onrushpam

Ask your vet about switching to Meloxicam. It's an NSAID like Rimadyl and is available on the $4 formulary at both WalMart and Target. If the vet feels that Rimadyl is a better choice for your dog, then go with it, but meloxicam/Metacam/Mobic can be just as effective. Lynn

I just spewed an adult beverage on my 'puter when I saw this!!! LynnM is in the middle of the quarterly inventory nightmare at her store and dead on her feetsies... but, I know she's at Burger Thing, so I'll call her and tell her to take a look! (I doubt she'll be much help... she's the "boy dog" expert!)

We went through this with our Al a few years ago and after all the basic tests came up negative for worms, etc., our vet said, "We can spend 1000s of dollars trying to figure out what is causing this. But, whatever it is, we'll treat it the same way. So, let's just treat it. If he doesn't get better right away, then we'll worry about what is causing it." Al had IV fluids and antibiotics and was better soon. He never had another episode.

I just saw this... We had something similar happen with our cocker spaniel years ago... it was in the early spring... the sunshine heated up our chimney, where a nest of red wasps had been snoozing through the winter. The wasps started stirring around and our cocker chomped one. I actually saw her do it! (Good thing, or we would've never know what caused her distress). Her symptoms were very much like what you describe, but cocker lips can swell up HUGE! She nearly died. Predinose, IV fluids and several days at the vet saved her.

Don't put EMT gel over the staples.... EMT gel is "scab in a tube". You don't want to seal in the bad stuff. Dilution is the solution to pollution. Hydro therapy all around in this case.

We have managed quite a few dogs on pred for various reasons and various time periods. Timing of the meds is important and totally depends on your life schedule and the dog. It can take some experimenting to figure out what works. It varies from dog to dog as to how soon after the pred is given the dog will have the uncontollable need to pee. It really IS okay to pick up the water at night, IF it is not for too long a time. None of our dogs have access to water from 10-11 pm until 5-6 am. We all go to bed in the bedroom. The babygate gets closed and nobody gets water until morning, when the babygate is opened. If a dog needs to go out in the middle of the night, we let that dog go out, along with however many others want to go along. But, the water bowl is empty. They can't come back in and "tank up". As long as they have free access to water during the day, there is absolutely no reason to provide water throughout the night. Just my experience...

I love EMT gel for some applications. We call it "scab in a tube"! Do NOT put a bandage over it, unless you want that bandage to become semi-permanently attached to your dog. EMT gel is not meant to be bandaged over! We are also big fans of Cut Heal, which is found in equine sections of farm stores. I really like the new spray bottles of it. If you need to bandage, use Cut Heal instead of EMT gel! Just my .02

Okay, call me a mean dog mom... We put pills in cream cheese and it usually works. But, at the fist little sign of refusal, we open the hatch and put it in! The doggies QUICKLY learn [Resistance is FUTILE!/i] No arguements allowed. Dogs take their meds on time, PERIOD. Here is one little hint: Offer the cream cheese encoated pills while the dog is eating the regular meal... there is something about the little meal interruption for a cream cheesie that usually works. If you wait until the dog is not eating other food, it is more likely to be suspected as something "yucky". You can even try encasing the pill in a big glob of cream cheese and sitting it atop the regular meal in the bowl. But, if the dog refuses, you just pick it up and say, "OKIE DOKIE! DOWN THE HATCH!" Just DO IT!

Oh my! I just saw this saga! We're going out the track today, so I"ll have to tell Stephanie's trainer, Melissa, about this latest escapade! Metronidazole is used for all sorts of GI upset situations. It will make her feel better.

Yes, fasting is a good thing! A lot of greyhound farms fast their dogs one day a week... usually Sunday. It serves two purposes... gives any upset tummies a chance to settle and also keeps the dogs interested in their food. If it is colitis (does she have jelly-like substance in her poop?) fasting will really help everything get calmed down. Then, start back with bland, easy-to-digest food. We had an Afghan hound with terrible chronic colitis. I could always tell when it was flaring up. She'd have loud "gurgles" coming from her tummy. At the first "gurgle", we would switch her to boiled hamburger or chicken and pasta. Rice is too high fiber and hard to digest.

The first, best thing to do is get a cold, wet compress on it ASAP. After that, BurnOut balm from gocoursing.com is the best stuff we've tried: gocoursing I've used this stuff on myself... I caught my shirt-sleeve on fire, thanks to a dysfunctional burner on our gas cooktop. It really does help! If you can't get this stuff, then the next best thing is 100% Aloe Gel.

My sister's elderly lab could barely walk last spring... she started the Adequan injections and by the time Lady joined us at the beach for a couple of weeks in July, she was walking 2-3 miles per day and swimming like a maniac. She continues to do well. Anecdotal or not, she's had NO other treatment/medication. So, either the Adequan worked or she had some sort of divine intervention.

Like LynnM, I prefer to wait until the dog is fully mature. We've raised quite a few greyhound puppies and have never had a female come in season before 24 months. So, I always recommend waiting until the dog is past 1 year old. I've seen quite a few greyhounds spayed/neutered at a very young age. They tend to be taller and thinner... weedy looking. But, we run our dogs in amateur performance events. We want them to be optimully fit and well-muscled. Early spay/neuter doesn't seem to make any difference in terms of life quality/health for a dog that won't be competing in athletic events. Just my .02...

I haven't looked at this much lately... There are several types of PRA, and it varies by breed. What's been seen in greyhounds is late onset PRA. It is recessive, meaning both sire and dam must be carriers to produce pups afflicted with PRA. Yes, it is HUGE to know that Molotov was a carrier. He's been "doubled" a lot. So, yes, I think we can expect to see more of it in retired dogs. The bad news is, PRA will rarely show itself while a dog is still running. It is much more typical for it to manifest in later years. So, racing breeders aren't likely to recognize it as a problem to be dealt with. They certainly won't eliminate Molotov offspring from their breeding programs! The good news for adopters is that dogs with PRA adapt very well. It's often hard for the casual observer to know the dog is blind. One of my cockers completed her CDX obedience title, including jumping and retrieving, when she was almost totally blind. Her heeling suffered, because she glued her nose to the back of my leg. That's how we figured out she had a problem. But, as long as I was consistent, she knew how many strides to take before she jumped and she retrieved by sound/smell. She ran around the yard just as she always did. She knew where the trees were! I'd be interested to hear about other Molotov offspring with PRA. Because he was so prolific, I'm surprised it hasn't become known before now. I suspect PRA, like other diseases/syndromes, is only partially genetically linked... there may be genetic mutations happening that cause it to manifest. I heard an interesting piece on NPR yesterday about identical twins that have allowed scientists to narrow the causes of juvenille lukemia. One twin had lukemia and the other didn't. They have now identified a "pre-cancerous" cell that can lie dormant unless it is "activated" by a genentic mutation. One twin had the mutation, the other didn't. I suspect something similar may be going on with PRA. Otherwise, we'd see a LOT more greyhounds afflicted with it. Edited to add... YES to whomever mentioned the Ocuvite supplement. We used it with our cocker and felt it did make a difference! Just my very unscientific .02...

I don't know how I missed the info on Diablo before!! WAAAHOOO!!! I'm SOOO glad to hear he is doing well with a good prognosis!!!

HOORAY for Munchie!!! All fingers and paws here are crossed for continued well-being!!!

Okie, dokie now!!! Isn't this a FUN topic??? I have LOTS of experience with anal glands, having had a couple of dogs that needed regular "treatment"! Here's the best way I found to do the deed... Arm yourself with some old towels and washcloths. If your tub has a sprayer, you can use that. If not, get a BIG cup for pouring water. Get a bottle of doggie shampoo or some sort of liquid soap. Put dog into the bathtub. Put a big glob of shampoo in your hand and rub up a nice bit of suds over the bum area of the dog. SQUEEZE the glop out of the anal glands into your soapy hand. (There's a bit of an art to squeezing with the fingertips whilst cupping the soapy palm over the area to catch the squirt.) Immediately rinse the gunk and the soap off your hand. Rinse the dog's bum. Dry the dog's bum. Done!

The kind of recurring injury you describe is usually the result of a dislocated toe that repeatedly causes the skin to split open from the inside-out. There are a couple of procedures for dislocations that can work and prevent amputation. But, given the length of time this has been going on, those procedures would not have a good chance of success. At this point, amputation is probably the best bet. Which toe is it??? If it's an "outboard" toe, I wouldn't even think twice about amputating. If it's one of the two "inboard" toes, there may be other issues post-amputation, mostly dependent on how active the dog is.

for our sweet Munchie!!!

I've had two cocker spaniels with PRA. The second one, PC, was my competition obedience dog. On the day she finished her CDX title (invovles jumping, retrieving, heeling off lead, etc.) they just happened to have an eye clinic at the show. I took her in and asked the doc to just give me an idea of how far her vision loss had progressed. He examined her and looked at me with astonishment. He said, "Are you telling me this dog can still see?" I said I didn't know, but she finished her CDX that day with a nice score and a 2nd place ribbon! He was amazed. He said, "THIS is one VERY smart little dog!" I think she did have a little vision left at that point. She learned to retrieve by sound/scent. I was always very careful to set her up at the same distance from the jumps. (I first took her to have her eyes examined when she started having some jumping problems.) Her heeling had degraded, because she adopted a position with her nose against my leg, so she had points deducted for bumping and lagging. After she finishsed the CDX, we took up tracking, which she LOVED. I never competed with her because blind dogs are not allowed. (We probably could've fooled the officials, but I didn't want to take the chance.) Being allowed, even encouraged, to sniff was her idea of the perfect new job! I used to play a "FIND IT" game with her, hiding a food treat or a toy in the house and letting her go crazy searching for it. Her favorite thing to find was shrimp tails! She lived with a house full of greyhounds and did very well for several years after she was blind. We remodeled our house during this time. Everything was turned upside down, but she managed. Her only problem was getting stuck under the dining room table and boinking around like the ball hitting the bumpers in a pin ball machine!

Bev, I just saw this!!! I'm so sorry to hear of Darcy's illness and surgery!!! Please give her an extra special tummy tickle from me and Glen.

Jennifer, Your big red boy and my big red boy are exploring the bridge world together... Take care of yourself now! Scooter wants to know you are okay!

Bang To Rights (a/k/a Al) left this world Friday, September 13, 2007. Al was born in Ireland. John’s Gang x Without Mistake. He ran in the 2000 Waterloo Cup, the Millennium Cup, the 2001 Anglia Cup and many lesser coursing meetings. I’m sorry to say I don’t know what his coursing record was. We didn’t ever care. We just loved him. He came to us because we fell in love with him at the 2000 Waterloo Cup and eventually managed to bring him across the pond. Al was 92 lbs in his prime. He was a HUGE dog, with a HUGE heart. He was our teacher dog, the anchor of our “pack”. He taught our puppies and many foster dogs how to live in our world. He absolutely refused to chase anything artificial. He was a hunting dog. Al gave much and demanded little. He was extremely tolerant, but could “draw the line” when necessary. He loved to spend most of his time outside, but was also a perfect house dog. He wasn’t cute or snuggly. He took his “work” seriously. He preferred the hard floor to a dog bed. He never ventured onto a couch, a chair or a bed. He preferred to eat alone, away from the rest of the pack. He made his preferences clear and never wavered from them. Al was strong. Al was gentle. Al was a greyhound through and through.

I hate to say this, but if it was an open wound, like the one pictured, wrapping with CoBan may have kept it from healing. COLD running water is good and/or flush with diluted Chlorhexiderm, followed by normal saline (you can find a recipe for that via Google). If you need to wrap, get your vet to show you how to do it correctly... a pile of 4x4s, covered lightly with CoBan or similar flex bandage. An old vet-school adage is: "Dilution is the solution to polution!" In other words: flush, flush, flush that wound. Dilute all the bad stuff away...

For wounds like that, I really like Cut Heal, especially the spray. And, dittos on the water therapy.