GreyhoundGuru87

Hi There, Sorry to hear about what you and your pup are going through. I have had to give Rimadyl in the past with Pepcid as our guy had gastric issues and underwent a major surgery a few years back and the vet we worked with wanted him on both. We gave the Rimadyl in the morning and then the Pepcid one-hour before his later evening meal. This did seem to work well for him. We ended deciding to continue the Pepcid indefinitely (one per day one hour before the last meal of the day) for his gastric issues as he tends to have quite the sensitive stomach. Best of Luck!!!

Agree! Looks like acne to me. Let us know how it progresses.

Thank you for posting the link. I am so torn with what to do for our one greyhound who is allergic to just about everything. We had to switch him to a limited ingredient, grain-free diet earlier this year and he has never been better (not itchy, no more stomach upset / inflammation), etc. Nonethless, as others have mentioned ...I would prefer not risking anything when it comes to my grey. #atalossforwhatisbest

Thank you for everyone's thought, expertise and input. Yes, the allergy testing was a result of other symptoms outside of just picky eating (i.e. vomiting, refusal to eat anything for several meals, ear infection). We are currently doing an "elimination diet" and so far, have had good results. Turns out our hound is HIGHLY allergic to all milk and dairy products - his results were "off the charts." His stomach issues, coupled with the fact that he was getting some plain yogurt with his antibiotics appears to have really irritated his stomach lining. In addition, we found that after review of everything he eats, his glucosamine contained "dried cheese" in the ingredient listing (chewable supplement). We have switched his kibble, and we are going through the "transition" phase (a bit of loose stool) and he is doing MUCH better. He will be getting some stomach medication to help ease the stomach upset for a few days and then moving forward, we are going to use a limited ingredient diet and adjust what he eats. Hopefully this will be the end of a lengthy trial and error process for him.

Good Evening, As some of you may already be aware, we have been struggling with "picky" eating habits with our 5-year old hound. After much testing, and trial and error our vet opted to complete a Food Allergen Panel to determine what allergies our guy might have. The test results were as follows: Milk +++ (Very High Allergy Indicated) Beet Pulp +++ Other Noted + Allergens were: Pinto Beans, Potato (White), Flaxseed, Rice, Fish Mix, Turkey, Venison, Soybean, Oats, Kangaroo, Rabbit Borderline potential to have a future allergic tendency were noted to be Duck and Chicken (recommended that we avoid these two proteins) Note this was done via IDEXX Lab Allergen Panel Test (Food): Canine Nonetheless, we will be making some DRASTIC diet changes (no more cottage cheese - or any cheese, no more Fish Oil, etc.). but my husband and I are now at a loss of what we can feed him to be sure he feels good, and gets a good amount of nutrients. Any thoughts? Thank you!!

If you don't mind my asking - how long does Remy usually act like this in the Springtime? We were wondering about allergy-related or seasonal behavior as well. I have tried the "cookie after dinner" thing but he hasn't quite picked up on it as well as I had hoped. He is currently taking a Pepcid daily (20 mg). He doesn't have a cough or anything but we do notice that his eating does seem to go with the season sometimes.

Thank you to everyone for their insight(s). Overall, he seems to be doing better this past day. He still does not want to eat in the mornings; however, by about 10 AM, he seems to get his appetite back for the most part. Yesterday, he gobbled down his usual amount of food but did not really want anything to eat until mid-afternoon. He did have a fecal exam in January and everything was good but we are planning to run another one at his follow-up appointment in a week just to be sure. One thing noted by "tbhounds" may be spot on... we do notice that when he reaches his "top / ideal" weight he does seem to taper his eating quite a bit. I have never had a dog that self regulated so this would be new to me! Cleptogrey - I actually do have him taking a probiotic as I know how hard Antibiotics can be on their system. I will ask the vet about the other medication options - I am not 100% sure why doxycycline was chosen. I am hesitant to go to another vet as this in particular knows our grey's history and works directly with the adoption agency that we got him from. However, I really appreciate your insights... all of the advice counts and is helpful!

Here is the Complete Urine Analysis Lab Result: This was a mid-day urine sample, taken around 3:30 PM - was given a meal prior to the lab around 2:00 PM; however, water intake for the previous 24 hours was noted to be decreased (which could directly impact the urine analysis results). Collection: Free Catch Color: Dark Yellow Clarity: Clear Specific Gravity: >1.050 pH: 7.0 LEU: 25 Leu/µL PRO: 30 mg/dL GLU: Negative KET: Negative UBG: 8 mg/dL BIL: 3 mg/dL BLD: 10 Ery/µL

I checked on the dog food that we are currently feeding (Nutro Ultra Adult Dry Dog Food) and it has recently undergone a packaging change but I confirmed that none of the ingredients have changed. I have tried a few different options and occasionally he will show interest and eat a few bites; but then after a bit will walk away and turn it down. It is very sporadic. Congratulations on getting a new girl! That's awesome. His teeth are actually PERFECT and brushed often. He has no issues with that area, and I did have the vet check that out on Monday (just to be sure). I am so confused with this guy... sometimes he'll eat, and other times not. But lately, he seems to be more than uninterested.

Thank you for the insight. The vet was pretty confident this isn't renal failure at this point based on his other labs (SDMA was normal, no anemia, no weight loss, not drinking an excessive amount). Do you have a recommendation on what special tests could / should be run to confirm anything else? I will look into the Buscopan (I have never heard of this before). I am removing the fat skin from the chicken. We did run labs to ensure pancreatitis was not occurring, unfortunately his actual lab work isn't telling us very much as everything seems to be "okay." He WILL eat, just won't eat what I offer. Usually, the go-to ends on beef and/or chicken.

Hello Everyone, First of all - I apologize for the long post. I want to get as much detail out there as I can in effort to get some insightful advice from other fellow Greyhound Lovers. A couple of weeks ago, our 5-year old male greyhound started to refuse his food. He has never been one to go completely crazy over food - but this was different in that he was completely refusing to eat and walking away when he heard me going to get his bowl ready. We have tried everything including: Switching bags of food (in case there was something wrong with the current bag) Putting a topper on his food (canned food, etc.) Wetting food down with warm water Heating up the food in the microwave Taking food away after 15 minutes and trying again at the next feeding Adding cheese sprinkled on top of his food Occasionally, one of the above would work; however, it was hit or miss. Sometimes he'd eat a little bit if it was mixed with the right ingredient, sometimes he'd eat a treat, sometimes nothing. For a bit, I figured he was just being a picky eater; however, going more than 1-2 meals did not seem to be just that. Then, over the course of a few days they only thing he would eat was chicken / beef with rice. Please note, he has not lost any weight and is at a healthy 79.5 lbs, no diarrhea, energy level normal - still loves "walkies," etc. Nonetheless, we brought him into the veterinarian on 3/25/2019 as I also noticed that due to his decreased appetite he also wasn’t drinking as much (but was still drinking). The vet completed a full blood chemistry panel, CBC and Urine Analysis. The results to be noted were as follows (everything else looked fairly normal): Slightly elevated Creatinine (2.0 mg/dL) – although this greyhound has always had a somewhat “higher” Creatinine level. Elevated BUN (35 mg/dL) Specific Urine Gravity >1.050, Clarity Clear, pH 7.0 Given his decreased water intake prior to the urine test, the vet felt as though the urine gravity wasn’t overly remarkable. We also completed an SDMA and he is well within the ideal reference range at 9µg/dL – no indication of kidney or renal failure. Provided the results of the labs, and the facts that our greyhound is acting otherwise normal, we were not able to derive a conclusion as to what may be going on. The vet opted to treat with doxycycline twice per day to see if he starts to feel better, indicating he may have some bacterial infection in his digestive system. Following administration of the Doxycycline, our greyhound started eating well (1 – 1.25 cups of kibble mixed with chicken and/or boiled beef) twice per day for subsequent three days. In addition, his water intake went back to normal. Then just last night and this morning his appetite was diminishing again. This morning, the only thing he would eat is the beef. He pushes the kibble away with his nose. I would typically let him go hungry but with the antibiotic I wanted to be sure to get something in his tummy so that he doesn’t end up getting nauseous. My questions for the group are: Do you think he is just being picky now that he has gotten chicken and beef? It seems like an abrupt halt on the kibble and he used to eat that just fine. Do you have any other thoughts, given his labs, of what may be going on? Any recommendations of what to feed him? Any other advice? I am at my wits end trying to figure this guy out – and I think he knows it 😊 Thank you in advance for your help! Kashi

I echo all of the comments above - check for Hookworm and any other parasites. The best fecal test to run is called an Intestinal Parasite Exam Antigen. I also recommend doing the + Ova test with the fecal exam to check for anything else such as Giardiasis (giardia). Any of these things could cause the frequent bathroom runs, vomiting, lethargy, etc. Best of luck!!

I think given what you have outlined, trying medication may be a good next step and would recommend you talk with you vet. Our boy grey had separation anxiety when we first got him and similar to you, we had tried everything. Nonetheless, despite our best efforts he would continually pee in his crate when we were gone. The vet did not want that to become a "normal" behavior; therefore, recommended we try Trazadone once per day when planning to leave him alone. After one week I can tell you that both my husband and I were so relived! As someone mentioned above, it is not a "cure-all" and behavior and alone training need to continue, but the meds helped him to take the edge off his anxiety and actually focus on his Kong and the Treats. Good Luck! I am glad to hear you are not giving up on him!

Good Afternoon Greyhound Friends! I wanted to ask a quick question about Greyhound to Greyhound behavior. We have had our boy for close to a year and a half and overall, everything is going wonderfully and he has really done well adapting to his retired life in our home. He gets along with small dogs, non-greyhound dogs, and other greyhounds; however, I do have one question - Sometimes, when we are at Greyhound Events he will growl and/or air-snap at other greyhounds -- especially if the other grey approaches him "nose to nose." I am just curious what other people's experience is with this. We have a foster girl that will also do this OCCASIONALLY; however, she is newly off the track and still not really confident with her surroundings. Again, most of the time our boy is just fine and when not on a leash, only growls if his space is invaded when he's sleeping (which is understandable). Thanks for any insight!! We appreciate it.

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