cgs

Percy barks during the 15 seconds he might decide to play each day. Which would be fine, but it's usually after we're all in bed or before we've gotten up in the morning. So he's learning "shhh". He's catching on well.

Our little dog Lulu is 13lbs, so much bigger than yours, but still small compared to a greyhound. When we went to meet dogs we might potentially adopt, we were told to bring Lulu. The first dog the rescue lady brought out was Percy, whom we ultimately adopted. He calmly and casually sniffed a little bit at Lulu and did nothing else. Took him for a walk and he was good on the leash, no pulling. Second dog was also good with Lulu, but a little harder on the leash. Third dog thought Lulu looked like dinner. She brought Percy back out and by this time Lulu was tired of all this and kind of swung around at Percy with a "back off" kind of sound and he was totally chill. Backed off, but didn't startle or react in any kind of big way. When we got Percy home, he immediately seemed to defer to Lulu and give her a wide berth. On the other hand, she could walk up to him while he was on his bed and sniff at him and he wouldn't bat an eye. It's been 5 months and we've had no problems. Occasionally Lulu will bark at Percy if he's doing something she doesn't like. And she puts up with him too--he'll practically step on her on their way out to the yard and she just looks at me like "can you believe how rude he is?" and that's it. She can go over to his bowl and lick up what's left (like if I gave him dehydrated carrots) and he doesn't care. He's got a very low prey drive as far as I can tell. He'll raise an ear at a rabbit on a walk (2 ears for a cat recently) and that's it. Every now and then when he's on the leash he might try to run after a rabbit hopping away, but it's rare. In the yard, yeah, he'll chase if he sees one. Hasn't caught one yet. I'm not sure he's trying. He might lift his head at a squeaky toy. So if you get one like Percy, I think it would be fine.

I'm in MD. We use nexguard.

If he's a retired racer, you can look him up and find his racing weight. That will give you a baseline for what he should weigh. http://www.greyhound-data.com/breed.htm You can also look up his races and watch videos of them, which is kind of fun. http://www.trackinfo.com/dog-search.jsp I feed 2 cups in the morning and 1 and 3/4 in the evening. He normally doesn't get much in the way of treats, but I've started a training class with him, so I'm cutting back on food a little bit because he's getting training treats. I'm going to try that knuckle test as soon as Percy stands up. Which could be a while.

I took him off carrots last Wednesday. Except for yesterday afternoon, where his poop was pretty runny, it's been fine. Solid in the morning and softer in the afternoon, but not bad. This afternoon was soft with some extra soft on top, but not terrible. No puddles or anything. Nothing just running out of his butt. So the food seems "fine." I would love for solid poop all day, but that seems to be a rare thing with big dogs. I may put him back on carrots just in the morning. But it seems I can keep him Eukanuba for the time being and it should be ok. He had that one mildly upset stomach, but that was all.

Had never heard of that. I'm looking at it and trying to figure out if it would be better than carrots or use it with carrots or what. He hasn't ever really had the runs--he hasn't ever NEEDED to go NOW. He had a couple days of "puddle poop" that was the worst he's had and that was the beginning of new food and it cleared up immediately with carrots. Both the clay and the carrots say they promote gut health. The carrots are even supposed to help deworm, which I hadn't read before: Do Olewo Carrots really help de-worm?Yes, Olewo Carrots are a great natural dewormer because carrots contain a volatile oil that kills worms and parasites naturally, and the carrot fiber helps move the wast out of the intestine. Unfortunately this morning, he had an upset stomach again, like he was having with the new IAMS. It wasn't as bad. He was whining and went out and ate grass, but felt better immediately and I gave him some breakfast. I had heard his stomach gurgling last night. My husband has been out of town so Percy hasn't even had a treat in a couple days. Of course, I opened a new bag of food 2 days ago. But he was fine for the first 2 days. But even with the upset, his poop was good and solid first thing this morning. Maybe I should monitor the carrots better. I make up a batch and just kind of spoon some on without measuring. I wonder if sometimes I give him too much? Who knows. I was thinking of taking him off the carrots for a few days just to see how things are now that he's been on this food longer. I still might, but his upset stomach this morning kind of complicates my research. :/

I think that was directed to me? I haven't. The puddle poop was during the first week on a new food. Carrots have cleared up the problem. I kind of figure that carrots are better than medicine. I'm going to stick with this food (Eukanuba) for a while--I've been changing way too often. Last change was necessary as the IAMS was upsetting his stomach and he was whining and eating grass and really uncomfortable. So I'll stick with this and see how things are in a month. I really don't want to go through various rounds of meds and add new variables to the equation.

But he has stretches of poop that are fine or at least reasonable. I'll see how it is over the next few days. What would the vet check? Just curious how they check for these other things.

He is still being treated, but his level last time was "few" and he's had decent poop on and off the whole time with good poop if I add carrots. I would love to find a food where he doesn't need carrots or at least where it's sort of decent without carrots. I think I may be expecting too much, as I hear from friends with non-grey big dogs that stools can be pretty mushy, especially later in the day. But this level of ickiness isn't normal. Just back from a walk and another puddle poo. I'll probably put him back on carrots because a neighbor will be walking him Sunday.

I had my hopes up the other day when Percy's afternoon poop was really good, but then the last couple of days have been bad. First of the day is ok and after that it's either pudding or worse. I found a puddle of poop in the yard today and it looked fresh and he'd been out recently. He usually doesn't go between the morning and afternoon walk. As I was picking up, I noticed there was hardly any poop from the little dog and she hadn't gone on the morning walk today or yesterday. I also saw Percy eating something yesterday I think it was. It might have been a bit of watermelon rind that the squirrels got out of the compost bin and that could have affected his poop. But now I'm also wondering if maybe he's been eating the little dog's poop. I may just have to resign myself to using carrots all the time. But this much liquid poop isn't right. *sigh*

As of this morning, I've completed the switch to Eukanuba large breed. I'm backing off the carrots to see what happens. It's looking ok, but not great. Well I guess the only time I've seen great poop was with carrots and that was with Iams which was pretty bad without carrots. Anyway, I've stopped carrots at night since morning poop I usually better. But this morning the first one was good but the second one was pretty bad. Afternoon was decent (had morning carrots.) I'll see how things are after a week of Eukanuba and no carrots. But so far no gurgling stomach and no grass eating. I'll be looking to see if Eukanuba alone is better than Kirkland was alone. If it's decent and consistent, then I'll stick with it and add the carrots back in to make it really pickupable. Also, the large breed kibble isn't that big. I guess I've never had my little dog on small breed kibble--just "regular" taste of the wild or Kirkland.

I think PaddysDad explained it pretty well and I don't fully understand it either. But you might just keep killing off adults. Then again, the fact that she was negative a couple times in a row would seem to indicate that she really had gotten rid of them. My little dog has tested negative a couple of times, so I'm not too worried about the yard. Plus Percy doesn't lie down in the yard and doesn't lick his feet. As for the level, I've heard people talk about 3 or 4 or 4+. I was just given the range of 3-10 or 11-30. It's eggs per something. I don't know what the something is. My plan once Percy is negative is to switch him to Heartguard Plus. It's kept Lulu worm free. But maybe, like Percy's dad, I'd continue the Advantage Multi for a while. I give Nextguard monthly for ticks, since Advantage Multi doesn't cover ticks.

It does sound like, from what I've read, that Advantage Multi is the only thing that works on the larval leak. I'd maybe just use that for few months (we're using it ever 2 weeks, though the internist at the lab said once a month is fine--I'm just afraid to let it go that long) and then test again and maybe go back to Panacur at that point. I found this--these are the active ingredients in trifexis: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/spinosad Spinosad plus milbemycin is indicated for prevention of heartworm disease (Dirofilaria immitis), as well as for killing fleas (Ctenocephalides felis), and the treatment and control of adult hookworm (Ancylostoma caninum), adult roundworm (Toxocara canis and Toxascaris leonina), and adult whipworm (Trichuris vulpis) infections in dogs and puppies 8 weeks of age or older and 2.5 kg of body weight or greater. It does sound like you need something for the larval leak. I'd definitely start on Advantage Multi. Did Lola's hookworm level go down at all? How long have you been treating her?

I got Percy tested again yesterday and got results today. Still positive, but "few"(3-10), rather than "moderate" (11-30). So moving in the right direction. He's been on Advocate Multi every 2 weeks since mid-March--so 3.5 months. In the first month, he also had 3 rounds of Drontal and 2 rounds of Panacur. Results did not improve at all after those. I think maybe the trick is to get the larval leak under control with the Advantage Multi first, and then if needed, knock it out with Panacur and/or Drontal. For now, Percy is on Advocate Multi only, per my vet who talked to someone knowledgeable at the lab. I'll probably retest in 2 months and see if it's gone down more. I explained to the vet what I was learning here about resistant hooks in greyhounds coming off the track recently and people having luck with a combo of meds. She was willing to prescribe more rounds of the other meds, but I'm going to wait, take the lab person's advice, and just continue with the Advantage Multi for now.

It was only a few times he had an upset stomach, but the last two were within a few days. Also the new Iams had caused worse poop unless I added carrots. So I think the food just wasn't great for him. I've been incorporating Eukanuba for 2 days now, so we'll see. The morning after first giving him just a little bit at dinner, he was super happy and excited, wagging and nipping as I got ready for our walk. I don't like the nipping, but it was nice to see him so happy. And the nipping is easy to curb, but he just forgot his manners. I'm going to cut back the carrots so I can see how his poop is on the Eukanuba without it.

Tummy ache again this morning. I think I'm going to have to scrap this bag of IAMS and try something new. He really doesn't get any variables in his diet, though last night my husband insisted--over my objections--on giving him a little big of carnitas from our dinner. It was a tiny amount though. Since he's had upset stomachs before in the morning, I don't think that's the cause. I am wondering if it's the corn in the IAMS, so wondering if I should try Eukanuba, which was going to be my next trial, or go to something corn-free. I'm trying to stay away from really expensive food. I'm still bummed the Kirkland wasn't quite working, but I think with the carrots it would be fine. I still have half of a 40lb bag of that. My little dog is eating everything leftover from Percy's trials. Being that she's 10, she probably has a lifetime supply of food now. :/

I've been using the Petsmile toothpaste. I'm not sure what to look for as far as results go. I tried CET on the recommendation of others here and Percy hated it. He's probably tolerate it better now, just because he's easy and generally gets used to things. But the Petsmile is supposed to work just by getting it in their mouth. I have the CET tube still. I could rotate which one I use.

Is he peeing in the apartment because he needs to go, or is he marking? Percy marked some for the first month or so and seems to still want to mark in our bedroom closet, which we now keep closed. For marking, I just cleaned up with some nature's miracle and watch carefully when he's near one of those spots so I can correct him right away, or as with the closet, make the spot inaccessible. I'd ignore him at night--night after night after night to see if that works. Percy was also finicky about food at first and didn't eat consistently. That may have had to do with settling in or may have had to do with the worms. He still had worms after treatment, but maybe the wormer helped somehow and he got his appetite, or maybe he just settled in and started eating more regularly.

Yup, only in the can.

I'm reading that they can be a 1/4 inch long, so you'd be able to see that. But in the pictures, those are mature one that hook around. What I saw looked like rice or orzo. Googling more, I think LaFlaca and PaddysDad are right and they're maggots. Thanks everyone.

Pretty sure the treatment for the other worms is the same, so I'm not feeling the need to run to the vet. So hooks never grow bug enough to see? Maybe they are maggots. Back to Google. I saw pics of immature hooks, but didn't look at how big they might be. I'll look up maggots and the others.

So this is gross. I clean up poop in the backyard by scooping it with a scooper and putting it in a small trash can in the yard. Twice a week, I take the trash out. The last couple of times, I have noticed little worms in the trash. Are these hookworms that have hatched out of eggs in the poop??? So gross. But if so, it means he's nowhere near hook free and seems like maybe we've made no progress at all. I don't recall seeing these before--just the last couple of times. They're little pale worms, maybe a quarter inch long. Maybe I didn't notice before. At first I didn't realize they were worms. Still, they're pretty obvious and it seems like I would have noticed.

He seems fine. No more eating grass and no more gurgling. I think self-medicating with grass did the trick. . He had seemed to feel better late morning. And yes, there was some yellow bile with the grass.

He just hurled up an impressive wad of grass--8 hours after eating it. Luckily I saw him starting to heave and it took him a minute to get it up and I was able to get a towel under him for easy cleanup.

His tummy calmed down by late morning and he has really good poop on his walk. I haven't given him breakfast and he seems to have forgotten about it. He didn't even try to eat lulu's food when it was left out. So I don't *think* it's an empty stomach problem, but I don't know. I think I'll finish this bag of Iams (probably another couple of weeks) and then maybe try Eukanuba. I already have 2 other leftover bags of food and really don't want a third. When I feed him dinner, I'll see how much is left in the bag. I could probably start mixing in a new food in a week or so.