MattB

Thank you for taking the time to read my 'essay'! I think there might be a slight compromise in that the cardiologist hopes to be able to do tests without sedation - so I could say if you can, great, but if not we'll leave it.

I hope this isn't too rambling but here I go: About 6 weeks ago, coinciding with losing one of our hounds, Daisy (12yo girl) became really sick. First thing that happened was a lot of blood coming from her mouth - rushed to emergency vet who couldn't find anything but prescribed tranexamic acid and antibiotics to cover a potential tooth abscess but thought that unlikely as Daisy has very good looking teeth. The vet asked me if I was aware she had a heart murmur which I was - I've been told at every check up but always advised not to do anything unless she was symptomatic or it got worse. This has followed several recent appointments to try to get Daisy's incontinence under control where she's been examined but no mention of a heart murmur. Following the bleeding Daisy stopped eating - next vet spotted some ulcers in mouth and hypothesised she might have some in throat and stomach which contraindicated her Previcox so desired with paracetamol. It took a month of being hand fed steak and chicken too get Daisy back to normal, she would only eat soft foods initially but has built back to to nearly normal again now, however the most recent vet told me her heart murmur was grade 4 and I needed to see a cardiologist ASAP. I booked an appt but apparently covid has caused a backlog so it was 2 months before I could see someone - frustrating system but I had to give a deposit to get on their list and give an answer immediately so it's difficult to shop around. In the meantime, prompted by the fact that of three vets, only one has said Daisy needs urgent assessment, and while I waited for an appt, I booked in with a greyhound specialist vet who rang me up on the day of my appt and told me things looked very bad for Daisy from her notes as heart murmurs are very rare and very serious in greyhounds and I shouldn't be asking him to second guess another vet and he wouldn't see us (I guess that was me told!). So I'm waiting now for another 2 weeks but the thing is, Daisy is really really well - she's jumping around again telling me she wants a walk, she's raiding the treat drawer and, other than being a bit tired, is the same as she's always been. For her assessment I've been told that she may need sedation which carries a risk and instinctively I don't feel I want this - very keen to have an assessment but it feels excessive for a very happy old girl to be sedated if this carries risk - realistically what could treatment do for an asymptomatic elderly greyhound. It's also probably relevant to mention that Daisy is a spook, she is happy with me and my immediate family but anyone else is an absolute ordeal. Sorry this got really long but would really appreciate any thoughts. I only went to act in Daisy's best interests!

Thank you all. Just an update: Daisy is slowly coming round from this, though I don't want to speak too soon. After 2 weeks she has eaten from her bowl herself although I have been hand feeding her as well. Although the vet thinks the ulcers have mostly healed, I'm not convinced there isn't something going on, whether there was some sort of trauma to her mouth, it looks almost like she can't control her tongue sometimes and can't keep the food in, other times looks fine. Either way she seems to be going in the right direction and coming on walks, but quite tired. After not coming upstairs for over a year she now sleeps outside my room and watches me work all day. Thank you all for your support, advice and kind words.

Thank you. I am trying hard to be calm. I just feel like she could so easily slip away from us. She's always seemed resilient but it feels like she'd aged several years in the past 2 weeks.

Thank you - I'll speak to my vet about thyroid - might give it a few days to get to the end of the omeprazole and then make an appointment. Yes she's drinking plenty I think - actually she's done ok for food in the last few days, if only because I've been pretty relentless with 3 small meals a day. Thank you - I'd briefly wondered about what at the start - that's a good idea, will take this to the vets as well. Thank you for your replies.

Nearly 2 weeks ago we lost Charlie, one of our two hounds. Daisy, our remaining 12yo hound is really struggling. Part of this has been some medical issues which have happened at the same time but I'm not sure how much (if at all) grief is impacting her. I should also mention that, behaviourally, Daisy is a spook - we took her 7 years ago as she couldn't be rehomed. She's made incredible process but she still has a lot of neuroses - e.g. she is very scared of new food - for example if I give her some sardines which she has periodically she will run away from the bowl and I'd have to give her tiny bits off my hand, getting her closer and closer to the bowl until she eventually eats it - I'm mentioning this as it still feels like there's some of this going on with the refusing food. It took her years to let anyone apart from me and my wife and my mum to get near her, particularly men, after seeing my dad regularly for 4 years she allows him to stroke her now. She used to freak out on walks if there was a car parked in a different place. Two days after Charlie died blood started pouring (really pouring!) out of Daisy's mouth and I rushed her to the emergency vet - they couldn't find anything due to the amount of blood but this stopped while she was there and they suggested either a tooth abscess, although thought that this was unlikely due to her teeth being so good - but not impossible, or else an injury from chewing something but couldn't see anything - we were sent away with transexamic acid and some antibiotics and told that if the bleeding started again the next step would be to look at teeth under sedation. They also did full bloodwork and nothing out of the ordinary there, she's had recent urine tests after she started to have some incontinence issues and they've all been normal too (and is on propalin as a result). About 3 days after this, around Daisy's eyes swelled up and went all puffy, again rushed her to the vets who now had a chance to have a good look at her mouth - she found 3 ulcers and suggested that Daisy's Previcox might be upsetting her stomach so started some omeprizole and replaced the previcox with some liquid paracetamol. After a very runny tummy the vet suggested taking out the propalin and paracetamol for a few days - the problem here is that she goes nuts licking when she leaks without the propalin, and she has a very stiff back so when we stop pain meds she stiffens up. The vet also suggested her heart murmor has progressed to stage 4 and we're waiting for an appointment with a cardiologist now. Throughout this Daisy has completely stopped eating her food - it has been nearly 2 weeks since she took anything from her bowl, I've been cooking chicken and rice, and beef which I have to give her very carefully (I have to put it in front of her one piece at a time, making no eye contact and once there's a small pile, she will eat some, and then I add a piece every time she eats). She's been walking fairly normally, a bit more tired than usual so I've been driving her part of the way and letting her walk the scenic parts of the walk before getting back in the car. Her weight dropped initially but is back up to normal now. I'd really appreciate any thoughts or advice on getting back to eating. It's really difficult as there are so many things (potentially) going on, in addition to being very sad too. She seems reasonably happy but looks exhausted - I am so anxious ahead of every meal that she's going to refuse and just fade away.

Thank you - on the photos, this is actually a good distraction I think. When our 2yo says he wants Charlie I now say 'So do I, but he has died and we can't see him anymore, but we can talk about him and we can look at photos and videos of him' then we do that for a minute and then he moves on.

In terms of photos - what do people think? We'll be keeping them up on the wall of course but should we continue to look at pictures in albums/electronic devices with him? That feels a bit forced maybe? I'm just sad that he might not remember Charlie for long.

Thanks all and sorry for slow response - I always click follow but had removed that for some reason. I've been matter-of-fact and just said 'Charlie has died, he was very poorly' and we will miss him. After some 'let's go find him' he then settled on 'Charlie gone home again' which felt quite profound. What I've found difficult and beautiful is that he's looking at the pictures of Charlie, and caught us watching a video of him, and he laughs at them 'Charlie at Grandma's, Charlie in deep dark woods' and I feel gutted that he won't see him again. Also the fact that Charlie has been such a big part of his life but that will fade - I realise that's just me feeling sad and I shouldn't actively want my child to feel sad about Charlie - it's just conflicting. Grief eh! after a day of crying you start to feel slightly better and then you get up in the morning and it starts all over again.... Thank you all xx

We lost our beautiful Charlie two days ago. We live in a small house and because of lockdown we have been in our front from for nearly a year for most of the day! Charlie was such a big part of our 2 year old's routine, every morning we said good morning to Charlie and Daisy and he checked-in with them all day, stroked them, read to them and talked about them constantly, especially listing 'We all love mummy, daddy, Daisy, Charlie'. He still does this but he also keeps asking to see him, we've just said that he has died because he was very poorly and we all miss him which is usually enough. At the same time we are surrounded by photos which he likes to look at and talk about 'Charlie in park' etc. We found an old video of Charlie ripping up a paddling pool and our little one thought this was hilarious, I wasn't ready to laugh at old pictures yet so I found this difficult. Does anyone have any tips for dealing with these, very basic, questions and giving a toddler information that doesn't scare/upset them?

Thank you. Unfortunately it was the worst news and there wasn't a choice at all - Charlie had bone cancer which had spread to his chest. He was in a lot of pain, more pain than he'd let us see, so we said our goodbyes. Our hearts are in pieces. Good luck with your Maya.

Thank you so much. Thank you everyone. I'm sorry this thread stopped being a medical discussion and about a broken heart. It means a lot to know you all understand this.

Thank you.

That's what's upsetting me so much at the moment. The last week has been so sleep deprived and meal deprived (I had been sleeping on the floor with Charlie) that I'm worried I've forgotten about all the lovely everyday stuff that we did for the last 7 years.

I'm heartbroken to update this thread. Charlie has gone - he was so brave, he hadn't let us know the extent of how ill he was. He had a tumour in his leg and it had spread to his chest - I can't believe he went downhill so fast. The only thing we could do was say goodbye. Our hears are broken.

Thank you for this. In my illogical mind I keep thinking 'will they find something on the x-rays because they're looking for it. I know it makes no sense I'm just in a dark place today.

Thank you all. You've given me a lot to think about. I'm going to knock work on the head for today, go out and get some more of Charlie's favourite treats which he's allowed until 8pm. What's so difficult is that he's having a good day today - given he couldn't come on a walk but he's super alert on his bed, watching over our 2 year old (they adore each other) and I feel like I can't be potentially having to make this decision today. Ok, I'll wash the red puffy mess that is my face and get to the shop.

Do x-rays show soft tissue injuries too?

Thank you - I'm just going with what has been suggested by the vet - I'm not sure if things are different here but I've never heard of x-rays without sedation.

I am preparing myself for all eventualities after Charlie's x-ray tomorrow. The vet has advised that if it is osteosarcoma that it would be best for Charlie to be put to sleep. Our last greyhound was kept under sedation and we were with him while he was put to sleep; it was very peaceful and I cherished being there with him when. The other option the vet suggested would be to wake him up and then put him to sleep - my instinct is that I'd worry he'd wake up feeling groggy and confused and then he'd see me briefly before he was put to sleep and it would be better for him to remain sedated. I'm just wondering what people's take on this is? Like I say I am hoping and praying but I want to be prepared for everything.

Thanks all. Charlie is booked in for an x-ray tomorrow. I don't know how to feel - I want to have some positivity but I'm just so sad. The vet said it could be osteo but it could also be other things which the x-ray would help with. I just don't know how to prepare for the possibility of good news vs him not waking up. I'm nearly 40 and I feel like I'm 10 years old wishing my mum and dad could help me with this.

Thanks for your response. Can I ask a follow up question - would you wait before going for an x-ray? The reason I ask is that I've been looking at some old messages and Charlie has had a couple of incidents like this before - quite bad limping which goes on for two or three weeks - last time they definitely thought it was his shoulder as it is now (what is frustrating is I can't remember which shoulder) and we treated with painkillers and it got better but it did take time. I think it is maybe slightly worse now although he's a year older. I'm just wondering what is reasonable, whether we could give it a few more days with some stronger pain medication and see which way it goes before deciding to x-ray.

Our last two greys the vet was convinced it was arthritis. Can arthritis pain creep up relatively quickly like this? Charlie dragged his foot slightly a few times today which made me wonder about a trapped nerve or something. Obviously this is just guessing and hoping.

Thanks for your response. Charlie has gone downhill overnight and has started to drag his foot. Struggling to walk at all and I hate to say it but his eyes have changed. I'll see what the vet says but I think it might be nearly time.

Thanks for your responses - it's definitely given me food for thought. The pandemic is making things difficult here (UK -currently on full lockdown) - we're not allowed in the surgery - the vet nurse comes to collect the dog and then the vet comes out after the examination to discuss. It's far from ideal and makes things more difficult. A relative had to have her dog put to sleep and she couldn't be there with her at the end which is heartbreaking.