Diane4114

My group does blood work on all incoming dogs, regardless of age or what may be done to them. Usually a return will need at least dental cleaning. We include that info in the adoption packet and can be used as base line info.

One of our GH's that was recently adopted was just diagnosed with chondrosarcoma. Jenna is looking for info from anyone that has gone through this regarding what she should do to prepare her house; supplies; etc. Dr. Dudley, who will do the actual amputation, is away until next week. I had forwarded an article written for our newsletter a few years ago, but she would more info. For anyone having gone through this with any dog, what did you need in the way of supplies; etc. What did you do that you feel helped everyone involved cope with this. What would you do differently if you had to do it again. Thanks.

I've tried a couple of blue seal products. Sonny has some issues and Iams is the only thing that will work for him. One of our groups GH's went to a couple that feed Blue Seal Pork & Sweet Potato. She has the shinnest black coat I've ever seen and she's a bit on the heavy side. I tried it with Sonny, but once I got past the half way point during the switch, his stools became runny again. The director feeds Blue Seal to his GH's, but I don't know what variety. There is a processing plant in NH, but I don't know what they make there.

OK, thanks. I had never heard of any issues.

Has anyone ever heard that this can't be done?

Boogie was put back on a regular dose. Monday night he had 3 more seizures and was back at the e-vet. (as with all emergencies ... they are always after hours). His dose has been upped. He has an appt. with the neuroloist (Dr. Potthoff) at Maine Medical Emergency/Referal http://www.maineveterinaryreferralcenter.com/ next week. We hope to find and answer and get this guy stablized.

I use twin size quilted comforters.

Ah... the magic green bag! Iams here also. I've tried other foods with Sonny and loose stools. When I tried switching and get past the half new and half Iams, the runny stools start.

A friend of mine has a GH with corns. She has had luck with laser treatments. She tried one of the creams, but the dog was not cooperating.

3 times a charm?? I'll try again. We have a dog in our program that came from FLA. He showed no signs of having seizures there. We were told that they would not transport a seizure dog very far and certainly not from FLA to NH. He was neutered in FLA with no apparent seizures. He had a dental a few days after arrival and that afternoon had 3 seizures. He was put on pheno and spent the night at a 24 hour emergency clinic for monitoring. He didn't have any more seizures and went back to our vets. He went into foster care a few days after and on phenol. He has been there for 5 weeks and they are planning on adopting him. It had been decided that if he went without any seizures we would start weaning him of phenol. That started this week and 2 days later he had 2 small seizures followed by a grand mal. They took him to the e-vets. He stayed there for almost 24 hours and is back at his foster home. I never saw the script for phenol, so I don't know the amount. Our vet talked with the foster home to discuss the weaning process. So what little info I have is second hand. They were told to cut the dosage in half. The whole process would take 4 or 5 weeks. These folks had a seizure dog previously so hey are familiar with seizure dogs, if not the weaning process. When I spoke to the vet I had asked her if she needed to see the dog prior to this and she said no. Has anyone ever weaned a dog off pheno? I would think that is the process takes that long, a half dose decrease seems like a lot for the first. I am told that the pill is very small, how can someone really cut it down into smaller increments? I would think there would be different pills with different dosage amounts.. How can you cut a pill with a dosage for a 80 lb. dog down for a 10 lb. dog. I've never had a dog on this. I did wean one off pred. and it was a lot easier. 2 pills...then 1 1/2... then 1... then half.

Sorry...posted in wrong discussion.

I'm so very sorry to read this. He was a very good boy while he was here

I'm very sorry for your loss. She was a special girl.

I'm sorry to hear about Dottie. I think about her when I drive past her (old??) house.

I know I don't post much about my dogs, nor share many pictures. I've been very lucky that they haven't had any real medical problems or behavioral issues. They also don't madly attack Secret Santa packages. In the fall of 2004 I was checking out Petfinder and saw a GH at the Monadnock Humane Society in Keene. Not knowing much about the facility and worried that a GH won't do well there, I contacted them about adopting him. That Sat. I went to meet him. I didn't really need to be worried about him. He was more like a lab than a GH. That's what the gals at my vets called him "A lab in a GH's body" I came home with him that day, Halloween day. That night he greeted every trick or treater that knocked on the door. He never paid any attention to the cats and got along with Willow and Austin like they were old friends. He was very easy to work with, never seem to mind whatever we were up to. He was a champion roacher ... it makes putting on dog booties a lot easier when they are upside down. Here he is (in the background) with Austin. It recently dawned on me that I haven't seen him roach in a while. Matt wasn't the most photogenic of dogs. He hated being posed for pictures and trying to calmly get his attention for a decent picture would get him excited and out would come the tongue. Like this. He used to play catch, but eventually lost interest. He would start to bring it back, but he was easily distracted by an interesting smell and that would be the end of fetch. It took a while, but I did get a decent picture of him...once. He was a very patient foster brother to many GH's passing through. There were a couple that I'm sure he was happy when they moved on. I think Marta was his favorite though. From what I was told she was in heat when she was spayed and had the 'kavorka'. Once I was walking back from the barn and Marta was watching me out the window... and Matt was behind her having (or thinking he was ) his way with her. She was oblivious to whatever he was doing. Here is his girlfriend, Marta. He was a champ M&G'er for a long time. He was always happy and loved meeting new people and dogs, until last year. After a while he would shut down and want to hide behind the chair. When I knew we would be outside, I would bring the xpen so he could hang out with us and take a nap. A few years back he developed a mild case of LP. He was scoped and at that time it was felt is wasn't severe enough for surgery. Last year was bad and I knew he wouldn't be able to make it thru another summer. Even this winter, if he got excited or even a little hot (in the van with heat) he would pant and you could hear him roaring. Lately even our short walks (@200') would tire him out. He would stop to rest once or twice. He was dragging his hind feet. He was having problems with the stairs. His appetite was waning and was losing weight. In a perfect world he could spend all his time on his dog bed, I would be home 24/7 to take him out and he would have a fenced yard to attend to his needs and not have to go for walks. Now he is with Willow, Austin, Buddy ( to name a few), healthy and happy. Meeting old friends and making new ones. Here are the original 3..

You could always buy a small green bag and mix some in. It may help for the short term. When the wormer is done, stop feeding the green bag to see how she will do on her regular food. Last year when I tried Canidae again, 2 of the 3 dogs had very soft to runny stools. I started mixing in the green bag and it didn't take much to get things to firm up.

The same here. I did try it again a while ago with the same negative results for one dog.

I'm sorry to read about Wink's passing.

I have heard of adoption groups that are so against crates that they won't adopt to anyone that even suggests using one. I have always crated my dogs when I go to work or leave for longer periods of time. I also foster and all are crated when I leave until I can be sure the foster is OK with the cats and will not be distructive when I leave and they are loose. My current foster is supposed to be cat workable and I would say he will be OK...eventually. He's not that great now but it's only been 1 week. She's keeping a low profile behind the baby gate and has access to my room, bathroom where her food and litter box is. He is very interested in her, but is not totally obsessed with her. If she is doing OK with them when they are quiet, then eventually she should be OK with them when they are active. That will take more time. One issue I find is even though they may of been crated fine at the track and adoption kennel, many do not like to be crated when an only dog. I've had previous fosters crate fine here, but once adopted as an only dog will destroy a crate to escape them at their new home. I also give my dogs a couple of dog bones when they go in their crates. The other is without crating support from your adoption group, you will have to buy a kennel. Some groups might let you borrow a crate for a month or so until the cat issue solves itself.

I'm very sorry to hear about Jet.

I hope all goes well on Friday. Buddy only had 2 bottom canines. I have a gas stove, so I would add some warm water to his kibble then put it in the oven for about 20 minutes. With the pilot light on, it always @ 70 degrees so it seemed to help soften the kibble. He ate every morsel, every day.

I feed the green bag here also. I know many feel it's the beet pulp, but I think there is another or combination of elements. I have tried a few other foods over the past few months. One of the other brands also had beet pulp, but Sonny still had very soft or runny stools. Matt seems to do OK on any brand. I had tried to switch back to Canidae a few months ago. Both Sonny and my foster had very loose/runny stools. I bought the magic green bag and after 2 meals with small amounts of Iams, stools had started to firm up already.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm very sorry for your loss. She sounded very special.

For complete info: http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/295132-dr-couto-will-be-speaking-in-nh/