Roo

Back in May, I thought Daisy was starting to have seizures (thread here). I did a bit of Googling and read about tussive syncope, and I think that may be it instead. The symptoms fit, and while she does have some disorientation after an episode, it's not too bad and doesn't last longer than a minute or two (and then she's right back asleep ). I'm still trying to get a whole event on video. She had another episode today. Started with coughing, then she tried to sit up, went stiff, and fell back onto her side with stiff-legged twitching, rapid ear flicks and eye blinks, and some lip licking (and bed licking) afterwards. I got the tail end of it on video this time (I can't figure out how to embed, so here's a link), the video's about 30 seconds but the twitching happens at the beginning and was going on for a couple seconds before this. The previous episodes had much more rapid lip licking afterwards than this one had. Does anyone have experience with tussive syncope? Does it look like this? I suppose it's time to head to the vet, now that she's had three of these events, but I'd really like to get a whole one on video so I can show them. Just saying "She's stiff, twitching, and blinking rapidly" doesn't seem like enough of a description. I know the vet will want her to start on heart medication, but that can't happen (and I'm not exaggerating - if she won't take it willingly, it just absolutely won't get down her throat). If it is tussive syncope, does that mean her heart disease is getting worse? I feel like new symptoms stemming from an existing issue (one that she's had with little change in symptoms for upwards of a year and a half) are probably not a good thing.

Thank you for posting my Pyp man I wrote him a little remembrance post for the rat forum - maybe I'll post it here tomorrow.

At the kennel, I open, pop the pill down the gullet, and give a nice throat rub until they swallow. Only once have I had someone cough it up! With my own pup a few years ago, he took them just fine in a glob of peanut butter mixed with a little kibble (if there wasn't kibble, he'd feel the pill and spit it out - I suppose crunchy peanut butter would work well for this too). I've also had luck with dog food, cat food (for particularly picky pups), and spray cheese. Terrier Daisy used to take them in sliced deli meat but she won't take anything even remotely suspicious now, and that includes her heartworm and flea/tick pills that are supposed to be meat-flavored I may just take her to the vet this month and ask them to please jam the bravecto down her because there's no way she'll actually take it.

The 4 pm barking sounds a bit like sundowner's to me. My Daisy (a terrier) gets weird around 4 or 5 every day. She doesn't bark (ever, unless there's a bear) but one characteristic of dementia, if I remember correctly, is barking from a dog who used to be quiet or quiet from a dog who used to bark. My aunt's shih-tzu barked all the time at nothing when she got old I don't have any advice, but you might look into dementia as a diagnosis.

Our Dusty was always friendly to everyone, but she had a particular soft spot for past-middle-aged men with beards and hats and would get so excited and drag us over to see them. I would love to know if her trainer was a past-middle-aged man with a beard and hat!

Welcome! There's one houndie who boards at our group who won't eat unless you sprinkle grated parmesan on her kibble

I'd keep an eye on her. It's possible it'll pop out the way it went in sometime overnight. If she starts acting uncomfortable, won't eat, won't or can't poop, etc, then maybe a vet visit will be in order. Also, I read the title and I was like "Kira...Olay...yeah, this sounds like something Olay would do".

Definitely have your son give him treats, and do it regularly. Not just normal treats, either - meaty delicious treats! And have the best treats in the house come from your son. Of course, you should supervise, and it shouldn't happen when Rufus is laying down. Maybe stand next to your son, call Rufus over, and have your son feed him treats. Have your son help feed him dinner, walk him, etc. I know 6 is a little young to have him solely responsible for walking your hound, but if you can clip an extra leash onto Rufus's collar and have your son hold it, or have him hold the leash while you hold the handle - just so that he's participating in the fun walking activities. If your son helps with Rufus's care, your son will start to seem less like a strange small human and more like a person who provides him with tasty awesome things.

She just had another 'event'. She was doing a little coughing (as is typical for her in the evenings), so I reached down and lifted her off her side (sometimes it helps). While I was holding her, she started twitching - skin, ears, eyelids, little head shakes, weird eye movement - then licked her lips like crazy, just like the last time. And just like the last time, it was over before I could get my camera. Lip licking, then she was back to normal. It looked just like the videos I've seen of partial focal seizures. Is it possible it was some sort of other neurological thing that was triggered by the coughing, maybe lack of oxygen to the brain? I don't know anything about this so I'm grasping at straws! Either way, probably not a great symptom. I wrote down the date and time of this one.

I think the problem is less that he returned the hound (I've done it - it hurts like crazy - so I wouldn't be one to judge) and more that he felt the need to come to this greyhound forum full of greyhound lovers and post a long list of why greyhounds make bad pets for anyone but a retired couple.

A greyhound was the dog who got me over my fear of dogs as a kid. He was great. He was aloof, but he was loving. He was perfect, even with his anxiety. His anxiety all stemmed from being abandoned by his previous home - his track experience was fine (in face, he was well-loved, and they called him Friendly), it was the adopters who messed him up. Greys are wonderful dogs. They're not for everyone (definitely sounds like they're not for you) but each grey is different and there is a grey out there for almost anyone. I had one for 6 months before I returned him. He wasn't happy as an only, and I could barely afford him so adding a buddy wasn't possible. But I gave him enough time to settle and adjust, and he had settled in quite well and we bonded, but as he showed more of his personality, it became obvious that he needed a greyhound friend. I have a terrier now, and she took longer to adjust than my greyhound did! She's older, true, but she didn't really show me her personality till she'd been with me almost a year. She wouldn't play, she didn't want to be outside, everything startled her... She's much better now, but it's because I had her the time to settle, and I gave myself the time to adjust.

This is a good point - I hadn't thought of it! I bet there was more to it that I missed. She's been fine the rest of the day and even ate most of her dinner. She still seems a little more tired than usual, but otherwise she's acting like her sassy grandmotherly self.

They weren't really big kicks and were more like little kicks, if that makes sense? I don't know. They definitely weren't her usual "kick legs to get up" kicks, and it didn't look like she had any control over it. I suppose it could have been a fainting spell, but her eyes looked off, too, so I don't know. I'm saying that a lot. But I really don't know - it was so quick! Could there be lots of lip licking after a fainting spell? I've only fainted once, but I remember feeling nauseous before and afterwards, so I guess that could have been it. Either way, seizure or fainting spell, still not great. I'm sorry about your kitty We've been monitoring her heart since I got her a little over a year ago. She definitely does have an enlarged heart, and that's where the coughing comes from. Her murmur has gone from a 2 to a 4 or 5 (depending on the day and who's listening) since I got her. With her recent exercise intolerance and increased coughing, I am a little worried that she's crossed the line from heart disease into CHF. Her last vet visit where they listened to her heart was probably about a month ago, and she said she didn't hear any sounds of fluid around the lungs, but also suggested starting her on heart meds. If the coughing keeps up, I'll take her in next week, but I've been running to the vet a lot lately (between my geriatric rat and my geriatric rat terrier, I'm there all the time - glad they're only 3 minutes away!) and the vet really stresses her out, so I try not to go unless it's absolutely necessary (coughing more often for a prolonged period of time would definitely make it necessary!). I know part of me is also avoiding it (not in denial, exactly, just...hoping a vet visit won't be necessary) because if she does have CHF, there aren't many options for us. I can't pill her, and it's not that I'm unwilling - just that I literally can't (I'm not the only one who's tried, either - no one can pill her!). She can't be force-pilled - restraining her sends her into a panic, she nips and struggles and flails and bolts and won't come near me again for the rest of the day. If you do succeed in getting a pill down her throat, she gags it up, even if you hold her mouth closed and gently massage her throat to encourage swallowing. She can't be tricked with food - she either just won't take it, or she'll set it on the ground and nibble the pill out, regardless of what food I try or whether I offer her something bigger and better after she has the food with the pill in her mouth. I can't afford to compound every drug she needs, plus she doesn't let me hug her without struggling anymore, since hugs preceded drugs, so getting that many syringes into her mouth one at a time just won't happen. I could probably overcome my own dislike of needles to give her shots, but I can't imagine restraining and sticking her would go any better than trying to restrain and pill her. She's...difficult. Adorable, but difficult. She won't eat peanut butter anymore since I tried to hide a pill in it one time a few months ago. I've tried PB, canned cat food, yogurt, meat, low-sodium lunch meat, pill pockets, cheese - nothing works. So if she does have CHF and her symptoms are getting worse and happening more often... When I got her, I thought I'd have her a couple months and give her a good end of life out of the shelter. I didn't let myself get too attached until she'd been with me 6 months. Now I've had her a year and a half and she's (sneakily) stolen my heart. (She looks perpetually unimpressed in photos )

What's the shortest amount of time a seizure can last? Internet says they can be a few seconds to a few minutes, but I can't find anything conclusive about just how quickly they can be over. Terrier Daisy has struggled to get off her bed before, but this morning she sat up, then flopped on her side, her head went way back, and she kicked her legs a bit, then in two seconds it was over and she did a ton of lip licking and needed quite a bit of comforting. A few minutes later, she was fine. I touched her to steady her, as I usually do when she's having trouble getting up, but she didn't seem to notice my hand (usually she startles when you touch her). Worried mom brain says it could have been a seizure, but I've never seen a seizure in person and I've never seen Daisy have one, so the more logical side of my brain is saying she probably was just trying to get up. But it still looked different than usual - less like she was struggling to right herself, and more like she was just...struggling. (Her head usually goes forward and she tries to pull herself up, this time her head was angled back.) I reached for my phone to film and by the time I had my phone, she was still. A few seconds later, she got up and started licking her lips like crazy. I thought she was going to throw up, but she just leaned into me for comfort pets. If it wasn't for the weird lip licking, I'd be able to convince myself that she was just having trouble getting up, but lots of lip licking has never followed her having trouble getting up, so I don't know. (I sound like the wife on Airplane - "Jim never has a second cup of coffee at home!" ) For reference, she's 13, has a grade 4 or 5 heart murmur, three mast cell tumors, a new probable hemangiosarcoma on her belly, and is on palliative care for all of the above (the vet said if she was her dog, at the rate she's popping up new growths and with her heart the way it is, she wouldn't put her through surgery, and I trust our vet). We tried Meloxicam for arthritis and she handled it well until we added Benadryl for the MCTs. Her poops got runny, so we stopped the Meloxicam. Poops were a little better, then she stopped eating for a few days, so I stopped the Benadryl too and she's finally starting to eat again (yay!). She got her Heartgard yesterday. She's never had a problem with it in the past (been on it almost a year now) and I always give it to her right after she eats, so she always has something in her tummy (I'm a big believer in taking drugs with food in your stomach, whether you're human or not ). She's been coughing more recently, a few fairly short fits throughout the day yesterday and today, and a coughing fit while we took our afternoon stroll yesterday. She can't walk far anymore (a few months ago we walked a mile a day, then it was half a mile, now we go down the street and back and it totals well under .25). Anyway, how quickly can a seizure be over? Can they really just last two seconds?

I don't have any input on the IVDD, but Terrier Daisy is on daily Meloxicam for arthritis and does well. No side effects, but I do make sure to give it with breakfast every day (I hate taking NSAIDs on an empty stomach, so I don't make her do it ).

Smiles can be scary when you're not expecting them I volunteered at the county shelter for years and we'd occasionally get smiler dogs (rarely - much more common to have greyhound smilers!) and they always had to put huge signs on the kennels that said "I'm not snarling, I'm SMILING! I'm friendly!" My first grey was a smiler. He was the best boy. He wasn't allowed in the kitchen while we were eating, so he'd wait until he heard post-dinner conversation sounds and would quietly walk up, peek around the wall, and smile big at us. We'd laugh (because it was adorable), he'd come into the kitchen and smile and wag enthusiastically. I got the impression that he was basically saying "I know you don't want me in there while you're eating, so I'm going to wait till you're done eating then appease you with my grin ". Once you get used to the smiles, you'll love the smiles. We get smilers in the kennel occasionally and it's always a big event. I saw that you said you're wary - what exactly are you wary of? Or are you just wary and unsure why?

Greys can be tricky. Some come in, make themselves right at home, and bond instantly to you (and you to them). Others come in and take months to truly come out of their shells, and until they do, it can be tough to really feel like you've bonded with them. Personally, I'd give it time and put a little extra effort into bonding with him. Fun training sessions, play sessions if he's into playing, walks in neat places, outings to fun spots, etc. I know how you feel, except kind of opposite. I'm a lifelong greyhound person who adopted a small terrier. Having an entirely different breed was basically culture shock It took me 6 months to feel like her personality had fully emerged and she was my dog. Took me forever to really bond with her! She took to me right away, following me everywhere, wanting to snuggle, and I snuggled her and reciprocated the love, but I still didn't feel like she was my girl until like 6 months after adoption. Now she's my little sidekick and copilot (literally - she rides in the passenger seat ) and I've definitely bonded with her, but I thought it would never happen.

I'm so shocked to see this post...I squeaked out "No, not Paddy! Not yet!" I'm so sorry for your loss

I was thinking about this too. I always cringe a little when an adopter says they live with roommates. Typically when a dog knows someone is home, they want to be out of their crate, let out to potty, and loved on. Knowing your roommates (people who pet her and love on her!) are there, but NOT petting? And then they leave!? She wakes up, gets excited, then they leave, she still has to pee, and she just..does. A month is plenty! I had a foster overnight and bawled like a baby when she left. You did not fail. You tried everything to make it work - it just wasn't the right situation for you or the grey. No failure - just bad timing. I had awful feelings of failure after I returned my boy. It took me two or three years before I could even seriously think of adopting again, and I did, but not a grey. I have a little senior terrier who came to me totally housetrained. She's been a challenge in her own ways, but when you're ready to adopt again, maybe look for a more mature dog, preferably one who has lived in a home for a couple years. Greyhound, mutt, other breed - whatever. Just one who has some home experience. My best recommendation for someone getting their first ever dog as an adult is to get a mature (middle-aged or senior) one who already knows how to properly train a human I know how it feels. I had to return my first grey because he wasn't happy (needed a greyhound buddy). He was happy when he was directly interacting with me or with other dogs, but otherwise he was just kind of ... there (and not in the typical "greyhound sleeps a lot and doesn't do much" way - he just seemed listless all the time). He's much happier now that he's living with another greyhound and a retired couple! It's hard, it hurts, but sometimes it's right. What might help you feel, not better, but less horrible, is if you write up a little bio of all the things she loves and all the things you love about her.

I take it back - Daisy is panting tonight and we did absolutely no physical exercise today. And it's 64 in here, so she's not warm. Old dog thing, I guess.

Terrier Daisy (13 years old) does this. It's 69 or 70 in the house and she'll just lay there and pant hard like she ran a marathon. It lasts a few minutes, then she goes back to sleep. Sometimes there are a few episodes a night, sometimes just one, sometimes none. I've cautiously experimented with the amount of exercise she can tolerate and I have noticed that when we take longer walks (over a mile), she pants or coughs more. If we don't really walk (less than half a mile), she doesn't usually pant, but will occasionally. Unfortunately, just not walking is not an option - she's a terrier If we miss more than two days of walks, she gets neurotic, starts flinging herself open-mouthed at my hands as I walk by, etc. Five minutes into our walks and she's panting, even when it's 55 degrees out, but she needs to walk (good for her heart, or at least that's what a couple vets have told me). How is Mini otherwise? Is there any coughing while she's laying down? Does she pant or breathe harder after her zoomies? Daisy doesn't really play anymore - she gets excited and starts to pant, and then you can tell she wants to play but doesn't like the feeling of having to work harder for air.

Cool! We got our first two from gfnc.

Here's the pretty girl on the day she went home...

I'm really hoping to attend this year! Need to wait a bit to see if another trip comes up (a maybe-maybe-not-will-let-you-know situation ) but if that doesn't happen, I'm hoping to go to that event!

Let your vet do it. Daisy the terrier has recurring anal gland issues that land us at the vet every month for, as I called it, the "butt squeeze". I could definitely learn to do it myself - I've cleaned out puss-filled abscesses on my rats before, so I have a pretty high tolerance for ick factors related to animals - but it only costs $20 at the vet and they do a very thorough job and can monitor to tell me if they're infected or not.