GreytTerp

It's taken a while to be able to do Marvin's official 'farewell', but it's time...and here come the tears again, along with some chuckles remembering how awesome he was and just how much he was part of our lives. On February 19, we had to say goodbye to Marvin, and while we're still hurting deeply right now, there are so, so many wonderful memories we have with him. Starvin' Q. Marvin, racing name Wilder Side, joined us in March 2012, two weeks after being retired from racing for being 'too slow', according to his adoption papers. He was born in Kansas, raced at Daytona Beach, lived with us in 4 different states, and traveled on road trips through more places than most people are able to. He came home with us, never having been in a house, not knowing how to do stairs or what toys were for, and not even a name to respond to. He loved anything resembling food, plastic recycling (sigh), cat toys (definitely sent pics to family asking, 'do you recognize what this might have been?'), car rides, kids, and Kevin's vanilla rum. He never met a human he didn't like and always assumed deliveries, contractors, and guests were obviously only there to see him. After nearly 9 years with us and 2 months shy of turning 12, we had to let him go. His body just couldn't support him any longer, and we knew it was time. Up to his last breath, he was snagging all the treats he could grab from my hand. With COVID, we were, at least, able to spend almost the entire last year of his life with him. He left a big, goofy, greyhound-sized hole in our family, but we're forever grateful for so much time together, and just looking through old photos today is bringing good feelings back. We miss you, Starvies.

Ducky, could you please add Starvin' Q. Marvin to the February list? We had to say goodbye to him this afternoon.

Thank you all for this topic. We made the hardest decision for our Marvin this morning, as his mobility has deteriorated so much, with one of his good front legs taking a turn yesterday. He had such a great Wednesday, but yesterday, he was clearly in pain, even though his eyes are still bright, the ears pop for a string cheese wrapper, and he's eating well. This group's support has been such a help for us to make the call better a day early than a day too late. Hugs to all going through similar times.

Same for us. Marvin will be 12 in April, and he's had some bad stretches before lasting a few days, and he's having a bad spell again yesterday and today. I'm hoping getting him back on his NSAID and pain meds, which have been generally just as-needed and not daily, will give us a bit more time. For those with weak back-ended seniors, how do you help them poop? Will a sling to take some pressure off of his back legs help? When it's a bad day, Marvin is very hesitant to go, and if we can't get him to go 2x outside a day, it's a given that we'll wake up to some poo. Walking does help him, and the weakness is definitely worse when he's been more sedentary, such as during super cold or icy stretches of weather. I can just see the shame in his face when he's poo-ed in the house. He's peeing with no issues. It's so hard to see them get old :( Sending our love to all out there with senior houndies.

This is also exactly us, with our 10y9m senior. We're going to do x-rays when he's due for his next bloodwork in March, just to take a look, but the vet was able to palpate him and find exactly where in his lower spine is bothering him. We started him on Adequan injections in October, as well as joint chewables, but we think it was really the Adequan injections that gave him a very rapid and mostly sustained improvement in his rear stability and mobility. He has fallen off a bit now that he's down to just the monthly maintenance injections. We have Galliprant to give as needed, but he's not needed it more than a few days a month, so far. We see a lot of ups and downs though. Yesterday, he fell straight back onto his rump mid-poo (and of course, right onto the fresh pile ), but he insists on trying to squat on icy patches instead of exposed grass, so it was eventually going to happen (my pride was hurt more than his). Then today, he dragged me to the big dog park right outside and did several minutes of awkward, adorable, old-man zoomies. It's hard to do, but we've also seen some improvement when we can keep his leg muscles stronger, from doing stairs a few times a day, etc. Good luck - we'll be following along.

Sorry to hear that you're dealing with upset stomach and not eating. We went through a phase with our senior guy, but he seems to have rebounded with appetite. We do the pepcid as needed, but we haven't had any GI issues from Rimadyl or Galliprant. Antinol is good for GI bugs (we bought out the drug store when we found it on a trip overseas), but I'm not sure it will help just an irritated tummy. We did about a month of a bit of kibble (1/4 to 1/3 of the full meal) with the rest made up of rice, chicken, and peas from the instant pot. It seems to have restored his appetite, even with the NSAID and occasional pain meds. Marvin has some spine compression and arthritis as well. We started Adequan injections with him in November, and we saw a huge, very rapid improvement. He's fallen back a bit now that he's down to the maintenance once-a-month dose, but definitely better with his mobility and stability overall.

Thanks! We finally have the pack back together as of this weekend in Bismarck. There's even at least one other greyhound in our temp apartment building, which was a pleasant surprise!

Great, thanks everyone! We have a chilly dogs fleece, in a size much bigger than 26, and it's the only coat he'll walk in because it doesn't feel restrictive when walking. His little mutt brother has boots, and it's still the funniest thing we get to see all year.

Dear all Canadians and near-Canadians! We are moving from Denver to Bismarck, North Dakota, and I would like to ask for recommendations for some serious winter coats. Could you please let us know your favorites? Our hound runs hot, but his wee mutt brother does not, and with the move, we are upgrading their cold weather gear.

Hi! Could I ask which kidney dog food you went with? We just received a recommendation to start transitioning over, though Marv is just in the early phases (very high end of normal but definitely trending upwards in the past 10 months). Otherwise, Marvin (a seasoned 10.5 years old) is in good health, minus the usual old man wobblies in the rear. Wishing you the best with Stella.

All good things here. We have Marvin, the 10 y.o. big brindle boy, and his brother, of 1.5+ years, a young adult chihuahua terrier mix (~ 3-4 y.o. Toxirn?), Bertrand. They are definitely brothers, even if they largely co-exist and don't interact other than the occasional sniff about. They *almost cuddle, and we think they eventually will. Bertrand did try to climb into the slumber ball with Marvin on his first night with us, and that was a mistake, but no harm done. Otherwise, we had one accidental snark that ended up with Bertrand's head in Marvin's mouth, while Bertrand's mouth was around Marvin's leg, and they both panicked. Everyone was totally fine, and then they right after wanted to be near each other. Bertrand is 12 lbs of scruffy, fluffy sometimes/mini-lion other times, ter-hua-hua crazy, but they nap together all day, every day, and he's never once been mistaken for a toy. We like having such a visually mismatched pair of quirky pups. Marvin has also, unexpectedly, protected his little brother from a couple of off-leash dog events (Bertrand has bad leash reactivity). We took Marvin with us when we went to the adoption event so that he could pick (or just not un-pick, as he's more or less just ignores other dogs) a potential sibling. We walked them together inside and outside for about an hour, and I guess boys that pee together stay together? It doesn't sound like any more requirements than anyone else, definitely not like needing a cat-safe hound, and there are plenty of those out there too!

Following...Marvin is going to the vet on Monday, as what had been a bit of occasional rear weakness was bad this morning. I couldn't tell if he was trying not to poop in the house or just couldn't stand up fully in the back. He just turned 10 this past week, and I'm tearing up now just looking at him.

We're in! Our boys love theirs!

Thanks as always to this board! We ordered two last week, just to make sure we could get another before they are gone. So silly that they are being discontinued. Maybe they will just come in a different fabric?

We built a cave...Marv isn't a fan of pajamas or anything that even remotely restricts his motion. We took a huge soft-sided crate, opened the long side, and covered it with a dark, fleece blanket. He has a slumber ball and blanket inside. We call it his fort. It does wonders for him to keep him from being restless from being cold. Happy hound in his fort: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7IobEUvBvFIx6WuQ2

We never had to get it living on the east coast (not in a major city), but we do have to get it out here in Colorado now. Given that it can be transmitted to humans as well, probably not a bad idea if the local vet recommends it.

Great news! Hope that Tanzi has a quick recovery!

It happens...Marvin downed a full bag of Dove dark chocolates, and a ton of other chocolates after he jumped a gate (never before, never since) and got into what we thought was a secure stash. We ended up giving him peroxide to get it all back the minute we returned home just to be safe, but one kiss in a greyhound should be ok. You'll see the foil tomorrow...

She's lovely! Congrats! She sounds like she's a great fit for your family. (Marvin still looks at us with 'why???' when we break out the halloween costumes and hats and antlers for holiday cards. He gets over it pretty quickly.)

We were given the wrong paperwork when we brought our guy home (he was not the dog with 12 extractions for sure, and the ear tattoos did not match either), so it happens. Marvin is only 8.5 y.o., and he is almost completely white in the face with white hairs popping up throughout his entire coat (he's a red brindle tiger dog). He started going 'grey' around age 4. His eyes have always been a bit cloudy, but his vision is fine, and his teeth are broken and very worn from attacking his crate bars while he was a racer. He really started slowing down and showing some stiffness and hind end weakness last year, but we started him on some basic supplements (Springtime Fresh Factors) a few months ago, plus moved where he has to do stairs and hills daily. He's completely rejuvenated and probably has more energy than he's ever had, and the weakness has almost disappeared entirely. I do think he has a bit of arthritis. The vet should be able to give you a better idea of which information is correct on her age. https://photos.app.goo.gl/59BwXkzfZE7Jlsml2 We can't wait to see pictures!

The advice above is spot-on, as we can attest with our own experience. We dealt with the same types of issues with Marvin for probably the first 6 months he was with us, with incidents decreasing quickly after the first couple of weeks. In his case, for his own safety, I did have to go in with over mitts on both hands a few times to get something off of him that could have hurt him (he was shredding and trying to ingest the bathroom rug, as an example). No bed or furniture privileges until he was no longer guarding, and he still has to get off of the couch and go back to his own bed (one of many, so it's not like he's getting the raw end of the deal) if he gets grouchy with us. You're on the right track - just keep at it, and you'll start to see positive changes soon!

Welcome - BeBe's lovely!

We had major issues with crickets in an older house (those terrifying, super jumper camel crickets that look like spiders), and because of Marv, we opted to try DE around the inside and outside perimeters. Dogs can eat it, and it's totally fine (food-grade DE only), though Marvin never even tried. If you have to spray, I'd recommend a perimeter exterior to the house, and just use the sticky papers inside. It can take quite a while to make sure that you've sealed the perimeter of your house to keep them out permanently.

Sounds a lot like our guy. He's a big time whiner, but he almost never barks. We do our best to just ignore him when he whines, and it goes in phases. Some months, it's minimal, other months, he's always reminding us that he's there, and oh, yes, that he's starving and wasting away (he's not). He'll probably always be a communicator, but he'll likely start to whine less, and you'll also notice it less. Marvin has a 'girlfriend' who doesn't whine, but she sure tried it out when our friends brought her over to our place with them for a game night after hearing Marvin. She hasn't done it since, though, and seemed to pick up right away that whining didn't actually result in getting anything (treats, attention, etc.). Try to tough it out with him, and he'll figure it out - you'll learn that there's a marked difference in whining that means you need to address something ("I really really need to go out now" or "something is really hurting me").

Awwww...I have a soft spot for those huge brindle boys We'll stay tuned for more stories of Saint showing you his ropes!