Sundrop

I don't want to turn this into a scary post, but our first greyhound started doing the same thing with her food - she would (kind of angrily) push it around the bowl but not really eat it. Maybe a bite or two. We tried switching her food, or giving chicken w/ rice, canned food, etc. - and she would eat it once and then start the pushing it around. It was really odd. After multiple kinds of food, offered at different times, we resorted to the vet - and after multiple visits with blood tests, urinalysis, etc. - we finally took her in for an ultrasound. Turns out she was suffering from acute peritonitis, and they found multiple masses in and around her abdomen. Again, not trying to scare you, but she was gone quickly thereafter and I have felt a lot of guilt about getting her to eat when it actually hurt her to do so. It could be more than just picky eating, it could signal a problem.

We saw a tiny bit of progress with Deacon - we got a can of the food administered w/ syringe last night (about 5.5 ounces) in him - he didn't seem to mind much once it was in his mouth! We also gave him the medication to help with his appetite and amazingly, he ate his bedtime snacks! We normally give snacks at lunch and bedtime, and he hasn't been interested in those for a couple of weeks - but I offered them last night, since his sister was getting them, and he ate them! Yay! This morning I tried feeding him the canned food from the vet in his normal bowl, but he didn't want it - so he got the syringe again. I think we are going to go for 2-3 cans per day, but he seems to be handling it very well. I will keep trying to feed him normally (in his bowl) and if he doesn't eat, then we'll resort to the syringe until he is eating normally again. Overall, we've had good experiences with vets in our area - it's just the one emergency/specialty vet that we do not like. I had a girlfriend who also had two really awful experiences with them, and online reviews are quite bad - so mine is not an isolated incident. We met one vet there (a cardiologist) that was great, but overall, they seem much more interested in profit than the animals. It's shame. Our regular vet office is great, very caring people and they do all they can. The vet we are taking him to now is actually the practice we used when we originally adopted - we stopped going there because we had some issues with them and the care they provided to our dog who had multiple heart issues - they were just not capable of treating him. We gave them another chance when they built their new practice, and expanded it to include more specialists and the 24-hour emergency care. I'm glad we gave them a second chance, as they have really been trying to help us with Deacon. I think it's true for human hospitals/doctors and veterinarians - no matter how much they care about their patients, you will always love your loved ones more!

I can tell you, we just paid an $1,800 bill for our boy, which included ultrasounds of his belly & heart, some blood work and surgery to remove his spleen and a large mass (5 lbs), along with the biopsy fees to get a diagnosis and an overnight stay at the vet. We also had his teeth cleaned while he was under.

He is on a hunger strike again today. I think he's eaten 1 slice of deli turkey, 2-3 bites of ground beef, about half a slice of toast with a little chicken broth and 12 pieces of pasta that I cooked in beef broth. Vet prescribed something to help with his appetite - and some food they give in the ICU to critical patients w/ a big syringe. He told us to insert it in his cheek in little bits, as it is harder to spit out that way. Not looking forward to this at all, but he hasn't eaten more than a few ounces of food per day since early last week. Fingers crossed! And yes, the anti-nausea med is Cerenia. So, we are using Famotidine in the AM since he has always had some acid reflux, with the Cerenia. He also gets Carafate to "coat his stomach" and now we have Mirtazapine for his appetite. Also the Tramadol, of course. Not getting his antibiotics right now, as he just cannot handle it.

Wow, 4 dogs lost to this dreadful disease - I am so sorry. So when Bailey collapsed, was this because of a rupture, or something else? I'm very grateful we caught it before it ruptured. Since this is the 2nd time we've had an ultrasound done that revealed serious masses, even after others tests showed nothing (in our girl that we lost in 2010) or in Deacon (tests only showed early stage kidney disease) - I will likely be asking for ultrasounds earlier. Deacon ate a little more yesterday, though still not much. He has been drinking water, and urinating just fine - but yesterday he actually pooped on one potty break, and it was relatively normal (not diarrhea) - so I am happy about that. Our vet agreed with us that 24 hours in the hospital was sufficient for him, unless he had other issues. He wasn't eating there, either, and was absolutely miserable and anxious - he didn't want to lie down in the crate there and they were concerned they would have to sedate him - something they, and we, didn't want. We wanted to bring him home ASAP, as our last experience with leaving a dog overnight ended with an early death caused by their mistakes (not to mention some relatively inhumane treatment of her when we were forced to euthanize). The entire situation made us vow to never leave a dog in that situation again, unless it was due to surgery or some other emergency; otherwise, they are home with us. Luckily, this is a new emergency vet in our area, with a state-of-the-art facility, so we feel a little more comfortable, but we were clear with them about our aversion to hospitalization (and why). And if a dog is terminal, we want them at home with us. My heart still hurts thinking of what our girl went through, and that was 5 years ago. I will call the vet again today with an update on his condition. He has done great the past two nights - I stayed with him last night and I was on such high alert that I woke up every time he moved! He got up twice for a little water, but had no issues at all - and went out to urinate first thing at 6:30. Got his Pepcid, Tramadol and anti-nausea meds in him, but still not interested in food. We'll try again every hour! Thanks again for all the advice and information. Our first grey died in his sleep due to a heart attack, and we lost the 2nd in the emergency vet fiasco - both were very quick. So difficult to know what to do when you have something like this happen.

Thanks everyone for the kind words, thoughts and advice. We brought our boy home on Friday, about 24 hours after surgery. He is still struggling. He had a bad bout of diarrhea at the vet, and had an accident here at home while sleeping. We got him cleaned up as best we could, but he is very sensitive in that area at the moment - so we are trying to clean him here and there. He came home with antibiotics and Tramadol, and promptly threw that all up yesterday morning. I got some anti-nausea meds from the vet and he told us to hold off on the antibiotics until he was eating and could keep things down. He is not eating much, a bite here and there. We have tried lots of food, ranging from chicken, beef and turkey (with and without rice and oatmeal). We got some high quality raw food that he was eating before surgery, he won't touch it. Same with canned food. We have tried eggs - scrambled, hard boiled and even raw. We have tried a few kinds of broth, bread/toast/biscuits/bagels. We have tried low sodium/organic lunch meat (he ate a few bites of this). I have also gotten some high quality ground beef and made tiny little hamburger patties - he has eaten a couple of those (maybe 2 ounces total). We tried a little piece of cheese, banana chips, I also made some low sugar ginger snaps (he seemed to like those, so I will make more today). He is also rejecting peanut butter. We basically just offer him food every hour or so. He is drinking water, which is good - and he is urinating - we take him out every 2 hours or so. We haven't left his side, even setting an alarm every hour overnight to make sure he is okay. I pray that he eats something soon. His normal, healthy weight is 87 lbs - on surgery day he was 77 - and then they removed a 5 lb tumor. I imagine he is around 70 now and it is heart-breaking. Got his Tramadol and Pepcid in him around 7 this morning, and will likely administer anti-nausea meds around noon. Will offer more food after that. I am on the morning shift with him so my husband can sleep since he was up with him all night. I am making sure I remain positive with him and our other grey, upbeat, gentle and nurturing. It's all I can do for him at this point.

Our beautiful boy turned 10 last week - over the last few weeks, his appetite has been terrible. We went through this with him before, last summer, and our vet did an exam and found nothing abnormal. Within a few weeks, he was eating again - but the last month or so, he has been less and less interested in food. Over the past few days, he will only eat a few ounces of food per day, and he's a big guy. Last week, we took him to the vet and he found very high protein levels in his urine, he did a secondary test (I cannot remember what) and he diagnosed early stage kidney disease. He prescribed some Pepcid for his acid reflux, and 20mg of Benazepril for his kidney disease. He was also given two short-term medications to help with his appetite. After being on those meds for a week, his appetite did not return, so I asked for ultrasounds of his belly. We had a previous greyhound diagnosed with multiple masses with an ultrasound, after other tests showed nothing abnormal - we lost her within a few days. Unfortunately, the ultrasound showed a grapefruit-size mass on his spleen and they recommended emergency surgery, due to risk of rupture. They did another ultrasound on his heart prior to surgery and found nothing, and also did x-rays of his lungs and found nothing. We went for surgery and they ended up removing a 5-lb mass along with his spleen (being sent off for biopsy). But, they also found metastatic lesions on his liver, which they could not remove. We were told hemangiosarcoma is highly likely, and because of the lesions on his liver, his prognosis is "very poor." We will get biopsy results Monday or Tuesday for a definite diagnosis. Of course, I've done the research and I know that after a splenectomy with hemangiosarcoma, most dogs only live 2-3 months and if we added chemotherapy, it will likely give us an extra 3-6 months. To all of you who have dealt with this - what can we expect? If don't do chemo, what will his quality of life be? If we do chemo, same question. How much longer after diagnosis did you have your grey? How can we make him most comfortable and happy during this time? Many thanks for any advice. We are just devastated.

Interesting that you post this - we used to use TOTW Pacific Stream and had to switch a couple months back because the pups, both of them, starting refusing to eat. We thought, at first, that'd we'd gotten a "bad bag" - so we threw it away, washed the container we use and purchased a new bag, only to have them turn their noses up at that, as well. I just gave up and switched to a different brand altogether. Our boy is getting older (9) and is a bit pickier, so if it had just been him I could've attributed it to his changing palate; however, our 6-year-old girl is the definition of a chow-hound, so when she didn't want it anymore - I knew something was up with that food!

Hi everyone - thanks for all the replies! We checked his pads again, did the Bag Balm and squeezed, squeezed, squeezed & poked -zero reaction from him. I did it again later in the evening and still nothing. He regularly gets his nails Dremeled and no problems with that, either. We took him to the vet, again, yesterday (for his yearly check-up) and she checked his pads, too and found nothing. Could a corn be hiding out that much? I don't see anything obvious on the pads, though I don't quite know what to look for. He has a little cracking around the edges, which is normal for all of them, nothing severe. I see a tiny bit of "wear" on a couple pads - like the pad is a little thinner in those spots, but that's all I see. I looked up some photos on Google of corns on dogs' paws and I see nothing similar on him - could I be missing something? And yes, we had an ultrasound on both shoulders and his other one was fine/normal. We've also had numerous blood tests/system checks on him and nothing abnormal on anything. We didn't specifically have a tick-panel (I don't think?) - not sure if that is something they check for without asking for it. I will bring up the thyroid/tick question with her, as well. Thanks! I have Googled Prolotherapy and I am going to print it out and take it to the ortho-surgeon he has been seeing, as well as my vet, to get some opinions. Thanks for the tip! Thanks again, everyone!

We've always left water out 100% of the time, for all our greys, and we've never had an issue (other than when we've had a sick dog, a couple times when they've been on various meds). Up until 3 years ago, we both worked out of the home, I would come home for lunch to let them out - so they'd be home for 5-6 hours without a break and all the water they wanted. On occasion, they'd be home all day (10 hours) with no potty break and we never had any issues. We recently had our boy checked out because he drinks a HUGE amount of water, we thought his kidneys were shot. But...he is in perfect health and our vet told us he drinks when he's thirsty, but his body is fine.

Ours get one caplet with breakfast and another with dinner. Our girl eats them like candy, she loves them - our boy will spit them out, so we have to poke a hole in the end and squirt it in his food. We give our girl two at dinner during the winter months because she has skin problems.

We've been using Taste of the Wild for about a year now, and we buy the canned for them as a treat when they have to get boarded. The boarding place informs us they try to lick the silver off their dishes when they feed it to them, lol. We've had a can or two left over a few times and they gobble it down - we normally do half kibble with a little warm water, and half a can of the TOW canned food (we were using Pacific Stream up until a week ago when we switched to the Prairie). I also have a gag reflex with almost all canned food, but TOW isn't as gross as others we've tried!

Hiya! Thanks for the reply - and sadly, yes, we've checked his feet extensively. He came to use with a toe that stuck straight up in the air - certainly a racing injury (very broken toe!) that healed incorrectly. So, we've always been really careful with his feet because we figured, eventually, he would develop arthritis in that toe. That's the first thing we had the vet check - all the digits, no reaction from him - ankle, no reaction - then she checked all the pads and between the toes and found nothing. We've taken him to two rehab experts and then to the ortho-surgeon who have all checked his gait and all his digits, joints and limbs and found nothing conclusive other than his right front shoulder. He does have cracks on the pads of his feet, but nothing that ever looks inflamed/infected. I will check them again and I'll make sure I squeeze gently to see if he reacts! He does limp more on our asphalt driveway and he makes a bee-line for the grass, could it be that he isn't reacting to the vets pushing, pulling and poking his toes/feet/ankles? He's relatively stoic in the face of pain (other than this persistent limp)...but we've continually asked the vets to check his feet and he gives no indication of anything. We also had his feet x-rayed (the first time, because we didn't know the root of his limp and assumed it was his toe) and we did the laser and electro-pulse therapy on his feet, too. Should we ask for a sonogram on his feet?

In April/May 2011, our then 6-year-old boy started limping - he has been through a lot of vets, treatments and procedures - after 3 x-rays, no tumors were seen. We had a sonogram done and we were told his right front shoulder bursae is very inflammed, giving him a diagnosis of "severe bursitis." According to the specialty vet (ortho-surgeon) his bicep tendon looked "perfect" and he didn't see anything wrong with the soft tissue, but saw the "very nasty and immediately noticeable" inflammation in his bursae after his first & second sonograms. He has gone through hydro-therapy, laser therapy, electro-pulse therapy, massage therapy and acupuncture. He has also been on 4 different prescription pain meds (varying from anti-inflammatory, general pain and nerve pain meds), and non-prescription pain meds, he has also been on joint supplements (fish oil, glucosamine/chondroitin, MSM, etc.), yucca as well as some very expensive Chinese herbal supplements for joint/tendon pain and all-over body pain. He has had 3 x-rays, 2 sonograms, lots of bloodwork and numerous appointments with 4 different vets, - including an ortho surgeon who gave him an injection of Depo-medrol directly into the bursae. I am concerned because nothing has helped him. Nothing. At one point, he was on 3 prescription pain meds at one time and his limp never improved. I got him off all the drugs because they weren't helping, they were upsetting his stomach, probably overloading his system and they were expensive. I try and limit his movement as much as possible, we live in a split-level house, so lots of stairs - but I keep him gated in upstairs with me (I work from home) all day and I walk with him downstairs to force him to "go slow" and not jump. It breaks my heart to see him in so much pain. He just turned 7 last weekend, and he is in great overall health, but his limp...yikes! I just called and got him a referral to NCSU veterinary hospital, but will likely not be able to get an appointment with them very quickly (we did this for a different dog, different problem, and it took 2 months to get in). Should we try something else? Maybe another injection? Oral steroids? We've exhausted all the rehab options available, as well as all the natural supplements we can find (our vet is holistic & traditional, so we've tried a lot of things through them). The ortho-vet told us not to stop his walks, as his muscles would atrophy, so we still go on short walks without hills, but this boy is in pain. We just don't know what else to do. Help me!

Also, just because she isn't exhibiting pain doesn't mean she isn't in pain. We lost our girl last year (at 13.5 years of age) and she never exhibited any pain to us until her last week even though she had acute pancreatitis. She was balking at going up and down stairs (we carried her) - but she never limped and never winced/showed pain when her legs/hips were examined. She was extremely stoic in the face of pain... I personally have issues with my knees buckling, as I've had multiple surgeries to remove damaged cartilage (sports' injuries in my youth) - I have almost no cartilage left (what is left is so compressed it can't be seen in an x-ray) and I have advanced osteo-arthritis and stretched ligaments in both knees. Mine buckle because I hyper-extend them on a regular basis. It does hurt a bit, but honestly, I've adapted to it because I've dealt wih it for so long. Your girl might have some of the same issues and has just learned to deal with it - but definitely have her checked out and ask your vet if there is anything you can do to help. At her age, take nothing for granted!

We have the these also. I ask to have mine made without the D ring and they make them no problem. My bridge girl got her dewclaw caught in the D ring of a collar and broke it before we could help her ( we were home when it happened), so nothing with a D ring here. I have both home phone an cell phone numbers on the collars, no tags. Thanks for the tip - I was wondering if they were able to do that - I've just emailed them to ask that no D-rings get attached to either of the collars we just ordered. Martingales will be on for walks and outside excursions, but these little things will be on indoors w/ no tags ever. I'm guessing in case of emergency, if someone needed to get a leash on, they could hook it directly onto the collar (if the d-ring they use isn't big enough for leash attachment). Thanks again, all! Our girl has a super-sensitive neck, so we've been taking off both their collars anytime they're indoors, but we've been super nervous about them getting outside without anything on (both are chipped, though). Great solutions!

Thanks so much for the suggestions, seeing him limp around (especially as the weather gets colder and more unpredictable) is certainly heart-wrenching. We're willing to try anything at this point!

Oh! I like these little indoor name collars - just ordered 2! We don't care about the tags jingling, we just started feeling too uncomfortable leaving their collars on indoors when we had one dog get his paw caught in the other dog's collar one day while playing. No harm done...but makes me nervous. Our dogs are chipped and we're going to give these a try on top of that. Thanks for the suggestion!

Our 6-year-old grey was recently diagnosed with bursitis in his front shoulder. Before his diagnosis, we tried 4 different pain medications - at one point, he was on 3 at one time, and nothing helped him. He also went through some physical therapy/rehab, including hydrotherapy. We finally got him into the canine ortho surgeon who did an ultrasound and found the bursitis (after he had 4 x-rays and saw 5 different vets at 3 different practices). He had one steroid injection directly into the joint and it looked like for a couple weeks that he would recover, but the shot was short-lived and he is now back to painful limping. We went back to the ortho surgeon who said he wouldn't recommend another shot or oral steroids, and further said there was no surgery or other course of treatment. In other words, he just has to live with the pain. So, I've made an appointment with our vet (they are holistic and traditional) to discuss other alternative therapies. The vet we are seeing does acupuncutre and herbals (as well as traditional), but we have to wait a week. Any of you have experience and/or success with herbal/alternative treatments for pain management in your dog? I don't want him back on pain meds, as they really did nothing to help him and I hate to think of damaging other organs in the process. Since the ortho surgeon said "he wasn't bad enough for surgery" - and said he didn't think shots/oral steroids would help since it didn't work the first time (though I've read stories of success when doing a second or third shot...) - we just don't know what to do for him. We switched his food to a fish-based food (anti-inflammatory) and put him on a very small diet to lose a couple pounds (he raced at 80 lbs, but he was up to 86 - one vet recommended losing a few, so he is now at 83) and have him on fish-oil supplements and joint supplements. It breaks my heart to see him limping around. He was always such an active & happy guy, and he used to love going to doggie day-care once in awhile to let the other dogs chase him around. We can't let him do that anymore.

Yeah, the specialty vet who consulted with us was an ortho vet. The ultrasound was done by a radiologist and then the ortho spoke with both of our vets and our rehab tech. So we now have 4 vets involved, and one rehab specialist - so far the consensus is to try the shot, done by the ortho vet at the specialty clinic. I have another phone call tomorrow morning with another vet at our practice who has had some ortho experience, just to get a final opinion on what the dangers are, what we can do to help him, etc. Will know something definite tomorrow, and decide how to proceed. Thanks for all the advice!

We adopted our girl a little over a year ago and she was terrified of other dogs (not our other grey). We walk them twice a day, and we've taken great care to keep her away from other dogs unless we know the owner and the dog, and we deem them "safe" and gentle enough for her. Even then, we were just letting them walk by us, getting her used to it slowly. We have a couple good friends in the neighborhood with great dogs, so we'll stop in to say hi and make sure that she interacted with the dog, sometimes letting them loose in the fenced in yard. Once she started being less scared of all dogs in the neighborhood, we graduated to doggie daycare. She hated it the first few times and would avoid almost all the dogs, but she wasn't running terrified and we asked that they call us to pick her up if she got spooked. She never did. Three weeks ago we took a week-long vacation and she stayed at the doggie daycare boarding facility and guess what? They said she was PLAYING with other dogs! I almost fainted with happiness. She never runs up to dogs we see on our walks, which we like, but she doesn't try to run away anymore and she's finally enjoying the company of other dogs. We took it very very slowly, watched her carefully and didn't stress her out (which would only create more issues, in the end). We adopted her in June 2010 and she just turned 4 yesterday. She's just super sensitive and a bit timid - and we have to respect that. Don't push your new pup, make sure you create a safe enviornment when you introduce other dogs and don't try to push him. If he has enough positive experiences with other dogs, he'll come around - it just might take a little longer. He's just been thrust into an entirely new world -- think of how crazy and scarey that is for him! Congrats on your new boy, BTW!

Thanks for all the responses! I'm not sure about calcification of his tendon - I'll ask my vet. I haven't spoken to her yet regarding his sonogram, but according to the specialty vet, his bicep tendon looked "perfect" and he didn't see anything wrong with the soft tissue, but saw the "very nasty and immediately noticeable" inflammation in his bursae. I will definitely ask! Our vet is a holistic vet, so I'll ask about the Yucca, too. I would feel much better getting him off as many meds as possible, so I'm going to see if that would help him. I'm hoping they can do the injection and that he responds well - but anything I can do to prevent it coming back, or getting worse, I will do. As much as I hate it, I'm going to restrict his movement as much as possible. He's going to miss his walks.

Our 6-year old boy started limping about 3 months ago. We've taken him to three vets and a battery of tests & treatments (and meds) and it's only gotten worse. After 3 x-rays, no tumors were seen (yay!) but he's not responding to any treatments/rehab (including being on 3 separate pain meds, one for inflammation, one for general pain and one for nerve pain). We finally got him in a referral for a diagnostic sonogram and the vet at the speciality clinic said his bursae is very inflammed - he has severe bursitis in that shoulder. So, good news - no damage to his tendons/cartilage, no tumors, broken bones, etc. The vet at the clinic said this wasn't super common, though he has seen it in a couple ex-racers due to the stresses placed on their bodies. Our boy retired just before his 5th birthday, so he raced a pretty long time. He recommended a steroid injection (he said something like Depovedral(?), though I Googled that and came up with nothing but variations of the Depo vera shots - but he said it was a general steroid). After the injection, strict rest. I've had steroid injections in my knees to help with arthritis pain following some injuries in my youth -- would his shot be similar to that? I haven't met with my vet yet, but I'm trying to get some preliminary info. Do any of you have experience with this? Did the shot help? Did you have to have more than one? The specialty vet said he's seen the bursitis "go away" after one injection the couple of cases he has seen. Any advice is appreciated!

Hi all, We have two healthy, young, wonderful greyhounds. We've had our boy for over a year, he's a 5-year-old, 90 pound, red boy (his name is Deacon) and he's awesome! He's always been cautious when meeting people, especially men, but he doesn't bolt or anything and he calms down quickly. Over the past week or two, a neighbor (lives behind us, two houses down, so not directly behind us) has been getting an addition added to their home. Now, we cannot SEE this neighbor, we just hear the workmen, they play their music loud during the day (I work from home, but we have windows closed with AC on b/c it's still so hot here) and of course we hear the various hammers banging, nail guns, saws, etc. While inside, we hear almost nothing and even when we go outside for bio breaks, it's not really that bad - mainly we hear the guys talking loudly and some music playing, we hear saws and hammers, but it isn't constant or bad. A few days ago, Deacon started refusing to go outside after eating dinner - by then, there are still some workmen, but the noise had died down a good bit. I don't force him to go out or anything - we take a walk an hour or so later anyway. Two nights ago, they were using a very loud nail-gun on our walk, it sounded like fireworks almost - Deacon freaked out, turned around and would not walk any direction except HOME. My husband tried to calm him down, but he just wanted nothing to do with it. The problem is now, this morning, he didn't want to go outside after eating breakfast (no workmen even here yet) AND he wouldn't go downstairs when we called him down for his morning walk. Our dogs love their walks, if we even say the word "walk" they bolt downstairs and wait at the door. I had to gently cajole him to come down and get his leash on. Once outside, he did his business and went for a walk, but as soon as he got home and my husband left for work, he paced and was panting. I hated doing it, but I gave him a Benadryl to see if that would calm his nerves. Now, Deacon has never been a nervous dog. The only thing he runs away from is the vacuum cleaner. He's always been confident - but this past week he is turning into a nervous wreck. The workmen are a little annoying, but again, it's not too bad and Deac has been through hailstorms, fireworks (with windows open) and parties in our home without even waking up. I plan on taking him outside a few times when it is quiet, being gentle with him and rewarding him to see if that helps - but I was wondering - could this be something medical? Is "nervousness" like this a sign of something physical and perhaps the workmen outside are just exacerbating the situation?

Thanks, everyone. Your kind words are definitely a comfort and it is nice to be in a community where so many others feel just as strongly about their four-legged babies as we do. I just can't believe we've lost two dogs in 10 months - our remaining boy is starting to exhibit signs of sadness and a little confusion. He's a tough guy, though, and I know he'll pull through. Not so sure about me...but I'm hanging in there. Thanks again!