MerseyGrey

Thank you, we hope so too! He has a habit of making me look like a drama queen, but I suppose we will find out if he’s really getting better in the morning. He’s fast asleep at the moment, and hopefully this is helping him get better more quickly. We’ll also find out if he’s developed a taste for finer foods!

Hello! The last day and a half have been rough. Our last resorts (burgers and sausages) were a firm no from him which meant we had to think of something else. Cheese was still in but I didn’t want to give him too much and end up giving him something like pancreatitis, so we bought some malted milk biscuits which he had some of, also just a few as I didn’t want to upset his tummy with too much sugar. Because he wasn’t eating, we were having to squirt dissolved tablets into his throat, which he really didn’t like so now he tries to scarper when he sees me coming with the syringe. Yesterday I made a decision which broke both our hearts - we decided that if he didn’t improve and start eating by his Tuesday appointment, we were going to let him go. He is weak, tired and thin and was just looking...ready. We agonised over it and talked ourselves out of it many times but we both felt that he wasn’t benefitting from what we were doing and was almost slipping away from us before our eyes. 2pm this afternoon: he ate half a burger and almost two sausages, then promptly stood up and took himself outside for a messy toilet trip. The antibiotics presumably, but possibly his awful diet of the last 24 hours, maybe a bit of both. He then found his favourite toy, took it outside and gave it a little shake. He has just done the same again as I type! I really hope this means he’s turned a corner. I feel terrible because I’ve written him off and I’m not going to trust myself to make any big decisions about him now. He’s just come inside and I’m sat on his bed with him, with him demanding to have his face rubbed and things feel a bit more normal. We are beyond relieved.

This one makes me think of a lonely galgo. It is simple and beautiful

HE’s still up and down so we’ve rearranged to have the ultrasound on Tuesday and are picking up some antibiotics today. He’s still eating chicken, beef burgers, cheese and yogurt, and yesterday I tempted him to try some turkey breast which initially he refused but then came back to later. Since he has woken us up at 3.30 this morning for an unusually timed poop and I can’t get back to sleep, I am going to use the time to boil some potato and sweet potato and see if he will take those mashed up with some cheese. He was a little on the chunky side before all this and I’m grateful he had a bit in reserve but he is looking thin now. Thanks for all your kind thoughts!

Dad had to deliver the nasty tablets by syringe this morning; mum took the coward’s option and wrapped them in slices of pepperoni this afternoon, so I’m back to being his favourite human. Again he’s had scraps of food and shown varying degrees of interest but the chicken came and I have rarely seen him so captivated by anything in all the time we’ve had him. Burger is in the pan - I couldn’t be bothered with the George Foreman after all!

I did wonder about this. Buddy has a way of building things that he likes into his routine and his humans are a pair of obliging suckers and very easy to train. Also we found out that as well as a cataract in his left eye at least one of his front teeth is loose so maybe softer food would benefit him a bit. Getting old is not great; watching my baby boy get old is the worst I did also wonder about this! Thanks for the link. Hopefully I won’t have to use it for this spell, but it’s good to have it in case

Yes. Be careful what you wish for!

Thanks. I will see if we have an alternative over here. I had a quick look and did wonder if it was a pressure cooker. I’ve never used one because I think the top will pop off and kill someone, probably me. It’s about the only common kitchen gadget I’ve never had. I’ve got burgers coming in tomorrow’s shopping so maybe I should dust off that old grill and give it another outing. We have just got back from our appointment. Buddy’s lymph nodes are up and so is his temperature so Joe the Vet thinks it’s most likely to be lymphocytic cholangitis caused by an infection and we have started Buddy on Pardale tablets, which are paracetamol and codeine. He showed us how to get Buddy to take them (dissolved in a syringe and squirted on to the back of his tongue) and need to monitor him for a few days, but the vet is confident that he will start eating properly in a day or two. Buddy surprised me by eating most of the mixture in his bowl just before we went out so hopefully he’s right. We can make another appointment if we need to. Meanwhile, Buddy is giving me the cold shoulder 1) for making him have disgusting paracetamol and 2) for making him suffer the indignity of having his temperature taken. His reactions to both events, although different, demonstrated equal levels of disappointment with his humans, and I strongly suspect that one of us might find a turd in a shoe sometime tomorrow.

I haven’t heard of this! I will look it up later as I love a novelty kitchen gadget #georgeforeman #gatheringdust

Tell me about it! I made chicken soup on Sunday from a roast with added potato and broccoli and cauliflower stalk to thicken it up. He wouldn’t eat it, then had a bit yesterday evening (hence to 4am wake up for a wee!) but won’t touch it today. He has had some of that leftover chicken meat today, and a tiny bit of a tuna sandwich but not much. But he has had something, and wanted to go for another walk when I got home. And the thing that filled me with joy - he took a toy outside after he greeted me from work. This is his usual habit but he hasn’t done it for days, so I was very pleased. The pre-cooked chicken is a fab idea - just adding one to the shopping list now!

They might be getting along, but is that because the cat makes the rules and the greyhound complies? One of them definitely looks like they’re in charge in this (fabulous) series of pictures!

Thank you. I forgot to add chicken soup on that list of foods he had yesterday (homemade and wholesome!) and this morning he needed a 4.15 turnout for a wee as he’d had a bit more fluid that normal. He’s a good boy for waking us up. Thank you. I’m not sure we’re quite at this point yet, although I’m bracing myself for tummy issues if he does need to have antibiotics. Our new vet is the one who administers the acupuncture and seems to take a holistic approach to treatment so I think he will be open-minded about treatment options rather than just sticking to filling Buddy with drugs. So far his treatment course has been measured and appropriate, fingers crossed it stays that way!

It’s hard work keeping the humans happy! We do ask rather a lot of our hounds ‘please eat please eat please eat’

I think they know what pushovers we are! I was ready to crack open a can this evening, but he’s had a bit to eat this evening, much to my relief! He has had a little bit of: peanut butter toast, scrambled egg, chicken, pork, doggie chocolate drops, freeze dried beef pellets, chorizo and…chicken and pancetta tortellini. I’m glad it’s Dan who does the morning walk - he knows to go prepped with paper plates. I took him out for a few steps tonight to keep him moving and get some nose work and we ended up doing a full walk as he didn’t want to turn home. He was pooped when we got back but I think he enjoyed it!

Thank you. I know that he loves tuna but salmon upsets his tummy a bit. I am willing to try almost anything although I think he can only eat small amounts of tuna because of the mercury in it. This morning he has had a reasonable amount of food compared to the last week, but he has started to turn his nose up at the pate and even (shock! Horror!) peanut butter toast. I’ll contact the vet today and see if they can squeeze us in this week. Even if Buddy can stand a few more days not eating, I’m not sure my nerves can!

Thank you. We can try that as it’s probably cold enough here overnight at the minute to keep it fresh-ish. I don’t want to jinx it, but he seems happy to have a bit of yogurt so I will leave some in his bowl.

I missed this as I got distracted when typing my previous reply! Thank you, this is what we have been trying to do so it’s good to know we’re on the right track. It’s whatever we can, whenever we can and trying again and again. And we start over again tomorrow

This is sounding familiar! Thank you. He’s still showing similar symptoms so I think we are going to try and bring his appointment forward. He has eaten some more peanut butter on toast and yogurt but is not having more than a mouthful of anything else. There is no point in waiting to treat him if we can sort this out this week. Poor boy

I haven’t done a genetic test on him but I am convinced Buddy is 95% cat, it’s just the shell that is greyhound

Thank you. I think he might have a hotline to Willa as he seems to be following this advice ‘yes, I know that yesterday prime steak was what I wanted, but today I will only eat foie gras. Tomorrow, who knows?’

I’ll pass this on to him - Auntie Jan says ‘work your inner lab/coonhound!’. Actually, he did just help us with our roast chicken…

We are too. I think we are going to move to this vet for most services now. His monthly Librela injection will be up to £40 cheaper - I say up to, because I don’t think that we have been charged the same amount two months in a row - last month it was around £108, whereas the new vet will be £68. Our stance on Buddy is that we will pay what we have to if it improves his quality of life, but it doesn’t make any sense to pay out so much more for the same treatment if we are getting a good service for him elsewhere. I’ve been reading a bit more about cholangitis and it seems that it’s probably developed from a bacterial or viral infection from something that he’s scavenged, but we’ve either missed it or because it hasn’t developed immediately we haven’t made the connection. He’s had some toast this morning and a bit of pate but he’s not really interested in much else. We’ve got some more wet food in and will try him with that when he’s up and about later

Thank you. A little update from yesterday’s vet visit. Firstly, I have a tendency to tell the experts what I think I know about situations which makes the experts clam up a little, but thanks to all your advice, I was able to lay out the symptoms that Buddy has had more clearly and had a proper discussion with the vet who I might be a little bit in love with. He seems to be sensible and thorough without going over the top and he is very reassuring. He tried to tempt Buddy with some treats to test his willingness to eat. Buddy made a complete liar of me as he often does and almost snapped the vet’s hand off for some Schmakos . He gave Buds an anti-nausea injection (cerenia) after he rejected his pig snout during the acupuncture session, and took some blood. I don’t think he did a full screen as the results were back yesterday afternoon but it looks like he has directed his investigations appropriately and we have a bit of a plan. Buddy’s red blood cell count is normal but his white cells were elevated (x2). It’s a mix of acute and chronic WBCs. His liver enzymes are normal but his GGT is also elevated (x6). The vet says this pattern is highly suggestive of gallbladder inflammation, and the symptoms we’ve seen would support this (although they are not specific). He said that it might resolve on its own, so we have a few days to get him back to normal. We have our next acupuncture appointment on 10th October, so we’re planning an ultrasound for then, with the option to bring his appointment forward if he gets worse. At that appointment, we can look at antibiotics or anti-inflammatories if his suspicions are confirmed. He thinks we are going to find a mucocoele gallbladder rather than gallstones. I work in histology so I see these all the time when they’ve been extracted from people, but while I often receive these as specimens I don’t get the full clinical experience. Thanks, Buddy. So we trotted off to our local pet food store yesterday and picked up a few items to stimulate his appetite. So far, pate mixed with his kibble has been a success, but he turned his nose up at kibble soaked in beef broth, kibble soaked in pork broth (warm and cold) and this morning, he did not fancy the neat pumpkin purée I tried to tempt him with. I’m going to try this again later though because his eyes were on stalks and it might just be a bit early for him (it’s 5.20am here; we are generally early risers but not this early. We’ve been up for over an hour, woken by the sound of dripping in our bedroom thanks to our leaky roof, but that’s another story!). We did have success with a beef burger last night too so he has eaten something and I’m sure he will join us for toast later on. He also had a little play with Honky the Hedgehog yesterday which is usually a sign that he is feeling a little better. And his acupuncture is going well! He was the goodest boy yesterday when he had his neck shaved, and blood taken, and was jabbed for his anti nausea injection. Thanks again for the advice!

It certainly looks this way. What a floozie!

How much were you grinning when you filmed this? And how soon after you stopped did you lock Doolin in an embrace and give him lots of kisses?