LakeshoreGreys
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Posts posted by LakeshoreGreys
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Nothing new here. He's been on the painkillers which seem to work fine and on the anti-fungal treatment too. Wrist still looks the same. I guess we just wait for test results at this point, which could be another 2 weeks.
Thanks for thinking of us! Will post again with test results or if something changes before then.
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Glad she seems to be feeling better!
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Yup, that track was in Delavan, Wisconsin.
Thanks for looking that up!
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What is the plan your vet is suggesting? It sounds like just starting the pain meds and ketoconazole while waiting for the results of the test for blasto? Whether or not to get more aggressive with pursuing a diagnosis depends on what you would do if it ends up being osteo. If you would opt for palliative care and pain management only, then I wouldn't necessarily suggest doing anything different.
However, if you would want to treat more aggressively, with amputation and chemo, then I'd probably be more proactive in getting a diagnosis asap. I would consider getting a 2nd opinion on the x-rays, either through OSU or an internal medicine specialist or oncologist locally. With the elevated kidney values, this may be a good idea anyway. I'm assuming your vet is familiar with greyhound values? Did they check a urine specific gravity (concentration)? You might also want to consider doing a biopsy or aspirate of the mass which may help distinguish osteo vs blasto.
You are right, the plan so far is to start him on pain meds and ketoconazole and wait for results. I was pleasantly surprised to find the keto was not as pricey as I thought - $26 for 35 tablets. I don't believe she did any other tests on the urine other than sending it out for the blasto test. She is familiar with greyhounds, especially ours. In fact, she requested that the next time we come in, we do so for simple vaccines or something as we haven't been there since we put Joe down in December from an osteo fracture in his front leg.
I did ask for the xrays to be emailed, but she said that we'd need specialty equipment to view them (is this true?) I made noises about sending them off and she said that if it comes back as negative for blasto, they'd need to re-do them anyway and at that point she'd set us up with a specialist.
We had a grey with blasto a couple years ago. First symptoms were elevated body temperature and very slight cough. Vet treated with antibiotics. A week later, he was not better but now had a swollen wrist. Vet treated with more antibiotics. A week later, he suddenly started a different kind of cough, very violent. Rushed him to the vet, did x-rays and found blasto. I so wish we had started the anti fungal treatments earlier. Even with the best emergency care our local University vet school provided, the antifungals were too late to help him. I tell you this story because while I hope it's not blasto, if it is, getting the antifungals started sooner rather than later is very important. You can send a urine sample to a specific lab for blasto testing. At the time, our vet was not aware if this.
Wow! So that gives me a little hope that it's blasto. I kinda figured no considering he really has no other symptoms, but it looks like yours had very slight symptoms too. She did the urine sample and sent it in for blasto testing. I guess that's kind of a new way to test.
We have three greys the oldest being 10. I decided to look at the forum because our vet believes our oldest has osteosarcoma. So when I got onto the forum yesterday I was surprised to see pictures of my greys leg. The picture of Alex is exactly what my Court's looks like. We are meeting with an oncologist on Monday hoping that our vets diagnosis was wrong. We had made three trips to the vets before they x-rayed a second time and saw the mass on his leg. He's such a good boy and would hate for him to have suffer anymore than he has to. The pain pills he is on seem to be working well. Despite trouble with the stairs he seems to be getting alone fine. Here's hoping he is okay.
PS: Sorry for messing up my original posting.
Sorry to hear about Count. Glad that you're able to keep him comfortable. Hope the appointment on Monday goes well - fingers crossed.
Oh, no I am so sorry. That is exactly what Sherman's wrist looked like when he was diagnosed with osteo. I hate to say it. I really hope its not cancer.
Where do you live, and where did the pup come from?
In AZ we are at high risk for our pups to get 'Valley Fever.' It is a fungal infections from inhaling dust particles, and I know of several pups who have it. It can get into the bone, and mimic cancer lesions on the bone. (My Echo has VF, it settled into her leg, so she limps at times.) She has been on the medication for almost 2 years, its a hard one to treat.
Anyway, with Sherman's wrist so swollen, my vet (who was once the track vet at Phx Greyhound Park, so he knows these dogs inside out) said it was cancer, the bone lesion he had did not mimic VF. However, with Patton, when I first took him to the vet when he starting limping, his x-ray showed the lesions, but the vet wanted to test for VF first. Unfortunately, it was osteo.
I believe VF testing is a blood sample. (But I do not know 100%.) Every 6 mos, we have to take Echo in to have her 'titer' tested - lower the titer means she's beating the VF.
It sucks, I am sorry.
We live in Wisconsin. His racing name is Streakin Diablo. Went over to Greyhound Data to check where he raced, but I forgot my password and are waiting for them to email it to me.
He came into the adoption group when he had just turned 3.-----
One question that keeps popping in my head is how long do we have if it is indeed osteo, especially if we choose not to amputate? Our others that had osteo were so far gone when they were diagnosed that we had to put them down immediately. The first, the mass was closing off his trachea, and the other had a broken front leg and lung mets.
The meds seem to be helping his pain as he is not limping, but the mass looks the same today.
Thanks for all of the comments. It definitely makes me feel less "alone" in this.
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Sending gentle hugs.
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Rest in peace, Mittens.
Sending hugs to you - it's never easy.
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Just got off the phone with the vet. She said that his creatinine and kidney values were up, but that she wants to go ahead with some pain relief and the ketoconazole anyway. Looking at the kidney values (don't have a number because I returned her call and she didn't have them in front of her) she was surprised he isn't having drinking/peeing issues. She says the ketoconazole won't hurt him, even if he winds up not having blasto.
DH doesn't believe it's blasto and doesn't want to start the anti-fungal med (ketoconazole). I'm not so sure it's blasto either, because he doesn't have any of the other more common symptoms.
Not sure what to do, but I do have all afternoon to mull it over before DH comes home.
I hate this.
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Beth, don't worry...I was already there last night. In fact, when the vet came in the room and saw it, she kinda had a look on her face. I simply said, "Am I crazy to think..." and she cut me off with, "No, not at all. Didn't you guys just go through this not long ago?" Sadly, yes we did.
Going to lunch with DH to fill him in.
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Yes, I forgot to mention that, sorry.
They xrayed the leg and his chest. Chest didn't show anything too interesting. Leg didn't show any fractures, but did show what could either be a tumor or she said a fungal infection can show up the same way. From what I've read, if it were blasto, you'd notice more stuff on the chest xray. -
Vet thinks it's either a tumor or blastomycosis. She said there is bone involvement - that it's not swelling. I kinda figured that already because the mass is so solid.
Her reasoning for thinking blasto is because one of his pupils is larger than the other. She took a urine sample to send out to test for blasto, but it takes a long time to get back, 1-2 weeks. She wants to start him on ketoconazole right way while we wait for results. And also give him something for pain.
Of course I came right home (10 minutes ago) and did some searches for blasto. He does not have any lymph node issues, nor does he cough or have any of the other blasto symptoms, so I'm skeptical.
Right now I'm waiting for a call to see how his blood panel came back, so we know if he's okay to give meds to.
Any thoughts???
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Snagged an appointment at 10a. Will update here when I can. Thanks for all of the prayers and good thoughts!
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The two of mine that had LP developed it when they were older and had other health issues as well, so we did not do the surgery. The roar and raspy deep breathing are definitely clues, though.
Hugs to your hound!
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Lots and lots of prayers. Keep us posted, OK?
Will do, Jey. Sending smooches on that sweet roman nose!
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The other day, I thought Alex's wrist looked a bit swollen, but then decided it was my imagination.
Today, he was limping. He usually tears up the stairs, but took them very slowly and gingerly tonight.
Just looked at his wrist, and it's BIG. And hard. It's not swollen like you can compress it...it's solid.
Going to call the vet first thing and get an xray. If you can, please keep fingers crossed that it's nothing serious! He turns 9 next month.
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I'm so sorry, Kim and Bruce. There are many of our loved ones up there to greet her. I'll be thinking of you and your precious Rainey.
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I have no advice for you, as I have no experience with those type of issues. Just want to send you and DH a cyberhug. That sounds like an impossible situation.
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Just seeing this now, Diane. Glad all went well!
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Does anyone know of someone who takes leftover eye drops?
We have a bunch of drops l/o from Joey, who passed away in December. He had pannus, along with glaucoma.
We have some Prednisolone Acetate, Latanoprost (generic Xalantan), Demecarian Bromide, and Tacrolimus.
Hate to see them go to waste.
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Sending more hugs. Black Jack has some greyt company up there!
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So I'm reading this thread with tears in my eyes because you've been through so much, BJ. Then, I see your post about losing Black Jack too! Sending hugs! Take care of yourself. Miss your posts.
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Just seeing this now, Sarah. Glad it all went okay!
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The Costco foods are made by Diamond, right here in the USA. I called them and they were very helpful in telling me any info I wanted regarding this food.
Thanks for posting the bag info and this info. I was wondering who made the food for them.
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My dogs ate Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra for six years. We also switched because of price and the bag was smaller. We originally had them on the Kirland Chicken and Rice but their poops weren't that great and they had so much gas. Eventually we switched to the Kirkland Lamb and rice and they do really well on it.
So did you need to increase/decrease the volume of food after you did the switch? (question prompted by the entry above)
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We're headed down to Costco this Sunday, and are considering switching dog food. Right now, we're using Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance. The dogs like it and we've had great results for years.
Due to the cost ($50 for a 33 pound bag at Petco), we do a bulk purchase from them with a friend of ours. With price matching and their 200# program, we can usually get the cost of a bag down to $33 or so plus tax. But our Petco has a new manager who is not as lenient as the other manager, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the price match disappear sometime in the near future. And our friend has been unemployed for 2+ years, and has only recently begun working on a part-time basis, so she's definitely appreciate the lower cost.
So I've read good things on here about Kirkland's food in the past, and am wondering how it compares to NB. Anyone else make this switch? They both get good grades on the pet food grading system (122 A+ for NB, 110 A+ for Kirkland's Chicken, Rice & Vegetables).
Tell me more about the Kirkland food! Varieties, your results, etc.
Alex Limping & Big Wrist
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted
The vet made that comment too...that they usually don't "hope" for blasto, but in this case.
Hope you and FedX reach that goal!!