Jump to content

ZoomDoggy

Members
  • Posts

    1,514
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by ZoomDoggy

  1. Just seeing this memorial post now, as I've not been on GT as much lately. Kali was a beloved part of our little family too. I cherished every visit and chance to reunite the littermates (and crazy mama Alimony), whether you brought her my way, or we met up at Dewey. <3
  2. Thank you for your responses. Yes, her existing IVDD in her neck is a big concern, re: getting on as a tripod. And yes, chest rads would be the first step. I did get a response from Dr. Couto, after the Out of Office reply. His response: "If she is neurologically and orthopedically sound, there is no reason why she wouldn’t be a good candidate for amputation and chemo." I feel literally queasy just thinking about all of this.
  3. My shameless Boo with Cap'n Dan. And Boo with Crow, spotting ponies!
  4. Hello all. I am sorry to sort of burst in here like this, but I am looking for opinions of other folks who have been through this. I will preface this with the fact that I have already sent this image to Dr. Couto this morning, and have received an out of office reply saying I might hear back in a few days. This xray is a foster grey's right proximal humerus. The dog is nine years old, and currently displays almost zero indication of OSA pain. Extremely faint intermittent limping, and a rare occasional yelp out of the blue. The dog has a history of intervertebral disc disease in the lower neck which causes occasional pain flare ups. But otherwise the dog is healthy and energetic. Blood work is good, but chest xrays have not yet been done to rule out metastases. I am wondering if anyone here has had a dog with a similarly located tumor and had success with amputation. The first OSA hound I had, the tumor was in her distal radius, so amputation was relatively uncomplicated. I worry about this location, being essentially inside the entire shoulder area. My goal, if amputation is an option, is primarily to remove the risk of spontaneous fracture. I am unsure if we would pursue chemo, or if this dog would be a candidate for that. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this situation. I am sick over this diagnosis. This sweet dog has been through a lot already, and deserves no further suffering.
  5. Every symptom you describe absolutely fits laryngeal paralysis (rough and frequent panting, gaping mouth for air, hoarse bark, low stamina, low heat tolerance). Whether caused by or exacerbated by the de-barking surgery, or whether it is purely coincidental, there's no way to know, since some dogs get LP even without that surgery. Since he is youngish, you might look into tieback surgery as an option too. It's not for everyone, but may be worth considering, if he's a good surgical candidate. You should also, if you're not already, walk him on harness only, not a collar, to reduce stress to his neck and airway. p.s. who the hell debarks a greyhound? Ugh, people.
  6. Of the nine greys I have owned, only one ever had sleep-startle, and he eventually grew out of that for the most part. I've pup-sat and fostered many more, but I am always careful to be mindful of the boundaries of dogs I don't know as well as my own, so I can't really report on whether they had sleep-startle issues.
  7. Yes, Billy Bob was neutered while I fostered him. Thankfully it wasn't as complicated as it could have been, so he healed quickly and well. Billy Bob's original owner/breeder kept him over last winter and drew semen from him to store for breeding use. There is already one broodie (and another who is waiting to come into season) who is being inseminated with Billy Bob's semen, so he will be a daddy-dog probably within the next two months.
  8. That's another good point. Unless you specifically ask, thyroid levels are not checked during routine bloodwork.
  9. As Jeffy's foster, I can assure everyone that he was definitely not overweight when Carolyn adopted him. He was a perfectly good weight for his build, even arguably slightly lean as a fresh retiree. So a 15 pound loss, even though very gradual, is very worrisome to me. His bloodwork is all normal (including protein levels?), and his stools are firm, and he's actually consuming five cups of food daily? That is bizarre! What kind of food are you using?
  10. What an amazing story. I soaked up every word. Thank you so much for sharing it, Wendy. My heartfelt condolences on your loss of your truly one-of-a-kind beautiful boy.
  11. Oh Diane, I am so very sorry for your loss. What a stunningly beautiful boy.
  12. We have cooked lamb somewhat frequently, with no noticeable effect on any of the various dogs we've had over the years. But the description of the OP's dog's behavior seems similar to what happened when Dazzle "saw dead people" as we called it. Acted weirdly spooked at nothing in particular, like she was seeing ghosts. So I was trying to recall if we had cooked lamb at any of those times. I don't think so though. Too bad, because it would have eased my mind knowing there was a tangible reason.
  13. This is fascinating. I had never heard of this phenomenon. It makes me try to carefully recall if we had ever been cooking lamb when Dazzle would have her very unsettling "I see dead people" episodes. I honestly can't recall. I never did figure out what triggered that.
  14. I can't help on the prosthetic question... but I have to wonder what the heck is up with Chihuahua breeding that this is actually apparently becoming a thing? I just saw TWO chis at one of my vets' offices, both born with no front legs. Littermates. Was mama pregnant under a power line or something? I was told they were rescued from a puppymill, where birth defects like this are common. I can't even wrap my head around that. Incidentally, the two little armless littermates are five years old, and have apparently managed without prosthetics that long. They looked healthy and happy other than missing two limbs. I guess they never knew life any other way. They looked like strange little prairie dogs, perched up in their nest of blankets.
  15. I forgot to add this one, taken the morning of her amputation surgery. The tumor had grown so large that it was starting to break the skin with an non-healing open sore (not visible from the angle of this photo), and her paw was starting to swell with a bit of edema. We were at the point where we had to either say goodbye, or try amputation as a last-ditch effort to buy some quality time. Her lungs were clear of metastases at that time, and she was in otherwise generally very good health. We bought about four and a half more months. But I will admit the first two weeks post-amputation were pure hell. (and yes, her claws had gotten horrendously long on that foot, because we were afraid to trim them and risk manhandling the bad paw.)
  16. Oats Alimony, diagnosed at ten years of age, February 25, 2012. Osteosarcoma, tumor in distal radius of right "wrist." The shadowing you see in the upper area of the radius are just background noise from my bad cell phone pic os the xrays against my window. The tumor is clearly visible in the wrist. We chose palliative care only for the first eight months, but later decided to proceed with amputation to buy her some time since she was still otherwise fairly healthy except for the progress of the tumor. I didn't take photos immediately after the amputation (October 16, 2012), because it was pretty horrific looking and I didn't want to preserve that memory. But this was taken just shy of one week, post-amputation: This was about six weeks post-amputation, (December 29, 2012): About three months post-amp (January 13, 2013): Alimony passed away on February 25th, 2013, one year to the day from diagnosis, due to metastatic tumors which developed in her lungs.
  17. Are low-res jpgs okay? Or do you intend to print the images? Whoops, I saw the "web-based" part now. Give me a few minutes...
  18. If you are concerned about a specific eye problem, I suggest you get a consultation from a veterinary ophthalmologist. Regular general practice vets (yes, even good, experienced ones) often can miss what a specialist will catch. This is why people don't go to their general practitioner to get their glasses prescription checked, for example. I had two vets misdiagnose pannus as "scar tissue from a previous injury" in one case, and "natural aging of the eyes" in another. Both turned out to be pannus (I took them to the ophthalmologist on my own because I could see rapid progression that was not explained by my vets' diagnoses), and both were treated with good success in keeping the progression of the condition at bay.
  19. I would muzzle both dogs and let them meet off-leash in a neutral territory (ie, not your yard, not his yard, but maybe a kind neighbor's fenced yard if they're willing). If that's not possible, I'd walk the dogs together with your neighbor for a good long tiring brisk walk before letting them play off-leash (and yes, muzzled) in your yard.
  20. That pomeranian owner is an idiot to have let her tiny dog loose in a play area with a bunch of riled up larger dogs. Yes, I'm sure technically she did nothing against park rules, but she clearly violated common freaking sense. I'm glad none of the dogs actually hurt the poor thing. Sounds like the owner didn't even learn a lesson, unfortunately, so her dog is probably doomed to be injured or killed due to her inability to use her head. If I were you, I would be very vigilant for similar situations, and it'd be annoying, but I'd leash up and leave if a tiny fluffy dog was let loose in the play area again. It's for your own dog's safety as well, because if the tiny fluffy got injured or killed, you know the owner would go after you and your dog.
  21. I just saw a greyhound puppy two months ago who had a single back-leg dewclaw (none on the other back leg). These pics were taken at three weeks of age. This farm routinely removes dewclaws the day after the litter is whelped, but this little piggy got missed, and now it's too late to clip it without causing undue distress and suffering to the pup. So she will be pretty easy to identify even without tattoos. It's harmless to leave the dewclaw alone, unless it is causing a problem, getting repeatedly caught on things, tearing, etc. They are sometimes removed right after birth just as a preventative measure. And frankly, having had greys both with and without dewclaws, I sort of wish everyone would remove them. Torn dewclaws are a real bummer.
  22. I buy from Bestbullysticks fairly often. Trachea is a perfectly fine treat, though it can be a little fatty, so I wouldn't give them super frequently. I recommend their USA-sourced chicken and duck feet too. They don't last very long, but they're much appreciated by my girls, and they are less fatty than pig ears and some of the other natural treats.
  23. You can also put a small amount of duct tape over the end of a muzzle if a stool guard isn't available immediately. Just cover the end holes from the tip of the nose down, and just either side of center. Don't cover the whole thing as it will become hard to breathe through.
×
×
  • Create New...