Annette

Sending gentle hugs and healing thoughts.

Blue Buffalo to give $6 million to Ohio State University for clinical trials: https://vet.osu.edu/about-us/news/blue-buffalo-co-6-million-gift-will-advance-clinical-trials-college-veterinary

Wonderful news

Just had an ad for K9 Immunity Plus pop up in my Facebook feed. Has anyone given it to their pups with cancer? If so, do you think it helped extend life? Thanks

We lost our second greyhound, Icabod, to hemangiosarcoma. The tumor on his spleen ruptured. This was 20 years ago. He was an exception in that he was with us 11 months post rupture and chemo. I thought he received adriamycin, vincristine and docirubicin, but looking at the information at this link: http://vcchope.com/resource-center/hemangiosarcoma-dogs I think he may have received cytoxan. I agree with Tracy (tbhounds) that you should consult Dr. Couto. We did contact him for a consult on Pogo before we joined the Greyhound Health Initiative and I think we paid $120.00 for our consult. I don't know if the consultation fee varies. Sending healing thoughts and gentle hugs.

Pogo is doing well. He does not know he is sick. We have him on Palladia. There are 5 mets on his lungs that are fairly small.

I wish I was Pogo because he does not know that he is sick. I posted his video of him rooing and running. He is very happy and goofy. We went to UW-Madison for his monthly check up as part of the rapamycin study. It was an overnight stay. Trying to keep Pogo contained when he knows that he is going somewhere in impossible unless he is locked in a room or barricaded (so I thought). He was became an extra appendage yesterday morning because he was following so close. I couldn't get him into the bedroom so I figured I could barricade him in the living room. Our living room, kitchen, and dining room are all just one big room. We have a couch and two living room chairs dividing the space up. I took two dining room chairs and used them to block the "entrance" to the living room. Surely that would keep him confined. I was in the yard and I looked at the dining room window and there was Pogo. In order to get through the barricade without knocking over chairs would be to jump off or leap over the couch. I will never know what he did. Pogo's oncologist called late Thursday afternoon with the results of his bloodwork and urinalysis. It sounded busy at the hospital and I hoped he was just sounding tired from a rough day at work. His white blood count was low, but he had quite a bit of clumping and told me not to worry. He had radiographs today and it showed 5 small mets on his lungs. We now have him on Palladia.

Here's Pogo pup running like a fool for the 2nd time on Sunday: http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j223/RhettsGreygal/th_DSCN3725_zpsdv0pdtwh.mp4 Here he is afterwards ready to go in and relax. We built the ramp for him before he had his leg amputated in November:

I believe the fentanyl is what is causing Buffy's restlessness. Hopefully someone else her will be able to verify this. Pogo was not restless. He had the "hundred yard stare" which was really worrisome because he had absolutely no light in his eyes. It turned out that his UTI was the main cause of this. You may want to take his temp (if you have a thermometer) to see if he might be running a fever. Pogo had a fever of 106

asaccamora - Each dog is different in reaction to the drugs they receive after the amputation. What drugs is Buffy on? Pogo is 7 weeks into the rapamycin segment of the study and he has not had any side effects. He also had 4 rounds of carboplatin and did not have any side effects from that. I did give Pogo Cerenia because I was paranoid about his reaction to chemo. Our first greyhound, Icabod, underwent chemo for hemangiosarcoma and did not do well on the 3 drug cocktail of chemo drugs he was receiving (that was 19 years ago). Are you on facebook? I tend to float between facebook and here.

Ellen, the pdf article is seven pages long. The UW is starting 9 different studies on dogs, cats, birds, and reptiles. The study regarding Multicentric Lymphoma is on page 7 of the document.

Wendy - I believe the Gala is on October 15th this year. It's usually the weekend after Dewey. Pogo is still pogo'ng. I just keep hearing his oncologist's voice in my head with him being worried that too much medicine would make him sluggish and groggy. The boy is more energetic and runs more than when he had "4 On The Floor".

Pogo wants to know how his cancer fighting hero is doing? He says that they will be the fastest hounds in the radar run this year.

Pogo is in the study. He is 5 months and 9 days post amp. He is doing great. Thursday he goes back to Madison for his 3rd sleep-over as part of the study. Pogo did have a rough start with his amputation. He developed an arrhythmia, didn't eat for close to a week, had significant bruising, and would not stand. They sent him home hoping that he would do better at home, but he didn't. Because he wouldn't eat, we couldn't hide his meds in his braunschweiger and we could not force them down him. He clamped down so hard on Roy's hand that he drew blood. We ended up driving back down to Madison (160 miles) the day after Thanksgiving. He had a fever of 106 caused by a UTI from the catheter he had in him. I think he was at the vet school for 8 days total. To look at him now you wouldn't know he had such a hard time. Pogo had a lot of what we assumed were phantom pains. The oncologist didn't want to over medicate him because he didn't want him basically becoming "dopey" (I can't remember what his exact words were anymore). We kept wondering when the medicine would slow him down. It never has. Pogo has his name for a reason. The neighbors were over for dinner around New Year's (again I can't remember, Pogo has had our life either going full tilt or in slow motion) and even though they knew Pogo had his leg amputated, they didn't realize it was Pogo who was jumping all over them when they tried to get into the house. Long before Pogo was diagnosed with cancer, he leapt up onto the stoop at the door in the yard. I am sure I heard a thud on the door. A day or two later he started to scream with pain. The vet determined the pain was in his neck. We can only guess that thud on the door was him crashing. Then one night, Pogo was laying on his amp side and when he got up, he had to use his head and neck to help himself get up! We finally figured out what was causing his phantom pains. Not that we are happy he has pains in his neck, but we now know what the cause of the pain is. He is slowly getting more strength so that he is not relying on his head and neck to help him get up when he is lying on his side. Hope Buffy is recovering well from her surgery. Please keep us updated.

I know many of our precious hounds suffer from laryngeal paralysis. We lost Dixie to it several years ago. UW Madison is doing a study comparing propofol and alfaxalone for their effect on laryngeal function and the quality of laryngeal examination. I am not sure how many of our hounds have suffered with Multicentric Lymphoma. The school is also doing a study regarding the treatment of this cancer with both chemo and radiation. Here is the link: http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CAF-Abstracts-2016.pdf http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/caf-research-grants-2016/

Miriam had a vulvoplasty two weeks ago. She just had her stitches removed today. We battled an infection for the longest time. Unfortunately trying to do anything with/to Miriam at home has her revert to her spooky ways that we have otherwise overcome so we tried antibiotics and a muzzle with stool guard. Her infection improved but never completely went a way. We originally tried an e-collar, but she completely freaked out, wouldn't eat, drink, or settle down for most of the day so that is why we used a muzzle before surgery. At the vet clinic, after surgery, the staff put her in an e-collar because they did not want to take a chance of her getting sick while wearing the collar with stool guard. She freaked out for them also. One of the vet techs stayed with her in her run while she recovered. After surgery at home, I did put her in an e-collar so she couldn't damage the stitches and incision. She stressed and freaked out a bit, but not like she originally did. Actually putting her in her crate helped her calm down. She eventually did ok wearing the collar. Her meals were more of a dog food soup because I know she wasn't drinking enough water because of the collar. The vet said that her back end healed nicely. I am hoping she is just itchy from the healing process and from the stitches coming out because she is still too interested in her back end, so she is currently in a muzzle with stool guard. I guess it will be day-to-day with her till she begins to leave her back end alone.

So sorry. Sending hugs

Pogo had his second sleep-over as part of the rapamycin study that he is a part of at UW-Madison. This is what his oncologist had to say: I can't get it to show up any larger. Medically he is doing fine. No signs of metastasis on the radiographs. The comment I love is: "Pogo looks great! He hasn't stopped "Pogoing" since yesterday".

Sending hugs and healing thoughts.

1) Pogo still has occasional "pains" and we are actually starting to suspect something other than phantom pains. Pogo hurt his neck well before he was diagnosed with osteo. I actually think the goof was running full tilt and leapt up on the stoop at the back door and possibly hit his head on the door. On one other occasion before the osteo, his neck pain crept up again with the exact same reaction. 1 1/2 weeks ago Pogo was in pain. We are talking yelping close to once an hour at one point. I got him to the vet and you guessed it he has the same neck pain as the two previous occasions. Roy was the one to notice that when Pogo lays on his right side (front leg amputation side) he uses his head and neck to help him get up. He improved almost immediately on medication. The vet gave us Rimadyl and Methocarbamol. We are giving him a greatly reduced amount of gabapentin also. We really hope to reduce him to no meds. We really don't want to give him rimadyl long term especially since our friend's greyhound bled out from a gi bleed and the suspected cause was the rimadyl. Her dog had her leg amputated due to osteo less than 3 weeks earlier. I am guessing the methocarbamol is the drug that is helping Pogo the most followed by the gabapentin. What can the long term effects if either drug is taken for an extended period of time (even if it is only given when he appears to be in pain versus given daily)? 2) Next medication question regards Miriam. She has a recurring vulva infection and she will be having surgery on March 30th. She did not take the antibiotics well at all (I cannot remember which ones). Clavamox seemed to upset her stomach the least along with giving her pepcid. The vet suggested a possible alternative being given a long acting antibiotic shot after surgery. My worry is that once the drug is in her, it cannot be reversed. What experience does anyone else have giving a long acting antibiotic shot? 3) On another topic, Pogo starts taking rapamyacin tomorrow as part of the study he is in. It's a good thing that Pogo is feeling well because the pill cannot be administered in a "braunschweiger mickey", it has to be given "straight". When Pogo took us on the roller coaster ride right after his amputation, he would not eat and medication could not be forced down his throat. When Roy tried to force the pill, Pogo clamped down with his jaws to deter the "foreign object" in his mouth. I think he actually drew a bit of blood on the second try. Thanks

Because Pogo took us on a wild roller coaster ride after his amputation back in November, he ended up at the vet school for more than 1 week. When we initially brought him home they sent us home with a bottle of amicar. Because he developed a high fever and infection, Pogo ended up back at the vet school where he was given amicar, we still have most of the bottle they sent us home with. It does not expire till next year, so we aren't going to have to buy any.

I now know how important amicar is since Pogo's lost his leg to osteo. Because he ended up at the vet school for so long, he ended up receiving the majority of his amicar while under their care. We still have amicar left at home because of this. Odds are Miriam will be having surgery because she has been getting vulva infections lately and surgery seems inevitable. Does anyone know the protocol for administering amicar for a surgery like this? Thanks

So sorry

So sorry