XTRAWLD

Ryder is OBSESSED with food We also had a very similar problem to yours re: bile. I know where you are coming from. He would throw up bright yellow stuff, no content of food though, in the wee hours of the morning. Giving him a whole slice of bread before bed would work now and again, but after it kept happening and we couldn't resolve it on our own with other methods we went to talk to a vet. We tried different ways to resolve it like you are I'm sure. Different feeding amounts, changing the time they are fed, the snack size and time before bed, etc. Basically in anticipation of his breakfast, his stomach acid prepares itself for the next meal, and sometimes over prepares and then the acid has to go somewhere - usually ending up on your floor. We were prescribed Cerenia, it's meant for nausea. In it's simplicity it was given to Ryder to break the pattern that he was having, because it was nearly every morning. If it wouldn't work, we would try something else, but it was best to start with that first. After being dosed for 3 days/nights early last year, we have only had one recent occurrance. It's really funny to have to try to restrict food for Ryder because he'll pack on the weight, but if we don't, he'll throw up! 5 cups in 3 feedings sound pretty good to me, I don't think I would feed more because his ribs are still only slightly visible. You do want to be able to see the last two ribs.

I really enjoyed our first vet. He "got" dogs. He would greet the dogs first and people later, sit on the floor and fuss over them, cookies...etc. He wouldn't want to waste your pocketbook on fruitless things and tried for the simplest solutions first. We ended up moving and were easily a half hour drive from him, but I really liked the practice there. When Kasey started getting allergies, that latter method of simple solutions first just didn't cut it for us anymore. What didn't help is that he was so far to get to. I was upset having to sever ties, I think I even sent a thank you card. We've been through several vets since, and the one we are with now is much like the first place we went to. After being through many vets since 2005, I still highly regard the very first one we had, but we had to do what was right for Kasey and us at the time. I can't believe the story of the receptionist, that is outrageous that she treats clients like that.

She just gave me info on his dose of Pepcid (15 mg every 12 hours based on his weight of 66.6 lbs - I cringed at the number when it came up on the scale LOL) and told me to make sure it only contains famotidine (in Pepcid) - perhaps ranitidine(in Zantac) might not cooperate with his pred? I will confirm this so you guys can be in the loop too. I'll be picking some Pepcid up on my way home from work. Don't know if Pepcid will be a forever thing yet, but it will be for the next little while.

Heard back from the vet this morning - "From what I've been reading through the vet lit so far, it sounds like esophagitis, which is essentially what we're treating him for now. I'd also like to start him on another drug that you can pick up from the drug store...it's an antacid called Pepcid (you may have heard of it) and will help with esophagitis as well." Look at you GT'ers...helping to diagnose this. Thank you all very much. I'm truly grateful for your help. Looks like great minds think alike!

Thank you all very much. This has been most helpful. We decided we will change his food, since I think he was on this food when he had his first episode in the summer. Im on the fence about bringing his prednisone back up and then gradually bringing it back again, based on discussions here I'm no longer as sure that it is an allergy based thing, so pred might just be irrelevant at this point. He's had 2 doses so far of the "syrup" and so far so good. I don't know though if this resolves the problem, it just soothes his throat, (even if it is only an irritation that will help a great deal) so if it is indeed acid reflux (I'm leaning more to that now) we will have to look into Pepcid AC? Is the human version cheaper than a dog version or vise versa?

Yup, he's completely there when it's all happening. We got him off the bed and distracted him and everything. I think he may have even went to drink. If we would have given him a cookie, he would have been there like a dirty sock too.

Work it Ramses!

Two nights ago Kasey had an "episode". We all went to bed, he came up to the bed as usual and lay down. I'd say 5 minutes later he started licking and swallowing and licking and swallowing. We got up and tried to figure out what was going wrong. Maybe something was stuck in his throat, etc. He hacked and gacked once after 5 minutes of licking and swallowing, and nothing came out. We were waiting for him to throw up but nothing came up. We got him off the bed to stretch and he moved fine and he was very with it. We got to the living room and again did the licking and swallowing thing while standing up. It eventually subsided and we went back to bed. 5 minutes later, it started all over again, with less intensity it seemed, he didn't gack and hack at the end this time. I grabbed the camera to video it and I've posted it here for review. This is the 2nd episode roughly 10 mins after the first. You will note in the video it looks like he's struggling for air. The first time it happened I think he started to panic a little, but we were both there to reassure him. It's a little scary for us. Licking and Swallowing This happened once in the summer, and I realized he hadn't had his prednisone for allergies in a while and when I gave it to him, he got better and didn't have another problem. But this time, he received prednisone (10mg) the morning before this episode (he had itchy ears) and he had prednisone (10mg) again the morning after. I didn't want to give him prednisone today because I didn't want it to mask any symptoms when we went to the vet. I was thinking maybe his throat is swollen or something, perhaps an allergic reaction? He did it again briefly this morning before breakfast. We took him to the vet tonight. After speaking to her and showing her this same video she's a little stumped. She plans to research it tonight and I am forwarding the video to her attention as well. (She owns a greyhound & whippet - and will ask her circle if this is a greyhound thing or not). Her suggestions were that perhaps it is acid reflux although she isn't sure of how common that is with dogs, and that the acid may be causing him discomfort since it's eating at the lining. She sent us home with Sucralfate in liquid form. We are supposed to administer 5ml 3x daily for 5 days in combination with the prednisone (spacing pred out with Sucralfate) to see what happens. She thinks it could also be an ulcer somewhere and his throat could be pretty rough in general, esp if acid was coming up. Visually she cannot notice anything and feeling his throat on the outside felt normal. He doesn't leave any excessive drool behind, if anything at all either. This "episode" does not produce anything - no mucus. She said she is totally up for giving antibiotics but thought we should try this first because there will be zero side effects to it. My research last night suggested that for these symptoms that he would only require antibiotics for a 10 day period, this "cough syrup" I like to call it, will just help him feel better but might not be the solution because we aren't sure what the problem exactly is. At least this is a start though. Anyone have experience with this at all? I searched here and couldn't find anything similar. He has been having regular bowel movements. We do notice when he eats his food completely dry (this has been for a long time - probably a year), he will grab the kibble and start to swallow only to have the food get stuck. He has to pause and cough it all up, or "walk it off" and try to swallow everything. We rub his throat and it seems to be better and he then continues eating. We thought that was just a usual thing but after this are putting 2 and 2 together. We will be giving him soaked kibble until this is resolved. Any help would be appreciated for our "good ol' reliable boy".

Fruit boys here too!

It would be....except they are reluctant to walk very far when its -30. Boots help to an extent. You should see all the salt they put down in our community!

So i'm still used treadmill hunting and have done a little research and have hit a few snags and some observations are below. 1. It would be appreciated if you list something for sale, and someone is interested in buying it that you respond to them. 2. There are tonnes of sales on right now for brand new treadmills. I could get a new one for about the price of a used one. 3. It seems that the tread belt length on an average human treadmill will likely be too short for a greyhound to use at a comfortable slow jog pace. 4. I'm concerned with how the belt will actually hold up with their nails. 5. Specific dog treadmills for greyhound size costs a grand! Associate the word "pet" with anything and the price increases ten-fold. The search continues. I have actually narrowed down a brand of dog treadmill I would prefer to buy used and will hopefully find a used or discount one for sale. http://www.petzenproducts.com/PZ1703_Large_p50499.htm

He certainly has always been skinny, he's never been a big eater and he's been on prednisone to control allergies since 2008. It certainly contributes to his lack of weight gain but for the most part his weight is steady at least. I know for a fact his paws can't take a long walk in the snow, but the same can be said for Ryder. Muttluks are our friend when it hits -10. The shivering certainly is a new thing, and I agree he is likely compromised by the prednisone regardless of if it is a low dose or not.

I'm wondering: as dogs age, are they more susceptible to cold? For the first year ever, Kasey came in the house shivering after a short walk after snowfall (even with a coat on). Since then, I've put a sweater on him after our walks till he has warmed up, and doubled up his coat when we go out, snood included (thanks to crochet magic of my mom). Is this common and expected? He'll be 9 in Feb.

I remember when Ryder was stoned after molar removal....I almost cried and it was so sad to see him in that state. Hope Nutmeg is better soon.

Have to say I've never heard of it (but then again that isn't much). Very odd don't you guys think?

Kasey had Therapaw boots for a while.... they now each have a different set, which replaced our Therapaw set. But teaching them to walk in boots are all the same. It's best to put the boots on and start out on a walk right away. Don't put them on and just leave them on in the house when you first put them on, otherwise they will fuss like crazy with them. They all learn, but like everything, takes some getting used to. On our walks, ours sound like a pair of horses walking down the street. I think they enjoy the sound of the clopping down the lane!

I'll be sure to update - the progress right now: I'm still looking to buy a used treadmill LOL Stay tuned!

OMG, this is shocking and sad news to hear indeed.

Thank you. Do you think the dark blood was from the bone or something punctured in his mouth? After 6 months I'm very surprised.

LOL loved the comments. If mine swallowed a squeaker I would have panicked as well. I don't think I could deal with musical AND stinky farts!

I've considered giving pigs feet, but I find them at the local store that are the split variety, and I hear that's not a good option? I have also come across pig ear - would this be something chewy that would be a good option as well?

Back in June, Ryder had both of his upper molars removed because they were in bad shape. We stopped feeding raw at this time, because of the tooth removal and various other reasons (cost, time, mess, etc.). We fed raw pork ribs as the bone portion with their meals. I found that these ribs did an incredible job at removing tooth plaque. I still have a tonne of it left over in the freezer and thought, nearly 6 months later, Ryder could prolly try a small meaty piece and see what happens. I fed him a small piece (about 2 inch by 1 inch) this morning, he slowly worked at it, but I noticed dark red blood in dotted format on the floor where he was eating. I slightly panicked and waited for him to finish. I checked his gums after he was done and cannot see any open wounds anywhere, or near where his molars were. I really hope that dark red blood came from the bone because it had a bit of vein off of the one I fed him. There isn't anything gushing in his mouth, had to be the bone? Yikes. Kasey enjoyed his just fine. Ryder is now content and sleeping. Aside from this, I know there are lots of people here that feed "hard stuff" to dogs that have little or no teeth in their mouth. I wanted to give this bone a try again, because he is developing plaque on some lower teeth that we are trying to stay on top of with brushing and other treats and other bones to gnaw on, but it's getting difficult. Is feeding him these bones ok or should I just not try again after today's event?

Do you put the "key" on the dog? It's the thing to tether to the person that if they fall and the key detaches, the treadmill stops.

There are a couple of different varieties of bully sticks. I've purchased the very solid type, you couldn't break this over your knee if you tried. I've also bought the thin almost hyde like type. I find the solid type provided more of a chewing action to clean teeth than the other type that just chews and down the hatch it is swallowed. I wonder if that's why there are tummy problems, because the thing as a whole was ingested. The solid type lasts my boys a few hours, the hyde like stuff, 20 mins max.

Kasey has had beautiful ears since the day we got him, we are very fortunate. At most I only ever have to get out the "yellow" waxy kind. I'd say I used to clean his every 4 weeks or so, but find I clean it more regularly since Ryder has to have his done more often. Ryder has one good ear and one really nasty ear. It wasn't cleaned properly the first time, and the vet couldn't seem to flush completely clean the second time either. Gave me a bottle to use to break up the nasty coffee grinds. By the third checkup he was satisfied enough that it would just go away with time - sheesh thanks doc! I clean his ears once every 2 weeks. The prompt to clean them for me is excessive head shaking. Ryder's ears FLOP and it sounds so violent I know he's bothered by something trying to leave the ear canal. I pull up more gross black stuff from him all the time, it's disgusting! They also love to hang around us at the table when we are eating, staring at our food and it's the perfect opportunity to lean over and inspect the ears, because they are at full attention and I can look in. I go against the "use a pad" method, because if I had to use that and just my finger I would not get anywhere, and I'd prolly push stuff around and make it worse - contrary to people saying that's what can be done with a Q-Tip. Yes, I use Q-Tips (I can just see the flaming coming out of the woodwork ) and I actually just clean the visible areas and slightly inside the canal, I'd say less than a cm down the hole. It seems that all the black stuff accumulates in the space you just can't get with a pad, and I have NEVER had an issue cleaning ears carefully with a Q-Tip. I don't use any solvents, just the Q-Tip to fish out the nasties. I treat Ryder when I remember with that ear solution but I truly think that stuff is just a crock and money grab - and it has a super short shelf life as well!