Plymgreys

A friend of mine has recently adopted a new greyhound. She's greyhound savy, this is her fourth, but as we all know every dog is different. He was known to be nervous but has settled nicely with her other dog and seems happy enough in his new home. The only blot on the landscape would appear to be occasional panic attacks. Twice now in 3 months he has ended up at the vet with a very elevated heart rate which needed medication to settle. Most recently last night. He was offered some particularly tasty left overs, wolfed them down and started choking/reverse sneezing, the choking passed but he then went and ate all the grass he could find and made himself sick, couldn't stop retching and panting and was taken to the emergency vet. The vet suspected an obstruction in the throat but after a GA and a camera down the throat nothing was found except some inflamation caused by the grass and being sick. The first panic attack was a similarly insignificant incident which his panicking made into a night at the vets. Does anyone have any ideas about calming a panic attack before it gets out of hand? Obviously the owner's reactions are key but is there anything else?

Yeah, I'd go with the two walks a day thing. Lottie is 8 and whilst she doesn't chew she does get a bit "ants in her pants" if she doesn't get two walks a day. You may well find the walks don't have to be overly long. There's a shape and a routine to her day (which I'm sure was in place before she came home) which has to be maintained. Even if the walks are short she seems to be satisfied that she's ticked the box by going out just for 20 mins and is happy to settle.

Back in the summer we took Lottie to a greyhound playgroup which was held in an equestrian arena. She had great fun and was running around in a group of 6 dogs for two ten minute sessions. Later that evening we ended up at the vets with Lottie in severe pain and the vet identified the source of the pain to be in her lower spine. A course of painkillers was all it took to sort her out but we agreed that x-rays would be useful to establish what was going on even though I was convinced that the back pain was due to running too hard in too small a space. She did get a little over excited. Anyway, she had those x-rays this morning and I have had the briefest of conversations with the vet. She tells me Lottie has no "boney changes" so no arthritis but has slight hip displasia. Hmmm. Lottie is 8yo. She ran 56 races, won 11 and retired at just over 3yo. She came to us 6 months later and in all the nearly 5 years she has been here we have never seen any evidence of pain, limited mobility or stiffness. I can only guess that HD (if that's really what it is) was there all along. Am I right? Dogs are born with or develop HD at a very early age don't they? She gets glucosamine anyway, has orthopeadic foam beds and is kept warm with coats and pjs when required. Is there anything else we should be doing to ease her old age?

I am so very sorry for your loss. Thinking of you all.

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I'm still dreading the dental and it's outcome. I'll let you know how it goes.

Lottie's teeth have never been good. Her first dental with us she had to have all her incisors, top and bottom, removed. I've tried to keep them clean, I really have but she hates it. She gets chicken wings and other good for the teeth chewy things. We tried raw but she couldn't tollerate it. Now she has an abcess. We took her to the vet this morning because she has a bump on her face. I was sure I knew what it was when I made the appt. She's on ABs for a week and will be booked in for a dental when the infection has gone down but the vet has warned us there will be "significant treatment". I feel just awful, I've let her down so badly. How is she going to cope if lots of teeth have to come out?

The complete giveaway for us was when Cassie had a patch of fur shaved for a blood test to be taken from her neck area. The fur just did not regrow. Once the diagnosis of Cushing's was confirmed and she was on the treatment she became like a different dog, it took years off her, although the drugs were v.expensive.

Thanks cbudshome. Would that be Biotene liquid, gel or mouthwash?

I've only just come across this. 3% Hydrogen Peroxide for teeth cleaning. I've read it can be really effective for removing tartar if rubbed on regularly. Does anyone here use it? Does it work? What do you think?

We're lucky, no corns here but I do know a dog or two who suffer on this side of the pond. Is it possible to order from over here in the UK?

Hey Ryan, welcome aboard. My, very sadly missed, Bobby had the racing name Penn Slippy and was a great grandson of I'm Slippy. It is a really cool name. As are your hounds.

Lottie continues to improve but she's still, inevitably, quiet. I tidied all her toys away in the corner on Tuesday and they are still where I put them. She's drinking ok but eating very little. That, together with the tablets, seems to have brought on a little diarrhea but I'm not too bothered about that. I took her for a short walk in the country today and she happily sniffed about but wasn't wandering off to the full extent of her long lead as she usually does. Thankfully she had the last of the really big pills which she had to have without food - boy that was tricky. Onwards and upwards. I'm sure by the time we see the vet for her follow up appt on Sat she'll be fine.

She's home. We picked her up about 7:30pm. She's got anitbiotics, zantac and antepsin (antacids and something to salve the ulcerations) for a few days. She's eaten almost nothing at the vets, apparently she was trying to bury anything they gave her in her bedding. She's very sleepy and subdued now. Got on the sofa when she got home and hasn't moved. I tried to tempt her with a little broiled chicken but she wants none of it. Maybe after a good nights sleep in her own comfy little bed she'll feel better. They want to see her at the vets again before the a/bs run out so that will be Saturday. Thanks everyone for the good vibes and advice.

Vet just rang. She hasn't been sick overnight and she's taken no fluid by mouth but she's been on a drip. They were just about to see if she would eat. Vet says her tummy is still very sore so they are keeping her in today for further obs and if no improvemnt further investigation. Vet (very nice girl) says she not unduly worried and that Lottie's just had a "bit of a bleed" which when I asked is slight ulcerration from an inflamed stomach lining which normally responds very well to the drugs Lottie's had. Ho hum. A dogless day. Don't know what to do now. Maybe I'll get the hoover out while Lottie's not here coz she hates the hoover.

We've just got back from the vet. They're keeping her overnight for obs and fluids as she's dehydrated and running a temp. They gave her 3 injections while we were with her and she's going to have some tablets when the injections have kicked in. I HATE leaving my dogs at the vets overnight. Fingers crossed for a quiet night and a good morning.

I've spoken to the vet. Could be a tummy bug. Being sick can cause blood minor blood vessels to burst giving the pink colour to vomit. It could however be an ulcer. As this is the first time Lottie's been sick it's early days if it is an ulcer. They gave us the choice of coming in now or monitoring overnight. We have an appointment in the morning but if anything happens overnight we are to take her straight in. Thanks argolola and Burpdog, it's appreciated. Will let you know.

It'ls about 8:45pm here. Lottie has not eaten this evening and has just vomited pink frothy vomit with little specks of what looks like blood. I am about to ring the vet (thankfully our surgery is 24hrs) but I just wondered if there's anything anyone can suggest. Sheesh what a birthday present.

A friend of mine owns a grey who bruises really easily. She's 9yo and shows no other symptoms. She's not the most active dog but she has corns which hold her back and she was worked hard as a racer and broodie. To give you an idea she developed a bruise after being carried up the stairs. I'm sure I've read something on this forum somewhere about this. I've tried searching but I'm getting too many results because I can't remember enough about what I read to be specific. Can anyone make any suggestions please? It's in my head that it could be some sort of blood disorder that was being discussed, or a pooling of blood under the skin rather than damaged capillaries near the surface. Either way any suggestions about unusual suseptability to bruising in an otherwise ok dog would be appreciated (just so that we can tell the vet what's wrong when we get there!).

Are there any other symptoms? Cassie drank loads and peed in her sleep as a result. This turned out to be Cushing's but there are other symptoms which would also indicate.

Lottie doesn't scream but she's not a screaming kinda gal. No, she growls, really, really scary growls. Like she's gonna attack something and tear it to shreds. Same as your girly though, if you snap her out of it by calling her name she just turns over and goes back to sleep. I just assume it's particularly vivid dream.

Not wishing to pre-empt or jinx anything here but our Cassie had Cushing's. Once the diagnosis was made the hardest bit was over. The treatment we used was called Vetoryl which at the time was not licenced for vetinary use in the US but is a drug developed for breast cancer in humans. It worked a treat and unlike some other treatments has no degenerative side effects. Some treatments for Cushing's can lead to Addison's. Vetoryl is expensive and the capsules have to be handled with gloves but Cassie did excellently well on it and showed improvements immediately. The only down side was the blood tests which had to be done regularly to check the dosage but as she settled the frequency was dropped from monthly to quarterly. Here's hoping whatever it turns out to be that it can be treated easily and well so that Frank will make a full recovery very quickly.

Some little while ago I read somewhere, I think here, about an antiseptic ointment usually used on horses. It was being recommended for tail wounds as it was very sticky so helped the dressing stay put on a wagging, injured tail. Can anyone else recall what this was - or am I completely losing the plot. Just to add I don't need it for Lottie, she's just fine and dandy in case you were worried. It's for someone else. Thanks. ETA - I have searched, both GT and Google but I can remember so little about it I'm not having much success. It may have been some sort of tar?? And I think gold came into it. I have found something called Gold Label Stockholm Tar on vet supply sites but I'm not sure it's the right thing.

All I know is I got it wrong. I should have let Bobby go sooner than I did and I will never, ever forgive myself for that. I just hope that, if I'm in that situation again, I'll get it right. Part of the reason I got it wrong was conflicting opinion from 3 different vets at the same practice. And I was alone, OH was overseas but due back in a couple of days so I chickened out of making the decision hoping Bobby would hang on til OH was home. I put our needs above Bobby's and he died alone at the vets. I'm so sorry Bobby.

We first noticed that Cassie was leaking about 2 months after she came to live with us. She was 10 or so at the time. Vet prescribed Propalin which is the name PPA seems to go by here in the UK. She did really well, no side effects but she still wasn't right. Eventually she was diagnosed with Cushings and was prescribed Vetoryl. She continued with both for a little while but it soon became apparent that as the treatment for Cushings kicked in she was drinking normally and so not filling her bladder and less likely to leak. We scaled back the PPA til she wasn't taking it at all over a period of 6-8 weeks. She did stunningly well on the Vetoryl but sadly died when she was 12 from tumour in her spine which caused paralasys in her back legs.

Why are glaciers blue?