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I think I reached out to Victoria Peak several years ago (2015) to find out what type of material is used. At the time I needed to replace fill in some beds and wasn't really in the market for the whole kit and caboodle. Anyway I started hunting around for "Siliconized Polyester Loose Fiber" and found a couple places online. It still is holding up great, and doesn't absorb odors easily. I added it to my Costco beds and slumberball (also no longer available). So if your fill gives up and you need to replace that, try looking for this stuff.

Thanks for the sound advice. And the great grey and kitty picture. Mine may get close while sunbathing in the window, but I don't think I will ever see them cuddle. Holly has personal space issues still and won't let even poor Oliver cuddle. Oh well. I know where to go to see great pictures though.

Wow, thanks for all the great responses! I sure like Greytalk, post a question at bedtime and wakeup to a fantastic collection of advice and suggestions! We have had Oliver since Memorial Day weekend (5 months) and Holly since Christmas Eve (10 months). Both were initially curious about the cats, now they ignore them for the most part. But as I mentioned, better safe then sorry, so the cats get locked away in their room and the dogs are muzzled when we leave.

Hi all, I was out searching for squeaky toy innard replacements for the many now defunct squeaky toys in the house. I came across a couple of adoption group information sheets that recommend not to have squeaky toys in the house if you have cats, especially if the cats are vocal. We have two greyhounds and two cornish rex cats. Both cats are very old and not active, although one of the cats is very vocal. The male 3 yr old greyhound loves toys, and is toy motivated. He loves to squeak them, but will continue to chew them if the squeaker dies. The 3.5 yr old female is not interested in toys, unless she wants to tease the male. She is food motivated and for the most part ignores the toys. All the toys were picked such that they in no way shape or form resemble a real animal. They are either bone shaped or cartoonishly shaped. The cats are locked away in a room when we are gone, and the dogs a muzzled. The cats and the dogs do not nuzzle or sleep together as some of the really cute pictures on this forum and elsewhere show. Periodically they will interact but that is not very often. So the question then is whether one should let agrey have squeaky toys, if you have cats. Any suggestions and comments are welcome. Thanks!

Sorry Jen, didn't pick up your post when I hit the refresh button this morning. The eye was looking better than it did last night, swelling was down but I could see some little cloud in her eye, and I had already decided to take her in just to be sure. She is sleeping off her vet ordeal now and feeling very sorry for herself. But the good news is is that she did go back outside this morning! What a champ. Betsey

Quick update on Holly's eye. The vet found a small ulcer and so she put her on antibiotics. Didn't think the cut warranted stitching and the swelling looked to be from a hematoma in the eye membrane. Some buising, but no blood in the eye itself and no other injury besides the ulcer. SHe'll be on oral and topical antibiotics for the next week and she has a follow up appt Monday morning to check the ucler is improving. Thanks again for all the useful suggestions. We now have a triple antibiotic ointment we can use again, and I plan to amend my first aid kit with some saline solution. Betsey

Just a heads up. Looks as though many of the sites either indicate it is on backorder or that they can no longer get Terramycin. Not sure if Phizer has discontinued making it or not.

Great suggestion thanks! I was also planning on picking up some saline solution to keep on hand. Holly's eye lid still looks sore, not as swollen as last nite. Just waiting for the vet to open up.

Great thanks you guys for the responses. I did call the emergency vet to see what they suggested, and they said to try a cold compress, and see if that took down any of the swelling. They thought it could wait until tomorrow unless it appeared to have damage in the eye or the symptoms got worse. Well Jen you know Holly and you can imagine how long that cold compress lasted! But I did give her an aspirin with her nightly benadryl which will probably help with some of the redness. I am now thinking the cut might have gone thru the eyelid, since that skin is so thin and tender, but she is not blinking and is not bothering it, she just wants to go to bed. So we will see how she is through the night. Unfortunately I think the only saline solution I have is for the nose and since that goes up the nose I wouldn;t be to sure on its sterilness. I'll see what else I might have. I'll call our local vet tomorrow first thing then and get her in. Ha! She was just there dropping off a stool sample Tuesday cause I found little white rice thingys in Olivers stool, so they both got doses of tape worm medicine that day! Can't figure that one out. Holly is the ground vacuum, not Oliver. Anyway thanks again! I will post an update tomorrow. Betsey

Holly was being uncharacteristically puppy like tonite and decided to let loose and zoomy around the yard. We just had a deck put in so the landscape had changed quite a bit. I think she was feeling a little frisky with all that change. I had moved a lawn ornament (old farm equipment charmingly fashioned into a 4 ft sunflower thing) to under the big tree. We had a torrential downpour the other night and the heavy lawn ornament had tipped over. She went racing thru the yard around that tree twice before she got too close and tangled up with it. Down she went with the greyhound scream of death. We thought she had torn her leg but amazingly couldn't find anything. We only noticed the cut on her eyelid when we brought her in for a better look (plus she had enough of that evil back yard). The cut is right on the eyelid which of course is swollen. Its on the outer part of the eye. We cleaned it with the neosporin spray on a qtip, not wanting to get it in her eye, and then I washed the bloody mucus that had accumulated out of her tear duct with a lubricating eyedrop. The cut is not large maybe 5mm if that and is no longer bleeding. Besides wanting to squint she appears to have good muscle control of the eye and no hemorrhaging that I can see. I am wondering if there is something else we should do. Do I need to worry that she has some debris in her eye, do I need to worry that she poked herself with something that is rusty (tetanus?), eye damage, etc? Can I give her an aspirin for the pain (hers as much as mine)? And finally of course, does this merit a visit to the emergency vet tonite? The evil lawn ornament has been banished to outside the fence. Thanks, Betsey

Sorry to hear that Jen. I meant to ask you last night how he was getting along. I was really hoping it was just the muscles out of sync. I hope he has some good days ahead of him and I know he will be getting the best of care!

Hi, I am wondering how common is it for greyhounds, females in particular, to develop crystals in their urine. Prior to Holly, our 3 year old female being diagnosed, I have a male cornish rex cat who has had this condition for over 10 years. He was on the feline Hills C/D for years before getting switched to K/D for other issues. SHe also had a bacterial infection and so the Vet is not sure which prompted what: the bacterial infection prompted the crystals or the crystals prompted the bacterial infection. The infection is now gone and the crystal count down to almost nonexistent, but of course the vet wants to keep her on the C/D diet for the long term. I am not keen on that given the criticism I have seen recently about the c/d diet ingredients, and not too thrilled about the cost factor either. I know crystals can be a serious issue, especially for males. I am just wondering how common is this? I have not found any information on the internet that it is a common greyhound issue, only one of the racing sites discussion the types of tests for urine analysis. Unfortuneately my other grey, Oliver, decided to mark up my "Care of the Racing and retired greyhound" shortly after arriving, and I have not replaced it yet. Thanks, Betsey

Thought I'd post just a quick follow up on how Holly is doing with her fear when going out to the back yard. She has gotten better overall, but still has occasions when she really does not want to be out there. Usually it happens when the neighbor across the street is out in his garage, or the neighbor two doors down is in his back yard. One moment she will be anxious and want back in, and then an hour later when we are out there she is fine. Luckily she is not having potty issues, and the anxiety moments are not that common or long lasting. She does have an icky left ear that does not want to clear up and the vet put her on benadryl (she did animax for 10 days). It helps some but I can't help but wonder if she does not have a food allergy. We switched her to Natural Balance lamb and brown rice and she has been on that for about a month. The vet said the next thing to try is prednisone but I'd rather not go there just yet. She has to go in for her rabies shot in two weeks so I suppose we will be discussing the ear then.

Thanks for the input, even from a guy, its helpful to know others have experienced it as well. And it sounds like your vet told you pretty much what mine told me. Just watch it and maybe we'll do a round of antibiotics. The last female dog I had in the house was when I was nine or so, and we won't go into how long ago that was . ... Boys are easier in that respect.

Great, thanks everyone for the responses. I will post an update on her condition if we discover anything new about it.