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I'd suggest just keeping her up to date on rabies vaccination according to the laws in your area, and try to go with the longest interval possible. At her age, she really doesn't need DHLPP anymore, and if she's not around other dogs, she doesn't need Bordetella.

No need to be sad. It's totally appropriate to use medication to help a dog through serious separation anxiety, although it may take some trial and error to find the dose or drug that works for an individual dog. Especially with behavior medications, each dog responds a little differently. For some, a lower dose actually works better. If the every other day dosing is helping with the separation anxiety, then I'd stay with that. If not, I'd consider trying a different medication, like clomipramine. Fluoxetine and clomipramine both have brand name formulas that are FDA-approved and backed by research to treat separation anxiety in dogs when used in conjunction with a behavior modification program.

Are you sure it's a soft tissue sarcoma? Soft tissue sarcomas don't have a high risk of metastasis but are often locally aggressive, so it could be affecting the bone. Has she had x-rays done to see if the bone is compromised? I'd recommend doing a consult with Dr. Couto, or asking your vet to contact him: http://coutovetconsultants.com/ Soft tissue sarcomas can often be treated with surgery followed by local injections of a chemotherapy agent called 5-FU, but not sure if it would be as successful if it's attached to the bone. My whippet had one over his elbow (no bone involvement, though) that we used this protocol with. He had surgery first, then 4 weekly injections of 5-FU. Dr. Couto consulted with my local oncologist to give them all the details of the protocol.

Glad you have an appointment with Neuro/Ortho on Monday. I was thinking that a soft tissue injury should be much better if not healed after 4 weeks, so this is probably something more than that. Hope he's able to get some relief soon.

Probably not very likely to be due to the chicken and rice. Chicken and rice is easily digested and often recommended for dogs with vomiting or diarrhea. And it if was going to cause problems, I would have expected it before 3 weeks. If he's acting normal, drinking water, and not vomiting, you could keep an eye on him and see if he feels better in a day or two. If he continues to have diarrhea, call your vet on Monday. Or if he gets worse, consider a visit to the e-vet.

Hopefully this has already been resolved, but I've noticed that sometimes if my dogs need to poop, they also need to pee too. I had one dog who was 100% housetrained and could hold it for 18 hours (not on purpose, but when I got stuck at work with an emergency). But when he had diarrhea and couldn't help pooping in the house when he was home alone, he would sometimes also pee too. In your dog's case, I would have just kept him outside longer when you took him out in the middle of the night and made sure he peed too before coming back in.

Chewing around the base of the tail and the top of the lower back are classic signs of flea allergic dermatitis, especially if more than one dog in the home is affected. IMO, with signs like that, it's fleas until proven otherwise, and I treat for a suspected flea allergy. Some dogs are so sensitive to fleas that even picking up 1 or 2 on a walk can set off that reaction, and you may never find the fleas. What flea control product are you currently using?

Excellent news! I'm assuming Birdie is still acting normal? Has the size of her lymph nodes changed at all?

With any change in behavior, it's always a good idea to make sure there's not a medical problem. Also, did the start of any of the problems going out coincide with storms or fireworks, if those things bother her? So is she still going outside into the fenced backyard voluntarily sometimes? But other times she doesn't want to go? Any pattern to when she will or will not go out in the fenced yard? Maybe there are times when she really doesn't need to potty and just wants to stay in. How many hours is she holding it? It sounds like there are some real stress or anxiety issues here, but I'm also wondering if your response to her refusals to go out is somehow making it worse. The more you worry and make a big deal over something, the more it will stress the dog out. If just going out to the backyard 2-3 times a day keeps her from having accidents in the house, I'd just let her go out only as much as she wants for 2-3 weeks. Don't force the issue, and don't make her go on walks if she doesn't want to. After a period of just letting her be and not fighting her about these outings, try again. If she's still reluctant, try different ways of approaching it. For example, rather than trying to leash her up in the house, if she'll go outside into the fenced back yard on her own, let her out first, then leash her up out there and start your walk from the back yard. Also remember to give her lots of praise, and even reward with treats, for any good behavior associated with the sequence required to take her out, such as getting up off her dog bed when asked, going outside into the fenced backyard, letting you put the leash on, etc. If she seems hesitant, let her progress at her own pace and don't force her. Take baby steps. If she'll only step outside the gate at first, start there and slowly work toward walking around the front yard in the beginning. Don't leave the property until she's acting more comfortable walking around your front yard. Keep walks short unless she acts relaxed and comfortable walking out into the neighborhood. And don't forget to praise and reward any progress she makes, no matter how small.

Chewing around the tail area is most likely due to flea allergies. Do you have her on a flea control product now? If it's due to fleas, that's the first thing you need to take care of. Any products to address itching won't work if fleas are still present. You can try topical hydrocortisone or Benedryl, but need to keep her from licking it off to give it a chance to work. Oral dose of Benedryl for dogs is 1 mg per pound given every 8-12 hours.

This piece of information makes me think that he is not so high prey that this isn't workable, but it will take a bit of commitment and effort on your part. Our group would probably consider him "cat trainable". The cat's reaction play a large role in affecting the dog's response, and with a shy cat, part of the process is giving your cat a chance to become accustomed to the dog as well. Because of this, I don't force interactions. By continuing to bring the cat to the dog, you may making the cat more scared, and a scared cat will run, which triggers the greyhound's instinct to chase. From the initial post, it seems like Lordie is triggered to grab or chase when the cat hisses or runs. So you want your cat to relax around the new dog and be less likely to show the behaviors that trigger his prey drive. When I bring a new dog into the house, I let the cat decide if he wants to approach or not. The cat has access to "safe rooms" which are baby-gated off so the dogs can't enter. Most of the time I bring a new greyhound into the house, the cat doesn't enter the rooms where the dogs are for a week or two. With a calmer dog who shows no interest, the cat may venture out sooner. When the dog sees the cat through the baby gate, I monitor the response. Casual interest is ok, but I distract if I notice any intense staring and reward for the dog taking his attention off the cat. IMO, it's not an issue of hierarchy, but rewarding the dog for being calm and ignoring the cat. For some reason, a small dog or cat that is in your arms becomes more interesting to other dogs, so I definitely don't recommend picking up the cat. Until you are more certain of his response, always keep him muzzled when there's any chance the cat might come into the room. And definitely continue to keep them separated when you're not home. Even with cat-safe dogs, I still do this as a safety precaution when I'm not home.

As long as she's drinking, dogs can go for a couple weeks without eating, although that's obviously not ideal. You can give her Ensure to get some calories and nutrients into her, or try meat baby food. If she won't take either voluntarily, you can try slowly syringing or spooning it into her mouth. But if she seems nauseous or vomits, you don't want to force the issue.

My hounds have done this lure coursing, and even just running at the park on dry ground. Therapaws may help with comfort while walking for the first few days. I don't really do anything to treat these. And this is the one injury that I don't even try to prevent licking. They're usually much more comfortable after 2-3 days, and are usually completely healed up within 10-14 days.

I believe you mentioned in the other thread that the ataxia started after you increased the gabapentin? I wouldn't have expected going from 100mg 3x/day to 100 mg 4x/day to cause ataxia, so I was actually wondering if that sign was secondary to her spinal cord issue. If that's the case, it may not improve until she's been on the meds a little longer. Hard to speculate on prognosis until you get the CSF tap results in and you have a more specific diagnosis. Did your neurologist talk to you about considering tick-borne disease (TBD) testing? Sometimes meningitis can be secondary to chronic TBD. Have you been trying food besides her regular dog food? If she's not feeling good, I'd try encouraging her to eat with things like canned dog food, cooked chicken breast, or the baby food that tbhounds mentioned. Sending good thoughts that Frappucino starts feeling better.

Any updates?

Not an area I have much experience with, but you mentioned in your first post that he's a certified autism service dog. Does that certification come with some kind of paperwork to indicate his training? If not, maybe the organization that certified him can help with the question on how to get him officially registered as a service dog?

My condolences on your loss of Carly. I agree with tbhounds that this probably wasn't a case of malignant hyperthermia (MH). From your description, I'm wondering if it was even non-MH that resulted in her passing. The fact that she settled down, went to sleep, and walked outside normally without panting all point toward her temperature having returned to normal. It's possible that the collapse wasn't directly related, and she may have thrown a clot or suffered a stroke. The stress from that episode would have been enough to cause her temp to be elevated again by the time she got to the e-vet. Maybe the preceding events and stress contributed, but that may not have been the direct cause of her sudden death. A bit more about MH... It's a genetic condition and extremely rare. Dogs with MH die *during* the stressful event or anesthesia, and often do not survive if they aren't given Dantrolene. Most greyhounds that develop an elevated temperature with stress or anesthesia have non-malignant hyperthermia, as described in the article by Dr. Feeman mentioned in previous comments. Dantrolene will not help with non-MH. Excerpt from Dr. Feeman's article: "Many anesthesiologists believe that if the animal survived and did not receive an injection of Dantrolene, MH was not the cause for the elevated temperature. If your pet has ever had a previous uneventful anesthetic procedure, it is most likely not MH. Animals affected by MH are always affected by MH and cannot have an anesthetic procedure with gas anesthesia without triggering the hyperthermia. If your Greyhound was neutered with no report of problems with anesthesia and subsequently developed hyperthermia during an anesthetic event, it is unlikely to be MH."

See how he's doing in the morning. He might be fine, but if he seems more painful tomorrow, would probably be worth a trip to the vet in the morning. Is your vet not open on Saturdays?

Sounds like she might be itchy. Perhaps allergies?

Wow, congrats to Twiggy on 3 years! She's truly an inspiration. While Twiggy's case may not be representative of what to expect with most cases of OSA, she's an example of what's possible...

Excellent post by 3greytjoys. Has the group been in touch with the prison program to find out more about how Jasper did while there? Does your group truly expect you to quickly teach him everything he was supposed to have learned in the program? Every dog is different, and training isn't something that can forced, especially not within a rushed time frame.

When it comes to flea control Comfortis and Trifexis are the same product. Trifexis just has heartworm preventative combined in the same pill.

Your girl is beautiful! One additional thought...I know you mentioned that your girl was skinny to begin with, but it's possible that some of the weight loss could be from muscle loss. She's probably not quite as active now as when she was racing. I also wanted to address the general concept of determining how much food is "enough". I'd have to agree with Batmom. Generally speaking, if a dog is losing weight, s/he is not getting enough food. Every dog is different, and many other factors affect caloric needs, so you can't look at a certain amount of food and determine that it's "enough" for that particular dog, at that particular time. Other factors, such as parasites and diarrhea may affect whether nutrients are being absorbed properly, but until you get those issues cleared up (which can take time), you need to feed more to at least maintain weight. After those issues are resolved, the food can be decreased again, but you don't want the dog to continue to lose weight in the meantime. I fostered a 70-lb male who was under his racing weight when I got him and lost weight in the first week even though I was feeding 6 cups/day. It wasn't until I increased him to 8-8.5 cups/day that he started gaining back the weight he needed. In his case, several factors probably contributed to him needing so much food. He was healing from a broken leg, adjusting to a change in environment (stress), having some loose stools, and he was also not neutered yet. After about a month weeks, he'd gained weight, and I was able to gradually back down his food and maintain his weight on 6-6.5 cups/day. By that time, he'd settled in, his leg was mostly healed, and his diarrhea had cleared up. Even without any health issues, many hounds that are fairly newly retired will need more food for the first few months. It takes time for the hormones to dissipate after their spay/neuter and for their system to adjusts to no longer being in race training. The stress of transition to a new home and environment also increases caloric needs. Most of my fosters start off needing 4-6 cups/day for at least the first 2-4 weeks. After they settle in, most can be decreased to 3-4 cups/day, and my older greyhounds only need about 2.5-3 cups/day to maintain weight.

None of the alleged deaths were confirmed - just unsubstantiated claims exploited in sensationalist articles by a single news station. This has been discussed several times before. Here's a previous thread with links to a couple others: http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/305160-trifexis-not-safe-news/ And a good article with a vet's take on the whole situation: http://avetsguidetolife.blogspot.gr/2014/07/trifexis-safety-concerns-poor-reporting.html

Honestly, if you were still having a flea problem with your dog getting Trifexis every month, I doubt K9Advantix would work any better. I've found Trifexis/Comfortis to be a lot more effective at killing fleas than any of the topical products. It sounds more like the problem is coming from the environment, not the product you're using on your dog. Since consistent flea control on your dog has not broken the cycle, there is an outside source that is continuing the flea problem. Are there any other pets in the home (such as cats)? And are all pets on flea control? Are there any cats in the area outdoors? Wildlife such as rabbits and squirrels can also be a persistent source of fleas in the yard. You may need to just treat the yard and the house on a regular basis to keep things under control, and with this severe of a problem, hiring a professional exterminator, would be more effective than trying to do it on your own. Best of luck. A severe flea infestation can be a nightmare to get under control, but it's doable.