Booker_Aye

Thank you! My vet called after I posted, and he also rather doubts that this could be tick related. I went to college near Cleveland, so I am familiar with the drive out on Route 80. It's quite a stretch, but for Dr. Couto, if this does not resolve, I would certainly make the journey. I will investigate tomorrow. Thanks again!

Henry spiked a bit of fever on Monday, just 103, and his vet did a snap test for tick disease that was negative; a urinalysis that found blood in his urine, but a negative culture, and a finding of neck and spinal pain. Metacam, robaxin, and antibiotics while it appeared that a UTI might be at fault. Now, on Sunday, Henry is afebrile, but much worse, hunching his back like a camel, walking with a heavy, almost drunken gait, toeing under, especially on the rear legs, not eating at all -- he is 7 years old and never raced. I would like his tick panel to be run by the gold standard lab for that, but cannot remember where that is now - the last time I needed it it was in the southwest, but now I believe it is the southeast? Could a helpful Greytalker point me in the right direction, please? Any other ideas would be most gratefully appreciated.

I've been using Chewy.com for kibble and canned food for about a year, I think. Their shipping is unbelievably fast -- I get their shipments the day after they ship, without fail. And, because they are not in NY State, I save the cost of tax, at least for now. My only complaint, which is growing to be more and more of an issue, is that the canned food often contains several badly mashed cans, and it's clear that these were crushed before shipping. I am worried that one of these crushed cans will have been compromised and that if I use them they could poison the dogs. I have been meaning to contact the company about this, because it has been a conitnuing problem over several months. I have generally found their customer service to be awesome.

My three share a tin of sardines every evening. They love it, and there hasn't been a runny poop problem. I do give them a spoon of pumpkin with their morning and evening meals, though.

Our worst nightmare. I am so sorry to hear this news. Healing thoughts for Henry.

If you are not overfeeding him, have you checked for worms, particularly hookworms, which are very hard to eradicate? He has been with you for a relatively short time. My Booker struggled to rid himself completely of the hookworms he arrived with for at least a full year, and the hookworms really hurt his intestinal system. He would not eat when they got bad. Since Booker, I prophylactically deworm my hounds when they come to me on the schedule my vet recommends, three days in a row, then 3 days in a row a month later, then three days in a row three months later, with Panacur, and they also get a Droncit dose at their first vet visit. The problem with the hookworms is that they can become encysted in the dog's muscles, and reemerge at later times, after we thought they were all gone. It's a difficult situation.

Well, I feel like the world's biggest idiot, and a neglectful parent, to boot. On Monday night (the night before Henry pulled up lame) I found that he was bleeding from rear right leg when I saw splotches of blood on the floor. So I wahed the affected foot and applied pressure until the bleeding stopped, and promptly forgot about it completely. So there I am this morning, tell the vet that I have NO IDEA what could have happened. She checks his leg from foot to hip, manipoulating all of his joints, and worried because the Metacam from the nighyt before didn't assuage his pain. But Henry is perfecttly fine with her manipulati0ons and doesn't mind anything that she is doing. Then she starts to examine his paw, and sees the cut in his pad from Monday night. It is a deep slice, and it is really badly infected -- it even smells terrible, which is what led her to it. And she tells me that these heal better if they are seen IMMEDIATELY for surgery, which is not appropriate at this point. So imagine how I felt! Henry got his foot cleaned, had a laser treatment which will hopefully improve his ability to granulate, and then the foot was packed with antibiotics and wrapped in a lovely tiger stripe vet wrap that matches his tiger collar. He also got an antibiotic injection and will be taking Metacam for 4-5 days at night, and an antibiotic in the morning. Thy wanted to see him again tomorrow, but it was not possible for me, so it will have to be Friday morning, when I can punt my caseload. And Henry was SUCH a good patient. Now he is home, wearing a BiteNot collar, just in case he thought of licking or deconstructing his bandage whiloe I am away, and he cannot get the bandage wet, so he has a medipaw with a tie and velcros at the wrist and knee for when he goes out in the yard; no walks with Kimba and Fred. Henry is being so good, and I feel like a true moron. A forgetful moron. To make matters worse, while we were at the vet, a couple came in with a little brindle girl, so very, very thin, that I thought she must have just been rescued. But it turned out that I knew these people, and I knew that greyhound. It was meeting her, Gracie, and her brother greyhound Ace, that introduced me to the wonderful world of greyhounds in 2004, I believe; had I not met Ace and Gracie, I would never have known what wonderful companions greys can be. Gracie, who was now 14 years old, had come to the vet for her last journey. Her mom and I shared a heartful hug; Gracie's beautiful big brown eyes were so gentle and sweet, and I was in tears. Go in peace, beautiful Gracie girl.

Thanks! I wish I were at home already so that I could give him his pain med, poor doggie. He is just as cheerful and boisterous as ever, though.

Oh, I am so glad to hear that! Thank you! I will definitely sleep better tonight. I have Metacam at home from a previous incident with one of the hounds. I called the vet, and they said Henry could have it tonight with his dinner, so hopefully that will help him a bit.

This morning Henry the AKC Hound started limping on his right rear leg. He was fine when he went to sleep last night, and at first I thought he might have injured his leg jumping out of bed. But in my experience with my diva hounds, after a limp or two they are fine. Henry has still not put weight on that leg after two walks today, so I scheduled a vet's appointment for him in the morning. My vet is good, but not particularly greyhound savvy. What should she be looking for? Naturally what I fear most is that Henry might have pain due to osteo...

How did Goose reveal his disgruntledness about his visitor? Did he growl at Finn? Fred is most likely to act out when Henry is jumping around wildly, like when I get home, or on the deck after running around in the yard.

I just had an e mail exchange with my dogwalker, Tara, about muzzling the dogs when they are in the house alone. She said that today Fred was cranky with Henry and Miss Kimba when she arrived. Her arrival is always a reason for great joy throughout the household -- they all love her. It may just be jealousy, but I am starting to wonder if Fred might have an underlying condition that is predisposing him to grumpiness. I remember when my Dalmatian was diagnosed with stomach cancer (back in 1979) he went through a very grumpy phase before we realized how ill he was; in retrospect, I realized that he was grumpy because he was in pain. I am wondering if something is hurting my Fred. Guess it's time to make another major payment to the vet.

Henry is "Mariki's Black Swan." His dad is Southwestern Lord Henry, and his mom, Lorricbrooke Graceful. She is Canadian born, but both parents are in the USA, where my Henry was born on March 13, 2009. As far as I know, he doesn't have any Swedish connection. How sad for a 4 year old to be at the Bridge. Why did you want to know?

Batmom, why would I have to muzzle Kimba, too? She is extremely gentle.

Sounds like muzzling at home when they are alone is the general opinion. Poor doggies. And Kimba too, who is gentleness personified? My house has an open floor plan, so an x pen or or baby gate will not really work. Muzzling in the yard, in the minivan, and when they are home alone. What a pity. I agree with Susan; Henry doesn't have the background that retired racers have, and I bet he is committing faux pas all day long.

Fred and Henry are not getting along at all. Fred came to me as a retired racer exactly one year ago, and at that time I already had Kimba, also a retired racer; they are both 6 years old. They got along fine, no lovey dovey stuff or cuddling, but no animosity, either. 6 months ago Henry the AKC Hound came to stay. He is a rather boisterous, puppyish guy, quite large, too, but not at all aggressive. I noticed that Fred resented Henry's rough jumping when I came home at night, and also the fact that Henry immediately decided that my bed was the right place for him to sleep, too; Fred and Kimba had never thought of doing that. As time went on, I noticed that Fred would growl at Henry in the minivan, and also sometimes at home. Then, two or three weeks ago, I found a wound (very small) on Henry's ribs, and I thought it likely that Fred had put it there, but I didn't actually know that he had done it. But yesterday afternoon, they got into a real dogfight in the yard, and later I found a nip on Henry's butt, not serious, but still not a good thing. For immediate action, both Fred and Henry will now wear their muzzles when they go out in the yard. But my concern is, first of all, that Fred is unhappy, second that Henry is frightened of Fred, and most of all that they spend much of the day inside, unsupervised. What if they had a real dogfight in the house when no one was there, and someone was badly hurt? I don't want to have to muzzle them all day long, but I am thinking that is the wisest thing to do. Any advice? I would be most grateful.

This is not an unusual development for a male dog as he grows older. One of my greys had it, and also my Dalmatian. If you speak with your vet about it, he/she may be able to discern whether it is a normal sign of aging, or something else. It does seem odd to have come on so very abruptly, though.

I am so sorry! Hoping everything goes well on Tuesday.

Henry is physically fine. The vet gave him a thorough physical exam, and did some blood work and a stool sample check that we'll know about tomorrow. Assuming nothing is found, the most probable cause for his panic attack could be the funny weather we have had, or his battle for position with Fred, or separation anxiety suddenly taking a very virulent turn. The vet suggested a pheromone collar and some DAP diffusers, which I ordered from Amazon, although I don't think that will be much help. We'll see. I will keep a close eye on Fred and Henry, and they may get muzzled at least for a few days. Alone training is hard when you can only do it intensely on weekends but you still have to leave every weekday, which causes backsliding... I also think energetic Henry needs a good walk in the morning to take the edge off before I leave for work. So I will try to get up earlier for that. But physically, he's great!

Oh, boy. Here I am in Manhattan and with a pile of work on my desk, and there is Henry, 2 hours away by the fastest route home, and what should I do? I guess I will start by looking at him a bit more on the puppy cam, and maybe a call to my vet is in order. Edited to Add: I am on my way home and Henry will see the vet as quickly as I can get him there. Hopefully it's nothing, but if it is bloat, Henry heeds help. Thank you all SO very much!

Henry, a 4 year old male tuxedo hound, who was bred for show and was never raced (or shown, either, I suspect) has been with me since the spring of 2013. I would classify him as a rather high strung dog for a greyhound, but certainly not as neurotic as some I have loved. But today, my dogwalker called me to say that Henry was pacing and panting, and would not settle; he didn't want to go for his walk (very odd) and was being more than usually destructive (paper tearing, nothing more.) I have a puppycam set up in the playroom, which is where the three hounds usually hang out, and I can see that while Fred and Kimba are relaxing, Henry is still pacing and panting. The only thing I do know is that Henry and Fred have not been getting on very well lately, and yesterday, on the cam, I observed Fred bullying Henry off the couch, which Fred promptly took over. Fred does this by just standing silently next to Henry on the couch, and he stares and stares until Henry gets up and moves. When they are in the backyard together, Fred chases Henry back to the deck. It has taken a while for Fred to decide that he is not going to tolerate Henry's puppyish boisterishness, but he has certainly made that decision now. Fred, who is extremely gentle and affectionate, and whose face is the greyhound equivalent of Eeyore's with a personality to match, has turned into an Anti-Henry tank. Kimba is the longest with me of the group of three; she came in the summer of 2012; Fred came on October 29, 2012, I think; they were both well settled before Henry came in April 2013. Because he never raced, he doesn't understand the manners expected of a retired racing greyhound, and I think Fred feels very critical of Henry's ignorance of what is the right way for a greyhound to behave. I am thinking that Henry might benefit from a calming regime, but I will take him to the vet tomorrow to rule out anything physical. Any ideas of what I should be looking for? Thanks!

My Kimba suffers with a corn. We just keep hulling it, and use duct tape to help bring it up a bit. I haven't tried oral medications, because the real solution is to get the corn out, even if it must be done every month or so. I agree that corns are a real, real pain. In the past, someone suggested that hounds whose gait had been altered by injury might be particularly prone, and this would be true for Kimba, who had surgery for a tendon on her right rear leg, up near the hip, for her track career-ending injury. She is the only one of the five hounds I have had who has this particular curse, poor girl.

Yes. This is the central problem I have with what happened. I did have an estimate, with a very broad range of numbers, and the final cost did not exceed the upper number. But I should have been notified of this development, although I imagine that while she was under anesthesia they were pressured to finish and get her up as quickly as possible, which I appreciate. I have been with the same vet for many years, and this is a relatively new, young associate. I have found his work to be excellent in the year or so that I have known him, but in this matter, I think he used poor judgment.

Well, last night ( about 24 hours after the dental) I got Kimba to eat a jar of baby food (turkey and rice) and several slices of American cheese. When I saw that she accepted the baby food, I slipped the Metacam dose, which is liquid, into that, and I hid her antibiotic in a piece of cheese. I also got her to drnk a little vanilla Ensure, but she wasn't particularly enthusiastic about that. This morning she ate another jar of baby food, about a cup of cottage cheese, and some American cheese for me to hide her antibiotic in. But she clearly does not want to move her jaw. She can only take the American cheese if I tear it into small pieces, and then she likes it very much. I also offered her a spoonful of canned pumpkin, which she gets regularly, but that she ignored. I spoke to the vet about taking off the Fentanyl patches immediately so that she might regain an appetite, and he really resisted, saying he did not want her to be in pain, and that Tramadol was an opiate as well... so for now, the patches are on. No more bloody drool, which is good, and she is wagging her tail again, which is better. Isn't it hard when our houndies are in pain!

Thanks, especially to Remolacha for letting me know about Sallie, another houndie who had so many teeth extracted at once and still bounced back. Kimba is having bloody drool, but not too much, I think -- it is hard to know the difference between "active bleeding" and blood tinged drool. Hers is more than tinged at the moment. She has refused water and soft food this evening, and the last time she peed was as we left the vet. Poor doggie. It's bedtime now; hopefully she'll feel better in the morning.