2greysdad

We have a 5 year old female greyhound that we adopted back in May that tested positive for hookworms in June. She has been on Drontal plus every month and we also treat her with Advantage multi two weeks after the Drontal. Our vet (who has been the local greyhound adoption group vet for years) feels that the dog should continue to be treated indefinitely. She also mentioned she went to a conference that discussed the drug resistant strains of hookworms in greyhounds & that was the expert's recommendation. I trust our vet but I don't understand why we should just assume that we are dealing with a drug resistant case of hookworms. The drontal is tough on the dog - it often makes her vomit and she eats poorly for a day or two after. We have started giving her anti nausea medication that seems to help but I feel she shouldn't be treated monthly unless she needs it. This is our third greyhound but we have never had to deal with hookworms before. If you have dealt with hookworms, please share your experience.

If anyone needs a doggy wheelchair, we are about to donate ours back to Eddie's wheel so that they can give it to someone. It was fitted for a 65 lb front leg osteo amputee.

Thank you for your responses. Ginny passed away in her sleep this evening.

Our 9 year old greyhound is 10 months post amputation due to osteo. She was just diagnosed with a very large lung mass that does not look like a typical lung tumor (we did x-rays, ultrasound and a ct scan). The rad report describes it as a single homogenous primarily fat attenuating mass. Does anyone have any experience with something like this? The vets we spoke to thus far can only tell us is that it's highly unusual. They don't believe it's a primary lung tumor or a matastatic cancer caused by the osteo. We are meeting with our regular surgeon for his opinion on Friday. Our oncologist is under quarantine so I have no idea when I can get in touch with her.

I asked them to perform an ultrasound when they did the ct scan but the equipment or the tech wasn’t available at that time and Ajax wouldn’t let them turn him on his back when he woke up so we will probably try again next time. The CT scan covered the entire body - they didn’t see anything wrong with the organs - he had a blemish on the liver that may or may not be something and they suspect a nodule in his lungs but again those often appear in numbers. There is no question in my mind that this is terminal but I’m trying to figure out whether there is anything we can do about the swelling to make him more comfortable at night. If his quality of life deteriorates, we will put him to sleep but for the time being he is acting normal and his blood and urine values are normal.

Our 12 year old greyhound is unfortunately going through a medical emergency. He has some sort of a mass around his 9th rib and despite an x ray, a ct scan and a biopsy - we don’t have a definitive answer to what it is exactly and suddenly it has created a large swelling. We have already reached out to dr. Couto and he hasn’t had a chance to respond but perhaps someone here has had a similar experience. Back in July it started with a small hard bump on the rib. It was under the muscle and we were immediately concerned because it felt attached to the rib (it wouldn’t move). I was worried it could be osteo or chondrosarcoma. The oncologist had it x-rayed and they tried to get a sample with a needle but both the biopsy and x-rays came back normal. There was no way to remove the growth without removing one or more ribs so we decided against surgery. Also, two surgeons were quite certain that it might be an arthritic rib change they often see at that spot in old dogs. We kept an eye on the bump and it didn’t change in size. In September Ajax’ white blood cell count dropped a bit (it was borderline low). We retested in October and the values were back to normal. Then this past Monday within minutes a large bump appeared at the same spot on the rib - approx almost the size of a gold ball. We took him immediately to the ER. They ER vet felt it might be a hemangiosarcoma because the bump was filled with diluted blood. The next day the surgeon performed a surgical biopsy and said it looked like a giant blood clot. He said he would also guess hemangiosarcoma but could be a bone tumor that caused an inflammation in the surrounding tissue and bled. The biopsy came back as an inflammation - no cancer cells. The CT scan didn’t now show any bone tumors but there is a change in the cartilage and there is a mass around the rib. So it seems to me that we are probably dealing with a rib hemangiosarcoma. The dogs is acting normal except for having a large swelling on his side (it got worse after the biopsy). He is somewhat uncomfortable lying down but not in pain. I have him on pain killers just in case. I asked the vets whether we can drain the fluid but they said it’s just coagulated blood so they cannot drain it and if they could, it would probably refill quickly. The plan is to wait for a couple of more days and see what happens with the swelling and go back to the vet clinic after the holidays. I have also ordered a bunch of immune system supplements that supposedly help with hemangiosarcoma.

Ginny is getting better but we are still waiting for the leg to heal. It’s a pretty deep wound so it will take some time.

Rickiesmom, yes, absolutely. We are pursuing all options you mentioned.

The main problem is that our chemo treatment is now delayed and she has only had two rounds so far. The oncologist is advising us that there is no guarantee the next chemo treatment will be tolerated any better and we don't want to put her through this again. Also, she wouldn't be get it anyway until the foot is healed. We are meeting with another oncologist next Friday to get a second opinion.

This is what Ginny’s leg looks like now. https://i1243.photobucket.com/albums/gg545/borcho22/558DA744-1F9A-459D-B30D-60C45806C9F0_zps2l3enmno.jpeg The swelling is almost gone but she’s still avoiding putting any weight on it. The scab is about ready to peel off. We have been taking her to hbot treatments for about 17 days and I think they helped quite a bit. The wound has been very clean.

I have no experience with high elevations but judging by my dogs, your boy may need more time to adjust to a new place. You could try to keep him on a schedule (breakfast, dinner, walks, etc at the same time) so that he knows what to expect throughout the day.

She cannot put much weight on the leg so walking is even more challenging. We have to help her all the time. The lower portion of the foot remains very swollen. The wound is no longer increasing in size, there is some dead tissue that is white and parts of it have turned black. The affected area is approx 3.5” down her leg and it ends at the hock. We met with the surgeon on Saturday and he basically told us that we need to wait a little bit longer to see whether the necrotic tissue will need debridement or it will peel on its own. He believes the swelling is partially a result of blood vessel damage and it will come down as her body figures out new routes for the blood to travel. She may need bandages for weeks once the dead tissue comes off. We had x-rays done last week and her lungs are clear. Otherwise, it would have made absolutely no sense to keep her around. That being said, she still enjoys things like car rides, food, and laying in the grass. If any of you are doing chemo, insist that they use an IV catheter and not a butterfly needle to minimize the chance of this happening to your dog.

Thank you.

NeylasMom, thank you for the suggestions. We will try the gel. We started her on hbot 2x a day plus cold laser once a day. She is tolerating the sessions fine. Today is day 3 and it's still early to tell whether it's helping. We are dealing with a full-blown extravasation and it's very tough on the dog. Her foot is very painful and swollen and she has large ulcers. We have to help her to get around on 2 legs. Hopefully, she won't need debridement surgery.

I sent you a private message with details. We haven’t received the wheels yet so I’d rather not promote a product we haven’t tried.