MerseyGrey

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?

Thank you all so much! I’ll ask the vet about a blood test tomorrow, I think we might call it a full blood count but I’m sure he will know. Your posts have cheered me up - I have spent much time this week making ‘mmmmm tasty!’ noises and sharing the odd handful of shreddies with him. I’m pleased to report that he has had half a can of wet food for tea, and is currently munching happily on some broccoli stalks. We’ll get ourselves down to the pet food place nearby and pick up some more wet food tomorrow, and pop some soft cheese on the shopping list. I’m sure a Buddy would want me to thank you from him too - my greyhound epicure!

Well hello again, I’m here asking for some more advice. For almost two weeks, Buddy has been quite picky over his food. At first we thought he was holding out for tasty treats, as he would half eat his tea / breakfast in order to get the goodies at the end (chew stick or toothbrush), but usually he would return to his food and finish it off after the treat. Then he started to turn his nose up at things he would normally eat- we put kefir and yogurt on his food because he loves it, and mix a small amount of wet food into his breakfast for a bit of variety. So at first, he pretty much stopped eating his tea. After his evening wee, he gets a hairy rabbit ear (his all-time favourite treat) and he will still eat that - even to the point of asking to go out for a wee to get the treat. But no tea, and no supper. Then breakfast has started to tail off and basically now, he is not eating his kibble at all. I’ve tried being inventive and adding small amounts of extras that he normally loves (please don’t judge me, but I’ve tried most things from honey to salad cream!), and something that works one day won’t work the next. He hasn’t really eaten anything much for the past 48 hours - he had a couple of ears yesterday, a few treats (which he is still taking) and he has had a couple of weetabix soaked in watered-down kefir. He is tired - tired like I have never seen him before, but it’s hard to know if this is the effect of the acupuncture, the fact that he is barely eating, or if age has finally caught up with him . I don’t think that the acupuncture is causing the eating problem - in fact, at his Tuesday appointment he scoffed a puffed pig snout. I’ve considered that his teeth might be playing up but he turns down soft food but will happy have his usual chews. I made a kind of chicken soup which he ate one day but wouldn’t eat the next. He hasn’t had diarrhoea but we‘ve had one episode of vomiting - more like regurgitation but it was about 8 hours after his previous meal at breakfast. That was Tuesday (before the pig snout and acupuncture appointment), and I wondered if so much hair from the rabbit ears is bunging him up a bit, although he is still only having 2-3 a day, and it has never been a problem before. He can be a bit of a scavenger but neither of us think he’s eaten anything he shouldn’t have. His walks have been very short, mostly by his choice for the last week. We have another appointment at the vet tomorrow so we can see what he says. At the minute I’m thinking about getting some wet food too see if that interests him at all, and see if he perks up a bit. Buddy is very food oriented and even if he’s been sick before, he’s never gone for this long without eating properly, and he’s still interested in the prospect of food, as he will have a sniff of it, but he just doesn’t seem to want to eat it. Unless it’s chorizo Has anyone been here with their senior dogs?