GreytOwl

It has taken me a year to be able to finally write this remembrance of my darling gentle hound, Lucas. I fell in love with greyhounds at my first encounter with them, but it took over 20 years for me to finally bring one home. In the meantime, I'd read everything I could, lurked and lurked for years on GreyTalk, hoped and dreamed and then on May 1, 2016, we picked up our boy and life was never the same. The day we met him, he picked me. We were introduced to 13 different hounds and, once we met, he would not leave my side. In all the years we had him, my husband always joked that Lucas should wear a jacket that stated "I'm with her." I discovered what folks meant when they described a heart dog. His first minute in our house, he shot through the back door and directly to the kitchen counter where he promptly chomped down a stick of butter. I shouted in surprise and scared the bejeepers out of him and from that moment on he never touched a thing on our counter or table top. Not peanut butter, not steak, not a thing. Our first night together, at 1 am, 3 am 5 am, up he hopped from his bed to stick his nose in my face to make sure I was still there. I was up at 2,4 and 6 to make sure he was real and I wasn't just dreaming. He was a gentleman always - never stepping through a doorway unless I went first. With the utmost patience, he put up with daily tooth brushing, because it was what we did right before our first long walk of the day. We were adventurers together, exploring parks and trails and coastlines and our own neighborhood, and then starting all over again. He was the soul of patience. He met chihuauas and bulldogs and cats (yes cats!) with the same restrained equanimity. During his first year with us, he developed the dreaded corns on not one, nor two, but on three of his paws. We tried every shoe made, and finally found the perfect fit. Giving up walks was never an option. Not long after his first spacewalk with his new shoes, he was lifting his paws one by one, ever so gently, to help us put them on. He loved to lick out the mashed potato pan. Turkey necks: a superb gourmet delight. But peanut butter, oh, peanut butter is food of the gods. His favorite game: Home from a diner out, my husband and I would split leftover fries between us and stand in opposite corners of the yard. Then we'd let loose the houndie, who ran like a maniac from one of us to the other, grabbing a french fry reward on each lap. There were never enough fries, never. I'll never forget the first time he licked an ice cream cone. I'll never forget his hopping jumping dance of joy whenever I came in the front door whether I'd been out for hours or just 5 minutes. I'll never forget his every 'good night, last call, here are my ears for scritchies' manueuver. I'll never, ever forget him. I love you, Lucas. I miss you so. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being my dearest, my best, my darling boy.

BandM, your love for your hound shines through your post. Thanks for sharing your story. As much as I'd like to get some sort of definitive diagnosis, I'll be happy with just helping him be happy and comfortable. Like your girl, Lucas loves his lazy home life. And we're incredibly lucky that thus far his health has been pretty good. Best of luck to you as you work toward good health for your greyhound girl. NeylasMom - friends in our neighborhood have a border collie/german shepherd mix who is suffering from similar symptoms as well. She is 13 and has had weight loss, difficulty moving, and is just 'out of it. Some symptoms are too general to point to the real culprit. When bloodwork and imaging can't pin anything down, it gets scary. We're with you on the 'huh'. We had a nice, but slowed down again, walk today. He is back to following me from room to room and is happy to remind me that he's going to starve if he can't have his dinner NOW! I'm happy to serve.

An update on Lucas: the new antibiotic is Simplicef. 200 mg tablet/1x daily. We started it on Thursday evening, so he's had three as of right now. The open lesion has scabbed over, and Lucas is much more himself as of yesterday am. He's greeting us at the door with wags and bounces, he's eating with gusto, and we took a wonderful stroll along the sound. He's drinking an incredible amount of water (and peeing, peeing, peeing) thanks to the prednisone. He's so skinny, but his energy and engagement are back to his happy self. It's a tremendous relief to have him "back". I'm not sure what the vet will want to do next - culture the lesion? Continue to taper the prednisone? I hope to know more later tomorrow. I'm waiting to do the Dr. C consultation for a bit to see if we are on the downside of this or having a temporary rebound. Thanks so much, all.

And I just looked up Steroid Responsive Meningitis. Some of the symptoms really resonate. "The signs of SRMA include a moderate to high fever, spontaneously yelping out, unwillingness to move the neck and a short choppy gait in all 4 limbs. " Lucas had a mild but strange episode over the holidays - seemed like there was neck pain: he couldn't do his usually down dog stretches and yelped when we were removing his raincoat over his head. He'd greet visitors with his usual happy hops but then would cry out and look so confused. His gait was indeed short and choppy as if walking was painful. He's a corn dog and has had intermittent limps since he came home with us. The corns have come and gone, always on one of his paws, sometimes two, and rarely but miserably on three. He's also arthritic and had been on carprofen. "The signs can wax and wane and interestingly, prior to presentation to a neurologist, many dogs had improved but not become normal on any antibiotic or NSAID." Lucas seemed to improve - we bumped up his NSAID to a normal dose when we'd been previously giving him half. Then on the 31st he really started getting desperately ill but with such different symptoms - thus "mystery illness". I'll ask my vet about SRM. Thank you, Cleptogrey.

Just got a call, and my vet wants to start a taper on the prednisone and change the doxycycline to an antibiotic that's more aimed toward skin infections. I'll head out soon to pick up that Rx. He said we should talk again on Monday. Thanks to you both. I've followed your stories and advice for years, even before acquiring our sweetie (who is a lovely brindle.) I've got some insurance - that will help. I've been thinking Dr. Couto, and I've got all the records, notes, bloodwork results, images that took place thus far. I think my vet would be willing to contact him for a consultation. Dr. C is a GH hero.I've been scouring this forum topic for answers. This hound is the light of my life.

Hi all, We're very worried for our sweet 9r old, Lucas. He wasn't eating beginning on Sun Jan 30 and on Monday wasn't responding much to my voice, his eyes were dull, and his breathing was rapid and shallow. No vomiting, no diarrhea. He had to really struggle when transitioning from standing to lying down and vice versa - very shaky back legs. First available appt was Tues afternoon. Couldn't get him to e-vet or urgent care on Monday - I called several facilities and all were either turning away patients or the wait was several hours sitting outside in the car. After a scary afternoon and night, we went in Tues (Feb 1) and saw a different vet than we usually work with. Lucas's temp was 103.8. He had lost 5 lbs. His weight in August was 174, 170 at annual exam in Dec, 165 on Feb 1. Doc sent us home with doxycycline. Next day got test results: bloodwork, abdominal and chest xrays - all fairly normal. I was able to get him to eat by hand feeding him some home cooked turkey and soft pasta. We were bringing him water at his bed. He did seem to feel a bit better. Vet scheduled ultrasound on Friday. His regular vet did the ultrasound. He'd lost another 2 lbs and his temp was now at 104.2. Nothing abnormal on the ultrasound. Vet recommended a high dose of prednisone for possible auto immune illness. 60mg/day, and to continue doxycycline. By Sat morning, Lucas was feeling better. He was moving comfortably and started eating more and drinking a bit more. Monday, I talked with the vet and we agreed to talk again Wed. I called and gave an update and asked about next steps but didn't get a call back. Lucas is definitely responding to the steroid - better ability to move, even some interest in going for short walks (which we've done and he walks extremely slowly whereas before he would trot for the first block and could walk at a normal pace for 1.5 miles daily. ) Fever is gone. He's eating some(still home cooked bland diet plus kibble is left out at all times, if he is interested in it - which he has been eating intermittently this week.) However, he's dropped even more weight and is all hips and ribs. The prednisone is causing the usual increased thirst and peeing. This morning, I found an open sore on his shoulder. It's about the size of a pea. The skin just looks like it melted open. Is this the prednisone? Some other strange symptom from whatever is going on? I've left a message for the vet and sent photos of the lesion. GT folks, I'm at a complete loss for what to do. The steroid is helping (and hurting?!), the antibiotic is maybe helping? This open sore is really weird and worrisome - how do I prevent more infection? Last Monday, I thought we were going to lose him. I could sure use your advice. Thanks, all.

Within the first minute of entering our house, Lucas grabbed a stick of butter from the counter and gobbled it down. We were complete newbies and we were so stunned at his speed and determination that couldn't help laughing. We were too new to greyhounds to even be worried that it might be harmful. Fortunately there were no ill effects. And, bless him, he hasn't taken a thing, not one thing, from the counter since, not thawing meat, stinky cheese, Thanksgiving turkey and too many other temptations to list here. I have had a long love affair with butter, so that day he definitely demonstrated he was *my* boy. I think it was his way of telling us he was glad to be home.

This is really interesting! I didn't know about the modified surgery. Our boy, Lucas, also has 4 corns on three of his feet. I'll be watching for updates to see how Phog progresses. Thanks so much for posting this and here's hoping that Phog's surgery is a phenomenal success!

I did try it in early days when the corns were barely visible, but didn't have success. I may give it a try again - he's very patient when we work on his feet. I haven't had success keeping socks on either, but maybe the soft boots would be helpful as they have velcro. Thanks, FiveRoooooooers!

Our gentle sweet Lucas has corns on three paws - and one of those has two pads with corns. I don't do Facebook either. Over the years, I've seen lots of discussion about corns here on GT. We tried epsom soaks, icthammol salve, various paw creams, etc. and while these options do speed up the time it takes to loosen the corn enough to hull it, the corns seem to come back with a vengeance. He also seems more sensitive to the newly growing corns than the old pesky been-there-forever ones. I, too, dremel the surface of the corns down a bit. Our solution has been boots for all four feet. It took a very long time to find the right combination as most boots either were not sturdy enough or created a different worse!) problem from rubbing skin off of his knuckles. Neopaws Summer Cool Performance shoes for his front feet size M+ and NGAP booties (XL) for his back paws have been our solution for a couple of years. He wears his shoes on every walk and has earned a reputation for his sporty look in our neighborhood. We're able to take 2 mile walks on pavement without any limping. With no boots on, he's able to walk on grass in our yard and on most surfaces (preferably rugs) in our house without too pronounced a limp. On hard surfaces or gravel he really struggles because three paws are giving him pain. And with three paws affected, surgery is definitely not an option for us. I wish we had a better solution. The boots are really only a compromise. But he is patient as can be while we put on his boots for walkies. He seems happy as ever and jumps for joy whenever we go grab the leash - so that's what we're doing for now. Love him to bits. Hate the corns with a passion

Brave pup! Brave dad! Hoping for speedy healing and joyful days ahead!

Just wanted to post an update - Lucas is responding well to the Clavamox. The bloody oozing has stopped and the swelling has decreased. He is putting weight on it and insisted on taking a nice mile-long walk this morning and another this evening (foot protected in a PAWZ balloon bootie.) I've been soaking the foot daily and though the toe always looks more red and weepy after soaking, it's bothering him a lot less. The soaks are a challenge because I'd already been soaking his front right paw daily because of a corn. We feed him tiny licks of peanut butter while he stands with both right side paws in pans of warm water for about 10 minutes. I've been so focused on the rear foot infection that I forgot about the corn for a couple of days and tonight - bonus! I could almost pick the whole thing out of his toepad! (Ichthammol salve is miraculous!) We'll carry on with the soaks and antibiotics. I think there's something lodged in there still. Tomorrow I hope to order some Therapaws. Every other week, the recycling collection truck leaves puddles of crushed glass along both sides of the street where we're walking. We can only avoid these by walking down the middle of the road as there are no sidewalks. He has worn a Neopaw boot on his corn foot, and now I think we're just going to walk with all four feet protected. He's had an earlier episode with a tiny pebble stuck in a paw pad and causing an infection on his front left foot. His paws are his Achilles heel. (Sorry - lame joke - oops, 2 of them!) So at this point, it's a waiting game to see if something flushes out of the toe pad or if we'll need to go fishing for it. I'll update if there's news

Hi everyone, Thanks for the positive vibes and encouragement. We did get in to see someone at the Grey savvy clinic, and she didn't think any change in treatment was needed yet. We're going to give the clavamox more time to do its magic, and with continued soaks, she's hoping that if something is in there it will find its own way out. I feel a little sheepish for not trusting in the new young vet, and it cost $60 bucks for the second opinion today, but I'm feeling more relaxed and better able to dial back the worry. Worth every cent. Can't stand to see our boy in pain, but he was a super trouper at the vet today and she really gave that toe a good going over. If this doesn't resolve by Monday or if it worsens, we will be back to the original vet at that point. Hope he doesn't feel insulted that I went elsewhere for opinion #2! This did happen out of the blue! We took a 2 mile walk on Wed morning and then at suppertime he started limping. You all are the best! Thanks for chiming in and for being a corps of greyt advisors! I'll post an update tomorrow.

Thanks, Macoduck! Whatever it is, he's in lots of pain, so infection seems likely. I'll mention histiocytoma when I see the vet. Heading out in an hour - it's a 45 minute drive in good traffic but Friday rush hour will complicate things a bit. He's diligently licking his bed now, and leaving the foot alone.

Thank you, Mary Jane and Greysmom! That was my instinct too. He's been with us 2 years, but so healthy and he's my first greythound, so I thought maybe I was over-reacting. We couldn't get in to see the MOST grey savvy vet there today, but the other folks there are very good - their overall practice is excellent, just a much longer drive from home. We'll be seeing someone at 3:45. I'll keep you posted and thanks for your advice!

Hello wise GreyTalkers, I've been a long time lurker and know the great power of the GreyTalk forum. I am remiss in not introducing my sweet brindle boy, Lucas, when he is his happy loving self. Halloween evening he started refusing to put weight on his rear right foot. There was swelling and redness and a small (1/4 inch?) bump on the inner side of his 3rd toe: https://www.flickr.com/gp/nadinemariee/6qn2UX I soaked his foot in warm water/epsom for about 5 minutes and we went about our evening as usual, he was limping heavily the remainder of the night and struggled to settle to sleep. Yesterday am, his toe was lightly weeping a bloody fluid and he wouldn't get out of his bed. He wouldn't eat or drink, but he did struggle up to go out to pee (such a good boy ). Called vet, went in and saw new young vet - regular vet is out for all of November. No fever, normal weight, but Lucas was panting heavily and very stressed - in pain - as he usually is pretty happy go lucky even at the vet. We had to wait 45 minutes to be seen, and that added to the stress, of course. Vet applied a local anesthetic, tried to open the bump up and see if there was something that could be flushed out. No result, sent us home with clavamox and instructions to keep soaking 1-2x/day. I was able to handfeed him about 2/3 of his supper, and he was able to eat the clavamox and the rimadyl that he's on for joint pain. I soaked the foot again last night and after peeing at 10 pm, he hobbled into bed and seemed to sleep pretty well all night. This morning the toe looks much worse. He won't put any weight on that foot, but he did get outside to pee and he was very hungry and ate his breakfast and meds. It's weeping quite a bit of watery bloody fluid now from the space between toes on the outer opposite side of the toe from where the vet tried to open and flush out the area. That original spot has started to scab up a bit, but today the space between toes 3 and 4 and the sides of those toes are extremely red and weeping. He won't let me look too closely, and I'm not able to separate the toes to see if there's an open wound between the toes. Called the vet's office to see what they think, but haven't heard back. Any advice? This new vet is pretty inexperienced. He did say that sedating greyhounds can be complicated (but I thought that was full-on anesthesia, not just light sedation?) He didn't want to sedate Lucas yesterday, thus the local anesthetic on the foot to do the flushing. Should I take Lucas to a different greyhound savvy vet office today (they do our adoption group vet work) since my usual vet is out for the whole month? Should I wait this out a while to see if the antibiotic and soaks resolve this? Is it typical for things to look a lot worse when they are actually improving? I don't have the foot covered, but he's not really licking at it much - just occasionally and not for long. Instead he licks his bed I am hoping these links to pics on Flikr will be visible if you want to take a look - be advised this second one is a bit bloody. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nadinemariee/shares/7F2d2A Thanks for reading through all this and thanks for any advice you may have for me. I'm a very worried momma.

Another test: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nadinemariee/shares/F989q7

Thank you so much, Dick! Great info! I was worried about an injury that may have had lasting effects. The only thing he races to here is his breakfast or his supper or the occasional squirrel that dares to skate across the fence in his backyard. You've given me some things to look up - I didn't know about "schooling". I couldn't find any video of his races on G-D. We are very proud to have him - he's a dream come true for us. Again, many thanks. This thread is fascinating!

We've had our sweet mellow guy for just over 3 months now. Hilco Koolin is now Lucas at our house - or "Puppy!" cuz he's so darned cute and affectionate. I've looked up some of his race info - I know he came in 1st in 11 races. What I'm really wondering is whether he was retired due to an injury. We're trying to pin down the cause of an intermittent limp. We feel incredibly lucky he chose us as his family and we'd love to learn as much as possible about his earliest years. He's a very young retiree at just over 3.5. Thanks so much for sharing this fascinating info. I've been a on GT for years and have always read your posts with greyt interest.

Testing from Flickr.