LBass

I'm so sorry. Sending warm, healing thoughts that the fluids will help and that there will be more happy days together.

When I was learning about seizures for my Piper (over 10 years ago) the general rule of thumb was that most vets didn't start medication for seizures unless they were occurring monthly or more frequently. I think it's fair to say that all seizure drugs have significant side effects and there is the need to strike a balance between the risk of the seizure and the drug side effects. In your shoes, I would make an appointment with a neurologist. That great video should be a big help. You can discuss treatment options and approaches and you can decide on the best approach for your hound and your situation. In my experience, a good neurologist will work/consult with your regular vet in managing your hound's care going forward. Since someone mentioned rectal Valium for controlling cluster seizures, I will mention what I learned about using rectal Valium with Piper. He had full tonic-clonic seizures--usually one at a time. However, about once a year he would cluster. His clusters involved having a seizure about every 3 hours for 24 to 36 hours. It was awful for both of us. Frightening and exhausting. I asked for rectal Valium from my regular vet and received a prescription. It didn't seem to help. A neurologist who posted on a canine epilepsy email list I participated in explained to me that rectal Valium is valuable because it becomes active almost immediately and, therefore, can interrupt cluster seizures that occur one right after the other, in close succession BUT it also is apparently short lived in the system. He said that rectal Valium was effective for about 30 minutes. Since Piper's cluster seizures were spaced 3 hours apart, rectal Valium didn't help. So, it seems that treatment is a valuable tool in the right circumstance but it's not useful in all seizures or for all seizing dogs. The neuro who consulted with my vet recommended a different "cluster buster" protocol that worked beautifully. Following his instructions for Piper, we were able to avoid another of those nightmare cluster episodes for the last 4 years of Piper's life. Anyhow, the main thing I think it's important to remember about seizures it that most of the time they are very manageable, can be weathered, and gotten through, and don't interfere with a full, happy life. Best wishes to you and your hound.

That could certainly have been a seizure. Most seizures don't cause much of a change in blood results. I would agree that, if it was a seizure, the first suspect and the likeliest culprit would be the flea meds you'd recently applied. This is not necessarily the beginning of something horrible for your hound so try not to fret too much. This could be a one-off reaction that you'll never see again. I would probably assume that he's sensitive now to the topical flea/tick treatments and look at other methods of control as suggested above. I actually stopped using topical flea treatments when my Piper began to have seizures--though his seizures were not a reaction to those treatments. To my surprise, I've really not had any flea or tick issues with hounds or cats and continue to use topicals sparingly, mostly when going to dog events.

I'm so sorry Aiden's toe is still causing troubles and I hope this next surgery will provide healing. I well remember the long struggle to get Mo's toe healed when we started fighting her first corn--different, of course, than Aiden's issues, but the same long tedious worrisome process.

She looks like she is really enjoying the experience too.

For your situation--small space, 2 cats in residence, first Greyhound--I think this is the most important thing you can do to ensure smooth sailing from the start and and nice easy homecoming. My first attempt to adopt a Greyhound ended in fear and frustration. The hound I adopted had been pronounced "cat safe" by the adoption group but she was way too aggressively interested in my cat and I ended up feeling like I needed to return her within 3 weeks of the adoption. I HATED doing that and I know the group was annoyed with me for returning her, but I was absolutely not willing to risk my cat. I almost gave up on adopting a Greyhound at that point, but several months later I ran into a different group doing a meet & greet and they were very reassuring about being able to find the right hound for me. I adopted my beloved Piper "The Perfect" in large part because the group told me that when he'd had his neuter surgery there had been a litter of kittens running around in the vet's office and Piper was absolutely rock solidly uninterested in those kittens. That is the kind of hound you need to bring home.

It may not be a specifically "male thing". My female greyhound is the queen of snark with other dogs, no matter what the breed. To my eye she seems to feel the need to let most other dogs know right up front that she's the boss--extracting deference and reverence from others. She doesn't bite or fight but she growls and snarks when meeting new dogs. She has always been fine with my other greyhounds and with my Cavalier as well. Not tolerating pushy, rowdy, boisterous, demanding dogs seems to me to be an understandable reaction to canine bad manners. Of course, it is still my obligation to keep my dog out of situations where she'll have to deal with bad mannered dogs on her own. Unfortunately, with Mo it doesn't require bad manners to trigger her snarkyness so it's also my responsibility to keep a lid on her and control how she meets leashed dogs. I will say that she is not generally snarky without cause when she is around other dogs unleashed. She visited friends with me and there were about 11 other dogs there of various breeds, everyone off leash and interacting happily. The only snarking Mo did was to snark at a Deerhound who barged into her and the general consensus among witnesses was that the snark had been a deserved set-down for the Deerhound.

Welcome to both of you and the kitties too from Upstate SC! My first greyhound, Piper "The Perfect" was a Gable Dodge son. Wonderful personality.

I'm so sorry and I hope for clear lungs.

My boy Spirit is so eager to get in the last "word" that he's been known to pee on his housemate MoMo in his eagerness to pee on her pee.

Wise advice. I hope Star continues to do well.

Oh goodness. Watching his progress left me cheering for Summit!

Fingers crossed for continued improvement. I'm so sorry for both of you, that this has been such a rough experience.

I think that in general people and animals can "hold" longer when asleep than when awake so the fact that he's OK for a long stretch at night doesn't necessarily translate to holding for that long in the day when awake and stimulated. I ended up installing a dog door for my first Greyhound. His daytime potty accidents were related to the meds he took for epilepsy but the fact was that he simply couldn't hold for a predictable length of time. If your hound is good about asking to go out when someone is home to take/let him out, it might be worth considering a dog door. I didn't want one but my hound genuinely needed one.

I've been fortunate that my animals have all had peaceful, calm passings when euthanasia was necessary. However, I've heard of animals having less than an easy time. I'm so sorry that you lost Brendan and that his passing was difficult.

I will second the suggestion of having his thyroid evaluated--remember that Greyhound lab values are not necessarily like other dogs' so be sure you and your vet take that into account. My Spirit is a bit of a spook, but discovering that his thyroid level was low and getting him on correct thyroid supplementation medication made a noticeable difference in his fear, his general mood, and his playfulness.

Nefer sounds like a special boy who will have your heart forever.

From the other side of recovery, MoMo is doing great 6 years later with a plate and 6 screws. Sending all good thoughts to you and Jake.

Sending warm, healing thoughts. My MoMo broke a front leg just above the wrist when she was 3. I didn't see the incident but the timing points to an issue going down the stairs--all 3 hounds were jockeying to get into the back yard. Anyhow, it was a bad break. I could actually see her foot flopping and dangling. She has a plate and 6 screws and is going great guns now at 9. No osteo. Her recovery was smooth and took about 6 weeks. There was leash walking and crating and trips back to the surgeon but no real problems. Whatever seems the best option for your Jake, I hope he'll heal swiftly and do just as well as Mo has.

Congratulations! I love the picture of Woody conked out on the rug.

A biscuit score for Percy and a wonderful news score for Ducky!

Such a sweet, loving pair and a beautiful tribute to Mary.

So glad your favorite, trusted vet was able to see Percy.

I was about to say that as far as I know they are safe to offer but I learned long ago that mushrooms and eggplant are among the few veggies my hounds don't want.

I don't have any brilliant suggestions. My male hound, Spirit, does something similar. Water is always available to him, but on occasions he will stand at the bowl and drink for far longer than usual. Most often this behavior occurs in the evening. I too took him to the vet for tests, trying to make sure he had no issues with kidney, bladder, or diabetes. No health issues were found. Yay! Since his "tanking up" happens in the evenings when we're home and it's easy to heed his frequent demands to go out, we just let him out as necessary. I think that approaching your hound's issue as if he needs a refresher course in Housetraining 101 might be wise. Maybe if he steps up his asking-to-go-out technique and the humans step up their watching for his asking-to-go-out messages the problem will resolve.