jshell

She was absolutely beautiful. Love those grey faces. I'm sorry she is gone.

Thanks everyone. This first morning after is extra hard. I'm happy for our long time together, I'm glad I was able to help her cross over, but damn I miss her so much already.

She was fine this morning, came home and she was in fairly obvious pain. A few hours later at the e-vet it becomes obvious that it's not going to get better. Love you Betty Joan. First grownup dog, first greyhound, you were the best! Such a good ambassador and the neighborhood and farmers markets are going to miss you! And all your neighbors too! The neighborhood kitties won't miss you but everyone else will. Especially me babe. Even though our obscenely warm winter here in The West may mean fires and famine come summer, I'm glad it gave you many many wonderful chances to lay out in the sun. Like just this past Saturday. Was that not just about perfect? After all of tonight's pain, I'm glad your final moments brought you back to your wonderful relaxed and sleeping form, but I'll miss having that form curled up tight next to me in bed. The infamous sit, from the first day we met: And a flash back to when we chose to adopt each other: Love you so much kid!

That sounds like a scary situation. Betty is so food motivated that it really worries me when she doesn't eat. How's your girl's weight doing? When Betty went through her long period of loose stools, she lost a lot of weight (from 55 pounds down to 42!) and then got really susceptible to other problems Fortunately we fixed all or most of them. I suspect Betty had food allergies as even though I had some really high quality food, I was staying in the beef and lamb group for her food and she would just stop eating or wanting it after a while. Now we stay in the fowl group and she's generally been fine until this batch of sporadic soft stools. But the oddest thing is: they basically only occur once and then it's back to normal pretty quickly.

That's why I was unsure, since the vet has said the word "inflammation" or "minor inflammation" in regards to her bowels/intestines a few times over the last couple of months. Betty's recent things seem very mild and sporadic. Her diet is fairly limited (we suspect food allergies may have led to many of the problems she had 3-4 years ago), she gets the pro-biotics and all that. And it's the vet that been most insistent on the I/D. It's so weird that it's not like diarrhea. Today, again, she's been fine and napping since we went out this morning. We're about to go out again now and will see how she's pooping. This lone bad poop, that appears with semi-regularity, generally surrounded by normal stool, is just very odd.

Betty Joan, now 11 and a half years old, has had some new health issues since late October: every 2-3 weeks, she'll have a single round of bad poop. It's not an all day diarrhea event, but it's one wet/runny/soft mix usually. Previous poops will be fine, and then suddenly: blam! (Sometimes in the house). The year Betty turned 8, she did have some major digestive issues but has been fairly good since then except for the usual suspects. And in August, she did go through a round of Giardia. We did blood tests (blood panel?) at the time and her results were good. Kidneys slightly elevated, liver slightly below average, everything else in the middle-range. She's on a fair amount of blood pressure meds and has been since she was 8, and this year has seen an increase in pain meds (a low dose of gabapentin since summer; 500 mg of Tramadol every 12 hours as of about 2-3 weeks ago). Anyways, we've seen the vet about this new odd stool issue, since it was happening often enough to be weird (ie, not likely to be just a bad thing eaten off the floor) and he's talked about inflammation in her bowels. I can't remember if she's been fully diagnosed with IBD, but is this random runny poop a part of that? Since late November, the second most recent flare-up, her diet has been a mix of Prescription Diet I/D dry and canned food. Her normal canned food is Pedigree Plus "Healthy Digestion", but when the flare-ups happen I switch it to I/D canned. On her last flare-up a little over two weeks ago, the vet gave us two weeks worth of Metronidazole: one for that flare-up, one for when it happened again. Seems to have happened again this morning so I started the metro and all-i/d diet. Even though she had to hurry outside before our normal walk time and had that wet/slushy stool mix this morning, her appetite was normal and she ate breakfast and pills and treats. Before I ramble too much, back to the root question: is this I.B.D.? Is this something that I should just expect to happen every few weeks from now on? Or is this just some other kind of inflammation? Or just old age?

It's awful when it's loud isn't it? And crazy how loud it can get! I think there might be cramping going on as well. The first time we ever experienced this, I decided to take Betty with me to work (about a half hour walk) to keep an eye on her that day, and halfway there she suddenly started leaning heavily to the side and walking funny. I was worried it was another neurological incident (she had just suffered one) but fortunately it wasn't that. I seem to remember the vet saying something about the stomach possibly cramping up. That was during a fun summer of digestive issues. Today's prognosis: possibly a minor inflammation, and the poor thing is being put on I/D for a couple of weeks (partially to coincide with a round of Rimadyl for some lumbar issues). But the vet's come and gone, the rain's coming down, I think it's time to take my old girl upstairs and setting for a late afternoon nap.

Ultimately she did eat breakfast. But we still hope to see the vet later today. Tummy sounds have quieted.

After a couple of weeks of beautiful solid poops, Betty went back to a softer mix yesterday. Not diarrhea liquid, but soft. She ate yesterday but this morning isn't touching her breakfast. Her belly is also making loud squiggly noises. Some of these were earlier, before we even got up and went outside to poop. She pooped twice this morning, with one solid turd and then softer ones (but could still be picked up in bags). A couple of hours later we did a fairly full walk and she didn't seem to need to go any more. Now we're inside and she still hasn't touched her breakfast. She's curled up on one of her beds and those sounds have started up. Does anyone know what these sounds are? Are they like our human empty belly sounds? Or is there likely still some wild digestion going on?

Well we had a day just like Tuesday: she was a little hesitant about breakfast until we went outside. (She didn't poop at all yesterday after the morning's soft /wet stools). Big solid hefty stool. Later on our morning walk came the second which was squishy but still normal. Evening walk was solid, but smaller than normal, and a little bit green. Exact same output as Tuesday. Weird. So we will see if tomorrow goes back to the soft serve pattern. I haven't seen traces of worms, but if tomorrow repeats I'll call the vet. Thanks to your responses I think I'll have a better idea what to ask sbout. But I'm hoping it doesn't repeat and we stay back on our normal pattern.

We went through what I believe to be food allergies a few years ago and have settled on fowl-based foods and treats (often with things like 'healthy digestion!' in their name), with a daily dash of pro-biotics in her breakfast. We also do the half-kibble, half-canned setup. I think that this setup is still working out. Sometimes when soft stool shows up, canned pumpkin gets added. I try to go through such a can in a week, but I think this last can lasted a little bit longer. Think it could have gone a little bad? I just noticed the can says it can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, and I think the bits I added to Betty's food on Monday may have been in there for 8 or 9 days...

This morning was the third time in a week and a half that Betty, my 11.5 year old greyhound, had the following stool: it starts out solid and normal enough, then degrades (in the same poop) to mushy "melted soft serve ice cream" consistency. This is usually followed up on either the same walk, or within a couple of hours, with a much wetter poop. A couple of days ago this looked like pure diarrhea; this morning that second poop had a lot more recognizable chunks (but still very wet) with a little bit of water at the end. She ate breakfast fine, both on monday (eating after such stool) and this morning (before our walk). On Monday I stayed home to keep an eye on her, lest I have any accidents or in case it was colitis (we went through a round of this a couple of months ago), but unlike normal diarrhea (or worse) times, she never had to go poop again, even though I gave her plenty of chances. Not even on our evening walk, nor overnight. The next morning (yesterday) things were solid again, and we were back on schedule. But this morning, we seem to be repeating. Diet hasn't changed, but we have just gone through a big weather change a few days ago. Sensitive tummy to weather changes? Allergies? This is intermittent and strange and doesn't seem severe, but this is the third time this has happened in a week and a half; second time this week. And as she gets older, I tend to fret .

Made it through the night without any little yelps of pain. She still seems a little stiff, but able to stretch this morning (last night she'd try to do the play-bow style front stretch and immediately stop). So, seems on the right track! She's been checked for neck pain but didn't show much when checked, as compared to her shoulder/elbow area. We're still not entirely sure what's going on, as X-rays show wear and tear in the front left shoulder but front right looks fine. But my vet found that she seemed more sensitive in the joint on her front right, which was just outside of where the e-vet got the x-rays. I just have to stop encouraging her to get so excited over cats, but it's so funny! But yesterday a cat was just laying in someone's front yard so Betty seemed to go much more crazy than her usual "I see a kitty on a porch" excitement.

She laid down for an hour, but a couple of little yelps upon getting up

And now she's finally been lying down on her own for 15-20 minutes. Of course, that happens right AFTER I call my vet to see if he has any advice. Ugh. I knew when she went bonkers over seeing and getting close to that kitty that it would come back to haunt us.

Actually she's finally laid down for half an hour now... With me. But I've got to get back to work. I'll just keep an eye on her.

Betty (11 year old Grey) seems to have some soft tissue problems on her front legs. We went through a day a few months ago where she was limping pretty bad and wouldn't lay down for a full day. A lot of that day I think she was also a little messed up from the drugs used to get X-Rays on her shoulder. We went on a heavy gabapentin-tramadol-rimadyl cocktail at the time and the problem went away with a small flare-up a little bit later. For most of the last couple of months, Betty's just had 100mg Gabapentin every 12 hours. On our walk this morning, she got VERY excited about a cat and was stomping and barking and such, very rapidly and aggressively. This was on dirt and grass, but I was worried she might flare the injury back up. And it seems like she has as she's back to walking around between beds and not laying down, or only for a minute or two if she does. I've given her the other pain meds (Rimadyl, Tramadol, an extra dose of Gabapentin). Is there anything else I can do? It seems like that's been the solution from both the e-vet and our normal vet and I'm unsure about going to either of them if we don't have to.

Hopefully this won't be too buried... So, no poops at all today. Which I guess is not surprising since Betty fasted for about 36 hours (she had dinner Saturday night, but nothing on Sunday). She had a breakfast of mostly I/D canned food this morning with a bit of her normal canned food in there too (Pedigree+ 'Healthy Digestion', which is basically chicken and rice; not as nice as handmade, but didn't seem offensive). Except for a small stain left on one bed overnight, nothing's come out. I've given her plenty of opportunities. I was worried that if she was still really sick that her breakfast would slide right through her, but if we've seen nothing by now, I guess things are starting to work again? The Metronidazole is doing its job? She ate her dinner (all I/D with a little bit of pumpkin) with gusto too, and was interested in treats later (only gave her a small freeze-dried duck and a pill pocket)... I guess we'll see how she's doing tomorrow morning. It's just weird going from too much poop (and scary poop at the end!) to zero poop, but 36 hour fast might be followed by 24-36 hours of radio silence?

Ach, yes, I've been bad about sharing pics here. There are a ton on Instagram! I'll update Flickr and get them up here soon. I have a great one from Saturday morning at Farmer's Market before she got sick. My instagram

She slept through the night and only left one tiny mess on the poor blanket that's already been washed twice. And, to my delight, she ate her breakfast which was mostly canned I/D. I didn't know if she'd feel well enough to eat breakfast, let alone one that she generally doesn't seem to like (although I guess she mostly gets that one under bad circumstances). I kept the breakfast a bit small to see how it moves through her system. But yay for a good night's sleep for both of us!

Blood test results are good. Kidney readings are slightly elevated, liver's low. Everything else is pretty much in line. So likely colitis or giardia. We've got some Metronidazol and some additional gastrointestinal dog food. Also got some puppy pads to try to protect Betty's beds through the night if there's any more bloody leakage. There hasn't been since we got back from the vet (where she had a few small bloody sharts while we were there, but nothing like the mess that brought us there). Also got an anti-nausea shot. Since we got back about 3+ hours ago, she's pretty much been sleeping. Hopefully repairs are under way in that little body. And thanks for the help and well wishes! Those are very much appreciated.

It suddenly went bloody so we are at the e-vet now. Waiting on a blood test to check liver and kidneys just to be sure, esp now that she's my old lady.

She's still dripping a little bit but just asked for a treat, and was staring at me and responded positively to the phrase "are you hungry?". ... I've been running around putting paper towels beneath her whenever she lays down and brought in her outside bed which is easier to clean if it gets messy. We just went outside and she was excited to see neighbors, excited to see a squirrel; poop was still very watery but a much smaller amount then when it first showed up as pure liquid a few hours ago. And after that is when she got SUPER excited to see the squirrel again... So... Graargh... I've been looking up the 'boiled chicken and rice' recipes and may have to run to the grocery in a bit to try that. I've also got some cans of I/D from the vet that he likes to give whenever Big D shows up, but I expect Betty to turn her nose up at that something fierce.

Now it seems to just be dribbling out of her. She wouldn't poop when we went outside a few minutes ago but her bed was all wet. And then after coming back in she laid down on a blanket I had cleaned for her earlier; after I got done cleaning her main bed, I checked under her on the blanket and ... mess. Small mess, but still mess. Like wet farts (sharts)?

On our 6:30pm walk last night, I saw Betty's stool was not just soft but a little bit loose. Sure enough, 3 hours later, Diarrhea time began and we were going out every 2 to 2.5 hours. At about 6:30 this morning, it looked like it was starting to gain form again (I did get half of an Immodium in her around midnight, don't know if that helped or not), but a couple of hours later it was back to fairly liquid; and a couple of hours after that, it was like white-ish water. Is this a bad progression? This seems a little different than other times. We had a big day at Farmer's Market yesterday and I'm thinking she may have gotten something to which she's allergic. Last night, she ate her dinner just fine and showed lots of enthusiasm for treats. This morning she's avoiding food but her mood seems OK for how she's feeling (she's excited to see neighbors in the hallway, outside the building, so not terribly lethargic). I know dark / tarry / bloody is bad, but this seems on the other end of the spectrum, and again I'm just wondering if it's a bad progression or just part of the progression of flushing out whatever's troubling her system.