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KF_in_Georgia

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Posts posted by KF_in_Georgia

    Alabama - Flea And Tick Prevention

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    I use Bravecto. It's an oral dose given every 12 weeks, so it's not something that needs to be scheduled around baths. My dogs do a lot of meet and greets, and I like not having to worry about sticky stuff on the dogs' backs or having the stuff get washed off too soon.

     

    The Bravecto doesn't bother my dogs' digestion. We have more sloppy poops from the flavoring in some heartworm meds than from the Bravecto.

    Epi Experience & Early Symptoms

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    If you can schedule an early-morning vet visit, fasting doesn't have to be a big deal. When I know we've scheduled lab work for one of mine, I fast both dogs from midnight on (water is fine, but no food). When we're ready to leave in the morning, I put the patient in the car, then run back in and pour a bowl of kibble for the dog staying home. Since my dogs regularly get a meal at bedtime, withholding breakfast isn't such an ordeal.

    Recurrent Diarrhea

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Cleptogrey's flagyl protocol sounds about like what we did for Sam in his senior years. I was plotting days on meds vs days of diarrhea on a calendar, and every time we stopped the flagyl, the diarrhea was back about 4 days later. Vet said to try the flagyl, but Sam had had so much of it over the years, we were a little concerned about metronidazole toxicity. We put him on a regular dose for 10 days and, as usual, the diarrhea cleared up. We went to a half-dose daily for 10 days, then an half-dose every other day. The diarrhea did not come back and Sam didn't have any symptoms of toxicity. He stayed on the metronidazole the rest of his life. (You can get metronidazole from Walgreen's on a script, and it's listed on GoodRx.com.)

    Recurrent Diarrhea

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by KF_in_Georgia

    I'm with you in thinking it's not an intolerance to eating raw. How does the vet explain the good week in the middle?

    The possibility of hooks sounds reasonable to me, but I have no idea whether the meds would be a problem right now. Our local greyhound group is recommending a new protocol for our greyhounds (they're all from Florida); the group just posted this protocol today:

     

    To address this recent hookworm problem and to provide you as much deworming support as we can, SEGA and LCAH are now observing the following protocols with both newly-arrived Greyhounds and all the Greyhounds living in our adoption kennel pending their rehoming:
    1. Upon arrival at the adoption kennel, LCAH will administer Drontal Plus to each Greyhound.
    2. A few days after arrival, SEGA will administer ivermectin to new Greyhounds.
    3. Ivermectin will again be administered to all Greyhounds 7 days later and every 7 days thereafter.
    4. Three weeks later, Panacur will be administered for 3 days in a row.
    5. Two weeks later, Panacur will be administered again. (Adopters may be sent home with some Panacur depending on where their new Greyhound is in the Panacur administration cycle.)
    6. One month after the second round of Panacur is given to your Greyhound, you should follow up with a visit to your vet for a check for worms, particularly hookworms. If the vet exam is positive for hookworms (or any other worms), we recommend that you request your vet to dispense Drontal Plus to you. We are also receiving reports that Advantage Multi has been effective in killing these persistent hookworms.

     

    LCAH is Lake City Animal Hospital, Acworth, Georgia.

    Dawson's Cancer Diagnosis

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by KF_in_Georgia

    Gabapentin is available by prescription at people-pharmacies in 100mg capsules. Greyhounds can take 900mg/day, sometimes more, depending on the dog's size, but you want to start at the lower dosage and gradually increase. If it doesn't seem to help and you have to stop it, talk to your vet first; you don't want to stop cold-turkey.

     

    It has a short life in a dog, so you will want to give the capsules every 8 hours or more frequently. (I used to do two capsules at a time, every six hours, and saved the ninth capsule for emergencies.) Gabapentin originally was developed to help block seizures in people with epilepsy, but doctors discovered that cancer patients taking gabapentin to prevent seizures were experiencing unexpected pain relief. If I'm understanding it properly, it's not a conventional opioid. It short-circuits or misdirects pain signals from the dog's nerves to the brain.

     

    Good luck.

    Irritated Feet

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

     

    So it's the pollen that gives them itchy feet, not the grass itself? Thanks for the link. I just started the foot rinsing routine today.

     

    If the itching just started, then it has to be something that wasn't on the grass before but is there now. Typically, that's pollen...or lawn chemicals.

    Irritated Feet

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    She might be picking up pollen on walks. Try getting her to walk through a pan of water and dry her feet when she comes back in the house.

     

    You can check www. pollen.com and put in your zip code to see what your pollen levels are and see what pollen is most prolific. Pollen count is low here in Atlanta, but it's ragweed.

    Loose Poop/diarrhea

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    If the diarrhea occurs after her next dose of heartworm meds, talk to your vet. My dogs have trouble with Heartgard Plus--not the meds themselves, but the added flavoring triggers diarrhea within 24 hours. (Not always both dogs every time, but at least one dog would have a problem by the second of every month. I tracked it on a calendar to be sure.)

     

    These days, my guys get Interceptor, and they aren't having a problem with it. They get it after a meal.

    Do They Sleep This Much?

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    If you take her out for a long event, she'll stay awake. When you get back home, she'll sleep deeply for hours.

     

    We do a meet and greet every Saturday morning from about 8am to noon. We're usually back home by 12:30, and both dogs are asleep by 12:32. (Since I get up earlier on Saturday than any other day of the week, I'm asleep by 12:45.) We wake up about 5pm, the dogs get walked and have dinner, and we're asleep again by 6 or so.

    Some Saturdays, we might have a second event, and the dogs are fine for it. The girl (she's 9) will sleep in the car between events, but the boy is wide awake. And if the girl is really tired at a meet and greet, she'll go to the back of the booth, turn her back on everyone, and go to sleep--waking up if anyone comes to pet her.

    New Grey Owner, Have A Few Questions 😁

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Going out of order:

    2. I had a vet tell me not to worry about grain unless my dogs demonstrated a grain sensitivity. I had one boy who'd launch really stinky farts from wheat. Otherwise, none of mine have been grain sensitive. (Currently, I've got a boy who toots pure fish if he has a fish-based kibble or treat, but is fine with processed fish oil capsules.) I also had a boy who was lactose-intolerant, so cheese was off the menu. Just pay attention when you're changing ingredients and watch for trouble. (My guys adore Milk Bones.)

    1, I have a boy with a periodically bald butt and belly. A girl with a nearly bald belly but only a little hair loss on her butt. But their skin is good, as is their diet, and the hair loss seems to vary with the seasons. The skin bumps could be hair follicles, but might be something else. (Dog often get blackheads on their bellies from lying on something hard. I assume that's not what you're seeing.)

    3. Congratulations on the stairs! A local woman does agility and obedience with her greyhounds. She uses clicker training, and she's posted lots of information and videos on training. Check the left column for links to training topics: http://neversaynevergreyhounds.blogspot.com/

    Slumber Ball Problems?

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by KF_in_Georgia

    I'm a vote for x-rays. My boy Tigger started yelping and limping getting out of his Slumberball in March 2016. I thought maybe his foot was catching in the fabric. I thought it was the bed.

     

    It wasn't.

     

     

    ETA: To keep the loose fabric of the cover from snagging Tigger's feet, I put a regular bed on top of the Slumberball. He could step onto that and not have his feet sink into the stuffing and fabric. He loved his King of the Hill bed.

    Prozac Dosage

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    A friend had a budding agility greyhound (Reagan) who developed noise phobias that were especially related to travel. Prozac didn't work. Xanax turned Reagan into "a belligerent, back talking greyhound with serious munchies." BuSpar was helpful.

     

    The friend blogged about Reagan and her issues and their various efforts to help Reagan relax. See here (and check additional tags in the left column): http://neversaynevergreyhounds.blogspot.com/search/label/Reagan%20Fears

     

    Reagan eventually was rehomed with a family friend. She doesn't have to travel in a noisy van, she has another greyhound for company, and now she has a toddler to follow around. She's a happy girl. http://neversaynevergreyhounds.blogspot.com/search/label/Reagan%20Misc

    The Problem With Poots

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    With my dogs, the smelly farts have been the result of a food that doesn't agree with them. I had a boy that could knock you dead with his farts if he'd had anything with wheat in it. And I had a boy who emitted pure fish-farts after any food with fish in it, although he was fine with plain fish oil capsules or with sardines. (Probably something to do with how the fish was processed for kibble.) But everyone could smell the fish in those farts.

    Hookworms...help!

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Yes, it's common in dogs from Florida. We did Q's regular Interceptor (heartworm meds with a parasite preventative) on the first of the month, and a different heartworm med (Heartgard Plus) on the 15th of the month, and we did that for two months. That still didn't get them so after a heartworm-only month, we did the Interceptor again on the first, and Panacur on the 15th; and did that again for two months. Much to my surprise, that got 'em.

    Inducing Vomiting

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    If you get a chance, try taking the girls by your vet's office and have the techs feed something yummy. My Tigger's first vet visit with me was to get microchipped; his second was for a shot of cerenia when we discovered the hard way that he was lactose intolerant (he couldn't stop vomiting). He was furious at the shot and turned on the techs, who quickly got out of his way. Then he turned around and put his head against my chest for sympathy. We did an "all's forgiven" visit to the techs; I don't know if that fixed things or if he was just naturally forgiving, but he always liked that vet.

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