krissy
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Posts posted by krissy
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If his bloodwork comes back and his kidneys look good you could try him on Deramaxx or Metacam and see if that resolves the pain.
In terms of the x-rays, arthritis will show up. Summit had a toe x-rayed last year because the knuckle was enlarged and bony. X-rayed it. Looked arthritic but had them repeated 3 weeks later because they weren't 100% sure and were concerned about potentially OS. Looked exactly the same. He also limps on his left front a little bit and I'm sure if I x-rayed that leg I'd find arthritis too, so I don't bother. I have a bottle of Deramaxx at home. Whenever he has a bad day he gets a dose.
Summit is turning 7 in May.
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Greyhounds are the perfect dogs for cat people, because they're a lot like cats in many ways!
Good thing no one ever told ME this when I was thinking about getting a greyhound!
Not that I hate cats but I'm certainly not interested in having one (at least not in place of a dog). I certainly wouldn't call any of the greys I've had "cat-like" but I suppose they are more independent than a lot of other breeds. -
Hey hey Krissy! It happened on September 19...I remember because it's my little brother's birthday. It was not two minutes after I got home from work. They were horsing around in the yard and Nite did an air snap and bam...ear gone. Cal didn't even notice. He just picked up his ball and dropped it at my feet, while blood dripped on the ground beneath us. We rushed him to OSU and I screamed and cried when they told us that it couldn't be reattached. It's Cal! And it's his ear! His ears are who he is! Now he looks like this:
I apologize if this turns out enormous...I'm terrible at pics here on GT.
Glad to hear I'm not alone with the corn mysteries. Now that we know what it is, we can look for that first (and tell the first two vets to do some research because we were right!!!). Glad to hear Summit's better; I read about his pannus on your blog. One of our fosters (Wantitall Bonnie) had untreated pannus for several years before being returned. She's doing great with her daily drops now.
OMG! Poor Cal! Not that he knows he's a poor thing. He looks pretty pleased with himself. Nite must have heard us making fun of Cal's one floppy ear so he figured he'd crop it so it would stand up straight again! I can't believe Nite took the ear clean off! I would have cried too. I was pretty sad when I diagnosed Summit with pannus, but I didn't quite cry... of course it's treatable. He's had it at least as long as we've owned him. I noticed at the adoption kennel that his eyes were cloudy but I thought it was just normal corneal aging. Nope, pannus.
The drops cost a fortune. Thankfully he's down to every other day treatment now so it lasts a lot longer. -
Poor Nite! And when did he bite Cal's ear? I hope they weren't fighting over that dragon stuffy I bought them!
I'm glad you figured out what was wrong and got it dealt with. Summit went through an incident about 2 months back (just before Christmas) where he went suddenly very lame, particularly on cold, hard surfaces (like concrete) but was significantly less lame on the laminate surface at school. I was on orthopedic surgery at the time so I brought him in to do a full orthopedic exam. They found absolutely nothing. Thought maybe it was arthritis, although it was such an acute onset I wasn't entirely convinced. I had looked and looked for corns... nothing. I got him some Deramax and just left him alone. A few weeks later at a greyhound play date someone noticed blood in the snow. As we were all looking at our dogs' feet I found a corn on Summit's "lame" leg which he had been sound on for at least a week even without taking Deramaxx. Once the corn broke through the surface it bothered him a lot less. Then before I could decide if I was going to hull it or try duct tape or what... it disappeared on its own. Fingers crossed... so far it hasn't come back.
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I believe IOP for greys is the same as any other dog. Our normals here are 15-25. If anyone has any info to the contrary I'd be very interested if a copy/link could be posted so I can print it for my own personal greyhound medical library. (You know you're the crazy greyhound girl at your vet school when you get e-mails from the clinicians with greyhound articles... and you already have the article they're sending you!)
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Summit is baby gated in the bedroom (and at night we close our bedroom door with us and him in it) so I keep a stainless steel bowl of water in there. In the kitchen he has his main water which is a big 6 quart bucket. He has an iron bladder so I don't really worry about leaving water for him. I know he likes to have a drink after he eats (so after his Kong and at night after he eats his bedtime snack).
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Sounds like a bad idea to me. If you're at all concerned I wouldn't do it. Summit doesn't bat an eye at cats or small critters. But he full out attacks huskies or dogs with blue eyes. I would never take him to someone's house if they had a husky. I would be interested in asking them to help me work with him on his husky issues... but if I was just going over to socialize I'd leave him home. In your situation I'd do the same.
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You usually get about a week's notice. Foster families keep the dogs for approximately 3 weeks. On day 10 the foster assessment gets sent in about the dog's personality and how the dog is doing in the foster home. The adoption committee looks at all the foster assessments and all the adoption applications and then makes proposals for which dogs should go where. They send those proposed matches out with the adoption applications and the foster assessments to everyone on the board and to the foster parents. If anyone has any concerns about the match (including the foster family) they can share those reservations and changes are made if warranted. Then the foster family calls the chosen adoptive family and sets up a time for the adoption... usually about a week later.
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This is the only picture I have of Summit with one of the bunnies because he is afraid of them. This was shortly after we adopted him. Since then he has learned that the black and white bandit CAN and WILL jump up on his chest when he's sleeping (of course I never allowed this without very close supervision... hand on collar close) and now he runs whenever he sees the little monster coming. He refuses to step foot into their room. Cage doors can be open, bunnies can be ripping it up in there and he just sleeps on his bed at the door.
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Here's Summit doing a bit of nosework!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8msIiKnXhJs&list=UUv4UPHwt2tthOhojMb-jtXg&index=1&feature=plcp
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I think GINA has already agreed to consider Sudbury.
Yay! This is why I love GINA!
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LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE... and did I mention LOVE GINA.
We fostered for them to show our landlord that we would make responsible greyhound owners. The folks at GINA were so wonderful. I called the adoption coordinator every day for the first 3 days. I was so excited and nervous and stressed out because I wanted to get everything right since our chances to adopt our own greyhound were riding on this foster going well. They were so patient, answered all my questions, helped me through teaching the foster how to adjust to home life. Just fantastic. You won't find a more dedicated bunch. You will have so much support with your new dog. They foster all their dogs so you WILL get a cat/critter safe greyhound. I own 3 rabbits. Some people have cats. Some have kids. Some have little dogs. They'll get you a dog that will tolerate your littles.
Did I mention that I love GINA?
ETA: Oops, just remembered you're in Sudbury. Most of the southern Ontario groups have a geographical range. GINA's is no farther west than Guelph. I don't know what their north, east, south boundaries are but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's a lot farther south than Sudbury. You can always contact them and if they can't manage the adoption they'll certainly point you in the right direction. I do know someone in the Sault that adopted from a lady up there. I'm not really sure where she gets her dogs from, but you could certainly talk to Azi's mom about it. Her GT name is greysmitten.
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Trichinella is what most people are concerned with when it comes to raw pork...you will see more incidents of it in farm-raised pork vs factory-farmed pork.
...and the incidents of it are so almost unheard of these days that the USDA recently lowered its suggest temp for cuts of pork for humans from 160 to 145.
Trichinella is the human tapeworm, so technically dogs shouldn't pick it up from raw pork. For all humans I would definitely stress proper cooking of pork. I've never had tapeworm but I don't think it's pleasant.
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Summit is the sweetest, most laid back hound in existence I think. I can spoon with him, sleep with my head on top of his, sit on his bed with him, sleep with him at night. But he did one time last winter not want to get off the bed to go for his last walk. When I tried to make him he growled at me. He lost his bed privileges for a couple of weeks and we haven't had an incidence since.
I would NOT tolerate a dog growling at me. Everything in the house belongs to me and my BF and is just "on loan" to Summit on a behaviour dependent basis.
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You can give him a pain killer to help him over the next day or so, but you do want the vet to see the true picture. In other words, as awful as it is, you WANT him to be in pain when he gets the vet. The vet will have a better idea of what is going on and be able to make better decisions if s/he sees exactly what is going on. I'd give a painkiller today and maybe tomorrow if the appointment is later in the day on Monday. I'd give it just today if the appointment is early on Monday.
Personally I'm neurotic and if I wasn't 3 months away from graduating vet school I'd probably already have gone in when it first happened even if I didn't have any idea what was wrong. And certainly if you think it is dislocated I'd go in sooner. I've never dislocated a toe, but I have done my shoulder and it sucks.
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Pred usually causes animals to put on weight, it also often makes them want to eat all the time. It may be just a behavioural change for competitive reasons with Ryder now in the house. And not that you should be overly concerned, but I'd keep an eye on his appetite, his drinking habits, his urinating habits etc. just in case something medical is going on. Never hurts to keep an extra eye on them.
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Wow, I wish I'd never even asked the question. Truman does participate in an obedience class once a week. We also do two training sessions everyday. My adult dog, Henry, is certified in CGC and TDI. I understand the importance of training. Sometimes training aids are helpful to streamline the process. Just like people use cans of pennies or martingale collars, there are certain situations where training aids are beneficial. I was asking for a little friendly advice, not a guilt trip. And god forbid I leave a dirty dish in the sink.
With such a good track record of training I can't imagine why then you'd be looking for so many shortcuts to training your puppy. Belly bands and scat mats are inappropriate training aids for a young puppy. In no situation that you have so far represented would such aids be appropriate for your puppy.
And yes, the best way to keep the dog off the counter is to not entice him to get on. Particularly when he is young and learning. So try and keep your dirties out of the sink.
Actually, I went back and checked the housetraining thread and the OP never said she wanted to use a belly band on her puppy, it was a suggestion made by someone else later in the thread.
While I agree with the general sentiment that the scat mat is not the way to go, there are gentler, more polite, less judgmental ways to make that point. People are a lot more likely to accept your advice, ask for further information, and not get defensive if you just say things nicely.
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Krissy, do you have nosework classes in your area? It's starting to catch on and might be a really good option for you guys instead of agility. I have a friend who started taking classes here when they were first offered and just titled with her dog. It's much more about doing something that encourages a dog to use his natural abilities rather than teaching him to do "artificial" things on cue. That part of it really appeals to me.
I've never heard of it but I'll do some leg work. I know most of the training facilities in this area though since we just went through the search for a place for obedience/agility last winter. I doubt much has changed in the way of programs so you never know.
Summit LOVES agility. We have so much fun. It's not an issue of getting him to do artificial behaviours... he'll pretty much do anything to get a treat once he knows what he's being asked to do. The problem was those darn gun shots at the agility field all the time. Ruined everything.
Of course, with agility more or less out of the picture it would be nice to find him something else to do. He's not exactly crazy about obedience but he is pretty good at it.I wasn't saying Summit had a problem with the artificial behaviors, just pointing out what I see as a major difference between the 2 sports. As a result, how you train for it is very different too. I'd really recommend taking a class if you're interested in pursuing it and can find one. This site seems to be the best resource, but unfortunately it looks like the search for trainers is limited to the US. But there may be contact info so you could email to find out.
Anyway, it was just a thought for something else you could do. Was the agility field iwth the gunshots just where you trained or for competition? I'm in such a dense area of population that I have my pick of agility facilities, but I'm guessing that may not be the case for you.
No one in our area offers the nosework. I'm not really interested in pursuing it in the sense of getting him titled or anything, just from the point of view of having something new to do with him so I'd probably just work with him at home for fun.
We actually changed agility facilities and ran into the exact same problem at the new place. Both have gun clubs a few kilometres away. It's not loud, but even just the slightest distance popping and Summit turns into jello. On walks if he even hears something that sounds similar to a gunshot he goes onto high alert, so we've worked on that, but actual gunshots are just too high stimulus for him. There are no other agility clubs that are within a reasonable distance for us. I'm in school until at least dinner time most days so I really can't drive more than 30 min to get to an agility field with him. Hopefully when we move we can find a facility that is nowhere near a gun club. At that point though I will have adopted my second greyhound and will be focusing on her. If there are no scary guns Summit will come for fun and I'll work him through a simple course, but he's effectively retired from agility at this point. Sad and unfortunate, but that's alright. There's always something new to try.
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Welcome and congrats on adopting your beautiful girl!
My dog was a bounce who had a previous family for 2.5 years. We have now had him 15 months and he is STILL blossoming more and more. He was very relaxed, laid back, and well adjusted when we got him, but after about 6 months he started to be REALLY happy and excited whenever I would get up in the morning or come home from school. His tail goes like crazy and he rubs up against me, sticks his head in my crotch, and pushes the side of his face into my stomach and looks up at me. And in the last couple of months he has started chattering sometimes when he's very excited which he never did before.
So even in a dog off the track for 4.5 years... he still astonishes me from time to time!
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Before I ever started to "formally" train Summit in anything he learned "easy" every day things. I made him wait at doors and for his dinner. Then I taught him to make eye contact. Then I taught him to down which was the first command that had required luring. Down took several attempts to really get. Once he did though making it stick was no problem. And it made teaching him to sit MUCH easier. He understood that me moving the treat around was my way of telling him what I wanted him to do, as opposed to me just being a beach and refusing to give it to him.
Now he does that "cutesy" repetoire. Sit, down, around finish, heel, wait, drop at a distance, paw, other paw, touch, retrieve, spin, crawl, roll onto one side, back up, bow, COME (reliably and quickly). It takes time but it'll come.
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Nose work is wonderful!
I found some DIY tips on at home nosework, so maybe when I have some time I'll start doing a bit with Summit. He does a lot of sniffing on walks so who knows... he may actually be capable of being a decent tracking dog. Looks like fun at any rate.
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Krissy, do you have nosework classes in your area? It's starting to catch on and might be a really good option for you guys instead of agility. I have a friend who started taking classes here when they were first offered and just titled with her dog. It's much more about doing something that encourages a dog to use his natural abilities rather than teaching him to do "artificial" things on cue. That part of it really appeals to me.
I've never heard of it but I'll do some leg work. I know most of the training facilities in this area though since we just went through the search for a place for obedience/agility last winter. I doubt much has changed in the way of programs so you never know.
Summit LOVES agility. We have so much fun. It's not an issue of getting him to do artificial behaviours... he'll pretty much do anything to get a treat once he knows what he's being asked to do. The problem was those darn gun shots at the agility field all the time. Ruined everything.
Of course, with agility more or less out of the picture it would be nice to find him something else to do. He's not exactly crazy about obedience but he is pretty good at it. -
We haven't been up to much. We did some agility in August/September, but we had to quit because of Summit's gun shot phobia. I've effectively retired him from agility. Very unfortunate.
I did teach him a few fun tricks this winter though. I taught him to spin and I taught him to army crawl. We've also been working a lot more intensively on his recall and I'm very proud of it at this point. There are some situations that still need work but all in all for most common situations where recall is absolutely imperative I'm very confident. Which is awesome. It really removes all stress of escapes or accidental off leash incidents. Everyone at our greyhound run is always so paranoid about grabbing onto the dogs whenever someone arrives late and has to open the gate. Everyone chases dogs around and grabs onto them and there's a lot of hollering around to make sure everyone is accounted for since not everyone has their own dog by the collar. I just call Summit and ask him to wait beside me and put my hand on his collar. But no chasing, no hollering, no chaos, no death grips required. It's nice.
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How long has she had the corns for? I just ask because Summit had a similar "episode". We thought he was having some arthritis when the cold weather hit and we couldn't find any other cause for his lameness (including corns... I looked). Then a few weeks later he seemed to be a lot better... at which point I actually did find a corn. At least, I think it's a corn. It looks like a corn and was in the right place. So I worried about what I should do with it. It wasn't bugging him since it had surfaced so I figured I'd leave it be. Well, wouldn't you know it, it hasn't cause him any further issues and has since completely disappeared. I can't figure it out. I'm hoping it was just a foreign body maybe so it won't be coming back... but from that experience my thoughts are to leave any "corns" that aren't causing limping and see what happens.
As for the real corn that's causing her issues... we never did anything first hand, but while I was at OSU this summer I learned how to hull corns. It's not difficult, but finding the right tool would be problematic. We use dental elevators.
Not that I hate cats but I'm certainly not interested in having one (at least not in place of a dog). I certainly wouldn't call any of the greys I've had "cat-like" but I suppose they are more independent than a lot of other breeds.
The drops cost a fortune. Thankfully he's down to every other day treatment now so it lasts a lot longer.
Zuri Update & More Qx
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted
An orthopedic exam by your regular vet might tell you where the pain is in order to target your x-rays. The problem is, if you have a greyhound anything like Summit... you won't find anything. Summit is stoic to a fault. He'll be limping so I know he's in pain, but through a full orthopedic exam he won't wince even once. Then he gets back up and starts limping all over again. To be fair the most recent time was probably due to a corn, but previous to that... he'll pull up lame after running and I put him through full ranges of motion and nothing. Then he limps off almost hobbling on 3 legs.