Jump to content

ramonaghan

Community Supporter
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4,196

  • Joined

 Content Type 

Posts posted by ramonaghan

    How Do I Get My Greyhound To Let Me Brush His Teeth?

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Don't know about the OP, but I'm learning a lot! Sounds like many of you give treats right after, which is probably part of my problem. I thought that sort of negated the effect of the toothpaste (we have tried the PetzLife mint gel, which specifically says withhold food and water for 30 minutes after brushing). I think the mint is too strong for Sweep; she thrashes around like I'm torturing her. I'm going to get some chicken-flavored paste and try again armed with bribes treats.

    New Owner From Nashville

    in Introductions & Biography

    Posted

    Ah, totally makes sense that you'd have baby gates everywhere (and hey, when the kid outgrows them, you can still use them for the dog—score!). Piper will definitely grow to like and trust you more; you'll start to notice tiny changes and then one day realize how far you've come. My husband and I spent many early days saying, "This dog hates us/is totally bored here/is so hard to read" and now she's like a completely different dog (well, she's probably still bored sometimes). She has always slept 18-20 hours a day, but when she's awake, she's much more engaged and expressive than in those first few weeks, and she's a roaching fool. You might see Piper perk up with cooler temps too; Sweep, despite coming from Florida, wilts in the heat but goes bananas when it's chilly out.

     

    You didn't butcher Macherey at all, but I bet that's why so many people call her Dr. Carol. :lol That is great that you're seeing her, and she can give you some insight into the panting incident (my vote's just anxiety too, FWIW). Glad the moo tube was such a success! Dr. Macherey will approve of that for sure.

     

    Signature: you have to upload a pic to a hosting site (I think most here, including me, use Photobucket), resize it to a max of 500x150 and make sure it's less than 15 KB, copy the IMG link (on the righthand side of the page if you're using Photobucket), and paste it into the signature field in your profile settings. Hope that makes sense; if not, there are more detailed instrux in the Technical forum. For the avatar, you have to post 50 times or donate to Greytalk for that option to be available in your profile settings. In either case, you submit a ticket with the pic attached and a moderator will resize it and set it as your avatar for you.

    New Owner From Nashville

    in Introductions & Biography

    Posted · Edited by ramonaghan

    Hi again!

     

    Glad she's official now—congrats! Sounds like things are going well.

    As far as squeakies/stuffies go, some dogs really like them, some don't. Sweep prefers stuffies that sort of "grunt" rather than emit high-pitched squeaks (which suits me just fine). It did take Sweep a few weeks to play with them at all, and even now, she's done after a couple of minutes. We keep them in an easily accessible basket and she likes to collect them on her bed and use them as pillows. Maybe Piper's a hoarder too. :)

     

    Crate-wise also sounds similar to Sweep, and I imagine in Piper's situation (being bounced a couple of times), it's even more of a safe haven/sense of consistency for her. We're 10 months in and still have Sweep's up because 1) that's where she sleeps overnight, and 2) that's where she goes during our terrifying Tennessee thunderstorms, but other than that, she's out and about with us. I am sure Piper will get there too in a few weeks. Do you have a bed in the family room (or wherever you spend most time) where she can observe the activity without being in the flow of traffic? Also make sure she has an easy escape route to her crate/a quiet room if she starts feeling overwhelmed. I wouldn't take the crate down unless and until she really doesn't need it or really doesn't like it.

     

    And, finally, bribery is an excellent dog training tool, so I don't think there's anything wrong with how you're approaching the stairs if that's working for you and she's not showing signs of stress about it. Very encouraging that she's already doing them on her own sometimes!

     

    She'll come around...just be as consistent as possible. Dogs thrive with a routine, and it'll help ease her anxiety to know what to expect and when. Soon enough she'll realize that she's finally home for good, and you'll be amazed at how much her personality comes out.

    How Do I Get My Greyhound To Let Me Brush His Teeth?

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    I also have one who won't let me brush so I will be following this thread with interest! But in the meantime, we've conquered the bad breath with a water additive (we use Tropiclean, but there are several other brands on the market) and gotten her teeth pearly white with marrow bones, lamb ears, beef tracheas (aka "moo tubes"), or bully sticks a few times a week. I'm not convinced the Dentastix and Greenies dental bones do much, but Sweep sure does seem to love them, so I indulge her every now and then.

    Winter Coat Advice

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Here's my take on coats.......it all depends on your hound. Desi has 3 lovely coats, the last one is absolutely gorgeous, fits him like a glove, and cost

    upwards of $100. The only time he wears it is if it's below 20 degrees, and that's because I force the issue. He's extremely hot blooded, heat intolerant,

    and relishes cold weather. OTOH, I know lots of other hounds who freeze at 50 and need jammies to sleep comfortably. I guess what I'm trying to say is

    don't get too coat-happy until you know which way it's going to go.

     

    I'm sure you'll get a lot of suggestions for good on-line sites for coats. The one I liked best was Tree Parlor on Etsy. They asked for like 6 measurements,

    which is why that coat fits him so well & looks so awesome. Too bad he wears it so seldom.

     

    Totally agree. I also have a seemingly hot-natured hound. We have this coat from Amazon and it's very well made and fits perfectly, but Sweep hates wearing it. She's OK with this much cheaper, lighterweight one (which required some minor modifications for velcro placement—no biggie considering its low cost). I think she prefers not having anything between her front legs, so that might be another consideration.

    Chronic Itchy Elbows

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    One of my girls cannot take fish supplements, nor any food with fish in it as it makes her itch. I never noticed that was the culprit until the TOW recall last year. They were both eating Pacific Stream, and I thought they were doing so good on it, but when I stopped feeding it, her itchies stopped. She doesn't shake her ears anymore, scratch at herself, and her anal glands even cleared up. I used to have them done twice a year for her. I just assumed fish oil was good for all, but seems it's not so on her case.

     

    Just in case it was just the food, I started her on the Grizzly salmon oil after the food recall to continue supplementing with fish oils, and she was back at worrying about her butt again, and her eye rims would be pinker then usual. No fish oil for her.

     

    Thanks for this idea. I'm still leaning toward environmental allergies, but it's worth a shot to try going without fish oil for a couple of days, and she loves coconut oil, which I already have on hand. I'll see if there's any improvement before trying Zyrtec. Pollen counts will continue to be high over the next few days, so I'll only be changing one variable at a time and should know fairly quickly what's working or not. :goodluck

     

    He always suggests giving local honey for environmental itchies too.

     

    Sweep appreciates that recommendation! :chow

     

    Try Zyrtec, Claritin, Chlortrimeton or Allegra. Just remember not to give one that contains a decongestant (D). Benadryl has fallen out of favor for seasonal allergy use. Benadryl is greyt for an acute allergic reaction to a bee sting, vaccine ...... but, the other antihistamines have proven to be more effective with seasonal or chronic environmental allergies.

     

    Thanks for the reminder on the D!

    Chronic Itchy Elbows

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Yeah, Benedryl is one of the fast-acting allergy meds. It has a sedative effect, though (diphenhydramine). Benedryl is pretty good for sudden allergic reactions, like insect stings or whatever. But it does have the potential to knock the dog out. On the other hand, Zyrtec is an antihistimine, but it does not contain diphenhydramine. So that's probably better if you're going to be using it over a longer period of time. Our vet also recommends buying unscented baby wipes and wiping the dog's legs down (elbows too) when they come in from being outside. I definitely know that in PA, we're having unusually high pollen counts this time of year. I'd probably chalk this one up to allergies.

    Yep, Nashville's awful too (almost year-round), so allergies would not surprise me; I just thought it was weird that it's seemingly only one part of her body that's bothering her. I'll try the Zyrtec and wipes. Thanks!

    Chronic Itchy Elbows

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Have you tried Benedryl?

     

    I did try it over the winter, just once or twice and probably not a full dose because I'm paranoid like that. I'll give it another go, unless...

     

    I've seen several other threads on here discussing seasonal environmental allergies, so it may just be a matter of giving her Zyrtec until the weather changes.

     

    ...Zyrtec would be better? Does it matter? If it's something like pollen, are there other telltale symptoms? (She does do the reverse sneezing/gagging thing occasionally.)

     

    I don't think it's food (and the vet didn't seem to either). She came to us on Purina One SmartBlend's Lamb & Rice and is now on a combo of Iams green bag and Blue Buffalo Life Protection Chicken & Rice or Lamb & Rice, and she has handled all of them well. Her poops are consistently fine and she has not had any gas since the first week or two here. Coupled with the fact that she doesn't scratch any of the typical food-allergy spots, food seems a less likely culprit than something external to me. I just hope it's not the cats! :riphair

    Chronic Itchy Elbows

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Sweep's had itchy elbows the entire 9+ months we've had her. That is the only place I see her scratch regularly, sometimes to the point of bleeding. We've tried Nordic Naturals fish oil capsules, coconut oil (as a supplement and also topically), Missing Link, and colloidal silver first aid gel, which seems to help with healing as long as she doesn't manage to rub or lick it off before it dries. I mentioned it to the vet a few months back and she thought it might be an environmental irritant like detergent (though I'd think that would also affect her belly), so we switched to Dreft for a while. No major improvement. Sweep has plenty of soft beds that she takes full advantage of, so it's not any kind of pressure sore. Has anyone else seen itchiness that's isolated to one spot like this? She literally walked away from her dinner last night to scratch furiously for a minute, then came back to eat. One elbow's looking pretty rough right now, but of course when we tried to wrap it up, Miss Drama Queen acted like her leg was broken. :dunno Her coat and skin look good otherwise.

×
×
  • Create New...