Feisty49
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So if I'm reading that article correctly, retired greyhounds should be at or slightly under racing weight? It's so hard to tell when you are new to greyhounds! I'm constantly going back and forth whether I think my dog needs to lose just a bit or if I think he's ok where he is. Right now, I can see spine and ribs, but I can't see clear definition on his hips. I guess I need to get a more recent weight on him until I have a better feel for where he should be.
I have a sneaking suspicion that he's a bit on the pudgey side though.
The article doesn't say a GH should always be at or slightly under racing weight. The second example picture in the article shows a male at a racing weight of 74 lbs. (too thin) and the same male at 88 lbs. after having lost a few pounds. The chart at the bottom of the article doesn't make a lot of sense because it indicates that the racing weight is also overweight. Can't have it both ways.
Baron looks terrific.
Annie raced at 61 pounds. When I adopted her out of a foster home, she weighed 69 pounds. She now weighs 64-65 pounds and looks perfect: great waist, 2-3 ribs (maybe not 3 ribs 5 minutes after a meal), nice hip bones. I wish I could say the same for myself. LOL
When I'm questioned about her weight and her being skinny I take it as an opportunity to educate people about Greyhounds and what makes them healthy. I've never had someone be snarky about it.
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I had never heard of this stuff until a couple of days ago when someone posted she was using it for her dog who has intestinal cancer and had terrible diarrhea, until RX clay was administered.
A Google search brought up more places to buy RX clay than sites explaining what it is and how it works. From what I read, though, at this site --- http://www.drugs.com/vet/rx-clay.html --- it appears that it is used to control diarrhea and that it can also be used on a regular basis to promote regular bowel function.
Does anybody know more about it than the brief explanation above?
Does anybody use this on a regular basis?
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I don't know about NB but IMO, the runny, non-formed poos are not gonna change. Three days, in addition to the weaning time, is enough time to know if the food is going to work. If Iams in Green bag works, is there a problem with feeding them just that? My girl has a great coat, is healthy (other than an auto-immune disease of the eyes) and had a lot of energy and she's only on Iams. The minute I add anything to her diet, her poos deteriorate to pudding. Iams is the only food that keeps things formed.
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Can you wrap a towel to act as a diaper or better yet, if possible, go to a pet store and buy doggie diapers?
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Advantix is oily but I've never had a problem with it bleeding onto her bed, blankets, etc. After 72 hours, I can't even tell the spots on which I put it on Annie.
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When needed, I use Advantix II. Last summer, Annie didn't need any treatment for anything. I'm hoping this year is the same. BTW, I have a cat, but they ignore each other.
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What a great way to ensure everybody will read your post! Ugly indeed. LOL
Baron is one handsome guy.
Too often, Greyhound faces look sad to me and I immediately go into "what's wrong" mode. I gotta get over that.
Ugly: No, they're not ugly as a whole dog, but if you described them to an alien, body part by body part, they sure would sound odd. Think about it, starting with the long nose and very often an overbite.
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Annie's tummy doesn't growl (though now that I think of it, with my hearing, I might not hear it), but she gets weird sometimes and doesn't eat breakfast, or she'll eat it when she feels like it, which screws up our routine. What gets her back into schedule is putting down breakfast the usual time (6:30 to 7, depending on when we get up) and taking it back up about 8 if she hasn't eaten it. That jump starts her and she's fine about breakfast for a while.
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Checked out their price on Iams in Green Bag. The 15 pound bag was a dollar cheaper at Target today.
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I think she could use a pound or two, but no more. My neighbors think my girl is too skinny. Annie, also a fawn so every bone shows (including her dinosaur back) that's supposed to show (slight hip point and 2-3 ribs depending on when she had her last meal), maintains a weight of 65 to 66 pounds. She gets 3 cups of kibble a day plus a few treats. She did get up to 68 pounds over the winter when I was giving her extra treats because she was being being treated for an auto-immune disease and getting drops in her eyes 5 times a day, not to mention we didn't get out to walk as much. Those extra 2 pounds showed. They are now gone.
I know my neighbors think she's too skinny, but only one has ever subtly mentioned it to me. People just don't confront me about my personal life, and my Greyhound is my personal life.
Don't let people put you on the defensive and don't get flustered. If people continue to bother you about it, tell them you will explain ONE MORE TIME why Greyhounds are healthy at this weight and stick to it. If it's brought up again, walk away. People can take advantage of us only if we let them.
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Pretty girl! Everything sounds normal. The advice I give most often is: Relax. I'd pretty much carry on as usual, which I know is difficult to do because she's so brand new to you. You'll find that today she lays in the kitchen and tomorrow she may choose a bedroom. Do you have a comfy bed for her to lay on in the living room? A comfy bed and treats will get her over her insecurity about the TV, if that's her problem. It may be that she just likes the kitchen. When I adopted my girl, she would go into only two rooms: the TV room and the kitchen. She never did go into the dining room or the living room (we have since moved from that house).
Also, Greyhounds often just go into themselves, as you spoke of above. Actually, they spend most of their time just into themselves because they sleep so much.
Good luck!
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That sounds like way too much food. I'd think no more than 4 cups of food a day is enough. My girl is 65 pounds and gets 3 cups of dry food per day split between breakfast and supper.
A lot of us use Iams in the green bag because anything else we tried caused diarrhea or stools too loose for comfort. Over the almost three years I've had Annie, I've tried at least half a dozen different foods and always return to Iams green bag.
Many Greyhounds poo a lot during the day especially, it seems, if they're walked for exercise, with each succeeding poo being less firm. It's just the way they are.
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My Annie doesn't have Pannus but about six weeks ago she was diagnosed with its sister/first cousin, something called Nodular Granulomatous Eisclero Keratitis. As with Pannus, if untreated, she will go blind.
She has been on NeoPolyDex Optho Susp (5 ml.) for six weeks. She started out with three drops a day for two week. Dosage was then reduced slowly, every two weeks, and she's now on one drop, every other day. The cost of a bottle, which is issued by the veterinary ophthalmologist, is $22.45. Once the current, and final, two-week cycle is complete, she goes off it unless she has a flare-up.
At the same time, she was put on on Tacrolimus Aqueous (15 ml.) 0.02% susp. This is given twice a day, and she'll be on it for the rest of her life. It is a compound made by a 'script center in Fayetteville, NC, and costs $45 a bottle. I just started the second bottle last week, so it lasted me five weeks. I suspect I'll get six weeks out of the current and future bottles because I've become good at not wasting any of it.
I have no idea if $45 is an outrageous price. My immediate thought at diagnosis was, "Start the meds. Screw the cost." Now that the initial OMG feeling has passed and at her six-week checkup yesterday the condition of her eyes showed improvement, I will investigate if there is somewhere less expensive from where to purchase... or maybe not. I'm fine with $45 every five weeks or so, and if I reach the yearly health insurance deductible, they will pay for 90% of the cost.
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It's a dog thing, not just Greys. I don't know if anybody really knows why dogs eat grass. Some eat it, then vomit withing a few minutes, thus making people think that they had an upset stomach to begin with. ::shrug:: Who knows. I mean, who really knows about anything another species does? LOL My girl used to eat grass once in a while and them immediately heave it up. Honestly, I assume if she had an upset stomach, she'd just vomit without needing help but like I said, nobody *really* knows why they do it, at least IMO.
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Just yesterday my vet recommended Dasuquin for the osteoarthritis in Annie's spine. I'll try a bottle, and if it helps, I'll continue it. Other than that, I'm not into supplements.
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Thanks for the info and suggestions. Amazon is the way to go.
Which one are you pricing? At my vet clinic we sell Dasuquin w/msm chewables--90ct for $70
I ended up buying NutraMax 150 Count Dasuquin with MSM Soft Chews for Large Dogs from Amazon at a price of $74.43 + tax (no shipping cost 'cause I'm a prime member). This is the least expensive I found on the sites I perused. My own vet was going to charge me about $130 for 150 chews. I love my vet for many reasons, not the least of which is that the practice is totally into greyhounds, but I can't back up my appreciation for the practice by spending that much money.
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My Annie has osteoarthritis of the spine, and today my vet put her on 75mg of Vetprofen (low dose to start and hopefully that will help, saving a higher dose for if/when it gets worse) and Dasuquin. I didn't buy the Dasuquin from my vet because I'm hoping to find a less expensive source.
1-800-Petmeds sells a bottle of 150 for $99.99
Amazon's source sells a bottle of 150 for $83.96
From your experience, is this a typical price? Do you have another source from which to purchase?
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Each dog is different. Now that the weather is good, Annie and I are walking 3 miles a day, 1 mile in the morning and 2 miles in the afternoon. (During the winter we walked 1 to 1.5 miles a day total). We also have a large fenced backyard and 9 out of 10 days, she won't run or even walk fast in the yard, whether alone or with her friend Daisy, a lurcher who lives a few houses down the street. Daisy can run, play bow, tease, etc, and Annie ignores her completely, unless, so I assume, she feels like playing. This evening for the first time since *last fall* Annie ran zoomies around the yard, with a huge grin on her face, and I know it was because she was so happy to see me home after being gone for almost 5 hours (a long time of separation for us). But she ran for maybe 90 seconds and probably won't run again for 2 weeks.
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Sounds to me like your girl is low drive, almost as low as mine who barely looks at squirrels and comes to me to remove the cat when she (cat) has taken over Annie's bed.
I've tried dog parks in the past and unfortunately decided it wasn't good for Annie or me (I get anxious). I love the idea of Annie playing with other dogs and running around, and she only runs when there is at least one other dog, even in our own fenced backyard, but Annie doesn't run/play nice. She'll run shoulder to shoulder with a non-Grey dog, as if she can't outrun him, and then .. BAM.. cut him off so the dog has to put on the brakes real fast or go tumbling. (She doesn't do this with Greyhounds.) That's putting the other dog in jeopardy, which is the reason we mostly stay away from dog parks (though because I know that Annie has a continuously evolving personality, about every 6 months I try again). My anxiety comes from the thought of another dog being injured.
Also -- and this may be paranoid but so be it -- a lot of dogs together sounds like a soup mix for fleas and catching something such as giardia, which is easily transmitted. Thankfully she's not a dog who is interested in others poo but I don't want her drinking from a water bowl 10 other dogs have slobbered in.
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Seniors are so beautiful and this picture captures that.
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I've never used it. Though I've tried, Annie has no interest in fetching or balls and 99% of the time ignores her stuffies.
She is afraid, though, of long stick things. If I forget to carry a broom or dust mop on the side of my body away from her, where she can't see it, she runs like hell up or down the stairs to another level in the house. Even a shorter stick thing, such as the long swiffers for dusting corners of the ceiling, make her run.
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IMO, doing off-leash requires the combination of right dog, right owner, right training, and right surroundings.
In my circumstances, none of those apply. Autumn is still a semi-Velcro dog; she never goes away, so there's no point in calling her back (
), I'm a senior, and the idea of running anywhere, including after a dog, is exhausting enough without actually doing it. There's only so much Autumn is willing to learn at her age (8), and our area, while green, has no expanses large enough for any dog to get a good run.So we two seniors are each enjoying our somewhat leisurely retirements
.Love this! I'm a senior. Annie is not but we've taught each other very well how to do retirement.
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I'm of the opinion that your dog, you do what you want. That sounds cruel knowing what can happen to a dog who gets loose, but it's the truth, if only because people do it. I've been on searches for dogs that, thankfully, had happy endings, but the worry and terror of knowing a Grey is out there lost is horrible.
I don't off leash because, like others, I haven't drilled recall into Annie's brain enough so that I trust her. Even if I had, I know for a fact that if she were loose and saw a person 50 feet ahead of us, she'd run like crazy to say, "Hi. How are ya? I'm here. Pet me pet me. I lovvvvve you."
What I haven't seen mentioned in the posts -- perhaps I missed it -- is the speed at which a Greyhound can take off. Any dog can run away, but not every dog can gain the momentum and speed a Greyhound can in seconds. How far can a Golden run in 30 seconds compared to a Greyhound? Is the Golden still within hearing distance? Is the Greyhound? Recall can obviously work if the dog can hear it.
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My vet has suggested a natural supplement and it is truly fantastic!!!!! I did use Nature calming treats,( we sell them where work) It didn't seem to do much.
It is called Zylkene, you can check it online. It contains casien and magnesium. I use it for my 12 yr old Shepherd who has a bit of Alzheimers, with "sundowners" She got extremely anxious when the sun was going down, pacing, panting. I went to the vet for a sedative, i didn't want to use one but i wanted her to be comfortable. She suggested the Zylkene, Her size of 65lbs takes the larger dose of 450mg. It takes about 2 days to see results. Day 3 i was amazed!! Back to her happy self with no sedation.
I told my mgr where i work, she has a rescue who is very anxious and will not come near ppl. Day 3 for her, she came right up to me wagging tail and took a treat from me. So i may get it for Charlie, my Greyhound nearing thunderstorm time of year and 4th of July.
It has been in the UK for awhile from what i understand, someone from UK might be able to tell you. We now have it in the US and i believe Canada also. No prescription needed but it is less expensive at my vets than online. I pay $50.00 for a 30 day supply inc tax.
This is on Amazon at $58.99 for 30 pills but only in a 225 mg. dose, but hey, gift wrapping is available.
), I'm a senior, and the idea of running anywhere, including after a dog, is exhausting enough without actually doing it. There's only so much Autumn is willing to learn at her age (8), and our area, while green, has no expanses large enough for any dog to get a good run.
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Worried About Our New Grey As An Only Dog.
in Training and Behavior discussion
Posted
Only dogs can be happy houndies. Annie is an only and has been fine from day 1 and she had been in two different foster homes for three months prior to adoption and each home had multiple dogs. The only issue -- which wasn't and isn't an issue -- is she hated her crate. She'd go in it, with a lot of encouragement, but she was miserable. Funny thing is that even then, she never whined or cried or attempted to get out. She just lay there, miserable. The solution was to not use it by day #3 and that solved that problem.
Annie has never had SA, except, for example, if I'm in the driveway talking to a neighbor and Annie is in the house. She'll whine that I'm-so-sad-'cause-I'm-here-and-you're-there whine on and off for a minute, and if I don't respond, she sighs and lays down.
She barks so seldom, as in once very three months, give or take a month, that it always startles me! She doesn't bother the cat. She doesn't go in the garbage (because she won't go into the kitchen -- hates the floor). She doesn't even go on furniture.
Only dogs can be just fine, albeit a little boring.