greymomnc

This is just heartbreaking to read. I am so very sorry. Sending prayers for your hearts to heal.

This happened with the late Miss Jackie when her tramadol dosage was increased. The vet prescribed valium to counteract the restlessness and she did well after that.

I have been following your story. I am so glad everyone is doing well. That bed looks wonderful! The perfect thing for him.

Thanks All! Pulsar by Horizon was not available at any of the three stores I went to. While we have BJ's and Costco here, they are so far out of the way that it is not convenient to get to on a regular basis. The Blue Seal sounds really good, but the closest dealer to us is 20 miles away in the opposite direction of anywhere I might be going. So, after trying to decide between IAMS and Purina One I decided to go with PiagetsMom's suggestion of Purina One Smartblend/Sensitive with Salmon. Let's see if Minnie is a seafood lover. I will begin a very slow transition today and report back the results. Fingers crossed! Thanks again to everyone for your help.

Minnie has been with us 2 months. When she came I started her on Purina EN Gastroenteric Formula available through the vet. This is a good food to transition from the kennel food. Her stools firmed up right away. This is a grain based food and I did not want to keep her on it if she could tolerate something protein based. I slowly transitioned her to Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Formula---Chicken and Sweet Potato. She has gas off and on and her stools are huge and occasionally a bit soft. The late Miss Jonelle had the same problem with the premium foods and I had to keep her on the EN most of her life as nothing else seemed to totally agree with her. It seems the high end foods are just too rich for Minnie as well. The store I visited carries the entire Nutro line but I have been weary of Nutro since the problems a few years back. If you have a grey that cannot tolerate the premium foods, what have you found that works for you? In addition, Minnie has lost 2 pounds since we adopted her. We have had a complete blood panel run and the only abnormal result was low thyroid which we are further testing with Michigan State. She has adjusted wonderfully, so the weight loss is a bit puzzling although she may just be getting more exercise with walks and squirrel chasing in the yard. We are increasing her food which is only adding to the gas and stool issues. I tried researching the foods while at the store with my phone...ACK! Thanks in advance.

I couldn't believe it then, and I still can't believe it now. I know how much you miss him. There's something about a cow dog.... Robin

We picked Minnie up on a Friday and by Monday I had her to the vet for this: I took her to my regular vet. They felt like it was a reaction to the sutures combined with an odd stitching method. She got a 14 day course of Clavamox. In addition, and what I thought really helped most, were cold laser treatments to expedite the healing. It's just like a flashlight that they wave back and forth over the wound. I think each laser treatment was around $24.00. Obviously, this picture shows stitches still intact as this was 6 days post-spay. You can see some of the tissue (dark red) but there was also a lot of oozing....due to a full blown infection. These lumps eventully went away and she has healed quite nicely considering how bad this looked. This was the first time one of our females had any complications from a spay. I was really worried they would have to redo the stitching and put her under again. Minnie wanted to lick this area ALL THE TIME so I think since your girl is leaving hers alone, that is a good sign. I would let the vet look at it, but as long as it is not worse and she is not licking it, I would wait until regualr office hours. Hope this helps.

I just read through the entire thread. So glad she is doing well now. I am sure there were moments when you were scared to death. Sending healing thoughts for both of you.

I am so sorry for your loss. What a special girl. I know you are missing her right now. Sending prayers for your hearts to heal. Godspeed Raven....

We had a weimaraner years ago that had the peeling skin you speak of and in the same area. He had a staph infection and was prescribed antibiotics. I would have your vet look at it.

Sending prayers and hoping for the best possible outcome for your girl. She is beautiful.

This photo was taken just last night. We were laughing about how Streak was dead asleep with her mouth open. If you just look at her eyes, you might think she was awake but she was totally out when this was taken. Sometimes it is difficult to tell.

I have seen many photos on GT of greys sleeping almost on top of each other....3 to a sofa...two in one bed...body parts overlapping etc. I have never had 2 greys do this. They might sleep in our king sized bed or both on the sofa but they have their space. If one gets up there is no chance on them stepping on the other. The other night our new grey Minnie layed down with Streak on the same dog bed. Streak picked her head up and then fell back to sleep. I was watching them closely as I knew if one got up they might stab the other one with a toenail and startle awake. Sure enough, Streak stood up and stepped on Minnie and she growled and a minor altercation ensued.... Minnie is not sleep startled in the least, not possessive over her bed.... etc. The was no biting or blood or anything like that and the altercation itself didn't bother me as they are still getting used to each other. A stern no from me to let it go was all it took. They have begun to play some and are really getting along well. Last night Minnie laid down next to Streak and rested her head on Streak's back leg. Streak was fine with that. My question is how did those of you who have dogs that sleep like that handle that in the beginning? Were there minor growls etc? Did you just let them work it out? Did you intervene? Obviously I am not going to let something escalate but I don't want to discourage them from sleeping like that if they want to. Should I discourage this behavior (sleeping so closely) until they get more acclimated to each other?

I am so sorry to read this. I know you are missing him right now. Sending prayers for your heart to heal. Run Free Romie

I'm so sorry your time with her was not longer but I know it was special for both of you. What a beautiful girl. Sending prayers for your heart to heal.

What a beautiful girl with such an expressive face. I know you are missing her right now. I am so sorry for your loss and sending prayers for your heart to heal.

As many of you know Jonelle's sudden passing left a big hole in our hearts. She was such a presence in our lives and in this house. I didn't know when I would be ready to adopt again. Streak was not doing well and I was really worried about her. She missed having Jonelle around and she just seemed to age overnight. My husband and I decided to take her to the GFNC kennel to see how she would react. She just lit up. She had been to several events at the kennel before with Jonelle and usually just found a quiet spot to hang out. She was so excited to be there and ran with the other dogs. I knew she needed a friend sooner rather than later. Maybe a new dog would help my heart heal too. So, we decided to adopt Minnie. Racing name Exclusively Mine. We brought MInnie home on Friday and she is adjusting beautifully. You may not be able to tell from the pictures but she is a tiny little thing. Just over 50 lbs. She is a very friendly and loving. Streak is already getting back to her usual self. They don't interact that much yet...but one having the other around has seemed to help both of them. I know it has helped me. Jonelle is still on my mind so much but thinking back to when she needed a family has helped me realize Minnie needs one too. When someone asks me if MInnie is a rescue I'm going to tell them "Yes, she rescued us". Here are some pictures.

She is a cute little girl! Congratulations.

Your new girl is beautiful! Lovely collar selection as well! Congratulations.

With our first grey Jimmy..almost 20 years ago...we were told crate crate crate. I had no problem with crating if it made him feel better. So, we got the crate and put him in there and he HATED it. One day we came home from work and he had gotten out of the crate. He had managed to pull the door inside the crate. He was just roaming in the house.....nothing was touched but we had no idea how long he had been out....a few minutes or a few hours. That was on a Friday, so the next day we went out for about an hour and just left him to roam free in the house after we dog-proofed it. Nothing was touched....JImmy wasn't interested in much of anything....including us at that point. On Sunday we went out again...this time for a little longer. Again, he was fine. After that he was never crated and never bothered anything in the house.

I am so sorry for the loss of your beautiful girl. I know you are missing her very much. Sending prayers for your heart to heal.

As many of you know, we lost Jonelle unexpectedly last week. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who posted in the thread telling about her sudden passing. She was one of a kind and never had an unhappy day in her life. She was the smartest, happiest,funniest girl I have ever met. There are so many pictures of her I decided to put them in a memory video. Turn up your speakers. Making this video of her was good therapy for me. What a wonderful 7 years we had. We were heartbroken over losing her, but I wouldn't trade those years for anything. Thank you all again. Carla http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=127f3621417863b88b1e33e&skin_id=1605&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

I'm so very sorry and sad for your loss. I am sure he was grateful for the love and care you gave him. Sending many prayers for your hearts to heal.

I want to thank each of you for responding to my post. My husband and I read each one together. For those of you who had similar experiences, thank you for sharing. It's hard to go back and revisit events like that and I appreciate your willingness to do so. I have thought about what everyone had to say. I believe that whatever was wrong with Jonelle, it would have taken some time to find with so little to go on. She did not have that time. If we had found something immediately, it was catastrophic and would have required an emergency decision with a poor prognosis. I might have put her through something that would have been unfair and lost her trying to fix it. Jonelle had an interesting personality. She was just happy-go-lucky....ALL THE TIME. If she were recovering from a serious surgery/illness/condition she would have been miserable. She was a very independent girl and not being able to be who she was doing what she loved would have killed her in itself. I was beside myself yesterday because we were not there when she took her last breath. She decided to stay in the family room instead of coming back to the bedroom. I now realize that if I had been there I would have panicked and told my husband to get her in the car to go to the evet. That would not have been the peaceful end I know she wanted. She was lying on her side in her favorite spot on her blanket. She did things on her own terms...always....this was no different. I am thankful for 7 wonderful years and I wouldn't change a thing. Thank you all for helping me see things more clearly. I will post a full remembrance but here is one of my favorite pictures of her.

My sweet girl and best friend in the world passed away unexpectedly at home this morning. I am in shock and just don't understand. She was acting a bit down Monday evening. She had eaten her dinner and been for a walk and just seemed tired. Yesterday morning I had remembered she had been running after squirrels the day before and figured she had twisted her neck or shoulder again as she had done many times before. I gave her a Deramaxx and she seemed to be feeling better. She and Streak both had heartworm tests scheduled at the vet yesterday. I took them in and mentioned that I thought Jonelle had twisted her neck again but seemed better and got her tramadol refilled. She did fine for the blood draw for the heartworm and had her nails clipped and anal glands expressed. She was visiting with the vet staff and acting chipper. I gave her a tramadol when we got home and she slept comfortably most of the afternoon. When she woke up I coaxed her into a short walk and she did her usual. She had not vomitted at anytime and her stools were perfectly normal. She ate her dinner last night. I had posted a few days ago about not wanting her morning meal sometimes, but after we cut back on the amount of food by a little bit, she had been eating with her usual gusto...running for the bowl...etc. She had actually gained weight from the new food so cutting back was the right thing to do. Late last night she began panting when standing up but no panting upon lying down. No back arching like with pancreatitis. No bruising like I have seen in some dogs with hemangiosarcoma. Also, late last night she was drinking a lot of water. I told my husband I was taking her to the vet this morning if she was not back to herself. This morning my husband was up with her and she drank more water and went to sleep in the family room. She was gone at 6:00 this morning. I feel like I missed something. If she had been throwing up, had abnormal stools, or not eating, I would have known something was up. We took her body to the vet and were considering an autopsy. After I found out what was involved with that, I did not want that done to her body. It would not bring her back and the vet said we still might not know. The vet thinks a possible stroke or blood clot. I feel so torn. On the one hand, if I had left her at the vet and she had died there I would have been beside myself. But where would they start? There were few symptoms to go on and she wasn't drinking the water until late last night. She had a complete senior blood panel in May and her values were all perfect. She had just turned 10 in July. If anyone has had something similar happen and feels like sharing please do. I will post a proper remembrance when I can get myself together. Thanks for listening.... Carla