Rickiesmom

Oh Jan, I am so sorry.

Wishing you months of joyful, quality time with your boy!

So unspeakably sad, I am very sorry for your loss.

I've lost 3 greyhounds to osteo. As others have said, it is an incredibly painful disease - described to me by a vet as the pain of bone slowly exploding from the inside. It is a cruel and relentless disease that not only inflicts indescribable pain on each hound it attacks, though they do their best to mask it, but on our hearts, where we must look deeply to find the loving courage to set them free. Nothing is harder or more important.

Extra treats and snuggles here! I am so sorry for the loss of your extraordinary girl.

Rocket was such a favorite, much loved hound here on GT and will be missed by so many. May all the signs you were sent bring you comfort at this hardest time, and eventually peace. You and your DW are in my thoughts.

Tears are flowing for Moonshine and her loving family. Losing a hound is always so hard, worse when it is completely unexpected. I am so sorry.

Teri I am so sorry for the loss of your very special girl.

Suggest a tick panel if none was run.

My heart goes out to you. May your memories gradually displace the profound sadness you feel.

With my first greyhound bald butt was seasonal - bald in the summer, furry in the winter. I don't think it has anything to do with crates, just seems to be a greyhound thing.

A beautiful angel, I am so sorry for your loss.

Jeff has been through a lot since I last posted. Tying it into the posts above: August 7 he was discharged, as his temperature was stable in the normal range, he was eating a little, and had been on an IV antibiotic the incision bacteria were sensitive to for 24h. They sent us home with the oral form, Claveseptin. The infected pocket in the incision was continuing to ooze, not surprising since he had been on the correct antibiotic for such a short time. However, as the days went by it oozed a lot more and what was coming out was like thin blood. He was also showing signs that maybe the bladder infection had returned, August 9 I decided to take him to my regular clinic. They are closer, I love my vet, and wanted her to look him over, especially the oozing area of the incision, and also to take a cysto urine sample for culture. After the cysto my vet examined him and noticed he was showing a bit of bruising at the cysto site. Checked his gums and found a few petechiae. Called the hospital, they agreed that my clinic would also take blood and I would take the samples and Jeff to the hospital. He was admitted and the blood was sent for stat processing. His platelets count came back dangerously low - 16K - no wonder the bloody oozing had been increasing! They recommended waiting until the next day to see which way things were going to go, and admitted him to ICU. I went home, got some food together for him, gathered up a few things and went back down. They let me stay with him overnight in his enclosure, for which I was so grateful. August 10 platelets came back at 10. They decided to run a second test, got their best tech for blood draws to take the sample, and used a vial with a different medium inside - I don't know the details but this apparently enables a more refined test. It came back at 21! Not normally a number anyone would celebrate, but we were thrilled. He stayed in ICU, the threshold for bringing him home was 30. August 11 (today) his count was 34, so although his gums are still pale, he could come home. They gave him an injectable 14 day form of the antibiotic to bypass his GI system, and we are home with Gabapentin, an anti-nausea drug, and a stomach protectant. Recheck on Friday. He weighs about 55 lbs, vs 75 lbs in early July, before all this started. He was so happy to see the car we needed to restrain him when he saw back hatch open, as he clearly planned to jump in. Once he is stronger we'll start rehab to rebuild his strength - more important now than ever because he has, with all that has happened, lost a lot of muscle everywhere, including his remaining back leg. The oncologist recommends that we stop chemo and we agree. We hope this is the end of all the problems, so he can enjoy "just being a dog" for however much time he has. In the meantime, please think positive thoughts for a great platelet number on Friday! For now, we are just praying that by Friday his platelets will be at normal levels, or very close.

Thank you. His appetite waxes and wanes (waning at the moment) but when I find the right thing, some goes down, and anything down is a good thing. The area of his suture line with the infection is oozing quite a bit - what looks like very thin blood, and if I press below, more comes out so the pouch is not shrinking. Still early days though. It stayed dry all night, but he barely moved which is likely why. I am leaving the bandage off for now since it will just get soaked and need changing again, and am dabbing it as needed. Also applying a cold pack every hour or so. The hospital should call later, and I will fill them in.

Jeff came home earlier today, very thin, but more energy than he's had. Need to check again in a bit, but his temperature this afternoon was 101.5, yay! Still extremely picky about food, but ate a little and I have more things to offer later. Big hit is still cheese. He is very happy to be home. Was thrilled to see the car when I picked him up, and a bit reluctant to get out when we got home LOL. But once out he was quite happy to inspect the back yard and water the grass. Main issues now are eating and licking, though the licking is not as obsessive as before. Hopefully once he is more active that will subside. A good friend sent him new toys, one of which was introduced tonight and that definitely generated a lot of enthusiasm. As long as this antibiotic continues to do its job, each day should be a little better. Thank you so much for all your food suggestions, we have quite a pantry and fridge full of goodies, and I don't want to have to eat them all : ) Please send eating vibes !

Good visit with Jeff! He still isn't eating any of the food I brought from home yesterday, so today I brought cubed grilled steak (seasonings cut off), Cantanaar cheese, which is 19% MF so not super-rich, ice cream and, only to help with pills, liverwurst. To my delight, he ate the steak and the cheese without hesitation. Hopefully no digestive issues later, because so good he has something in his tummy. No interest in the ice cream, and somewhat surprisingly, in the liverwurst either. Still, it was wonderful to see him want to eat something! His temperature at noon had started to come down, it was 103. At 6PM it was an incredible 99.5 ! I almost hugged the tech! It is quite a dramatic drop, so it will be interesting to know what the next readings are. Hopefully they stabilize in this general range. Although he slept much of the time, his overall aspect seemed better, and when not out cold he objected if I stopped petting him, so not nearly as lethargic as before. So maybe, finally, this antibiotic will clear up the infection and all the issues it has caused. Unless something changes, things look pretty hopeful for coming home tomorrow, though clearly some discerning grocery shopping will be needed before the discharge appointment! I cannot tell you how relieved I am, or how grateful I am for all your support and input - I used so much of it in conversations with the hospital. More tomorrow once I hear in the morning.

Thank you for this. Jeff seems to be responding to the antibiotic (update in next post) but should it return, this is very good to know about !

His temperature was up to just under 105 last night. The gave him another 10mg of Pred. No one is happy about this given that he has an infection. His temperature this AM when I spoke with the hospital was down a bit to 104, still high but at least heading in the right direction. Hopefully it will also encourage him to eat. The really unfortunate news is that the final culture report indicates that the bacteria are resistant to Baytril, which may help explain that there is no real improvement, including in his temperature behavior. They are putting him on Cesazolin, which worries me a bit due to his IMHA, but what to do - the infection must be addressed. Because of this change, they want him on IV for 24h, so I can't bring him home until tomorrow AM. I am going down there early in the morning to beat traffic, so I am ready to bring him home as soon as they confirm he is good to go. They want him home too, so unless it becomes medically inadvisable for some reason, we have to wait "only" one more long day. He is on Gabapentin 300mg three times per day. Currently this and the abx are the only drugs he is receiving. I didn't pursue an anti-anxiety drug since the Gabapentin is probably addressing that somewhat, certainly he has seemed pretty sleepy whenever I've visited. Asked about an anti-nausea drug in case it would help with eating, the intern said she would check with the oncologist. He's lost about 2.2 pounds since he was admitted on Thursday, they are weighing him every day. They are also monitoring his electrolytes daily, and I asked about running at least a CBC before discharge so we have a new baseline. Not sure if they will run a full chemistry as well, I left that up to them. So on the upside, he will be on an antibiotic that should address this infection, but it means he is stuck there until tomorrow. We are all, however, of the same mind about him coming home, so I am confident they will discharge him as soon as they feel they can responsibly do so. Meantime I will plan on a long visit with new temptations he will hopefully eat, and something to read while he sleeps beside me. He is in a two-sided enclosure, so lots of room and also easy for staff to have eyes on him, and spend a little time with him when they can, so it's about as good as it can be, just not home.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts. Jeff was originally sent home with Gabapentin - 300mg twice per day I think (don't have his meds here, I took them with him when we returned to the hospital). It is possible, even likely he is still on it, will ask about that today and proceed accordingly. Mostly, I really want him home, and you have reinforced that. I feel like I'm losing him an ounce at a time. Also would like them to run blood work again if they haven't done so since he was admitted. Will ask when they call this morning. About his heart - they did a full abdominal ultrasound following the initial hyperthermic event, and another follow up one on July 24 and found no issues. I know his heart as well as his organs were a concern following the event, and both u/s were done by an internal med specialist. That said, I will ask what his heart rate has been like during this stay. The hospital should call soon with an update, and I have added to my list of questions based on your input, for which I am inexpressibly grateful. Will post again after I hear from the hospital.

An anti-anxiety drug is a good idea. He was on one right after the initial hyperthermia, but not since. My sense is that he is more depressed than anxious, but the relief may be the same. Unfortunately, it appears Dr. C is out of the country, this is the response I received: "I will have limited access to email, so if this is an urgent consult on your pet, please contact your family vet. I will likely reply to emails within 48-72 hours (for both owners and veterinarians). Thanks!"

This is going to be long, please bear with me, as we have no diagnosis for Jeff's problems and as you will see at the end, we desperately need an answer: July 10 Jeff went in to see a neurologist at our very good referral hospital, because he was showing signs of hind end weakness (no limp, but increasing trouble getting up). Because of his age (9.5) and history of IMHA, the neuro consulted with the anaesthesiologist before Jeff was sedated for imaging. They used drugs he had had before without issue. Two big pieces of news came out of that session: he had osteosarcoma at the top of his right femur and as he came out of sedation he had gone into a hyperthermic state, there were 6 people working to cool him down, and in answer to my question, yes, he was very much at risk. They pulled him through, and bloodwork afterwards, and later, as well as abdominal ultrasounds showed, thankfully, no organ damage. His temperature continued to stay on the high side though, and his platelets were falling, so Jeff remained in ICU. He was very painful, a combination of the osteo and the manipulations required to get the right diagnostic images, so they catheterized him to avoid moving him too much. Endless testing found no cause for the stubborn high temperature or platelets, and the working hypothesis was that cytokines released by the tumor were wreaking havoc. July 17 we discussed the situation with his surgeon - this surgeon is very good and someone I completely trust. He felt the best bet was to remove the leg (and its cytokine generating tumor) as soon as the platelets were high enough. It might be soon because they had started an upward trend. July 18 platelets were at around 100, so with Amicar on board, Jeff's leg was removed. He remained in ICU to recover, and they continued to monitor his temperature, which gradually came down to around 101 - 102. July 22 we brought Jeff home on Gabapentin and Metacam, as well as an antibiotic, chloramphenicol, as he had a bladder infection that included a very resistant bacteria. In spite of which his appetite gradually improved and he was getting very good at getting around on three legs. When walked on the street for a short distance, he'd dig all feet in when we turned around, because he wanted to go further. Only thing was that he was licking a lot - everywhere, I thought at first behavioral, then wondered about a reaction to the antibiotic. July 31 his stitches came out and there was one small area that oozed a little, but otherwise it was all good. His bloodwork was also good - platelets 199 - he received his first chemo treatment - Carboplatin. Came home and initially did OK. Appetite a little off, then gradually completely off - Cerenia did not help. August 1 - that area of the incision oozed a little again, but I cleaned it up, applied some neosporin, and it seemed fine after that. August 2 his temperature was up - 103 - took him in, and they again put him on fluids with a fan. Examined the problem area of the incision, deemed it a little puffy, looked at it with ultrasound to see if there was a pocket behind it - there was a small pocket of fluid which they sampled and sent out for culture. Fluid was like serum with a bit of blood. WBC count up a little, otherwise bloodwork all good. They took him off the chloramphenicol in case it was causing a reaction that resulted in the incessant licking, and also thought it would make him feel better and improve his appetite. No one knew for sure why his temperature is staying so stubbornly high. Working hypothesis was that it might be infection in the incision (that pocket area). Meantime, they gave him one dose of Pred - 10mg. Not something anyone wants to do with a dog on chemo, but it was meant to help with the temperature. August 4 they called in the morning - temperature holding at 102, if no change during the day, he could come home that evening. He was also eating a bit - combination of food I had brought for him and A/D, and was going outside to do his business OK. We went down around 4:30 to visit and hopefully bring him home. I looked at his chart - during his stay the highest temperature had been on August 3 - a tad over 104. And his latest reading was up from 102 to 103.5, therefore, they kept him overnight. August 5 he received another dose of Pred the previous evening (I was in tonight but didn't have access to his chart, but my understanding is that he got Pred if his temperature hit 104.) This morning it was 102 and they had the preliminary culture back, showing gram negative bacteria. They were going to put him on IV Baytril and keep him overnight so he could have enough time on IV abx for it to act. If his temperature held, we would be able to bring him home tomorrow. I visited this afternoon and noticed his heart rate seemed a little fast. Asked someone to check it - don't have the number but she said while a little high, not concerning. However, at the same time she took his temperature. It was just under 104. She rubbed his feet and abdomen with diluted alcohol to help him cool a little. (He is still on fluids and has a fan trained on him.) He is incredibly thin, and on his short walk, energetic going out, but weak on the return. ACA carried him back in. He isn't eating any of the goodies I brought from home, in fact, he tried to bury the plate. My hope is that the Baytril needs more time to become effective, but I am so worried, and so frustrated because while the infection is the working hypothesis, it isn't a definitive cause. The only tests I know they haven't run are a fecal and a thorough TBD. He had TBD testing done at NC State in 2013 and 2015 which were negative, not sure if worth running again. He had a negative fecal in the Spring, and when I brought it up, while they weren't opposed to running it, they said there was nothing in the bloodwork or the stool form to suggest a problem. I ask the hospital to initiate a consult with Dr C, but in the meantime, would like to hear from anyone with an experience that might suggest what is wrong, or a direction to pursue. Thank you so much. I am heartsick with worry.

I've used CET Poultry (was chicken a LONG time ago) toothpaste for a long time. Seems to work well.

Can you adopt conditional on your vet's examination of the dog? ETA: The way I read this, the concern isn't only the bald thighs, but the rash and bare patches in other areas also. Possibly easily cleared up as someone has suggested, but it's always good to know what you are dealing with up front, in order to make an informed decision.