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Newtothis

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  1. Hi everyone Just an update on how our sweet girl is doing, and some info for anyone who finds themself in a similar situation with concerning kidney values after using metacam / NSAIDs. We've been off the metacam for 2 1/2 months. And she's been on a renal friendly diet for about 6 weeks. And istin for high blood pressure for 3 weeks. Her latest bloods show her results are much better, with SDMA IDEXX of 17 and creatinine of 169. I think 169 is equivalent to 1.9 in US mg/dl values. (side note: This is a good conversion site for trying to get your head around US/UK values: http://www.scymed.com/en/smnxps/psxdf212_c.htm ) The vet is saying these are still above normal but I'm going to discuss that next time we see her in light of the greyhound specific values IDEXX recommend using (very helpfully provided by someone in another thread https://www.idexx.com/media/filer_public/c8/dd/c8dd0ed2-7a4e-4cd8-b1a7-798fd5205d99/diagnostic-update-greyhound-specific-reference-intervals.pdf ) Her bloods were undoubtedly abnormal back in January. But as the values have all come down I'm hoping this points to it being more of an acute kidney problem caused by metacam + high blood pressure than true renal disease... We have another blood test in a month to see if it's changed again. Either way she's happier and healthier than she was 6 weeks ago and is showing no symptoms of renal problems. Librela is working well for her arthritis too. Thanks again all of you for your replies and hopefully this will all have a happy ending. (though my bank account might not be so pleased about it all)
  2. Certainly will use them if/ when the time comes. For now she is wolfing her food down better than ever (maybe she didn’t like her old kibble!)
  3. This website looks really helpful, thanks for sharing. It’s still early days with the librela (5 days since she had it) There have been signs it might be doing something (when she’s in less pain she will occasionally get into the sphinx position rather than sitting on the side of her bum… if that makes sense) but she’s definitely still in some discomfort. Will definitely consider a specialist greyhound vet for a second opinion when we have a fuller picture of what’s happening. I’ll try and keep you updated! Thanks again.
  4. Thank you all. We’ll ask the vet about an ultrasound and galliprant. And perhaps look into getting a second opinion from Dr Couto once we have other results back. Sorry you went through it with your girl too. I’m beginning home cooking her food today. The nausea makes sense as sometimes she looks at her food and almost seems to gag! She still has some appetite though - she’s eating her breakfast as I type. Fingers crossed we can get her sorted and see some improvement or at least stabilisation now she’s off the metacam. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
  5. Hi everyone, hoping you might be able to share some tips and reassurance… We’ve had our sweet girl for 9 months, she turned 3 in October. It became obvious to us quite quickly after adopting her that she has pain in her back hips/legs. After some trips to the vet we put her on metacam which was working really well. Unfortunately blood tests show her kidneys are not doing well, so we’ve had to stop the medication. She apparently has stage 2 kidney disease. We also had her blood pressure checked today and that’s high. Urine tests for protein in the urine are pending! We’ve been trying transform/travileve for pain relief instead of metacam but she’s still been in quite a bit of discomfort. So today she had her first librela injection. We’re due another blood test in a month or so to check how her kidneys are and whether stopping metacam has helped. Luckily we have insurance and a helpful vet. But I’m a little worried at what this means for her - to have this many problems at just 3 years old. And obviously no ‘cure’ for any of them. All posts i see for dogs with these conditions are about hounds who are 10+ years old. I suppose I’m wondering if anyone has had similar experience with a young dog? Can these medications keep them happy and comfortable for years? Or can you share other tips that helped with similar conditions over the long term ? We’re looking into turmeric supplements and physio/hydrotherapy. And a renal diet. Thanks in advance 🙂 PS. We’re aware of different creatinine/ blood pressure levels in greys and they have been taken into account for her results.
  6. Yes I definitely over researched and ended up stressing myself out even more! In the end I picked one resource and followed that - ignoring all others for a bit. You've got to give an approach a chance to work I also started focussing on right now instead of worrying about imaginary problems in the future! We're in the uk too but were lucky to squeeze it in at an angle... But yeah maybe try the landing. It doesn't mean he'll sleep there forever. Just this week we've noticed ours seems to feel more comfortable in the office than the lounge, so now we've started leaving him to sleep on his bed in instead. So it just goes to show eventually you'll start getting to know him and things will feel a bit more natural and easier to make decisions. Feel free to message me if you want to keep chatting (like I say I can't offer expert advice but I can offer understanding). Hang in there!
  7. Hi, As a new greyhound owner this is my first post on this forum (and also afraid I'm going to get shouted out for giving bad advice!) but I had to reply to you because I felt exactly like you did when we got our first greyhound 3 months ago. And I know how awful it is. We had wanted a dog for so long and were prepared but when we got him I couldn't cope at all. For the first week I didn't stop crying, I didn't eat and didn't sleep. I have anxiety anyway and getting him sent it through the roof and I was near the worst I'd ever been. Now 3 months in I'm a lot better. Our grey has problems with other dogs and doesn't like being left alone, so it's still hard work and I still sometimes feel trapped. But we've seen a behaviourist and have a training plan in place and I now feel comfortable taking it day by day. I'm far from an expert but just wanted to say you're not alone in feeling like this, and it does get better. A few things that have helped me personally : - Splitting the care with my partner. We both have dog care days during the week and dog free days. This means I get a couple of days a week where my partner is responsible for all of his walks, feeding etc so I have a break from thinking about it, and I do the same for my partner. It gives me back some normality and headspace which works better for me than doing half of his care each day. - In the early days, telling myself 'If by X date I still feel like this, I can give him back'. It helped me be less overwhelmed with the idea of caring for him forever and took some pressure off. We were in contact with our rescue group and they reassured us we could take a bit of time to make our decision and would be happy to have him back without judgment if needed. Knowing that was very reassuring. - Not trying to get everything right straight away. I was worried if we didn't fix his separation anxiety immediately, it would be a lost cause and he would never learn how to be alone. That's not true. - Working in increments. We didn't want him sleeping in our room either. He would happily sleep in his crate at night but only if he could see us – so we moved it in front of our bedroom door, then moved it back a couple of inches each night. Now he sleeps in the lounge just fine. Even if it takes ages, having a plan can make you feel a bit more in control! Oh and pick one priority to work on at once. We didn't try fixing his separation anxiety until we were all comfortably sleeping at night. It would have been too much for us. I personally would let him follow you to make tea, go to the loo, whatever for now. I'm sure others might disagree and like I say this is only based on my experience and not expert advice, but for me the priority had to be getting my head into a space where I was calmer and could cope. Him pacing and whining would send me over the edge! Once you are feeling better, you can start implementing rules / training as needed. At least, that's how I approached it. Our boy has relaxed massively since I got a handle on my own anxiety and worry and we're all doing much better. I still see other people with their greys and think it's not fair how easy they seem to have it but in reality everyone has their own struggles. We love our boy and are committed to making it work with him and giving him a happy life. He's started rolling over for belly rubs and coming up to us for a fuss, so we're getting there slowly but surely! The last thing I'l say is that while you're confused and unsure whether you've made a mistake, trust your past self. You planned for this, researched it and wanted it - trust that you made the right decision then. You were probably thinking a lot clearer then than you are now. If when you are feeling calmer and more rational you're still unsure whether it's the right thing for you after all, then you can decide what to do from there.
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