Cynthia

"so changing the quality of the food can affect that regulation" was to impliy that participation in the study requires a different quality of food. (The W/D). I didn't think it was necessary to slam the food to make the point, but apparantly it was.

Dannie was on and off Robaxin for neck/back issues over the course of 3 years and although we never used it more than 2 months at a time, there were never any side effects. (She had cbc/chem every year). It was THE drug that could get her to the level of comfort she needed until PT (water treadmill & TENS, Laser) kicked in.

Yes, thank you very much for sharing that and any other studies that you run across! Many with greys afflicted with a disease would be interested in working with the scientific community to learn more about the best treatments for these conditions. My own reaction to the W/D is simply that the diabetic dog is kept regulated with a very carefully managed combination of insulin, diet (typically high quality) and exercise, so changing the quality of the food can affect that regulation.

Heartworm test is advisable regardless of whether the dog has been on preventives. Medications sometimes fail, and you need to catch it early. Defintely worth the small cost. Most vets will not prescribe more meds unless a test is done annually to ensure the dog is not positive. On the DHLPP, reminder that this is needed only every three years, not annually. (Some vets are still giving annually and this is NOT recommended by the AAHA). So if the group you adopted from had him vaccinated, he is covered. You can titer if any concerns. I titer my dogs annually and have never had to redo the DHLPP. Titers are slightly more costly than than vaccinations but there is no benefit in over vaccinating (risk in fact), and then you can vaccinate only if the antibodies are too low.

Exactly. I'm retiring very soon with 3 dogs instead of the 2 that I had planned and budgeted for in my retirement. Screw the budget. There are so many other places to save money, and you indeed can't take it with you. A month ago I had 4 dogs, and if I could have saved my 9 year old girl regardless of cost, I would have. There are so many other areas to save money and cut expenses. And if necessary in this unpredictable economy I will dig into the principal of investments and not blink. My dogs are my biggest budget item (after freaking taxes) and surely contribute more to my happiness and health than anything else. I do agree that it's so important to team with your vet in any pet's healthcare. Not just because of the costs though - but to ensure best and appropriate care for the particular dog.

Hi Mary, If you send me an email with your email address, I'll forward you a couple of excellent recent articles from the Whole Dog Journal on diabetes & nutrition. Diabetes Mellitus isn't common in greys - my 12 year old Sunny has it (undiagnosed and returned because he was so sick a year or so ago). He's in the article so I have the documents which I can send via email. I feed raw, but WDJ covered all options for feeding so should be helpful to you. Before I switched Sunny to raw, he did really well on Orijen 6 Fish. I have an AlphaTrak glucometer, but rarely use it. Early months, I had curves done at the vet. The glucometer is the same type my vet has. That's important because they all read a bit differently, so it keeps things simple. You'll learn to 'read' the dog without it though, and know when she's a little high glucose (drinking peeing more) or low glucose (disoriented, unstable, confused) and be able to adjust. Once their regulated, it's easy. And do get one of those little syringe clipper thingies - it's fun to use (I'm easily amused) and holds something like 1500 needles. I've yet to fill one up. I use empty supplement bottles to dispose of the needle housing. Mark it as 'sharps' on the top and tape shut when full.

If the muscle relaxant is helping, this is likely neck or back injury. An orthopedic or sports medicine vet would be my next stop before considering an MRI. A good hands on exam can generally localize the area of pain. One of my greys presents with severe limping, can't do a single step, and holds her leg in the air when she has neck problems - everything is connected The muscle relaxants keep her comfortable until the physical therapy has a chance to kick in.

None of what you have described here would lead me to consider diabetes mellitus (or insipidus either). Your boy seems to have some anxiety and fearfulness and that may be related to an underlying disorder, but I've never ever seen anxiety in my DM grey. Ever. For DM You would see unrelenting thirst and urination, weight loss and muscle wasting. For thyroid, 0.8 may be just fine for him, I've had greys at 0.1 or 0.2 and they were not hypo-t. But to put your mind at rest you could get a Michigan panel (TSH is the key) and interpretation for about $100. Might be worth doing. If new bloodwork/chem looks good, and a complete exam (have vet check his eyes too) shows no abnormalities, then consider environmental factors that may be making him nervous, and ramp up the training for confidence. Perhaps time to consider an anti-anxiety med to see if that helps him to be himself again.

If our dogs have physical problems we use meds to help treat and/or relieve that pain. The brain is an organ too. Since we don't hesitate to use (the right) meds to relieve our dogs pain, doesn't it make sense to take a similiar approach for fear? Humans and dogs aren't the same, and I'm sure many have noticed that while humans react inappropriately to pain, dogs do not. The flip side is that dogs may overreact to fear, while humans do not. As for switching vets - if a vet is willing to work with us, both sides can learn much while the dogs benefit. I have the most greyhound savvy vet in my state. But he has very little behavioral knowledge. That doesn't mean that I switch to another vet when we have a behavioral (fear) issue to resolve. I share information and I listen and we talk it through. Two years ago my happy go lucky Hope had a total shutdown and hid under a desk for an entire day. (One day under a desk is too much in my opinion). And when she displayed the same behavior (extreme fear of everything) the next day, I scheduled a vet appt for that day and considered it an emergency. Know that living in a state of extreme anxiety IS NOT HEALTHY for people or dogs. It places stress on the dogs physically. There can be no pride in avoiding drug therapies which help a dog or a human to relax and deal with the world. A dog's physical health can be affected by fear. After we did quick in office CBCs and chem and sent blood out for more tests, we discussed anti-anxiety meds to start immediately. I had come up with two, and the vet came up with ACE. Since I'd been down that road before with him for my thunder phobic girl (and I would never give it to my dogs for anxiety) we had the discussion AS A TEAM and compromised on Prozac. With the combination of Prozac and lots of slow reintroduction to the world and desensitization/counter conditioning my girl came back. She was able to enter the kitchen after a week on meds and we made slow progress and then fast progress over many months. She's fine now. I thought I'd never see her typically exuberant personality again, but she is even better now than she was before, and all it took was appropriate meds for 3 months and slow steady retraining. We never found a medical problem (our fear was brain tumor). I realize Hope's case is not the same as a dog who has ongoing generalized fears, but I hope it shows the importance of both pharmaceutical and behavioral support for a fearful dog. I do have a holistic vet, and she was also very supportive of the approach.

It doesn't sound like heat issue, the panting is more like exercise intolerance. If she's fine in house just lolling around, but pants on exertion, that's the key symptom to discuss with your vet. Is she overweight?

Any vomiting, especially in an older dog, deserves thorough medical evaluation, which I expect your adoption group has already taken care of on return? Sounds to me like the first adopters may have been looking for reasons to return this dog.... Greys can have sensitive stomachs, but any dog who eats nothing but kibble and carb cookies and is then introduced to real food (I can't bring myself to call it 'people food' as I don't think natural food is species specific ) may not handle it well at first. I'm not a fan of rawhides for lots of reasons. As for raw carrots - dogs can't break down the cells of veggies so they do need to be cooked or pureed before feeding. If the carrot was a treat it would normally go through the digestive system ok but not provide any nutrients if it was served raw. So. Baring medical issues greys can and do eat real food and do well on it. Just take it slow. It's wonderful that you are considering a 9 year old returned dog. Returned dogs are the best! I have 4 greys 6,8,9,11 and they all can and do eat anything I offer. I'm not talking junk food of course and they've never seen a Milkbone because I don't do many carbs with them.

Dx hypothyroid + dog LOSING weight = doesn't add up. If you do a redo on the thyroid panel send it to Michigan State have your vet check the box for analysis/consult. A pathologist who understands breed differences will read the results for you and provide that back with the results. Also with kidney issues, it's not the protein you need to watch it's the phosphorus. (The Benazapril is for high blood pressure.)

I wish every dog had an Alicia. My Katie had LS, she also had other neurological issues. Towards the end there were days when it was really bad for her and I knew I had to let her go before she had another horrid painful episode. I didn't want her last trip to the vet to be in excruciating pain. It's very scary for them when they can't control their bodies. They fight to move the way they want to and can hurt themselves in the process. Katie's front legs were strong but unbalanced and she would tilt and spin off and fall if I didn't control her. They don't understand what's happening. We do. I carried her a lot, but most of the time she could stand and toddle a bit once I had her outdoors. There were nights when she would wake me with the little rooing cooing noises that I loved (she was a conversationalist), and I'd carry her downstairs with poop dropping out and bouncing on the kitchen floor before we could get to the door. Sounds crazy, but I cherish those memories of being able to hold Katie in my arms and then spending time in the backyard with her for no reason, since the event had passed indoors When she could no longer raise herself from the floor even with help, and when she could no longer stand for more than a few seconds, it was time. I would have carried her and cleaned up after her FOREVER. I know you would do the same for Ava. I took Katie to the vet while she was still happy but could no longer support her body. She loved going to the vet, so she thought it was a party for her and rallied with the affection and attention from everyone there. It was a good passing for her. It was the lowest point of my life, and I skipped my Dad's funeral to be with Katie for her last few days. He would have understood. He was very old. Katie didn't make it to 7. That was 3 years ago last week. It feels like yesterday. I wish you and Ava peace.

Bully sticks, chicken feet, tripe, liver, any dehydrated meats. 'N/A Nothing Added' now distributes their dehydrated treats through Sad Dog Sushi in Texas. Great source of healthy treats for any dog, but perfect for Diabetics. I give my Sunny (another D.Mellitus grey) half of an apple once in a while and other low glycemic fruits/veggies, but mostly we stick with protein. Dried fish is available too. Since Sunny is pretty well regulated,(right now) he gets half of a Trader Joe's peanut dog cookie at night. 'Old school' thinking was high fiber (carbs) diet for these dogs, so question your vet if he suggests a formulated diabetic kibble. Good quality grain free kibble like Evo or Orijen can make it easier to get Stanley regulated. Those kibbles make for good training treats too.

Those numbers don't look like WBC (which would run 3 to 7 in a grey, 4-17 in a non-grey). Perhaps the values are Hematocrit? Tick Panel through NCSU would be a good idea. But I think you may have uncovered a medical problem that could have nothing to do with his panting schedule. He may be simply anticipating more fireworks each night at a set time. So do figure out the medical problem, but the panting at a particular time each night may not be medically related. Try to break the routine by introducing something new at 15 minutes before the usual panting time. Perhaps obedience and treats or play with you involving special toys. Distract him from his pattern. This spring, my storm phobic girl started anticipating storms immediately after dinner each night, regardless of the weather, so I had to break her 'expectations' by having special playtime, or yard or walk time to intefere with her 'schedule'