Banjoman

Maybe he wasn't walked much and that is why he has so little stamina? Hopefully you will be able to build him up to being able to enjoy a good, interesting walk after a few months. It sounds as though he knows he is in a good place now, I hope he spends many happy, loving years with you!

Hello from greyhound Chancey, whippet lurcher Nutmeg and their Mum, Carol, down in Dorset.

Maybe they used the hounds to catch rabbits for the pot, so they earned their keep?

Well thank goodness you realised that Archer was sent for you. I'm a great believer in healing a hound sized hole in your heart by plugging it with another. It looks like you have another special boy there (just watched his retrieve video!).

I found my gold watch in Chancey's bed one day! She does sometimes collect things and will always take a treat to her cage. She has chewed on slippers until I give them to her as they are no longer wearable and then she ignores them. Any soft or squeaky toy gets demolished. My biggest problem is that she will eat the grandchildren's plastic toys, especially LEGO. Just keep an eye on what she is taking and watch out for any chewing.

Hi, I'm in Dorset. Don't be surprised if she starts to lose her coat in a couple of months, as Locket has said. Both Greyhound Chancey and new whippet/greyhound lurcher Nutmeg did that, losing tons of fur and going a bit scurfy too. Their new coats look beautiful once all the old stuff has gone. I always like to run my hands down my dogs so that their coat picks up the oil from my skin and that helps to make it shiny. I have found that Chancey moults out twice during the year compared to once with my whippets. I am waiting to see what Nutmeg does!

Chancey will jump up into the back of my car when we are going out but I have to put her paws on the back cill and lift her in when it is time to go home!

Welcome from Chancey & Nutmeg and their Mum, Carol, down in Dorset.

I tried the Australian lava rocks or whatever they are called and it seemed to make a little difference with my whippet and Japanese Chin. Chancey greyhound does the most enormous wees so the small brown patches left by Aida changed to vast areas of bald earth. I started using something available in UK called GreenPeez http://www.caninenaturalcures.co.uk/greenpees.html?gclid=CKv_mc_6tc0CFewW0wodKqMP7A which I put in her food but wasn't convinced that it worked, because we've had such a wet winter I thought any urine was being watered down by the rain. I didn't buy another bottle until recently when I realised that the lawn was getting smaller and the number of patches getting bigger now that both Chancey & Nutmeg are weeing out there. I think perhaps the Green Peez did work so they are both having the drops on their food again and I will watch for any improvement. As Nutmeg races around the garden like an idiot I don't think the 'lawn' will really improve for quite a while but hopefully what grass there is out there will stay green!

The trouble with them not throwing up is that you then have grass trailing out the other end and a dog walking bandy legged!

Maybe you can fit a large cardboard box in the crate to act as a bed 'space' then if she wants to get antsy with anything she can tear that apart rather than the blankets. All my puppies have had cardboard box beds until they had finished teething and reliably settled down nicely on a 'proper' bed. Is there anybody who could come in and take her for a walk during the daytime? just two walks, one at either end of the day doesn't seem to give a puppy enough exercise time in my experience with whippet puppies. My ?three year old newly adopted lurcher has an hour long walk most mornings and still comes home and wants to race around my small garden. Although it sounds as though your morning walk should tire her out, she is kept occupied by watching what is going on while you are in the house. Once she is left there is nothing to keep her interest so she is making her own entertainment. My whippet puppies have demolished umpteen things they shouldn't and at her age she is still going to be destructive. Even my retired racing greyhound has been known to chew up large Lego components, who knows why?

Just because some medical option can be done doesn't mean it has to or ought to be done. I think you know yourself that your lovely boy is struggling with everyday life and that really you have to make and take that decision that will release him from more distress. It is always a difficult decision but I think it is better to let them go while they still have some dignity rather than leave it too late. He has enjoyed a good life with you and every loving hound needs an owner who can put their hound before their own wishes of keeping them for as long as possible. Thinking of you. Carol.

I started Chancey on the RGT dried food but she seemed to do the most enormous poos which were really soggy so I eventually changed to Burns Fish and Brown Rice and only add a little water and some tinned or packet food to make it more interesting each day. Now both Chancey and lurcher Nutmeg are happy eating that although both could do with a little more meat on their ribs but I don't want to over feed them now they are spayed 'cos the weight goes on round the waist rather than the ribs.

When Chancey came to me the adoption lady/racing trainer said that she soaked her dogs' kibble so that they digested it quicker and it didn't lie in their stomachs for when they raced.

New little lurcher Nutmeg does this quite often in the mornings even though she has her 2nd meal of the day around 9.00.p.m. so I doubt that it is because her stomach is empty. When she has eaten a lot of grass in the morning she sometimes just picks out the tinned meat from the dried food at lunch time but will wolf the whole lot down the same evening. She does often have a gurgly, squeaky tummy. After I cut the back garden lawn the other day she decided to graze on the new variegated grass I had recently planted then promptly threw it all up again. Thankfully she usually throws up out in the garden!

Lurcher Nutmeg came home from the rescue kennel wearing an Adaptil collar, I was lucky that the the day before I collected her the kennel had put the collars on all their dogs to help calm them down. As I have no idea what her temperament was like before I got her I assume it helped with the transition to my home, she seemed pretty laid back about it all. (She had been found wandering loose a few weeks before I got her). I bought another collar after she seemed a bit jumpy as the original one came to its 30 day limit but haven't invested in another, she does seem more vocal now but that could just be due to the fact that she is settling in now.

As I have found three ticks on Chancey in the last three weeks I asked my vet about this today and she suggested the Bravecto, mind you I nearly fell through the floor when they gave me the bill - £66.86p for two tablets, one 1000mg tablet for greyhound Chancey @ £34.78p and one 500mg tablet for lurcher Nutmeg @ £32.08p. These are only available in UK on veterinary prescription so I cannot buy them cheaper online, even though they are about half that price, because the vet charges £25 to prescribe drugs if I want to get anything elsewhere!

Chancey had a dental clean and tooth extraction (big upper molar) yesterday, it was noted that she has a grade 2 heart murmur before the op. (diagnosed earlier this year just by listening to her heart) which was why I decided to have the tooth extracted now, incase the murmur got worse. She seems fine today! Chancey was seven years old in January, she retired from the track at age five.

Hello! My Chancey came from RGT, I didn't even choose her, she just arrived on my doorstep and I loved her from the first look. Whereabouts in UK are you?

Hope all is going well.

As you may be able to see from my siggie, Banjo was a whippet and my new addition, Nutmeg, whilst listed as a whippet on the rescue charity website, turned out to most likely be a whippetXgreyhound lurcher.

From Dorset.