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Everything posted by galgomum
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No more cold noses in the morning to wake us up. No one pawing us to let us know we have exactly 30 minutes left to get his dinner ready. No more nudges when I sit behind the computer. No one waiting by the door with a pillow in his mouth showing us how happy he is we are home. Even though we only went out to get the mail. No more laughs about this silly yipping noise he used to make when he wanted attention. No more amazement over this big black boy and this tiny white little girl that seemed to be made for each other even though they had never met before. No more earthquakes when he does his crazy spins. No more stuffies thrown into the air by our big black boy This Friday, after a night with several horrible seizures we had to decide to let our special, sweet and goofy boy go. It is too quiet in our house and there's a big hole in our hearts. Jack and Petra (fbwjack and Galgomum)
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Sharon, I had to come back. This afternoon our sweet goofy boy followed your boy over the bridge. The only difference was, I was prepared. A few years ago I had gone through the same. Not that it matters, it hurts just as much. Just want to tell you this again. There was nothing you could have done different. What needed to be done, you did. Tone knew you loved him, that is what he needed over any other thing. We can't take away the reason of these seizures, but we can love them and protect them from worse. Thats what we do. Thats what we did today also with Johnny. It hurts, really hurts. But the alternative would have been worse. Hugs. Tone and Johnny won't have to cross the bridge alone.
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I am so sorry Just like the others said, there was nothing you could have done different to prevent this.
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Johnny isn't screaming, the opposite, he is very quiet but since Monday he is whimpering now and then and chatters to the extreme. Last night he had another seizure, big one and it took very long for him to settle. We had a very hard time waking him up this morning. During the night I had to look and wait for a heartbeat several times. We are seeing the vet tomorrow.
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I'm so sorry. Loved the stories about the 3 little ducks, I'll miss seeing Blue.
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Sad, but very true. We just lost our dog Stuey, who also started having seizures at (nearly) 10 yrs. Stu had his first seizure 3/10/11. Within 36 hours he would have four more. His last seizure actually happened at the vet and was quite serious. Like your boy, Stuey's bloodwork was also fine, so he was started on pheno (and a combination of pheno and KBr about a month later). In Stuey's case (as you and others have mentioned), he was not the same dog after being medicated, but DH and I remained hopeful. Unfortunately, our optimism didn't last long. It wasn't long before other symptoms started to appear, and we realized that we were likely dealing with something more than just epilepsy. Within a month of his first seizure, it was obvious that he had lost some vision in his right eye. He was no longer able to respond to commands, and he started walking around in circles (always circling to the left). Pheno had made Stuey hungrier and thirstier, and we had tried to accomodate his increased need to relieve himself. He had plenty of accidents in the house, but it wasn't anything DH and I couldn't handle. I was ready to admit to myself that something was very wrong when, after being in the yard for long periods of time, Stuey would come into the house and immediately pee (or have a bowel movement). It was as if he didn't know where he was supposed to go anymore (if that makes sense). It also got to the point where he couldn't seem to find his way back to the house after being let out (which was not the case when he first started on pheno). In Stuey's last week, he also seemed to have problems seeing out of his "good" eye. He could no longer navigate his way around our home, and had to be guided to his bed, to the door to go out, and to his food dish. His circling (always in the same direction)also became more intense. If Stuey was awake he was walking in circles. If he was outside, he was walking around in circles. While he was eating, he would take breaks so he could walk in circles (and proceed to forget what he was doing and where his food dish was). The best way I can describe it is OCD. Sorry for the drawn out post. The only reason I'm mentioning all of this is that, in the event you might also be dealing with something more serious than epilepsy (like a brain tumor), other symptoms will likely present themselves. Dopey, clumsy behaviour and muscle weakness are common side effect of pheno. These should subside (to some degree) once your pup gets used to his dose, or once his dose is lowered. Other symptoms (like vision loss, constant circling and forgetting where he is supposed to relieve himself in Stuey's case) could mean something more sinister is brewing. Our story didn't have a happy ending, but I'm sending you tons of hugs because DH and I have been there. My sincere hope is that some simple alterations in his meds is all your boy needs to be a happy, healthy hound. HUGS! Right now we are living this with Johnny. He started having seizures after he was put on PPA for peeing issues. Unfortunately, they triggered his first seizure and he had a grand mal with the after effects you describe from your boy. Johnny isn't on pheno, but on zonisamide and melatonin. He had a few more seizures but not many yet. Unfortunately the signs of a tumor are there and at the moment he is loosing ' things' now every day. Since yesterday he doesn't seem to know how to get on the couch anymore and our velcro boy will not stay in the same room as us. What I wanted to say is: he also had trouble with his back end at some point and still is weaker. And he isn't on the same medication. Sometimes things happen close together. We certainly are experiencing that now. So it might be worth to have the vet check him out. Hope he recovers and the seizures can be controlled and he will be back to being who he was before. Hugs from here also. This is scary stuff.
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Think it is wise to bring him in. As I read it, something really changed before you got him on the Pheno. He had a really hard time recovering, which also happened to our Johnny, the vet wanted to see him after that. So I would bring him in anyway.
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Hope it all went well yesterday. Eye problems scare me because of Isa, so I am hoping it is something related to old age.
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Dogs usually adapt to vision loss so well, it's hard to pick up on. The first signs are usually hesitation going in/out (light changes) or going up/down stairs. One test you can do at home is to take some cotton balls and (when you have his attention) gently toss them at his head and see if he moves/flinches/tracks them. 5 is when something like Progressive Retinal Atrophy will start showing up, so I'd at least do some home vision checks. PRA isn't common in greyhounds, but there are a couple prolific sires that are carriers, so it's not an impossibility. And, it's entirely possible he just developed a new fear for reasons known only to him. Our staghound is suddenly afraid of going through the kitchen to get to the yard (but he comes back in from the yard just fine). No clue why he suddenly decided the kitchen floor is scary Right now we've put down a rug for him and, when we have time, working on some positive reinforcement for coming close to or stepping on to the kitchen floor. When reading the story it popped in my mind also right away. You may want to check his vision. Not saying that is it, but his behavior reminds me of Isa who was going blind. She would react the same if one of the others was missing because she relied on them to be her eyes. Thing is, it is really hard to pick up on as KennelMom says.
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She's So Submissive, She's Boring. Help!
galgomum replied to a topic in Training and Behavior discussion
As with any other dog, you need to make yourself fun, with a greyhound that can be a bit harder sometimes since to them the running part is the most fun and they don't need you to participate in that for them to have fun. My suggestion is to look up a dog training center in your area and see if there is a fun class for you to participate in. It can be as easy as basic obedience, but maybe she would enjoy an agility starting class or clicker training. But find something you both will enjoy and will make you her center of the universe. -
Today we had a vet appointment and we talked about her lump. The vet was pretty sure it is a reaction to the distemper vaccination, but a very local reaction without any other problems so she wasn't worried. What I really liked is that she suggested to do titers with her from now on and also with both boys since they are seniors. I didn't have to ask myself. Also a note was made to take the Monsters temperature at the backside, since the diva screamed when they tried her ear.
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The bump is at the vaccine location, it is not exactly between the shoulder blades but behind it. I am surprised by the size of it, it is 2 inches in diameter. I'll give the vet a call tomorrow. Thanks everyone for the replies. Also thanks for the info on Lyme, it is one that I wasn't aware of since we don't know it in the Netherlands. And yes, the vet told me to keep using the Frontline. And yes, you are right, it is a personal choice based on every ones own experience. I will look into the Lyme one, but will likely go on giving it to at least Paquita since she reacts really strong to tick bytes. The ticks here are much bigger than we are used to, I hope she won't react even stronger.
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I am sure this is a reaction to the vaccination, just surprised it shows up now. I'll keep an eye on it. Thank you, reactions like this, assuming right away that I over vaccinate, implying that I am lucky we had nothing worse happening and indirectly that our vet isn't a good one is why I didn't want to get into a discussion. I would like to say a few things to this. Don't assume anything…. Most of my dogs came from Spain, just like Paquita and Cara. In general dogs do not get vaccinated there unless they are lucky enough to end up in a good shelter that doesn't destroy them within 2 weeks. That means that most dogs like Cara, don't get vaccinated the first years of their lives. So they don't built up a immune system like dogs that get the puppy vaccinations. I have seen too many moms and their puppies die because the owners couldn't be bothered with spending the money. I have seen shelters fighting diseases that could have been prevented by vaccinations. I am aware of the dangers vaccinations can bring, dangers any medication can have, but I also know the other side which is extremely ugly. And that is why I choose to vaccinate my kid and dogs. And that is all I am going to say about my reasons to vaccinate.
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Tomorrow, two weeks ago, we took Cara and Paquita to the vet for a check up and their vaccinations. First off, I am not going to go into a discussion about the need for yearly vaccinations. We take both girls with us every where they go, into the woods, to the beach, to gatherings with other dogs and Paquita goes to a dog training center and events and meets a lot of other dogs. Add to that the amount of ticks we have here that attach even though we treat them and the fact that they snack on the occasional turd they find or, in Paquita's case, all kinds of dirt, I feel they need it. Bth boys, who are both over 10 and won't travel won't be vaccinated that often. Anyway, after two weeks Cara has a big, hard lump between her shoulder blades. It is on the warm side, but she seems to be ok otherwise. I know my son sometimes got these hard big lumps also after vaccinations, but I don't recall them to sit for that long. Is this normal, or is this long? She is going back next week, for another Lyme vaccination since this was their first one, but that was given on the back side, so she isn't reacting to that. And I will certainly ask the vet about it. But I am just wondering .
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Thanks every one. We were back to the vet last Friday and he is doing great. His blood pressure is going down, so the vet added 5 mg Benazepril to the 10 mg he already gets. He seems to react really good to it. He hasn't had any episodes anymore, so we keep our fingers crossed it was a one time event. After reading everything I can find, I realize we are very lucky he is still alive. Thanks to my bad experience with Isa, he got a really low dose and that may have very well saved his life. As for the leaking, he hasn't done that recently. If it stays like it is now, I'll look into belly bands, if it gets worse, we may go for hormone injections.
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My first grey and galgo managed to do that while I was walking them, leashed. They both jumped and each had a wing, poor bird didn't make it. But yes, if they catch them in the yard, I would go for a muzzle also.
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Johhny's is right now between 220 and 250. We'll be picking up the medication tomorrow when we bring the girls in for their vaccinations and health check. I'll see if I can split it in two. I prefer that anyway for most medication. Food wise I am not ready to start fooling around. When I moved in 17 months ago Johnny would have bouts of diarrhea and would go really skinny at times. He is doing great right now, looks good, keeps weight on and no problems. Diarrhea can be one of the side effects of the new medication, so if that doesn't happen I'll be really happy, we don't need that to happen again. I do recognize the strange drinking behavior. Johnny does it when he gets exited, he runs over to the bowls and starts drinking lots. Also, when we leave, which may explain why he leaks when we come back and he is really exited again. Don't see too much of the other signs here. But I can keep an eye on the water intake and see if I can do something about it.
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Thanks. What kind of pattern are you talking about? With Johnny it is really when he is exited or after when he gets up. Are there other signs you can look for? I think every dog should be checked before they get certain medication. Like for example Proin, it is a known problem and it takes only minutes to get several readings.
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The vet just called with the results of the blood test and she talked to a specialist to get his view. It is very likely that the Proin triggered the seizure and the small stroke. With blood pressure this high, he never should have gotten the medication. Unfortunately, checking for blood pressure isn't normally done. They also looked if we should change his thyroid medication, but he is doing great on that. So, he is going on Benazepril to lower his blood pressure and we will be checking it from now on. The vet was happy that we insisted on having the blood pressure taken, so thank you Batmom. We are hoping that he will have no more seizures although she warned us that there is still a slight possibility that he has something going on in his adrenal glad and they may return.
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Thanks for the input every one. We took him to the vet this morning and spent a long time there. First of all, Batmom, thanks for the suggestion to have his blood pressure taken. They did so on my request. Right now Johnny is back to his normal self, happy and goofy. But he was a bit slow on the reflex tests and he may have had a small stroke also. If it was the Proin triggering it, we won't know, but it might have, he won't be taking that anymore. But it is likely, specially since they did measure his blood pressure, it was very high, even for a stressed out dog. So we do have a number to start with. Which lead to the following, he has been on thyroid medication since he was 2 or 3. If his blood test allows it, we will lower that, since it brings the blood pressure up. We will get a call tomorrow after his blood was tested, they are doing a full check on him, to see if there is any other problem. For now we have medication to give him if he gets another seizure, his blood is being checked out and depending on that we will decide what to do next. We did discuss the worst case scenario like maybe a tumor in the brain, just in case. She wanted us to know what we might be looking at (cost) eventually and think about how far we are willing to go if it comes to that. But it might just as well have been a one time event triggered by the Proin. We'll just take it day by day and see what happens.
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Hoping for some input here. Last Wednesday we took our 10 year old boy to the vet, he was dribbling urine when exited. Since he is ok otherwise, no abdominal pain, no UTI, the vet wanted to try him on Proin (PPA). It is a medication I have good and bad experience with, wich I told the vet, had to take Isa (galgo) off it because her heart started to work overtime, which was scary, Paquita (bordercolliemix)takes 12 mg a day for her spay incontinence and does great. The vet wanted to work with me and decided on a low dosage. Johnny is a big boy, between 70 to 75 pound and gets 25 mg twice a day. Last night, at 1 am we woke up and found him in a seizure, he was doing the running motion, foamed at the mouth, and urinated. Lasted for about 1.5 minute and was disorientated, scared of us, walked into furniture and had a hard time to stay on his backlegs. During the rest of the night I heard him smacking his lips often. Needless to say he is extremely tired this morning and seems a bit off. His left eye is smaller than his right one but seems to slowly get normal again. I took him off the Proin for the time being, too much coincidence I think, but am I wrong? He is going to the vet first thing tomorrow.
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Hope the vets can figure out something. Poor girl.
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Not someone to say or write much, but I love sharing my photographs while I am trying to learn about lighting, composition and how to hold my camera steady
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You have shared several Lizzie stories, but never this one. What a special girl she was. I am so sorry she had to go Dee.
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I am so sorry Alisha for your loss.