ivon

Dont beat yourself up, a few years ago, when I still had 3 dogs, a pound of coffee beans disappeared from my counter, 2 Greyhounds and a Great Pyr, I had no idea who ate how much, if one ate all, or all ate some, I just kept an eye on all three. None seemed to feel bad, so I let it got, they all turned out fine. Same Greyhound who wolfed down a pound of grapes, and was fine.... (I found out after the fact, teenagers and all.....)

I am so sorry

Thanks All, I feel so guilty for not feeling terrible, but he has been an "old dog" for so long, I mostly feel relieved, and it is weird to only have one (easy) dog now, and not a "special" setup around the house, involving random throw rugs and pee pads, and most of all, being able to sleep through the night, for the first time in years. Picked up his ashes today....so my boy is home, and I, I don't have to worry about him, or what kind of disaster I may come home to.

Spud was my first Greyhound, and as of now, he is my last one.....We adopted him in June 2003, just shy of his second birthday, and boy, was he a handful. He had never been in a car, or a house, he was scared of the TV, terrified of stairs, he had sleep and space aggression, and he didn't like it at all when another dog wanted to run. Spud was very food motivated however, so much so, that the second day home he ran head first into the pantry door, the first command I taught him was "wait". He'd growl when the kids scooted a bit too close to his dog bed, and snarked at anyone, human or hound, for walking too close by when he was lying down. When he wanted a specific dog bed, and his sister was on it, he would go rustle around the trash, until I got up to investigate, and she came along, that's when he ran back to grab the bed he wanted, though we sometimes thought he wasn't the brightest knife in the drawer, those kinds of incidents taught us better. His race records show he was terrible at it, and we soon learned why, if something caught his attention mid walk, he would stop and stare, he never knew where exactly his feet were at any time, he would look behind him while walking and walk right into a door frame, just walking around the backyard he managed to poke holes into his thin skin, ever.single.day. Not only was he super house broken from the start, but if he was to have an accident, he would head for an easy to clean surface, away from carpet, I did appreciate that part. But for everything else, I was very tempted to take him back to Greyhound Friends of NC, very. Over time, he came around, by the time I adopted the second brood mama, he was no longer weird about his space, and she was allowed to run with him, he could be petted while on his bed, he figured out how to get in and out of the car, and he graciously welcomed his Great Pyrenees sister in 2011. But, he was getting old, and slowed down, and I never, ever thought he would live this long, there was not anything specific wrong with him in the end, sure, he had to be on Xanax for anxiety, he obviously had dementia, he was deaf, but he still enjoyed barking at the neighbors dog and chasing up and down the fence, he had trouble standing, or walking, but he could run until the last day. But, when he lost interest in messing with the dog next door, and was restless, yet wonky on his wobbly legs, I could see it in his face and his eyes, he was tired, and he was done, and I thought it kinder to let him go, before he was in serious trouble, before he would have to endure pain or greater anxiety. The only thing he still enjoyed was food, so I fed him his food and a banana and an extra Xanax, got him a cheeseburger for his last car trip, and fed him treats until the vet came in. And now, I am getting used to the easy live with only one dog, who has no special needs whatsoever.......Instead of being sad, I am relieved that my Spuddy-Wuddy, the Spudster, no longer has to fight against his failing body and mind. But it still is weird, and the house is so much bigger without the extra throw rugs on the hardwood, and the pee pads on the carpet, and all his dog beds...

I am so sorry Bailey had to leave you.....

Thank you all so much for your sweet messages, I know most of you know what it's like, unfortunately. Karma was a wonderful dog, she made us laugh every day, and I will miss her always. One day, I will adopt another senior... For what it's worth, I am grateful for a few things, Karma was not in pain, this all happened while I was home, I could get a hold of a friend to help me get her to the vet, and a 24-hour vet with excellent staff opened right around the corner from me just months ago. I had a plan for this, and had Rimadyl and Xanax on hand, and Karma had a good life until the very end. This girl almost always had a very good sense of timing....

I lost my sweet Karma girl suddenly this morning, my class clown, reader of mail, horder and destroyer of remote controls and glasses, bathroom trash diver. She was such a happy dog, always goofing around, acting like a puppy til the end. She never met a stranger, loved all humans and dogs, even kissed the mailman once. I adopted her 4 1/2 years ago from Greys Landing, drove 9 hours one way to pick her up, she put Spud in his place the first day on the car ride home. They never had a cross word, but he knew that his "space issues" didn't fly with her. She loved walks and car rides, didn't matter if it ended up at the vets or the groomers for nail trims, she loved it all. She's never been sick once, though she did managed to split her paw open more than once, just because she was wild, crazy, fearless, and fast. This morning around 5am, I let all three dogs out into the yard, they did their thing and came back in, she had no issues then. Around 9am, I got up to feed them breakfast, (Spud had been complaining that it was late), and Karma could not get up from her dog bed. While I hustled the other two into the dining room, she somehow managed to follow us, but then she fell over on her side. I was hoping she was just stiff from laying around for a while, tried to help her up, but her paws curled under. And, the whole episode freaked her out pretty bad, so in addition to Rimadyl I gave her Xanax, so we could get her to the vet without upsetting her further. The vet gave me the option of an MRI, followed by, depending on the diagnosis, either radiation, back surgery, or blood thinners, or keeping her in the state she was hoping she improves. None of these were good options, considering how much her condition upset her already, so I opted to let her go. She was aptly named, and she gave me one last gift, not having to see her decline gradually; she wasn't in pain, and I petted her and talked to her until she drifted off. Yet, there is a giant Greyhound shaped hole in my heart....

Spud is 13, from time to time he will start licking under his front paw, he gets all frantic and even bites at it, somehow this seems to cause a reflex that makes his corresponding hind leg go crazy, kind of looks like Thumper in Bambi. This wears him out and makes him anxious, so that causes more licking, etc. There is nothing wrong with his front paw, I checked, and he walks and runs without a limp. I assume it's behavioral, has anyone else seen something like this with their hounds? If I can get him to stop licking, his hind leg stops, but today he kept going at it again and again, I finally gave him half a Xanax, so he is relaxed, for now. He is getting a bit senile, I wonder if that could be part of the problem...

I'm so sorry.....

I don't think it's strokes, but 3 more unexplained bruises today, all on the inside of his legs. None as big or with scratches as the first one, and I did not too long ago have him checked for that weird disease (forgot the name) where they get bruises....and bleed out internally. Ugh....

Thanks for your input, the vet doesn't seem to think it's seizures, she recently did a complete senior panel on him, and everything looked good. I am hoping it's just muscle cramps, I didn't get to him before it was over, the episode lasted only seconds, but he looked at me right after. He seemed confused, but calmed down pretty quick, at this point I decided to keep giving him his bananas and vow to not let him go a week without them. My vet is the best, they had him all day, checked him all over, did a CBC and didn't charge me anything when I picked him up.

I am scared.....he may be old, but he is my buddy, and my first Greyhound....he is freaked out, I can tell, I crated the girls, just in case. They are none too impressed, but they can take it.....I will leave him at my vets tomorrow for the day, hopefully they can figure it out. I know I will have to let him go eventually, but having had him around for nearly 10 years, I grew so attached.....

He did a bit of a Bambi in his crate, but it's carpeted, and the second time he was actually lying on his side....but you might be right, I give him bananas quite a bit because he gets leg cramps, but haven't in about a week.....

If those of you have experience with seizures could chime in, something weird is going on with Spud. He is 11, and gotten a bit frail, he sometimes gets small injuries outside from running into sticks, etc, but the last two days something happened inside. Yesterday he was limping, and had one toe at a weird angle, however, after 15 minutes he was walking normally and looked fine. Then I noticed a large bruise on his side, with a few scratches, this was before he ever went outside. today another foot injury I can't figure out, and tonight when he rushed into his crate for dinner, he had all 4 legs stretched to the sides and screamed, trembled for a minute like he could not move, and then was back to normal. Just a moment ago, he was laying in a soft travel crate, I could hear his legs kicking, like they sometimes do when dreaming, but he screamed again. By the time I got to him he was ok again....Could it be he is having very short seizures? Is there a blood test the vet can do to find out? I will take him in tomorrow of course, but was wondering if any of you could help me shed some light on this....

Pat, I am so sorry you lost your beautiful Moe Moe......

I would bet it's a UTI, unless she only doing this at PetSmart and your friends, if she does this at home, off to the vets.

Ugh, I tried the comfy cone recently, but they are made for thicker necks, I think. It kept falling over Spuds eyes and he walked around blind, he was miserable. The muzzle with a stool guard (of duck tape) works really well. Did the same for Karma when she sliced her front paw, staples there too. Staples are used when the vet doesn't want to put them under, which they have to do for sutures, while staples, they can just hold them down and go for it. My vet said it's like getting your ears pierced, Karma put up more fuss when they cleaned her foot, the stapling didn't seem to bother her that much. (I had fed her a full breakfast just before she got injured.)

I don't know about "juvenile", I have an 11 yo that does that, she loves everyone and loves to give kisses. Personally I am not a fan, but lots of people think it's cute, including my mail man, I am always apologizing, try to discourage it, and the other day she nearly took my nose off. I think it's a personality thing, my other Grey doesn't do that....Usually I tell her to go and lie down, and she will, but most visitors encourage the behavior by thinking it's so cute, so it's hard to break her of it completely. I just know to hang on to her when there is likely to be an incident....

That's what my vet said too Ouch, poor Cal! Karma's foot looks ok now, like a normal foot with a bunch of staples, but can't trust her a minute without the muzzle.

Karma, the Greyhound, not she had it coming.....Two days after Spud's nasty spider bite was finally healed to the point he no longer needed to see the vet daily, Karma crash landed on the deck. Not sure what she did, I only heard the crash, she never even yelped, but when I let her in she was dripping blood from her nose. I determined that by her A) sneezing on my white back door, and , I gave her an apple to make sure it wasn't a broken tooth or coming from her mouth. Was hard to tell...While I was getting dressed to take her to the vet if needed, she stopped bleeding, but since I put her in her crate, she now looked like a candy cane. White dog, blood gushing, yeah.... Since she seemed ok, I took Sasha in for her (overdue, bad mommy) heart worm test, when we got back, Karma seemed fine, had cleaned herself up pretty much, except for one spot on her front paw. I checked it out, and low and behold, found she also cut her paw, right between the toes. Back to the vet.....poor thing, she was not happy with me when they cleaned it, ouch, ouch, and then stapled it. From the sound of it, the cleaning was worse on her....So just when one dog was getting better, we are back to anti-biotics and Rimadyl for another....and Karma is actually the tough one, her skin is thicker than Spuds, she must have hit the deck at full speed......I installed a ramp not long ago, and figured she would at least no longer hit the top step and hurt herself, and she still managed. I guess I should count myself lucky in that they are both 11, and not slowing down, but I sure wish they would stop running into stuff that hurts them. One more week with staples, I call it her paw with "Bling".

It will be fine, Spud had a wound on his leg that was at least that size, and since it was caused by a spider bite, there was nothing to be sutured, the skin had disappeared. It took three weeks, due to the poison, but it healed. You can try QuickDerm to speed up the healing, that's what my vet finally applied daily, it's a miracle drug....she and I were both floored how fast the wound healed once she started using it.

If you google it, you can buy it lots of places, including amazon.....probably for less then what my vet paid....

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Spud's spider bite, the tissue and skin practically melted away, the wound was pretty large and deep a few days in. He went to the vet every day to have the wound tended to, and a late last week, started applying QuickDerm. It's advertised as a wonder stuff for hard to heal wounds, and we thought we try it. Well, by today, major improvements, he also only needs to go to the vet every other day! I thought I pass this on, the stuff is expensive (about $32.00 for 2 oz.), and I have no idea if the vet will pass the cost on to me, but I don't care. It's finally healing! At some point I was worried the leg was lost, and he is not a tripod candidate, heck, he has trouble on four leg...so I am thrilled, but also wanted to let you guys know, apparently they have healed some major wounds, degloving, etc. with this stuff.

Well, the vet said I did a good job, and maybe by Friday he can have surgery to suture the skin back together. Manuka honey came in today, does anyone think my vet would be offended if I gave it to her to try? She is putting an anti-biotic paste on the wounds, so for all I know that may be doing the trick...She does his bandage changes, except on Sunday, mainly because it involves scraping at the tissue to make it bleed, she says that makes it granulate better. I believe it, but there is no way I can do that....