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GreytMom

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  1. I’ve been here before asking for help and advice re my blind hound, and here I am again. Dune has PRA and we have been managing but as his vision has worsened, and at this point he sees very little, he has become more aggressive/protective. Understandable I guess because he can’t read doggy body language. Very people friendly, not so dog friendly. Here is the current issue. 
     

    He is only 4.5 yrs and needs and loves his walks. But, if we encounter a dog who basically makes any noise - a bark, an excited whine, anything - Dune gets very reactive and aggressive. Two days ago I had crossed the street when I saw a dog approaching, as I always do, but that dog was whining, pulling on his leash, and making a fuss. Anyway, Dune started snarling and biting and almost got my other hound so I stepped in the middle to protect her and I got bitten. Luckily I had on sweatpants (I know, it’s cool here where I am still!) so I have a huge deep bruise on my thigh but just a scratch from his teeth, no puncture wounds. I have always said to him “You’re safe, I’ve got you.” So, while maybe he doesn’t see me as a strong pack leader, I’m not a novice to dogs nor greyhounds. I’ll take the blame if necessary, yet I think he is feeling the need to protect himself against an unseen/unreadable potential threat. I tell people to talk to him so he knows where they are, and he has not met a person he doesn’t adore. But dogs are different. 
     

    I am looking for any suggestions - training thoughts, medication suggestions, anything. He is aggressive if disturbed when sleeping but I have that worked out. The only solution I see to my current problem is to walk him in a muzzle. I need to protect my other hound and myself if he lashes out. I can handle him physically and hang onto him as he loses his mind, but I can’t control the fear and barking and biting. Thanks in advance. 

  2. Interesting about Nate’s awareness of objects or bulk. I think Dune has the same, but he may actually still see them given he still has some vision. I forgot in my synopsis above to say he ran at high speed smack into a wall last week also. Maybe his vision is worsening and he isn’t taking it into account yet. He survived that accident also. Poor boy. I would think eventually he will learn to slow down so he doesn’t get hurt. And I think he is learning “closed.” On leash, once the jumping is over, he is very good. I usually give him only a foot or two if on neighborhood streets so he doesn’t get a stick in the eye or something, but at the beach I give him longer lead yet he stays pretty close. Poor pups. I feel so badly for them. But he is a happy boy despite this. 

  3. Good ideas Rob. I do think he still has a sense of light and dark because he uses me as his guide much more when it is dark, and I think he still senses some motion. Sadly those will only last a while longer. But the idea of blocking off the bottom part of the door is worth a try since I do think there is some detection of light/dark on his part.
     

    And I think a sensor of some type was what was rattling in my brain as an idea but I couldn’t crystallize the thought. So thanks for that idea. The halo I’ve read helps esp if they are scared of running into things, something he is not at this point. But I can’t see having him in one of those all the time. Would interfere with stuffy tossing and fetch. Amazingly he does play fetch by sound and smell. Sometimes he thinks my arm is the toy 😆 but luckily it’s generally a light chomp. 

  4. Interesting that it happened again - kids behind us were yelling so he was going to go straighten them out. But I was sitting where I could grab him and stop him. He still wanted to go to the door but I had stopped him maybe 10 ft from it. I said “closed” multiple times then allowed him to go to the door. (I should have taken him but I didn’t. 🤦‍♀️) He trotted over to the door and stopped on the rug I keep just in front of it. And “looked” out the back door. Poor sweet boy. So I think he gets what closed means, but sometimes greyhound guard dog brain/there might be bunnies brain seems to override mom yelling closed. 

  5. My blind 4 yo male greyhound with PRA does not know slow gear. Can’t see? 100 mph still seems like a good idea to him. I’m concerned he is literally going to break his neck someday. He has run into my yard and run smack into a tree. But today he ran into the sliding glass door pretty hard. 2nd time he has done that. I actually still have the painters tape X’s on it I put on glass whenever I get a new grey, but he clearly can’t see them at all. If he takes off and the door is closed I’m usually yelling “Closed! Closed! Closed!”. (I often leave the door open when the weather is nice so the greys can come and go as they please. So sometimes it’s open and sometimes not.)
     

    Anyway, I think he kind of understands “closed” because he seemed to try and brake and managed to not hit head on but was slightly turned. He seems fine. Thankfully. But how can I stop him from doing that? It’s an open concept house, no way to put a gate, which he would probably run into anyway. I put a very thick pillow in front to try and cushion things, but when he’s off to bark at something outside it doesn’t help. Any ideas or suggestions on how to keep him safe? At a core level I have decided to let him be a dog and if he hurts himself and his life is shortened because of his blindness then that’s a consequence I’ll have to live with (e.g., I won’t leash him to me at all times), but at the same time I’ll do what I can to keep him safe while letting him be a greyhound. Thoughts on some way to train him, cue him, to know whether the door is open or closed? Thanks. 

     

  6. Thanks for the ideas also phall. My female grey is so great she just moves away from Dune and doesn’t even growl when he steps on her. He is careful to sniff beds to see if she is there but if she is unexpectedly sleeping in the middle of the floor somewhere look out. Although if Dune’s front foot brushes her he does leap to try to avoid her. Sounds like my situation is about as good as it can get. My guy just is too fearless. Not sure what he was doing outside in the dark this morning but I heard bushes rustling in an odd way and then hear him crying. Yikes! I run out and he had gotten his rear leg hung up on a faucet somehow. No damage, well some bruising but nothing more. Silly boy. He just won’t acknowledge he can’t see and so goes places he shouldn’t. The jumping on people is getting better as I’ve gotten firmer about pulling his collar down, but I don’t want to hurt his neck either. The short leashes near doors is a good idea. 
     

    And most of all I’m just happy to hear about the greys who have lived and thrived despite PRA. Hopefully my guy will too… as long as he learns to slow down a bit. 

  7. Eesh. My initial reaction was I wouldn’t really want to do that to my beautiful boy, but I’m an organ donor so why not? As long as UCD paid whatever additional cost. They need the gene info to develop treatment. They have it for… is it a papillon? Some small dog breed. But it is breed specific, unfortunately. 

  8. LBass - thanks for the encouragement. It does sound like Nate went blind far younger. Advantage for Dune because he has had some vision for the past year, sufficient time to get a cognitive map of my house and yard in his head before his vision/retina disintegrated nearly completely. And he learned how to jump in my Jeep. I am impressed that he will continue to jump blindly in. I noticed him become a bit disoriented the other day but he and I were quickly able to help him do a reset. My yard has a decent sized rectangular area of grass with river rocks on 3 sides and concrete patio on 1 so Dune can play safely in that area and he has the tactile cues to (hopefully) slow down when he leaves the grass. But if he hears something in the bushes - it could be a bunny after all, he is off at 100mph. 😆 He has also had one corneal scratch so far from a leaf in the yard. I may have to consider some doggles for him, which I’m sure he will hate. Have you had problems with that? I was hoping for a hiking buddy and surprisingly he is quite good as he will go wherever I lead and he stays right by my side. The bigger problem is other ppl who let their dogs approach - he loves ppl but is a bit fear aggressive with other dogs. Makes sense as he can’t read the dogs body language. And if I tell ppl he is blind and can’t see their dog or read the cues they just say “oh” and let their dog approach anyway. 🙄 Then they read my body language! 😡 It’s nice to hear Nate is doing well, has developed a sixth sense, and is loving life because I was so distraught for Dune initially. Nate is lucky to have you. I would not have volunteered to adopt a blind greyhound but I adopt for life and quickly discovered I had adopted a going blind greyhound. So here we are. 😎 

  9. Apparently Dune knew I wrote this about him because he was angelic today. Actually I think I was quicker on grabbing his collar before he was sure the leash was coming, so stopped the jumping before it started. I need to use his blindness to my advantage and keep the leash silent until I have hold of him.

    LBass - thanks so much for the referral. I’ll looked them up, sounds like a good resource. And Spirit made it to 14.5? Wow! Definite  sainthood for him. 😇 My first two died due to osteo just before their 9th birthdays - one after 3 yrs of treatment and one after 6 mos. My current girl is 9 and I celebrated big time her making that birthday. She just had a soft tissue sarcoma removed but they got it all and low likelihood of recurrence or metastasis. So yay!! She is good at trying to stay out of the Dune’s way. I think she thinks he’s a pushy clutz, who hogs the jeep space, but not that he is blind. Glad Nate is doing well, because the PRA diagnosis devastated me. I’ll certainly give Dune the best life I can, but I’m in, for me, uncharted territory. I’ve had dogs go blind in old age but a young greyhound- yikes. He still likes to run but it’s scary knowing he can’t see where he is going. Ran right into a tree in the backyard once. And the slider. Scares the heck outta me. It would be different if he sauntered, but he’s generally in a hurry. But I can see him learning to pay attention to the feel/texture of things. (Was kind of funny yesterday he was in the backyard, I knew right where, suddenly I look up and he has vanished. Call his name and I see a greyhound butt backing out of a very narrow space behind my shed. Think he took a wrong turn but wasn’t sure how to course correct until I called him. Poor guy.) 

    Jerilyn - good to know we aren’t alone, eh? Yes, in that state of mind all reason seems to be gone. Silly hounds.

    Palmettobug you have a good point - I have said many times it’s a good thing I’m not a petite thing because he’d knock me over if I was. I’m 6’ so can keep my balance, at least so far! 😆

     

  10. I know this is old, but I just wandered back to GreyTalk after a few years away so just saw it. Kiowa Mon Manny is my dog’s grandfather and my 4 yo pup (raced as Deal Master) has PRA. 😔 UCD was a bit unresponsive when I contacted them. Too bad as an answer to this devastating diagnosis would be nice. At the very least stop breeding his offspring. Maybe I should contact UCD again, esp since I have a grandson of the identified dog. 

  11. Hi fellow greyhound lovers! So, this is my 4th greyhound. I’m not exactly a newbie. My boy is only 4 now, so young yet. He retired at 3 because he wasn’t doing well. As soon as I got him 1+ year ago I noticed a vision problem. Sadly diagnosed with PRA. He has very, very limited vision now. And, he has recently developed a few bad behaviors that I can’t seem to correct. The biggest issue is jumping on people. He does it as soon as the leashes come out, if someone comes to visit, as soon as he gets me out of bed in the morning, etc. Times of excitement. He does paw me if he is laying near where I’m sitting but if I hold his paw he is happy. 🙄 He also does little bites/nibbles. This is new as his vision has worsened.
     

    Anyway, I’m tired of the bruises and scratches, he does cause bleeding sometimes with his jumping from the scratches. Help please. I’m consistent with telling him “no jump” and “no biting” but think I’ll at least change to “off.” I also hold his collar down so he can’t jump, but the second I let go he jumps. I don’t want people in the house because I don’t want anyone to get hurt with his exuberant greetings. I do think some of this, esp the nibbling, is him using a sense other than his vision to determine where I am. He also has sleep startle, and add blindness to that, and he does growl if my other grey touches him while they are riding together in the car. I’m trying to figure out a way to partition the back of my car because I don’t see a behavioral fix for that. He is a bit of a challenge, but very smart at the same time. I’d love suggestions on correcting the jumping in particular. TIA! 

  12. Hi apbagwell - sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Darn osteo. 😡 My oncologist, who is fabulous and worked with my last hound where I did amputate and do chemo, suggested we might have another good 6-8 months if we were lucky. The radiation really seemed to help manage the pain. She got her 4th zoledronate infusion a week ago and looks great so far. (Getting those once a month.) Playing with my other dogs, running a little bit, and not seeming to be in pain. No limping. (But she is on carprofen and gabapentin.) In fact, she has some bounce back in her step. We are just over 4 months post diagnosis and I’ll be thrilled if we get 4 more months. I will admit some days she seems kind of tired and I don’t know if that is disease progression or old age. But she has far more peppy days than tired days.

    I wondered about a low dose chemo like I did with my other hound after the regular chemo, but we never discussed it with re to Brin and I never have remembered to ask. I assume if my oncologist wanted to add that she would have mentioned it. My regular vet, who worked with my oncologist for a while, said he too thinks palliative radiation is the way to go when other options aren’t really options. One of his pt’s was a 180 lb Newfoundland and he said that dog was running up and down the beach “being a dog again” after palliative radiation. My vet did say not all dogs do well with this protocol, but many, like Brin, do very well. So, I hope your boy benefits and you get many more months to love him! 

  13. I feel your pain and discomfort with this decision. My osteo girl has been generally doing well, but today not so much, and no more than an hour ago I asked her if she was telling me it was time. But she wagged her tail. I don’t think it is yet, I think she was just wanting some extra love. 🥰 Which, of course, she got! But I too am in the waiting and watching process. My last grey with osteo, if he had spoken English it wouldn’t have been more clear. He looked me in the eye one morning and told me it was time, he was done. I let him go that afternoon. 😢 It sounds like your girl is still living a relatively happy life... and I hope she continues to for many months. Best to you and your girl. Cancer sucks. 

  14. I’m so so sorry. 😢 Anytime I read about a limp in a greyhound I’m concerned. I’m currently going through it with my beautiful 10.5 yr old girl too. It’s so devastatingly unfair that these beautiful creatures are so susceptible to osteo. Thankfully, however, most have lived a life filled with love once adopted. 💕 That thought brings me at least some small degree of comfort...
     


     

     

  15. Brin update - she is doing so well! Hates anesthesia but that’s behind us now. Now we just do the zoledronate monthly and hope for the best. Honestly she is doing much better. Her leg is stronger and she’s running a bit, roaching again, and wagging her tail. I think radiation has been super helpful for her. So, we can only hope this lasts many more months. Thanks for the good thoughts her way. 
     

    Sorry about Phoebe. My other grey (Duke) I amputated but recovery was smooth. (Until chemotherapy extravasation - but that’s another story.) Sorry you are facing so many challenges. One thought - I couldn’t bear to have Duke in a cone, and like you say they  need a super long one, and then it’s heavy, and they are trying to navigate on 3 legs, and... ugh. If you sew what I did was make a neck pillow - wide but not that thick - lightly stuffed with poly batting and he didn’t mind that as much. He could see where he was going, it wasn’t as heavy, but it fell in the water bowl for sure. 😂 It did keep him away from his incision though. I tied it to his collar so it didn’t slip off as easily. Someone here used an inflatable one as I recall. I think it worked also. Hang in there. Hopefully that wound will heal soon and you can enjoy whatever time you have left with your girl. 

  16. Hi all - Brin seems to be doing well so far. Second radiation treatment coming up tomorrow. I took her off Tramadol as it absolutely wipes her out. She has a bit of pep in her step so I’m remaining hopeful. Thanks for your interest and support! I’ll keep ya posted. 😊
     

    Shannone - I’m so very sorry to welcome you to the osteo club. 💔 I’m not sure how much research you’ve had the opportunity to do yet, but the treatment of choice is amp followed by chemo. That’s what I did with my last guy, but he was younger. As I’m sure you’ve read, this beautiful girl of mine is older, has back problems, and her other rear leg is weak so she isn’t a candidate for amputation. If your girl is a candidate and you decide to go that route, the sooner the better before it metastasizes (more than it may have already). The good news is that amputation removes the pain. (And gets some weight off so the remaining leg doesn’t have to work quite as hard. My boy lost 10 lbs with the removal of his leg.) Yes, chest X-rays are good as the cancer frequently shows up in the lungs so that gives you a hint as to whether it has metastasized already/how far the disease has progressed. I’m not sure where you are but Dr Mary Klein is the oncologist in Tucson at Southern Arizona Vet Specialty (and she is fabulous), and other than that it’s up to Phoenix. At least to the best of my knowledge those are the options. I’d call and get on her schedule if you think you may want to see her as it may be a couple month wait. (And get on the waiting list. I got in over a month sooner off the waiting list.) I called Phoenix also and it was nearly as long a wait there. If I can help, let me know. I am by no means an expert, but sadly I have been down this path before. Wishing the best for you and Phoebe. 

  17. Well, some good news. The oncologist had a cancellation so we got in yesterday rather than having to wait until 7/28. X-ray showed little progression from a month ago. Fine needle aspiration was unsuccessful. Times two. She only got blood and a few cells. Said bone was mushy. 😔 She still wanted to definitively rule out valley fever - and FNA did that although not enough cells to determine type of bone cancer. (I think I’ve got that right....)

    Anyway, given amputation not an option treatment options discussed/offered were: 

    1) stereotactic radiation - that is considered definitive in the same way amputation and chemo are... not a cure but better long-term prognosis, similar to amp and chemo extending good quality of life for ~10-14 months. (At a cost of $10-12,000.)
    2) palliative radiation with zoledronate - hopefully getting her ~6-8 more months of good quality life. (At a cost of around $2500.) Possibly with the addition of some chemo at some point.   

    Unfortunately she does not do stereotactic here, although she thought Brin might be a good candidate for it. We would have to make an 8-10 hour round trip daily for 3-4 weeks to get that. That is not feasible for Brin or I. So, I opted for palliative radiation and zoledronate. And, honestly, I’m thrilled to hope for another 6-8 good months with her. 

    That’s the update from here! I’m pretty excited about it given otherwise we would not be looking at more than another month most likely.

    PS - She had her first radiation and infusion yesterday and we will go in weekly for radiation for 4 weeks. Infusions will be monthly. She seemed to do fine. She gets whiny coming out of anesthesia.. but so do I. 😂 Other than that all went well.  

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