omyability

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I am calling the vet this week to check. She is a lot better than she was the first week. Better on her feet now. She lost some of her vitality or something. Can't quite put my finger on it. Do ear infections contribute to this? I clean her ears more than the others. Just has that yucky hear thing at times. She also goes for an adjustment every two months for problems with her neck and hips. I was thinking of doing a dental on her, but I am going to wait. Her teeth could use a polishing, but she had one 14 months ago. Her blood work is good.

My Marilyn who is 11 1/2 started with vestibular symptoms two weeks ago. I took her to my vet and he was fairly certain it was vestibular. She is much improved and a lot steadier on her feet now and doesn't have the head tilt all the time. Sometimes though she has the tilt when she first stands up, but then she is better. I thought this resolved in a few days to a week. Anyone have it last longer than two weeks? She just looks a bit off to me still. She didn't have it so bad that it kept her from eating, but she has lost a few pounds. She seems to be sleeping more. She started with this two weeks ago and it scared me half to death. I thought she had a stroke or something.

Omyability, my first greyhound, had some light chemo and then a few months later started turning yellow. She had high liver values - off the chart. I put her on three liver supplements. Standard Process Hepatic Support, Sam-E, and another Chinese herb from my homeopathic vet. I fed her five times a day and the only thing she would eat was cooked buffalo. She pulled out of it after two months. The Standard Process Hepatic support works really well. I have had a lot of success with the SP Renal Support.

Thank you for this alternative. I don't think they are making tetracycline any longer so I will look into the pentoxifylline. I don't want to do pred if at all possible. One thought I had today is the ground has been very dry and hard and I wonder if he damaged some nails on pea gravel that I put on a slope last winter (big mistake) which has since spread out. He still has the one funky nail that he loses every so often. I fell on this gravel slope six weeks ago and sprained my ankle. I must stay with the pine straw!

Will start with supplements very soon. I had a retriever/shep mix - 100 pound boy - who lived to be 13 1/2. He started losing his nails the last year of his life and his thyroid was not functioning at all. After starting thyroid meds and a couple other supplements, his nails grew back, but very funky looking. Raider has gained weight and I cut his food back quite a bit with not much weight loss. He just seems rather depressed to me lately and not his normal perky self. I thought the weather was the cause Raider is my profile picture - the guy with the radar ears! I use two vets - holistic and traditional - but will schedule him to see my holistic vet as soon as possible. He uses at lot of Standard Process supplements. I use a lot of colostrum supplements and will ask him about them. I read this last night on the Greyhound Gang medical page: It is also worth checking thyroid levels and supplementing greyhounds that are unequivocally low. Many if not most greyhounds have marginally low thyroid levels normally - I certainly don't advocate putting all of these on Soloxine. Will check out the SLO yahoo group. Thanks!!! I am already on in the LP and corndog yahoo groups.

Last night when I started dremmeling my Red Raider's nails, I noticed three nails starting to separate at the base and were slightly loose. He has had a problem with losing one nail on the same foot for several years. Lost it three times. It has grown back funky and sticks up a bit. I thought it was a fluke. Now to my total dismay, three more nails are not looking right. I started reading up a bit on SLO. Raider has been rather lethargic for a few months and I have him on a diet w/o much success. I did blood work on April 17, but didn't do a thyroid. It is so hot so I thought maybe it was the weather with him. I am reading that most greys with SLO are low thyroid. This was not a happy discovery last night. Raider loves to run and I guess no running for him. Raider just turned 8 years young in May. I would prefer to go the holistic route in treatment. From what I have read, it is not curable. Anyone else with greys with SLO who are doing holistic treatment? Maybe he just has funky nails and it isn't SLO. Praying really really hard for this.

It looks like Alf and Moose will be staying with their family. Maybe it was the cats causing their daughter's allergy problem. The cats were rehomed.

Recently, I started doing the Strongid T every week too. It is working. I was using Drontal Plus followed by Panacur. So many of the newbies have had long-term hooks and they get into the tissues and it takes quite a while to get rid of these nasty things. I do Heartgard Plus every three weeks on the newbies. Seemed like the Panacur wasn't doing its job and the price is $320/pound now! I remember paying $150/pound.

Guess we will know next week. I told the family that I could take the dogs now or they could wait until their daughter gets home and see how it goes. We adults can do what we want and just deal with the allergies, but when it involves a child, it is different. I know a lot of people that have dog allergies and do fine with greyhounds. I am mostly allergic to mold with mild dog allergies. Doc told me not to sleep with them either. But I had a 100 pound retriever/shep/rot mix with a double hair coat for 13 years. He passed away in 2010 at 13 1/2 and come to think of it I do have less problems now except for this month! Turn down the heat and humidity please!

I think it is a very bad allergy year in Ohio. I don't think bad about these people at all. I am very supportive of them. I have been emailing with the mom. Her daughter is due to come home from her grandmother's house next week. They have cleaned and cleaned. Hubby is the most nervous because he was at the house when his daughter had the asthma attack, but mom is really not wanting to give the dogs up and is resisting and wants to see if maybe it was the cats. I told her it is so hard to tell. I will take them at any time. If she comes home and has any problem, then I can take them immediately or I can take them now. I feel badly for them. I know doctors tend to say - get rid of all pets. The doctors told them that one of her lungs is smaller than the other. Of course the parents want to do what's best for their child. Yes, I am sure the daughter feels terrible. The family was divided half and half on the greyhounds so they adopted both dogs 15 months ago.

I have a feeling their daughter will continue to have a lot of problems after the dogs are gone. Right now she is staying with the grandmother. I am picking them up on Friday and have a home for Alfie already. Big Moose will stay at my house (love the name). Probaby the asthma is the biggest problem and the allergies just make it worse. My brother was allergic to everything when he was young and was in the hospital many times and almost died. This was in 60s and things were different then. He outgrew many of his allergies by the name he was around 18. Alfie is going to a home with another greyhound about his age and also an IG.

The daughter now has asthma. I think their doctor is really pushing it. This year is particularly bad for allergies and I am betting it is more seasonal. They did allergy testing. They just bought four collars two weeks ago and all their updates on the dogs were really good. The dogs are coming back anyway and I may already have a home for one of them. I have mild allergies to dogs, but my main problem is mold. My doc said I shouldn't sleep with the dogs which is pretty funny. The family seems pretty upset over giving them back but who knows.

I am wondering how many people with dog allergies are allergic to greyhounds? Most people tolerate greyhounds pretty well even if they are allergic. Anyone know of people that couldn't be around greyhounds because of their allergies? We have two greys being returned because a 12 year-old has developed severe allergies. They have had the greys 15 months. They already rehomed the cats which they had for a few years.

Worms - a four letter word for sure along with hook, flea, tick, etc. I just took two "samples" in and they were positive for hooks and rounds. First time for rounds and I am thinking the rounds are from the wildlife around my yard. I have six fosters here and one foster boy I have had for 14 months and have probably wormed him over a dozen times. I even resorted to Heartgard every two weeks. Another boy who recently came from the farm has been wormed three times and was positive today for hooks and rounds. I have been buying Panacur by the pound which is outrageously high now at $320/pound. I want to try to the Pyrantel which I guess is Strongid. My one vet says it doesn't work as well, but the Panacur sure doesn't seem like it is working either. I also tried Drontal Plus three times. Has anyone had good luck with the Srongid and is it as safe? I think I am going to try it. I thought I had won the battle, but I guess not.

My beautiful Savvy Girl had LP. There is a LP yahoo board and it is very helpful. Savvy was 13 when she had her LP tie-back at OSU. It was very successful and we had no complications whatsoever. I took a whole week off work and cooked tons of meatballs, but I didn't need to take that much time off. Every dog is different. I have known quite a few greys that had the surgery and the majority did very well. It is better to have the surgery sooner than later before the disease gets too advanced and the tissue becomes too brittle. The surgery gave her ten months of being able to breathe. Sadly, she was running towards me smiling when she collapsed. Broke her shoulder and yes it was the dreaded osteo.

Oops! I forgot. Happens to me a lot. Suzanne

A friend of mine asked me to check around to see if anyone would be interested in buying the Vetmedin from that he recently purchased. He has 298 tablets, 5 mgs. His 12 year-old female greyhound was diagonosed at OSU with osteo (in her hip) several weeks ago. They told him he didn't need to give the Vetmedin any longer. If anyone has a dog on this heart medication, I believe he will discount it about $100. I just hate this osteo. This is the third dog this month that I know with the evil C. Suzanne

Adams is safe most of the time, but a friend sent me a link a few months ago about some problems with it. I believe it was the incident report by the USDA (think this is the right agency. There are some problems with it, but nothing like Zodia and Bio Spot which is very bad for all dogs. My vet seems to believe Vectra is safe and is selling it now and not Frontline. I am suspicious of new products and prefer FL and Advantage. I gather there are problems with Vectra? Suzanne

Wow...thanks for the information! We did do blood work on September 10th. From what everyone writes, we need to do it again. I have heard you can rub corn syrup on their gums too. My other vet said the hypoglycemic dogs have an underlying condition. Suzanne

We have been battling the awful fleas this year too - since May. I used Frontline Plus for Cats on my two kitties and it didn't work so the fleas became entrenched big time. My vet said they were getting reports that the FL for cats was not very effective. I stayed with FL for the greys because it is the safest and I have a lot of seniors. My cats went on Revolution and it worked immediately. But I still have some fleas - but I believe the problem has improved about 75%. I used FL spray too - just a bit on the areas near their tails every week or so. I don't think the natural stuff works very well at all. I tried several products. I am seriously considering buying Advantage next time. The fleas have been a big nuisance this year and I have to capstar the fosters when they leave the house to make sure no one else gets these awful little creatures....Suz

Esther, one of our fosters, started having seizures a couple months ago. We took her to a different vet today (one that I have taken dogs to over the years with odd problems - holistic and homeopathic vet) and he believes she is hypoglycemic. All of her seizures have been in the morning - sometimes as early as 5 a.m. Her tick panel was negative. I wondered if anyone else has a hypglycemic grey. If you do, I would love to hear from you. Thanks for the condolences of our foster girl, Sassy, who lost her battle with osteo on Monday. Lots of special issues with the fosters lately. Thanks, Suzanne Anyone looking for a special girl???

What a difference in Piglet now! Breeze is doing better. The homeopathic vet is treating her as she had a very severe reaction to the Ivermectin. She is more relaxed now and back to eating very well. Her foster mom is very relieved that she is eating better. We are giving her Stanard Process supplements for her thyroid too. It must be a full moon as we took in two foreclosure dogs - two 7 year-old sisters. These two greyhounds lost their home and are not in the best of shape. Previous owner told me they only left their house once in five years. One is limping and the problem is in the shoulder. First x-rays showed nothing, thank doG! The brindle girl has to wait on her dental because of her blood work, but the white and brindle girl is going for another x-ray and a dental Friday. Teeth are terrible. Sassy and Julia are very sweet girls and will be available for adoption in a few weeks. Hint hint..... Suzanne

The vet thought Promeris was too risky for Breeze. She had a pretty severe reaction to the Ivermectin. I talked to the foster mom an hour ago and she said Breeze was a totally different dog today. I guess the Ivermectin is out of her system now. But she is calmer and back to eating. I think the homeopathic vet is the best option. If that doesn't work, we'll try Interceptor. After her spay, Breeze had a meltdown and I had to take her back to the vet for a shot. The mange spots started showing up after her spay. Haven't seen one react so strongly before. We started her on whole food supplements for her immune system and also for her thyroid. She sees the homeopathic vet next Tuesday. The same vet is treating Esther, a foster who has had three seizures. The last seizure was very light and only lasted a couple minutes. Keeping all paws and crossed here too! I have been reading up on the demodectic stuff. And I thought it would be simple when my vet told me about it. Thanks to all who shared their experiences. Suzanne

The manage is definitely a horrible condition from reading all the posts. We tried her on Ivermectin and she had some bad reactions. My vet does not recommend the other drug that is used now because she thought she wouldn't handle it well either. Just did a telephone consult wiht a homeopathic vet. I am really hoping she can fix the problem. Manage on 50% of the body must have been terrible. Breeze has about five small areas. One on the head and the rest on the back legs.

Breeze, one of our new fosters has demodectic mange, a sweet little black 2 year-old girl from WV. We tried the Ivermectin, but she had a very bad reaction to it. I understand Interceptor is another treatment that is much safer and wondered if anyone had experience with it. It is one pill a day for 60 days unfortunately. A full thyroid panel was also done on Breeze and all the numbers are very low. We just started working with a homeopathic vet this week and will try that route. I wondered if anyone had any experience with demodectic manage. My first one and I hope the last. We also have another foster who started with seizures a couple weeks after she arrived. She is a red and white 2 1/2 year-old who is very sweet and loves people to death. Suzanne