't show anything alarming. We decided to remove the lump because it was causing discomfort, and we did the normal pre-op lab tests. The numbers that came back were alarming, so we did an ultrasound. They found a massive growth near her heart--something that didn't show at all on x-rays taken 3 weeks earlier. The vet thought the growth could rupture at any time, probably within the next couple of days. So, like you, I shared a couple of hamburgers--McDonald's cheese burgers--with Silver and said good-bye. Please don't second-guess yourself. A hematoma that lasted two months? I think an injury that severe would have been bad enough at the beginning to have drawn concern then. And vets have all too much experience recognizing hemangiosarcoma for real--even apart from their unwillingness to jump to bad news every time they spot a growth--so if that's what Pixie's vet saw, it seems far more likely.

I think the most frequent cause of a reaction is the "carrier" for the vaccine, not the vaccine itself. (The carrier is what triggers the dog's body to react to the vaccine and start producing antibodies.) So I do DHLPP in one injection (that's distemper-hepatitis-leptospirosis-parvo-parainfluenza). But I keep it at least two weeks away from the rabies shot (my guys get the 3-year rabies). Actually, I've usually staggered shots by 6 months: everybody went in in March, then in October for the "other". I also do intranasal bordatella every 6 months because my dogs are around a lot of other dogs at meet and greets. (Bordatella vaccine is recommended every 12 months for the injectable version; every 6 months for the intranasal.) My vet has now suggested moving my boy to 18 months between DHLPP vaccines, rather than 12 months. This might raise eyebrows if I need to get him boarded during that extra 6 months, but otherwise, it should be okay. If you stagger your shots, talk to your vet's office. By law in Georgia, rabies must be administered by a vet; other vaccines may be given by a vet tech, and you might avoid the "office visit" charge on your visit for DHLPP. Also, your vet might advise you to give a benadryl before an appointment to tamp down potential reactions, but make sure you ask first.

I know the pollen's not bad (yet) in Brampton, but that still may be what you're dealing with. Today's count here in the Atlanta area is 4667, and we've all got excessive eye gunk. (I have a hard time getting my right eye "unstuck" most mornings.) Here in Atlanta, the pollen usually peaks the week before the Masters golf tournament, so we're right on schedule. Tree pollen could especially be the reason for greenish eye gunk. There are antihistamine eye drops designed to help with allergies (my vet recommended Naphcon A; some stores carry a cheaper, store-brand version), but it's possible to use the drops too often and become dependent on them. I do outdoor meet and greets with my dogs on weekends, so I used to use the drops on Tigger on Friday and Saturday--Sunday, too, if we had an event that day--and that helped control things for Tigger. I'd just wipe his whole face with a damp paper towel every morning, and he enjoyed that. (He'd lean into it.) Tigger also routinely got a benadryl every morning. With Ryder's pannus, you'd want to check with the vet before you tried any eye drops, but you might just try wiping his face in the morning and before bed (and when he comes in from outside) and see if that helps any. And maybe put a lightweight, washable throw on his bed, so you can wash it (or swap it) often enough to keep it relatively pollen-free for him.

I had a senior boy (Sam) who refused kibble for a few months. (His teeth were fine; he still munched his Milk Bones.) If I mixed kibble into special meals, he'd lick the kibble clean trying to get all the special stuff. I wanted to keep him on kibble so I could be sure he was getting a balanced diet. I started grinding 3 cups of kibble in the food processor every morning. (Ground kibble looks like Grape Nuts cereal,) Then I added a scoop of the ground kibble to whatever the breakfast treat was: tuna, oatmeal, rice, pasta--whatever he wanted. Vanilla Ensure was good, too. I did that for every meal (he was on meds he had to take after food 4 times a day), and finished up the ground kibble on meal 4 at bedtime. Sometimes I warmed the food; warmed food is smellier. But he wound up eating his normal 3 cups of kibble a day, and picked up extra calories from the special add-ins. But I had to watch his housemate. Silver "helped" by finishing off anything the boy left, and she got a little pudgy.

Older dogs can lose weight eating the same diet they've always eaten. I think sometimes they don't absorb nutrients as well from the same amount of food. Also, sometimes an older dog doesn't want to remain standing long enough to eat a large-ish meal. It might help if you increase how much she eats in a day, but break it into smaller meals fed more often.

There's an appetite stimulant (mirtazapine) your vet might be willing to try. Also, try warming the food: it usually smells better/stronger then.

Greyhounds can be sensitive, but I've been using Bravecto for a few years now, and we haven't had any problems (on four different greyhounds).

It's entirely possible it's a back or neck strain: pain meds and a muscle relaxer (like methocarbamol) and all could be well. The vet will check. (For cancer, worry more about limping.) Deep breaths...

If you're on Facebook, check out the group called Three Toed Greyhounds. There are a lot of us there. But I can't help with info about Jane's toe amp. It happened before I adopted her.

If you don't have panty hose, try the ankle/leg part of a sock

I'm sorry you lost Zilla. I lost my greyhound Jacey to immune mediated thrombocytopenia in 2011. She had a scheduled lab panel at our vet's on a Tuesday (her annual wellness exam). Everything was fine. Thursday night she was lethargic, admitted to the ER early Friday morning, and we put her to sleep there on Monday night. General belief was that dogs have a better than 50-50 chance of surviving, but Jacey was just on the wrong side of the numbers. She was 8 years old. We tried all the tricks: antibiotics, steroids, anti-nausea meds and appetite stimulants when she had no appetite, a blood transfusion, and lots of other things I no longer remember. X-rays and ultrasounds to hunt for signs of cancer; every tick panel known to man--all negative. But she started showing pain on Monday morning, and DIC set in. (DIC = Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation. Quietly referred to by members of the medical profession as "Death Is Coming.") She was blinded at one point by bleeding in her eyes, but that cleared up. She was Sharpied all over to indicate the extent of bruising. And how could we have caught it earlier when she was showing no symptoms and had perfect bloodwork 3 days before she went into the hospital? So don't beat yourself up about what you might have done earlier or during treatment. You took good care of her and you were there to do everything she needed you to do at the end. Godspeed, Zilla.

Check a beauty supply place for "toe separators" or a "toe rope." (Manicurists use them to separate the customer's toes during a pedicure.) It's a dense roll of cotton, usually about 6" to 7" long and available in thicknesses between .3" and .5", and you can cut it to the length you want. Put them in place, cut off any extra height, and put a sock on over the foot.

My boy broke his hock 8 January 2016. He had surgery and a bone screw implanted 22 January 2016 at Animal Medical Clinic in Melbourne. The bill was paid by Greyhound Pets of America, and I don't know if there was any kind of discount on the price (group rates? special arrangement with his kennel?). The bill includes a "health profile" (probably lab work) IV catheter fluid therapy IV fluids routine anesthesia (plus 90 additional minutes) fracture repair pins/wires monitoring ECG & respiration overnight hospitalization radiology (plus 3 additional films) analgesic injection antibiotic injection bone screw post-op bandaging The total was $1,491. He walks better now than he did when he first came to Atlanta, but I keep his weight down a few pounds. (He weighed 68 pre-hock surgery, weighs 64.9 now. Usually raced at 70 pounds, but weighed 75 in the race where he was hurt.) He still limps, and his foot--from toes to ankle (metatarsus to tarsus)--has a permanent bend in it. If he needs to jump over something, he bunny-hops it with both back feet together. He doesn't try to get in the car, and I have to boost his 64.9 pounds every time. He's five years old, and gets two fish oil capsules and two glucosamine every day. There was some residual swelling in his foot when I adopted him in April 2016, but that's gone now. He came up to Atlanta with a copy of his bill from AMC in Melbourne and a CD of his x-rays, so we can monitor screw position. (I uploaded a copy of the x-rays to my Dropbox account. I can access them from my phone if I need them in a future vet visit.) I have Healthy Paws insurance for him, but I realize that anything that happens to his back left hock is going to be my problem, financially. (So far, he's broken a canine tooth at the roots and needed surgery for that.)

Did he by any chance get a special treat as you were going out last night? I had a boy who was lactose intolerant--and I didn't know it. He'd have a nibble of cheese or a bit of yogurt with other food and be fine. But we had a training session on an empty stomach using string cheese rewards, and the vomiting didn't stop until he had a shot of cerenia at the vet's the next morning. The vomiting was accompanied by diarrhea. I'd suggest a little caution on the dairy--not a lot at one time and not on an empty stomach--and see if that helps.

I had a vet once warn me not to give Ketamine to my boy Sam. They gave it pre-anesthesia, and apparently he tried to get up and leave during a dental... (Vet's phone call started, "Sam's okay now, but...") I had a dog tag engraved for him with "WARNING: NO KETAMINE." I don't know what the vet practice wound up doing on future dentals, but they had no further problem. Good luck.

My girl smashed her foot into something a year ago and broke a nail way up--but didn't break it enough for the vet to just pull it off. Rather than anesthetizing her to remove the nail, we just left it either to fall off or to reattach itself. Two weeks later, the nail was gone: either it fell off on its own or she messed with it enough to remove it. A new nail grew in--pretty gnarly looking at first, but now it looks normal. Her worst discomfort was when she walked on her slumberball bed. She quickly learned that she couldn't put her foot down and pivot to change directions without catching the nail: she had to pick her foot up and take little steps to get turned around because the soft bedding grabbed at the nail. Your boy's nail may just come off like my Jane's did. If you can put a boot on the foot to keep the nail from snagging--or keep your boy from walking on soft bedding--it might help. But I think his nails look too long (hard to tell on an x-ray). They may need to be trimmed back to limit how much they snag and to make him more comfortable.

The vet probably said "laryngeal stenosis." Sorry I can't help with treatment suggestions, but knowing the name gives you something to research.

I'd leave it, but if she starts to mess with it or appears to be bothered, try a soak in warm water with Epsom salts. (You can soak a washcloth in the warm water, put the cloth into a Zip-loc bag, then put her foot in the bag while she's lying down. It generally feels good, so she may tolerate it for a while.) But she might not lose the nail. Ever bent a nail way back--enough to make you yell and maybe create a white line across the nail? But you don't usually lose the nail, and the soreness goes away.

A soak in warm water with Epsom salts often will draw out a splinter, even below the surface. Easiest way might be to soak a washcloth, put the cloth into a plastic bag and then put her foot in the bag and hold it there as long as she'll allow it.

VPI paid me 25 cents on the dollar in a $4,500 vet bill. They paid a percentage of their allowable, and their allowable was ridiculously low, especially if your dog wound up in the ER. I now have Healthy Paws. First claim on my boy--$250 deductible, 80% copay--my bills were $1276, and Healthy Paws paid $663. (They don't pay for doctors' exams, which I think is silly, but they paid for all the x-rays and diagnostic stuff.) Also, while they don't pay for prophylactic dental care, they did pay--without complaint--for dental trauma. (The boy hooked a canine over a wire on his crate, panicked, and jerked his head. Broke the tooth up in the root, and did it on Saturday, so it was expensive surgery at the ER.)