Cynthia

Sweaters! I have a bunch of the cable knits from ChillyDogSweaters.com. (XXXLarge fits greys below 80 pounds)The front legs go through armholes, but there is no belly band or coverage near the plumbing. Monty still pees on his front feet half the time, but the sweaters stay dry. Winter coats are a problem, but those sweaters are wool and keep him warm for his outings.

No, no guard, but that doesn't keep you from cutting into the quick anyway, right? It would keep you from cutting more than a certain fraction of an inch at a time.... Take little nips unless you can see the quick. If your pups have black nails, put a flash light underneath so that you can see where the quick is. Then keep your eyes on the prize and clip!

I have two pair of Millers Forge and they're the best I've found. I bought two other brands (sequentially) that didn't pass the greyhound toenail test. The large MFs are #767. If you find something better, please share, but Millers forge are great.

It's me, Katie, checking in between naps and snacks. Yes, I do have a funny face, mama has measured my nose and my ears and says my forehead is extra big because I am very smart. (She is right of course.) Here I am having supper tonight. I should be wearing my chicken nightgown, not cows,on chickie night, right? Mama has a small forehead I think. Ok, and here's the naked picture I promised. You can't see my zipper can you? Ha. A girl must leave something to the imagination you know. I will have a zipper-ectomy in a few weeks if I take all of my pills, eat everything in or out of my bowl, and don't jump around or twirl at all. The first two things are easy, but I am a gifted twirler and I need to spin again! In this picture I am telling mama I need to spin NOW. I am shaking the whole kitchen with my pre-twirl vibrations, that's why it's blurry. Anyway, this picture is the real me! Thank you for all your good wishes and white light. I can not eat those things, but I know they are important to my recovery! XXXooo, Katie

Do you have the new edition of 'Care of the Racing and Retired Greyhound'? There are lots of photos of Neyla's toes in there! And no captions that say 'toe cancer.' So that's NOT it. Poor Neyla, hope this can be solved soon.

Yep. And check in with the vet in the morning before giving any further pain meds. Hope it's nothing too serious.

Good advice above, just a couple of additional thoughts. Could your vet address just the worst of his dental problems which might give him 6 months or a year of relief from pain? Dental issues can cause so many other problems, it would probably be the best thing you could do for him. And 'limping' may not mean LS. More typical symptoms are knuckling under of the feet, loosing control of the rear end, stumbling and difficulty getting up. If it's just limping, it could be arthritis. You can start him on glucosamine chondroitin (available OTC in any drug store or on-line) and may see some improvement in as little as a month. My older dog was very hesitant on stairs, especially in the morning when I first adopted him. He has been on G/C for almost three years now and rarely has any lameness or pain. He has some medical issues which complicate things so we skipped his dental this year and I just scheduled him for one in January; at this point infections in his mouth could just make things worse for him. I hope you can help your dog to be more comfortable, sounds like he has a very loving owner.

Warm thoughts to you and Beecher for all kinds of comfort, physical and emotional.

Hugs to the very special Snowman and to his mom too.

Thanks for asking! Katie is sleeping through the night (which means the whole house gets to sleep through the night!) and was feeling well enough yesterday to get back to her 'rounds' of checking out everyone elses food bowl after she finishes her meals I love to watch her walk/wobble around the kitchen and in the small section of yard that she's restricted to when out for potty. Just seeing her stand up and smile and wag at me from her x-pen makes me so happy. Just 6 weeks and 5 days of 'crate rest' to go! I'm using the hiney-harness that Carol made to support her when she walks around, but she's not 'flopping' as much now, so may not need that for too much longer - at least when we're inside. Carol is a sweetheart and got that out to us presto/magic and it's very soft and comfy and helps to keep her from losing her hiney. Thanks to all who recommended it!

Monte, glad that you're doing so well. Hope the itches go away soon.

Iverheart Max protects against roundworms and hookworms (and heartworm). Interceptor prevents roundworms, hookworms and whipworms. If you live in an area with whipworms, go with the Interceptor. It should keep her clean once you get this cleared up. Heartguard does not prevent whipworms either.

She deserves to milk it, bless her sweet heart Now that she's home, serve some yummy stuff (Jack Mackeral? Tripe?) and she'll develop an appetite. Hope you're feeling better too!

May Nevada have bunches more waggy and happy days to greet you at the door

She slept through the night and STOOD up by herself at 6:30AM. Then she embarrassed me further by walking into the vets office I couldn't be happier that she proved the need for more meds. We had a good long appt with the vet, since his office an hour away (when it isn't snowing) is in timbuck2 and down a one lane dirt road. Most patients probably had the good sense to stay home on a snow day. We are now armed with more meds and she'll stay on the increased dosages. He did bloodwork because he's worried about toxicity and she's been on pred pretty much steadily since April and was showing some changes before the surgery. White light, meds and persistence seems to be working. Thanks for all the good thoughts and advice! Cynthia and Katie, not quite ready to twirl but can tilt a little.

Katie finally decided she needed to go outside and eliminate at 10:30. (3 little roos is her signal) That's 16 hours? She didn't attack me when I tried to help her up. I do carry her everywhere now, for fear if I put her down I'll never get her up again. But when I set her down in her pooping area (33F here) she decided she would go to her peeing area first and was able to wobble over there with me supporting her. That was the extent of ambulation today, but maybe the pred is starting to work as yesterday she could only manage two or three mincing steps outdoors. I called the neuro vet again at 2PM and really, everyone there is very nice and competent and they usually do respond more quickly than this. I know I've emphasized the severity of the pain to them, but maybe they're used to people who overreact or are more into emotional splash. So when I called back at 2, I tried the near hysteria routine which came quite naturally at that point! A vet tech called back within 20 minutes and said that the vet had authorized another 25mg of Tram in the middle of the day. No! Cutting to the chase here, she is now on double dose of tram and pred just for today and we have an appt at 9:30 tomorrow morning. There is a good reason for the caution on the Tramadol though. The vet explained that Tram can get into the spinal fluid and he believes this can affect the healing of the surgical site. When Katie was in pain before the surgery he was always very reasonable about the meds, did not want her to be in pain, so I think he just needs to see that this regime is not cutting it for her. I feel better knowing that we're going in tomorrow. Katie is not panting or whistling right now and in fact has done very little of that today. So either she's feeling better or she's giving up. I think she will get stinky fish for supper. But that won't be served until she's ready to pee and poop again, so she may have dinner at .. ?4AM. I'm sleeping in my office with her and my other two swap off and on the couch with me to comfort and give me a neck ache Thanks for the tip on the milk Winterwish. I have a bowl of water in her x-pen because there's no way it's going to get tipped over, and she is drinking well. If she did tip it over I'd probably yell 'good girl Katie!" Batmom, there are cookies and hotdogs on top of the bookshelf that is one side of her 'pen,' all she has to do is sit up to get them. She tried to crawl for one that I put on floor last night when I was trying to get her up but gave up before she got there Keep those ideas coming, and please hope for a productive visit at the vet tomorrow. Cynthia and Katie, who's lost her twirl

Worse this morning. She hasn't peed since before dinner last night and is vibrating. Gave her meds but no food (need to reserve that hoping hunger will inspire her if elimination won't) Waiting for vet to call back.

Thanks everyone for your ideas and support. Yes, when I picked her up Thursday I questioned the Tramadol dosage as she had a much heftier dose 'as needed' before the surgery. Mostly supported by pred though. I called the vet this morning and when he called back this afternoon he wanted to increase the prednisone not the Tramadol and see if that makes a difference. I was ok with that at 3PM as I'd already given her extra tramadol before he called back. But I called back at 4 when she wouldn't let me help her get up and I wondered if I'd been explicit enough about the level of pain. The vet wasn't there so talked to a tech and I agreed to call back in the morning if no improvement after the increased pred. Pred has always worked well for her before. She 'whistled' off and on all day and when I tried to help her up at 5:30 tonight she went crazy. I didn't know it was possible to do that while laying down. Teeth and snarls and growls. She was muzzled but I jumped back and knocked a pile of stuff off a bookshelf. Scared us both (!) and voila she scrambled up to get out of the way and I got my arms under her! I don't know if that approach will work again though Carried her around outdoors until she pointed out the spot where she wanted to pee and poop. If she eliminates in her bed I don't know if I'll be able to move her to clean up at this point. This has gotta get fixed. I didn't even feed her downstairs for fear she'd refuse to be moved again. She's whistling now. I'm trying to be patient and let the extra pred work. Just handed her a bully stick and the whistling stopped. The fact that she has a good appetite is good sign. When she was in the worst pain this summer she would refuse food and she is the type of dog who will eat pencils and paper. Just so everyone understands, she's only 6 and her quality of life has been unacceptable for 8 months now while we tried to DX and solve the problem. The surgery was the only option for a dog as young as Katie. I knew the first few weeks would be rough, I guess I hoped it would be rougher on me than on her Thanks again. All of you! I hate not being able to control this and it helps to have other experience and perspectives to think this through and make sure I'm being the best advocate possible for her. Cynthia and Katie (still highly distracted by her bully stick )

Devon & Shanti's mom, I've tried to get her to lay on the sling, but she won't lay down until it's removed That does give me an idea though. I have a towel over her eating bed, and she will lay on that. So if I put a bunch of towels in a crossed 'pinwheel' on her eating bed and on her office bed, one might be in the right position to lift her with when she's trying to get up. Irene, I think I found the sling/harness you're talking about on Northcoast Greyhounds site. Special Harness I just ordered it and thank you for the idea. It looks like it will stop just before her 'zipper' so she may not object too much to wearing it all the time. It might work, it might not, but it looks like a useful thing to have around and worth a try. Thank you all!

I'll bet we would all love to give Brody a good cuddle too His skin looks so much less inflamed now, you guys do miracles.

Hope Riley's ok, how old is he? Sending comfort and good thoughts.

Katie had back surgery on Monday (Lumbosacral laminectomy). A section of the top of her spine was removed to relieve pressure on her nerves and replaced with a jelly/foam substance. Tricky scary stuff but when she was in intensive care at neuro vets she was 'doing better than expected.' In fact her tail 'curl' has returned! She has a row of staples down her back that looks like a zipper and she's shaved everywhere. The good news is that after a few days of incontinence at the vets she was able to control and go outdoors for potty on Thursday. But now that she's home I'm not so sure how well she's doing and worried because she seems to be crying more when she tries to get up for a potty break. She's welcome to eliminate in her pen, but she won't. She is on a strict 8 weeks of crate rest. I started her in a crate downstairs but there was some light crying so I carried her up to her regular corner in my office and used an x-pen to create a restricted space for her. Now that she's home I'm not so sure how well she's doing and worried because she seems to be crying more when she tries to get up for potty. I carry her in and out for potty breaks and the other dogs are separated from her when she is out of her safe place for these breaks and for meals. She wobbles and looses control of her back legs when she walks around outdoors to potty (this was expected and I do use a sling with her), but the worst part is getting her UP from her position in the ex-pen or from her feeding pillow. I try to help her when she struggles and cries as she trys to stand up, but fear I will hurt her. On those ocassions when I've tried to help she's cried out in pain. I'm going to talk with the vet on Monday about additional pain meds. I suspect the low dose is to keep her from feeling too comfortable and causing damage. She had fentanyl patch when she was hospitalized, but is just on Tramadol now. A mere 25mg twice a day. And I've given her extra around 3PM and 3AM when she's whistled and panted for more than 15 minutes. (She's still on pred and of course antibiotics, tagamet, cranberry tabs, omega 3s etcs.) Does anyone have experience on the best way to help her up from a recumbent position? The best place to put my hands without hurting her? If she could tolerate clothing, I think I'd sew the sling on her! But I'm dressing her in a nightie only to go outdoors (it's cold here) and she wants it 'off' as soon as we get back in the house. To see her struggle to get up and cry out in pain is just killing me and I can't seem to get the sling under her when she's wiggling to stand. Ideas?

What food is he on?

I'm so very sorry that you lost Duke. This must be heartbreaking, especially since he was so young. Peace to you.

So very sorry that you had to let her go so soon. She was fortunate to have you on her side for those 3 years.