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Bizeebee

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Everything posted by Bizeebee

  1. Our boy is on Credelio and doing completely fine. No side effects, etc.
  2. I would say that they should be hydrated prior to eating. We've done both and the pellets just sort of rehydrate in their poop, but don't become integrated at all. So there's little bits of orange carrot that you can plainly see but it really helps when it's thoroughly spread throughout their stool.
  3. You are 100% correct. You, and anyone who makes this tough decision to let a dog go to a better situation, is ultimately doing what is best for that dog. That's not a failure on your part, it's success for that dog
  4. If the question here is, "what does alone training protocol say to do?" I think the answer is, yep, be home all the time during training or send them to daycare. Obviously, in reality that is not practical for very many people, but what is truly necessary really depends on the dog. A week is not a very long time, whether you've been doing alone training or not. Our dog did a lot of whining/howling and hoarding of our belongings during the first couple weeks of having him (he was not fostered and we could not do true alone training), but after 2-3 weeks he just got accustomed to the fact that we were coming back. Now, he wasn't peeing, or destroying the house, and he wasn't crated, so it isn't the exact same situation, but there is something to be said for just doing what training that you can and giving it time. Some dogs have severe SA and won't get over it without some kind of drug intervention, a dog-friend or serious, long-term training, but I think a lot do get used to a schedule once they are settled. You might do some short term (like while showering) testing of how she is out of the crate - and if she can chew much of anything through the muzzle in that time then she needs a different one. Your girl isn't settled in yet, so there's that, but if you aren't doing a foster-to-intentionally-fail situation, it might be best to move her to a foster home who can help her transition a little more slowly (people home more or with another dog). Ultimately that may be better for the dog and for her future family - knowing what a dog needs and finding a family who can meet that is the best thing a foster home(s) can do for all parties involved.
  5. Others will likely chime in with more proactive techniques, but I think the first thing is that you have to go full hard-ass mode and ignore him when he does it - get some ear plugs if you have to, and maybe warn any wall-sharing neighbors of your training endeavors. Eventually he will give up, having been distracted by something or other, and when he stops and quiets down, that's when you give him what you know he wants. I'd also generally reward him with attention (as it seems he is very open to that as a reward) when he's just being a nice, chill guy (not barking). Pick a word to capture that chill behavior (we use "relax") and hopefully he'll eventually know that when you say it, it means chill out and I'll get some pets Have you done or are you in any training classes? For a young dog like that, especially one who I assume never trained to race, they need that training to teach them how to be. The older greyhounds most of us are used to were trained to be that way while they were training to race; you need to find an alternative "school" for him to channel that energy.
  6. Something we've found as we move through a "is this IBD or something else" type issue with our hound is that even if the cause of the problem isn't food, the wrong food can exacerbate whatever it is, so vets definitely want to rule out food as a problematic variable. If the food switch makes a big difference then you know it's likely be the food, and if it doesn't, then you know you've probably ruled that out.
  7. As far as the Olewo carrots vs regular carrots, the Olewo carrots are processed and then dehydrated into pellets, so when they are digested they sort of integrate into everything. Whereas little bits of actual carrot (especially uncooked) are just going to pass right through, pretty much untouched. I can't say whether you cooked carrots and then fed them mashed to your dog if that would work as well? But I think the dehydrated nature also helps absorb excess moisture in their intestines as well. They definitely work great for our hound
  8. Ya, we're not at the point you are as far as medications, but even now I'm just counting the days until we can start to taper things down - forgetting that we may not ever be able to. But if you can find things that work and really improve quality of life then it'll probably be easier to stomach giving him that many meds. My thought is that even if you do take some more holistic routes, supplements or acupuncture, etc, you don't have to stop the regular meds in order to do that. Just because a holistic vet believes it should be all or nothing doesn't mean that's what is right or what will work. For us, at least, it feels like a little bit of this and that is what is helping, I just wish there were less this-es and thats. I would definitely try to find out what other meds might work, in lieu of the chlorambucil. Again, I'm not a vet, but it looks like that's a chemo drug and there is definitely more than one chemo drug on the market. We've definitely found that the first dose our vet thinks will work isnt' always enough and sometimes stuff just did't work at all, so there's soooo much trial and error with this process, ugh, it's exhausting. But it's also good that there are so many choices, because it means there's still something that might work
  9. First, just wanted to say I'm sorry you're dealing with all of this. We're dealing with this currently as well, though we aren't as far down the path. We're operating under the assumption that our dog has some kind of IBD but have not yet done a scope/biopsy. Fortunately, our hound (Bismarck) seems to be slowly improving and was never quite as bad to begin with. So, I don't have any nice and neat answers, but hopefully can at least share some of what we've found to help. Firstly, as far as the hydrolyzed protein - we've had our guy on Purina HA since March/April and I do think we hit a plateau of how much stool quality improvement we were going to see on that food. I personally think that the same way these hounds just inexplicably do better on certain foods also applies to these hydrolyzed foods. Hopefully one of the other options will work for your guy. Though, FWIW I'd read up a bit on DCM before I went with Blue Buffalo, although I can definitely appreciate that this gut problem & solutions has to take precedence over something that is only a potential problem. We've found that fiber content is really important for our guy, but that psyllium powder just made his poop weird, not better. Bismarck needs vegetables and/or Olewo carrots to get his stool looking better and we can hopefully eventually transition to a regular kibble that just has more fiber built in. The HA definitely does not have enough fiber for him. I would recommend using Olewo carrots if you haven't already, they really help our guy a lot. We also did not have any luck with Tylosin, but Metronidazole (at max dosage) does seem to help a lot. I have no idea if that's indicated with what you know your dog has, but might not hurt to ask if your vet had already recommended tylosin. Disclaimer here, we have not tried this, but we decided that we would investigate more 'holistic' methods before we went down the road of putting Biz under and doing a biopsy/steroids (mostly because his outward health is much better than test results show). The first thing we will try next, if our current path doesn't pan out, is acupuncture. I've read enough to be comfortable trying that for IBD in dogs, and if your dog will tolerate it, it may be good to check into. Our vet has also mentioned that some supplements she would recommend (but has not yet) before we went down the biopsy road. If your vet(s) aren't as well versed with some of the alternative stuff it might be good to check around for one that might be. I'd also gotten decent advice here, that we have not yet had to take, about doing a true food trial. You've been dealing with this a long time, so maybe you've already been through it, but to really figure out if there is a food trigger you have to take them down to 1 protein and 1 carb (both homemade) and observe. Then change up one or the other, observe. Repeat until you find something that works and record everything that doesn't. And maybe with the diagnosis you have, food really isn't part of it, but if your vet has you on HA it sounds like they suspect there could be some food involvement. I'm not a vet, but just in reading this, I wonder why they'd have you try chlorambucil but not azatheoprine? Good luck with all of this, and hugs for your hounds
  10. This sounds more like the cat needs to learn, rather than the dog. A hound may never outgrow this sleep-startle-like behavior. Maybe a squirt gun (for the cat) as well as the muzzle for safety?
  11. There are definitely completely cat safe/cat indifferent hounds out there, but they are going to be tougher to find when you're talking about 1)a mean cat 2)who mostly lives outdoors. A lot of cat safe dogs are only ok when the cat is inside. You're also going to need to make a tough decision about which animal takes priority. If you don't want the cat and hound to interact with each other, you'll need to stop feeding a mean cat at your doorstep and letting it in the house. Honestly, this is the bigger concern. Or at least it would be for my adoption group and a lot of groups in the US. Especially out in the country (I'm assuming since you have acreage), and especially with critters outside (cat, chipmunks, etc), you absolutely cannot allow any opportunity for a greyhound to escape your house. Even a cat safe one can slip out and take off after some other critter so fast that you might not even see where it went by the time you notice it is gone. A lost greyhound is no joke, especially out in the country.
  12. Contrary to what a lot of groups (and the internet) tell you, these dogs do shed. So it really depends on what kind of hair loss you're seeing.
  13. Sounds like it's time to fill that area up with patio furniture and other stuff so she can't get to the new favorite poop spot
  14. With just a couple of sporadic bouts, are you sure there isn't something he's gotten into, or particular treats (or something) that might correspond with the occurrences? Our guy has some ongoing GI issues, and FWIW the flagyl didn't do much, but metronidazole did help.
  15. Not sure if he's going out into a backyard/garden or for a late evening walk, but if it's the former could you install a motion activated light on the house so that it's not really that dark out when he's out there? Same might work if you're heading out the front for a walk. Are you sure it's the dark, or could it be something more specific in his pottying area - like an animal that prowls around or a particularly scary/prickly/offensive shrub? (some hounds are just this neurotic ) Is he avoiding anything in that area during the day too? You could also try some general desensitizing - he gets a really good treat but only if he goes out into the dark with you.
  16. Same as above ^ Our previous hound would eat grass/barf up bile if he had an empty stomach so we would split his meals into three - a morning, an afternoon, and a right before bedtime. Even if he didn't eat it all (he usually didn't) it helped a lot. We also did periodic 2week runs of prilosec for him if he was having a pukey spell. It especially helped around the holidays (lots of traveling) or other times we knew he'd be a bit more stressed than usual.
  17. Did you (have to) get those from your vet, or did you order online?
  18. We're nearing the end of our various rx food/tylan/metronidazole/fiber etc etc etc IBD suspected trials and haven't really veered very far from what our vets have recommended, so I'm curious now (that we aren't seeing the results we were hoping for) about what what people have used - whether it be OTC supplements or other non-traditional things like acupuncture - for their IBD dogs? He's already on a probiotic, b vitamin supplement, and psyllium fiber, but it seems like there are a lot of other things out there we could be trying. What worked for your dog? *Not looking for recommendations on kibble/homemade/raw food type stuff at the moment - we're just not changing this variable right now
  19. A word of warning if you're perusing old threads, this drug resistant hookworm is new, just within the last few years, so if you are seeing drugs recommended from longer ago than that, you need to remember they aren't the same worms. The standard drugs used to work, they really don't anymore. It will help you a lot to start learning the active ingredients in each of these medications/products, as well as what organisms they target. It will help in making sense of what you are using and if anything is double dosing your hound. And you won't be at the blind mercy of whatever your vet thinks is right - because in this situation it's very unlikely they understand the extent of this problem. When we got our boy (almost a year ago) we did the full on Prison Protocol for six months, and it has seemed to work. Even if you don't use the protocol, give their info a look - http://prisongreyhounds.org/Hookworm 7-2018.pdf The group/vets that came up with that protocol believe that the Moxidectin is the ingredient that aides with the larval leak, so you definitely want to use a product with that component. If we were starting over today I'd use Coraxis (moxidectin only) instead of the Advantage Multi, so that I could do a trick preventative without double dosing. We also had good luck with Drontal Plus and have, honestly, heard from a lot of people who've tried and failed with Panacur. I would not use it for these buggers. Your vet very likely doesn't know anything about this problem in greyhounds and really should not have switched you so quickly. These can take 6months or more to get out of their system, and to even test within the early months of that period is kind of useless.
  20. It sounds like your treats probably need to be higher value - like so stinky and delicious that she can't possibly pass it up - and a larger chunk, so that she can't hold on to whatever she's got while also taking the treat. And you need to make sure there's no way she can have it until she drops whatever it is, and that might mean a nipped finger now and then, but again, that's puppy life. Obedience class should be really helpful, we've found that to be the case with our guy for sure, and it's really fun. But definitely going to need to get the good treats!
  21. I am a little confused on there needing to be more than one treat given to get something away, she drops it, she takes the treat, you take the thing. Is she taking a treat while the thing is still in her mouth? It sounds like you guys need to focus lots of time/energy on this trading up training. You might need higher value treats or do something instead of treating - like grabbing a high value toy and squeaking it, or going out for a walk to distract her. I've also heard of people who put cans of coins on their counter edges so when their dog goes for it the can falls and makes a racket that spooks them into not doing that again. This wouldn't be great for a dog who's already really spooked, but they aren't all that sensitive; and this obviously isn't great if she's going to eat the coins , so YMMV Other things to consider (and honestly, start right away) is tall-dog-proofing your house. It's tedious, because many greys don't require it, but you need to keep all of this stuff out of her reach until she learns that not everything is interesting/hers - especially if she's eating stuff, as your vet said. There's also things you can spray or put on your belongings to make them taste gross, so she will hopefully leave them alone as well. When it's not possible police her (obviously this isn't possible all the time) there's nothing wrong with her wearing her muzzle around the house so that she can't get into trouble eating stuff. She won't love wearing it, but she has been muzzle trained and it's safer for everyone involved (including her). Obviously, some things can still be grabbed through a muzzle, but it will be much harder. I'd bet anything those people never adopted a puppy (that's what a two year old is) who never raced (just assuming she failed out pretty early if she raced at all). From what I've read/heard, what you're dealing with is pretty standard (greyhound) puppy behavior. Our adoption group actually just had to start a campaign of sorts to educate recent and future adopters about the differences in the personalities of the much younger dogs that are now coming to the group. Lots of people have been accidentally misled about what they were getting, having been sold on the 4yr old couch potato lifestyle and received a rambunctious 2yr old, and they've seen a higher number of bounces because of it. You're not alone!
  22. I definitely agree that this is not Buddy's or your fault, and that muzzling is not the answer. However, after this incident you may see some backsliding in Buddy's tolerance of other dogs, because he was clearly provoked in some way into defending himself. You might think about something like this - https://friendlydogcollars.com.au/collections/no-dogs for him to wear out on walks. As you've seen, lots of people are pretty stupid even when warned that another dog doesn't want to meet theirs. Something like this is one more layer of defense in a (hopefully only hypothetical) future situation. Something like a club would be a good idea, and you should probably acquaint yourself with what the laws are in your area concerning this. I think most of us here (thus far) know what the rules are in the US - in this situation the other dog/owner are 100% in the wrong - but it could be different for you there.
  23. Whoa, hey sorry. I definitely didn't intend my input to have an aggressive tone. I'm just a broken record on this topic (as you'll see as you explore the forum) and I believe being direct about it is better than beating around the bush. There's a lot out there to take in on the topic of nutrition, and it can definitely be overwhelming. Good luck in your search!
  24. Here to echo Pam, but for different reason - https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/news-events/fda-investigation-potential-link-between-certain-diets-and-canine-dilated-cardiomyopathy At this point I am choosing my dog's food as though the only five companies that exist are those who meet WSAVA guidelines - Iams, Purina, Royal Canin, Hills and Eukanuba. Grain free is only one part of the problem, and at the moment, companies who have done long term testing and employed teams of canine nutritionists to formulate good are the ones not seeing this issue, so that's what I'll be sticking to. You should really ask yourself why you feel this way. What does "good quality ingredients" mean to you? Does it mean, "I would eat those things myself?" Because that is exactly the thinking that has gotten hundreds of dogs sick from foods that "sound good" but aren't nutritionally complete. What sounds good to a human is not what is right or balanced or best for a dog. Here's a great resource on the "myth" of the ingredient list - https://vet.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/DecipheringFactFromFictionIngredients.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2m00xuQHxvv3a38ap1XctUF3OwUcLutSayjWf28g8fwj6Q6R06xoXtO0c
  25. If you haven't read up on it yet, there's a lot of issues heart issues (nutritional DCM) cropping up lately from brands that don't follow the WSAVA guidelines. The brands that do - Purina, Royal Canin, Iams, Hills & Eukanuba - are the only ones I'd recommend switching to right now, namely because they have a long history of research and development and employ teams of experts in canine nutrition to create their formulations. Lucky for you, Chicken & Rice might just be the most common combo out there, I'm certain you could find a close match within any one of those five brands.
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