XTRAWLD

I'm going through this right now with Kasey (although admittedly not as severe as Charlie) http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/312456-prominent-hind-end-weakness/ Agreed that pain medication will most certainly make him feel more comfortable, and crying out when getting up definitely means he's in pain, especially if this is new. Gabapentin will certainly relieve his nerve pain, prednisone will reduce inflammation. These meds are relatively inexpensive. If he's standing for a long period of time, do you notice his butt start drooping and he can't support himself with his back legs. - That's more like LS and not arthritis. Also a harness will help you help him get up from rest. Scritches to your boy. Congrats to a 16 year old. He's had a great life!

I've decided to buy a bag of Olewo Beets to see if that helps to stimulate Kasey and hopefully that helps with his allergies too. For the Canadian customers, ordering off Amazon.ca is a helpful since the US site won't ship here! Anyone try this to help increase appetite? Claims: "DOG METABOLISM & WEIGHT CONTROL OLEWO Red Beets provide a premium source of fiber and help increase the nutrient absorption and proper digestion of the dog's food. Red beets have a gamma-amino acid which plays an important role in maintaining efficient metabolism. The betaine in red beets helps stimulate the function of liver cells and with a properly functioning liver, fats are broken down efficiently to maintain a healthy weight. " I see this product working three fold for Kasey: helping his allergies, helping his metabolism and reducing his inflammation.

Keep in mind he is still new, and new to you. He will likely encounter many many things that he's trying to put right in his braino. You may fall victim to being wrapped around tightly in his little paw.

This is helpful. Cyproheptadine is an antihistamine is very interesting - I'm assuming this acts as an allergy reducer too? I would like to ask my vet about this.... I'm struggling with Kasey since he's back on his pred (no, the pred in his case doesn't increase hunger, quite the opposite).

So very timely - lookit the article I came across http://www.wired.com/2015/03/dog-picky-pooper/?mbid=social_twitter

Ryder poops EVERY time we go outside, and usually twice per walk. It is not a large amount at a time mind you, he's just cleaning out his system regularly. You know what they say when you get to old age - never pass up the opportunity to go! Kasey however - I sometimes stop him when he has gone once and might want to go again within a few minutes. I know the second attempt will be mush - always always is. Ewh alert, I tell him "you gotta let it cook a little more"!

Long story time. Get a coffee! I hope to make this journey informative for the members on this forum too, so I will try to be as descriptive as possible. The 12 year old prevails! First off, Kasey had a GREAT day yesterday! His momma is a proud peacock! We met Dr. John who performed a different set of tests during his exam that the other vet didn't do. Kasey was standing very well for the most part, not a lot of sinking at all actually. He was wondering why he's on Gaba! I said "you didn't see him 2 weeks ago!" He concurred with the diagnosis of LS. He spoke of "myopic" and a few other things, which was a bit of gobbledegook to me. If I really want to know, I can email him for the exact info. So he did most of the talking, which is a great change for me. He's learning more and more about greyhound as his days progress and understands that they are a different breed. For the most part Kasey's health is very very good. No signs of arthritis, fabulous knees, great hips, no larangeal paralysis (yay!). He is still in a very good neurological state. He commended me for how well I've been taking care of him all these years. He really could be much worse off. I was thrilled to hear this coming from someone that has seen several greyhounds and is able to say he's one of the best looking 12 year olds he's seen. So where do we go from here? Well he is completely willing to do the depo shot. He indicated that vets are shying away from doing this shot because it isn't producing the results that expect however - that is a result of not administering the shot properly (putting it in the muscle instead of the spine). He would lightly sedate Kasey, and inject him as an epidural. It could be done in a morning and actually is not too expensive IMO ($350). The downsides are: -having to sedate him for the shot (he has issues recovering after a dental so I'm hesitant); -an onset of diabetes (I didn't bother to challenge that); -the shot just not doing what we wanted it to do (if that's the case - he certainly doesn't have LS) -having a bad reaction to it/or bad side effects - these last two being very low as a concern. However, I was surprised that he suggested the shot may only produce lasting effects for a few weeks - and never insinuated that it could be months. So that has me a little concerned. I don't want to put him under often to get this shot. Right now, he's being managed VERY nicely with pred and gaba. He's on such low dosages we have a ways to go before we run out of pain med options, and of course tramadol can always come into play. The downside of not doing the shot now: -he must be weaned off pred in order to get the depo shot -not have it in his system for about 2 weeks. Right now, I could likely easily wean him off, with just using pain meds to take care of his issues, because he's not in very bad shape! However, of course his lovely allergies come into play. The alternatives to manage his allergies have not been exhausted, but I will worry about that when I get there. Down the road though, I'm not sure I can get him off pred for a long enough time in order to take advantage of his "healthy" situation. So that's a consideration to do the shot earlier rather than later. We both agreed we'd like to pursue it when he's having a more difficult time. He also suggested surgery which is the only way to reduce the compression of the spine. He's relatively healthy and at 12 he'll still have a couple more good years. Although, we can't do surgery without an MRI. An MRI was estimated to be about $1300 (I'd have to travel an hour away with a poor car traveller). What an MRI will do for me is two things: -definitive diagnosis -ability to have surgery performed The downsides of the MRI: -Kasey is knocked out cold - more so than with a dental (and of course my reservations about sedation). Seems like very little reward for a high cost. Regarding general anesthesia - if he were to do the shot he wouldn't use the same drugs to sedate Kasey, since he will just need to be mellowed out. It's not like sedation given for getting a full dental. Regarding anesthesia for MRI - it would be a stronger version of what he goes through for a dental - since he cannot move and will need to be out cold. The best part of all of this, he does NOT need an MRI to get the shot!!! I forgot to mention his corns and I didn't ask about muscle relaxants, but I will email him about that. I did ask him if the chattering/shaking is a side effect of Gaba and he said "100% yes." Other forms of treatment options: -chiro (which we are doing already and Kasey is steadily improving. The vet knows our chiro which is a bonus). -K-Laser therapy (my original vet has this machine, and he will correspond with them to see what we can do to set up a treatment sched for Kasey) -acupuncture (I'm in contact with a lady that has a mobile service, she's a little pricey but I've got someone on deck) I think I will hold off on the acupuncture for now, but might pursue the K-Laser at some point and I will continue chiro but probably wean down to once a week treatments shortly. He did mention that he would like Dr. Couto to see him in a few months (he will be up here for a seminar). I appreciate the sentiment, I'm not really sure what that might do though. Maybe just another greyhound exhibiting symptoms to learn from? Thoughts? Maybe they can discuss the latest and greatest options? That's about all for now. Did I miss anything? So we will keep on as we are for now. I've now got a great set of people behind Kasey and his treatment and I don't feel so alone now dealing with him. We celebrated last night with a smoked marrow bone which he thoroughly enjoyed in the proper eating position...

Agreed. After owning Kasey for over 10 years, you just gotta take care of em as they age. Scritches to Keeva

Hmmm, could you go to the mailbox at a less busy time - perhaps in the evening? Do you have to go everyday?

Kasey sounds like an orphaned seal when I come home. I haven't yet figured out how to get him to stop. If you can't beat em, join em! I'd say go home first, and then go out to get the mail.

Sounds like old and a bit of arthritis is creeping into their bones and it is common to "struggle" when getting up from a laying position. I'm not familiar with the supplement you are suggesting. What I started Kasey on when he started to have these issues was a combination of FreshFactors and JointHealth from Springtime which really helped for a couple of years. Chewable and palatable but as with anything, likely the same as the supplement you are feeding, it takes weeks to a couple months to see results. With that said FF and JH seemed to work rather quickly for Kasey. Good luck!

Yes, it does occur but I haven't heard of it really happening a week out. Happened to Kasey once and freaked me out, so I gave them a call and they said it was normal but if it doesn't subside to bring him back in so they could look to see if it was really abnormal. He was acting fine and it did go away. We try to space out the shots as well so the boys aren't getting several at one time. Keep an eye on it and if it doesn't seem to be getting better give them a call and consider going back in.

Nope no trouble after exercise. I have often thought he has a mild case of LS, I just try to keep him as cool as possible as to not aggravate panting. He seems though to do the gagging/cough whenever I've missed a pepcid dose. Hoping the sucralfate will help. I'm not sure I'll be getting other x-rays done to be honest. We went in to that x-ray not focusing on the hips, which is likely why no accommodations were made. We'll see what the specialist has in mind on Monday anyway.

That bed pic is pretty funny. What a cutie! And official

I don't know what this means.... On an aside, I picked up Sucralfate today and will start that too. He's developed a new "gagging cough" over the last 2 months or so that I briefly mentioned at his last visit. I'm certain its his throat affected by acid since I likely wasn't using Pepcid regularly enough to prevent his reflux. I am having a HECK of a time trying to get all his meds scheduled now at the right times; avoid this with other meds, this has to be taken with food, take this one before food......and sometimes he won't eat! omg

Mine do too, they both do, I think they all do to be honest! Wait till you try to run with them and it's all going great and then boom he cuts across and down you go! That's a lot of fun! I do the "half your time, half serious time" rule as well. They are free to sniff where they want the first half of the walk, and to encourage the "we gotta walk now" part, I will actually take them away from grassy areas and smells (I walk on a deserted road) and off we go so they get some good exercise. To encourage walking at your side, keep the leash short and have his neck near your body, not ahead of you. If he pulls a slight tug with verbal command "heel" and he'll get the hang of it. You'll find they have a natural pace, as anyone would. I walk rather quickly and it's a perfect pace for them to walk at and be engaged to move forward. If they doddle, it allows more opportunity to sniff and stop and be curious. Keep in mind they are naturally curious to smell pee mail. How often do they really get to go outside their walls if you really think about it. We have a lot of things to distract us so walks are great experiences for them and they want to enjoy being out there, since they don't get to as often as we do. In a way we take it for granted, because we're off always doing out thing, so when do they get to enjoy theirs? Try the half and half rule.

So got a call asking to resched Kasey's appt to next week (Monday). Dr. isn't feeling well. Sigh. He's had two chiro sessions and both went well. She focused on the middle of his back which is where his reaction was more prominent. Also she believes, according to the xrays, that his hip bones are bone on bone I'll ask about the chattering and shaking if it's a side effect of gaba. He's also been off his food since I've upped his pred. This is not unusual. He's always exhibited opposite side effects of what prednisone usually does (increased thirst/hunger translates to never eating and drinking for my guy). So I'm resorting to giving him nutrition shakes when he refuses to eat a meal.

My Ryder is terrified of my espresso machine, and then later I downgraded to a Tassimo and he's still a nervous wreck so I completely sympathize. He has the same reaction when using the air compressor in the garage to pump up tires. My only luck for the coffee maker has been to mask the sound, however the duration of making a coffee is significantly less than a load in the washing machine. I find that putting him in the basement, running the furnace fan and putting music on down there and closing the door to upstairs while the machine runs works best. I have also tried to put him in the bedroom but when I try to coax him in there he knows something is up so I sort of wait for the opportunity first and then put music on, shut the door, turn on the furnace fan and go for it! Thundershirt didn't work for me, mind you to be fair I didn't give it a long enough go, but the few weeks I was using it did not reap rewards so I gave up. It is hard to say if it is the noise or the vibration of the machines that seem to bother my guy, perhaps similar to yours. I mounted my coffee maker on some sound/vibration absorptive material, but it didn't do anything for me. You could consider perhaps mounting your machine on a isolated pad? He has also reacted to me just standing in the corner where the machine is. Or he specifically knows what the "on" switch sounds like, what the tank resevoir removal sounds like, what the click is to insert the coffee pod sounds like. These are his easy triggers. So I just stop what I'm doing and will resume the coffee 5-10 minutes later. You could consider your moves and click putting the loads in as triggers for him. Do everything except turn it on - and then go and wait, you can turn it on later..... It's all I've got for you. I wish you the best of luck with resolving his fear. I am so sad when I see Ryder shaking like a leaf.

HOLY CUTIE!!!! Congrats

I think I'm going to ask for this tomorrow at the vet when Kasey gets checked out......most annoying sound ever!

I've never used it on my hounds. They are none the worse for wear. Ryder LOVES the sun, he has darker skin as it is. Kasey only suns himself for brief periods and then it's off to the shade or inside. I worry way more about the heat than sun exposure.

Congrats to your exposure?!?! I find if you move quickly, you have to be less to worry about. You'll get the knack! Grab a clothespin if you can

He might be at a more comfortable temperature when he's outside. a lot of dogs love to just sit out there and watch over their domain. And now as you can tell, the terminology of they come into their own personality in a few months to about a year is starting to come true To be fair, a lot of greys just go beserk when there is cooler weather.....they really enjoy it Mine have more spunk on our walks when it's cooler out.

Many swear by it.....to be honest, it hasn't done a thing for my boys, and Kasey actually turns his nose up to it....won't lick it off my finger and eats around it when it's in his food. Good luck! I use this (found at Costco) - Of course I had to buy the biggest bottle known to mankind. Slowly working to the bottom - very slow. I won't buy it again.

Oh she's being a prissy pants! Ryder does the same thing. He usually responds the third time I call him, and when he's really being lazy the sixth time. After that, i go over, fasten the leash to his collar, back away a bit and lightly tug and up he goes.