Jakemedic

We haven’t got that far yet, but am sure we will eventually. Bella would simply freeze when my bride would lift her onto the couch. We enjoy cuddly hounds for sure! Today seem to be another good day for the girls. In laws came to see the new addition and Bella came out too! She didn’t want to miss out on any attention! They both deserve to be happy and confident greyhounds. So far, so good!

another update...... I am SO proud of Bella. She seems to have come out of her shell, just after one day. The issue now is "the good dog bed". We purchased it for our Angel Laci in 2017. It is big, comfortable and the girls are "battling" (well not really) over it. A few times today I walked into the bedroom to find Winnie laying in the bed and Bella simply watching over her...... What was really funny is when I would call Winnie out of the bed, Bella would join her, not wanting to miss anything. The new girl would run down the hall and take the bed before poor Bella had the opportunity to beat her to it. How funny! When going outside, Bella would be the first to the door and out confidently. What an incredible change from just a few days ago! I have seen Bella more in the last day than I did in the past week. Her tail is up, and not between her legs, and she seems to be happy. Of course, she still gets some "nummy treats" whenever she comes up to me or does something really good. I am sure that helps! We ordered another jumbo bed and it should be here within a week or so. Until then, the musical chairs of the comfy bed will continue. Stay warm and safe!! Jake

The foster pup is named Winnie. She is a 6 year old brood momma that is an amazing brindle in color. Our adoption lady talked to the kennel and advised them of our issues with Bella. The breeder showed us two mommas that they thought would be a good match for us. We picked Winnie, and for now are fostering her. We let them meet each other out in the yard and of course “shook paws” by sniffing each other. They ran a little bit and then came inside so Bella could show Winnie the house. Winnie was of course quite excited and so was Bella! Bella was a bit protective of her bed, but did come and get attention (and of course a special treat). After the initial looking around, Bella went to her bed and Winnie is laying in the living room on a new bed that Bella was too scared to lay in. I am cautiously optimistic that bringing in another girl was a good idea. Time will tell for sure, but for now it is very good. Thanks to everyone who took time out of their lives to post here. Your caring and love is greatly appreciated!

Good Morning! a quick update! I ordered some “Rescue Remedy ” which should be here later this week. My bride and I are going this morning to get a foster girl, as the one grey that lived in our area died of bone cancer in September. (We felt terrible for the family after loosing one of our angels to that as well), We will see how that goes. Bella seems to have found her “nummy treat” and I have been giving her one whenever she does anything at all positive. We took her on a walk yesterday and the neighbor’s lawnmower backfired. She jumped really high, so glad my bride had good hold of her leash. Going to try one fix at a time. Bring the foster girl home and see how the behavior goes. Without improvements I will try the rescue Remedy. She is a good girl, who we love lots. Just need her to come out and enjoy life. She so deserves it!

Thank you for all your suggestions! Our first girl was around alone until we got her sister. They fought for a little while until the hierarchy was established then did just fine. Our last girl (before Bella) came in after loosing our one girl to bone cancer. So she had someone to show her the ropes. Once our first crossed the rainbow bridge, Laci became the rare "our dog", loving both my bride and I and did well until she died. We were without a grey for too long until we got Bella. She is a good girl, just not social and appears to be scared of her shadow. Maybe my bride is right, another one would be best...... Oh I do agree, she had loving handlers. The kennel we got her from was very passionate about grey's and cared for them well. We are in a rural area without many grey's floating around. Oh how much fun it would be to go on a walk with 60 of them!!! Possibly, we could take her to a meet and greet about 60 miles away and see how she does. She didn't appear to mind car rides all that much, which is a good thing. I will keep you posted on her progress. Honestly, I never thought of obedience training for her. Maybe a good thing. Had never done that with any of our other girls, but Bella might benefit from it. She is a lovely girl, kind, gentle, but quite different from our previous experiences.

Good Morning! We are reasonably experienced greyhound parents. Over nearly 20 years, we have had three females, all retired racers. We lost our Angel Laci in March of this year and after our grieving period, decided the best way to cherish our Angel was by getting another one. We obtained Bella fresh off the track the end of September. At the kennel, she appeared friendly, reasonably confident and generally a friendly greyhound. Once we got her home, we figured that this has to be quite an ordeal for the little girl, who just turned 4 years old. Never been in a house, never had toys and surely never had the love and affection we want to give her. She is "nervous" (or possibly anxious) all the time. She simply lays in her bed and refuses to go outside unless forced to. When called, she comes towards us with tail wagging, but never quite makes it to us before running away again. This morning she has refused to go out. She keeps running away. I attempted to put her lead on her and she "froze". I knew it was a loosing battle and left her to lay in her bed. We never had an anti social dog before. Our grey's have always wanted attention, to be with "their people" and LOVED to go outside or on a walk. This little girl doesn't seem to enjoy much of anything. She has not gone potty in the house, and seems to understand that going outside is to relieve herself. She is terribly afraid of any toys, but does seem our granddaughter and when she comes over, seems to enjoy running with her in the fenced back yard. My bride seems to think that we need to get another grey. Apparently, there are a few more to choose from and possibly we could find an alpha to take Bella and show her the ropes. I would much rather get a handle on this one's behavior issues and love her. She has been to the vet, and has gotten a clean bill of health. She is a beautiful little girl, that we want nothing but the best for. Any suggestions?

And she is the best girl! Still spooked at the microwave going off and looks at the coffee maker like “that thing makes a funny sound”. She has done all her business outside, and finally barked and ran this morning when she seen a white tailed deer in the field. Greyhounds make the world a better place!

Greetings from our humble homestead in SE Iowa. We just adopted “Slender Slim” fresh off the track. We renamed her “Bella”. She is 4 years old and retired cause she wasn’t a winner. Would post pictures of our beautiful girl but the website doesn’t appear to be user friendly to do that. We lost our Angel Laci in March to kidney failure and our lives weren’t complete. Bella is our 4th rescued greyhound over the last 20 years. They are wonderful pets and great companions. If someone can help with posting pictures, I would love to share ! Bella is a “blue face” girl and is incredibly beautiful. We went to the vet today and had bloodwork done and a general physical exam. She did loose a couple of pounds from her racing weight, but is eating and drinking well. It’s all new for her! She still is a little skittish with all the new noises. She loves her large comfy bed and sleeps through the night well. She has a wonderful grey run (fenced of course) and loves being home with my bride and I. Here is a link to a photo of her in the yard. https://photos.app.goo.gl/NbS6HMa2fjdzvLXaA

Greetings from our humble homestead in SE Iowa. We just adopted “Slender Slim” fresh off the track. We renamed her “Bella”. She is 4 years old and retired cause she wasn’t a winner. Would post pictures of our beautiful girl but the website doesn’t appear to be user friendly to do that. We lost our Angel Laci in March to kidney failure and our lives weren’t complete. Bella is our 4th rescued greyhound over the last 20 years. They are wonderful pets and great companions. If someone can help with posting pictures, I would love to share ! Bella is a “blue face” girl and is incredibly beautiful. We went to the vet today and had bloodwork done and a general physical exam. She did loose a couple of pounds from her racing weight, but is eating and drinking well. It’s all new for her! She still is a little skittish with all the new noises. She loves her large comfy bed and sleeps through the night well. She has a wonderful grey run (fenced of course) and loves being home with my bride and I. Here is a link to a photo of her in the yard. https://photos.app.goo.gl/NbS6HMa2fjdzvLXaA

We lost our Angel Laci in March to kidney failure. It seems to be more common than we thought. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and Stella. You have an early diagnosis, and it seems to be quite manageable at the stage she is in. Also there is a group on yahoo called K9 Kidneys. They were WONDERFUL, caring and compassionate. They had excellent medical advice and are all volunteers. Google them and send them a message. They will ask for lab values and provide advice that both you, your vet and Stella can use. There is no charge for the service. They even put a banner on their website of Laci’s pictures when she died as a tribute to her. Amazing people! Message me if you can not locate contact info for them I kept their info. On a positive note, we are in the process of adopting a little girl fresh off the track. Even though I shed a tear as i write this, greys bring so much love and joy into our lives. We are excited to open our hearts to our next hound. God Bless. Jake and Ann

I wanted to call our Angel Laci “Klinger” cause she would stay by our side for almost a year after we got her. I finally just accepted that she wanted to be with us.

Thanks so much! She was EVERYWHERE in our lives. The house is incredibly quiet......and lonely without her here. Finally took a quick look at available greys at adoption locations somewhat close......not quite ready even though the vet recommended we consider it. Maybe we will honor Laci in April (National Greyhound Adoption Month) with another 1 or 2. We appreciate your kind words, we genuinely appreciate it!

We just lost our Angel Laci to kidney failure after a really quick diagnosis. Check out K9Kidneys on yahoo. It is a great group of people who are experts in kidney disease and dogs. Unfortunately for us, Laci was too far down a bad path for them to help. Check them out, they maybe able to answer your questions. You would need a recent blood lab values to get assistance. God Bless!

Ok I will take a stab at it. Our Angel Laci came off the track with a broken leg. She would “hop” on three legs while on hard surfaces. We chose to help her by getting her to use her leg, instead of gimping on it. From the human side, the best results with arthritis is when the patient actually used it. She was “set free” before having it be too terrible, although her joint was always quite swollen. Our treatment would have been Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate. The thing to keep in mind is that no supplement will cure damage to your pups joints. The other thing we noticed is that in the winter time, Laci would enjoy the heat from my brides heated throw. Not sure if it was helpful to her joint, or she just wanted to stay warm. Enjoy you fur baby and remember to have him use the leg as much as reasonable.

Thank you! Tears are falling here at our house. We know and understand we did the right thing for our girl. When she wouldn’t drink or eat, we knew that we needed to set her free. She so wanted to run, even with her broken leg. She was incredibly fast and lived to run, eat, lounge, sleep and provide unconditional love to Ann, I, our granddaughter Aubree and anyone she decided to grace with her wagging tail and her presence. She was genuinely a good ambassador for rescued greyhounds. She was gentle, quiet, and her big brown eyes told you to pet her, scratch her ears and love on her. So many people told us what a wonderful dog we had. She was polite, didn’t jump, bark and sometimes wouldn’t even get off the sofa when someone came over to our home. We had an insurance man come over to check on hail damage to our home. He had to step over Laci, who was laying on the floor in the sun. So typical of her laid back personality. Oh my how we will miss her. We have had a total of 3 greys over the better part of 20 years. The first two were sisters from the same litter. Belles was my pup. Luci was Ann’s pup. When Luci died from bone cancer, Ann came home with Laci. I asked “ what have you done?” When Belle died of liver cancer, Laci filled the void by being an “our” dog. She was our dog through good and bad times, always greeting us when we came home and leaned on us for a pat on the head. She was the first dog EVER to get to sit on my mom’s sofa. She looked at my mom, and crawled up, making herself at home. When mom was in hospice, we brought her a picture of Laci on her sofa, and it made mom smile. There is a huge void at our home tonight. Being newly retired, I am sure I will notice her absence terribly tomorrow. But the pain of our loss will subside eventually. The memories of our little girl will live on for as long as we can take a breath on this earth. May God look after you and your long legged friend. Pat them on their head or scratch their ears for us and please keep Laci in your thoughts and prayers. Only this group understand just how special greyhounds are. Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts and feelings during this terrible time.

Hello, Ann and I brought our little girl to the vet this afternoon. What is ironic is our last two girls had to be carried into the vet. Laci with her pink coat on, walked in on her own.....tail between her legs of course. We had a lengthly discussion with our vet. She had tick borne illnesses which she was being treated for with antibiotics. The one essentially shut down her production of red blood cells from her bone marrow and put her into kidney failure. She wasn't drinking and had to be coached to eat. This happened very quickly (essentially yesterday). After the discussion with the vet, we decided to let her "run free" and cross the rainbow bridge. I was at her side on the floor when she took her last breath. She died knowing her mom and dad cherished and loved her very much. She gifted us with 6 years of joy, unconditional love and memories of being an "our" greyhound. Ann and I encourage all greyhound parents to have your grey checked for tick borne illnesses at your next check up. EVEN THOUGH you may not live in an area of the world where ticks are common. We treated Laci since we adopted her. She possibly was exposed while racing in Florida. We will never know. May God Bless your grey and the people who love them. PS I tried to add pictures of our little girl to this post, but apparently I can't add from google photos.

Laci has gotten incredibly sick. She vomited so violently last evening and this morning. She has quit drinking and only ate her breakfast of egg whites after much coaching. Now it could be from the antibiotic they gave her to help her lymes disease, or it could be the advancement of her kidney failure. John, your advice above is quite accurate. We contacted a vet through the lady who facilitated Laci’s adoption. Her advice was to “ set her free”, and we really don’t disagree. Anything further would be selfish on our parts. Time to spend some time with her before the vet visit. Will write more later.

I am so very sorry for your loss. He now is free of pain and suffering. You have a lifetime of memories of your sweet hound. May God Bless.......

Thank you! It is number one on my list. She continues to eat AMAZINGLY well, seems to calm her down. Appreciate your post!!!!

Thank you for your post! Laci does have Lyme's Disease. She currently is being treated with antibiotic and has been at least "exposed" to other forms of tick borne illnesses. I am starting my list to discuss with the vet tomorrow. I will add Erlichiosis to my growing list of things to discuss. We have ordered a phosphorus binder online which will be here hopefully by Wednesday. Her phosphorus level is off the charts! She is still eating her home made meals, and drinking reasonably well with "chicken water". Thank you so very much, we greatly appreciate your time and effort to post.

Update on Laci: I stayed in the living room for most of the night. She seems a bit anxious, but with comfort, love and scratching her ears, she simmered down. Finally went off to bed around 2am. Got up with my bride when she was getting ready for work. She had gone out, came back in and ate which was a good thing. Her fluid intake is okay, getting her to drink with chicken boiled water (cooled of course). my main worry currently is that she is shaking and panting. we were going into the vet tomorrow to confirm her anemia with a lab that got sent out. I am going to change from a lab visit to a vet visit to discuss keeping her comfortable. After looking around here, it appears that she maybe stressed or in some kind of discomfort. She continues to eat her home made food and is always looking around for more :-) Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Hug and love him, those memories will be priceless. May God Bless you both and especially Joey.❤️

Thanks John! We joined them yesterday and provided lab values. As I have said earlier, it’s about Laci and her quality of life. In December I lost my mom who was in hospice. We are comfortable and understand comfort care and when her quality of life suffers, we let her run free after crossing the rainbow bridge. So far she is happy, hungry, appears to be pain free and being the retired athlete she is. Thanks so much for your words of wisdom, we genuinely appreciate it!

Hello! Never took up Facebook due to my career, although I may now that I’m officially retired. My bride is into that for us. I am referring to k9kidney group on yahoo. We copied Laci’s lab values there last evening. They have lots of folks that went through what we are going through. Maybe able to provide quality information that can keep our girl’s quality of life good.

Thank you! The vet did think it was lymes and put her on an antibiotic for it. Didn’t think fluids were indicated at this point. We are going back Tuesday for some additional bloodwork and I will ask. Again thank you! She continues to have a fantastic appetite and already had her breakfast with her omega 3 (fish oil) and antibiotic this morning.