calif_chaz

We'll be starting the modified prison protocol next week. My dogs have seresto collars and I see that Adv. Multi has the same flea medication. I am concerned with doubling the amount they would get but still want to prevent ticks since we live in a wooded area. How have others handled this? They will have to be on the Adv multi and panacur or drontal for awhile and I can't let them go unprotected from ticks. Thanks for any comments!

Thanks, everyone for your input. I have options to check out now. And Fireball says thanks too!

My boy Fireball has managed to kill his beloved slumber ball bed. He is a major nester/digger. I want to find something similar to his slumber ball but I need to get it quickly. My girl Star (non digger) still has her slumber ball so I don't want that to become the one bed everyone likes best. I see Victoria peak is no longer in business and I am not near a Costco so any suggestions much appreciated. Help Fireball find a bed. Thanks!

Thank you. It was fun to hear how they raced. Funny that the best racer (Gomer Pyle) never bothered to run in retirement at home. Now he was a bounce and we got him at 9 but he had zero interest in sprinting around the yard. The others wore a track with their lapping.

We enjoyed hearing of the racing careers of the two you checked on for us and I would so like to hear of 3 who have crossed over now. RJ's Gomer Pyle, Rooster Fancy, and Peppered Bakin. Thank you so much for this.

Thanks so much for the info! Always fun to learn more about their racing careers!

would love to know more about my recent two. WW Char Fontane 11/13 and Spry Fireball 11/14. Thank you

My boy had a reaction to Drontal. Restless and did not sleep for 14 hours. In fact when he laid down he never closed his eyes. Next day he was back to normal. Weird

Thanks. That was my thought too.

We are fighting a heavy dose of hookworms that he came with. It has been suggested that we add Advantage Multi instead of our usual Heartguard Plus. My concern is that he is wearing a seresto flea and tick collar and the Advantage Multi is for fleas as well as the worms. Is this going to be double dosing flea meds for him and cause a problem?

Bakin was 8 years 4 months. Ask for the xray s to be read by an outside radiologist.

Bakin. Officially Peppered Bakin. I did not think to see her name in this part of greytalk for a long time. I thought we had years yet together. She came to live with us in May of 17 at the age of 7 and I looked forward to, was naively confident in, 4, 5, even 6 years together. Sadly osteo changed all that. But what a wonderful 13 months we did have! She was my first brood and I fell in love. She picked me to be her go to person after most of the others had chosen my husband. It was flattering, delightful, and the most wonderful closeness. She had 25+ pups so she knew to be in charge. She must have herded them because she herded us. Not moving fast enough? a nudge from behind. Not following the timed routine? a bark and a prance. Time to get up? a very vocal roach from beside the bed. She definitely had us in hand. She loved to run in the yard and made her circular track complimented by an additional figure 8. Walks, car rides to the dairy for ice cream, 2 peanut butter crackers before dinner, lots of belly rubs, these were her things. She was Chick Fil A's biggest fan. A determined chaser of squirrels, she finally caught one in the yard and killed it, carried it up onto the deck, and when we were saying the totally ignored commands of "drop it, leave it", she proceeded to swallow it WHOLE. Like a snake. Furry tail last thing seen disappearing in 2 big gulps. So we did have only 13 months together. But they were so full! She was a huge presence in our life, personality plus. This may sound strange but it is like somehow she or fate or whatever you want to call it, knew the time would be short, so fill it to the brim, pack it all in, the love, the fun, the time together, squeeze the 5 years into a short 13 months and savor every minute. And so that is why it is so empty and still and hollow here. I will move on because you have to, and because I know she is nudging me on to do that. Run free, Bakin, get those squirrels!

Thank you all for your advice and concern. The greyhound community is like no other and I am thankful for it. Pls have a thought for Bakin at 11 this morning when she runs free.

My 8 year old girl has been diagnosed with osteo, front leg, top of the humerus. Began limping beginning of May. Since then 3 sets of rads, a second opinion, an outside radiologist reading to confirm. She is now on gabapentin, metacam, and Tylenol with codeine. It is still a bad limp and she stands as little as possible. Still eating and now with meds sleeping through the night. She gets excited when it is the usual walk time but those walks are now twice a day for a block. She can't do the things she has always loved , running in the yard, chasing squirrels, and long walks. My question to those of you who have gone down this awful road--what, or when, did you decide to let them go? What was the biggest factor in your decision? I'm just trying to gather as much input as I can to help make the best decision for her. Thanks for your thoughts.

We sent Phoebe on her way Monday. I had hoped she would make her 14th birthday but she was failing and went downhill so fast in the previous week. We lost Gracie on April 29 and Geoff on Feb. 3 and so losing Phoebe alone would have been so very hard but this way made it even worse. But to tell you about her...she was the sweetest, easiest greyhound ever. She came to us as a bounce in April '12 and settled herself right in. Her usual spots were always chosen for the most comfort, she took that very seriously! Her favorite was our bed all day but preferred her own bed at night, in our room, under the double windows. She was a princess, reclining on the bed in the day, and would regally stretch out a leg when I walked in as if to say you may now give me that love and attention I am due. She did shoot from her beds however when it was feeding time, walks, and in summer on the screened in deck before dinner. She loved doritos and baked chicken. Her favorite thing in the world was walks. She was a scent hound in a greyhound body and could make a 20 minute walk turn into a 60 minute stroll, sniffing everything. She never could miss greeting a person we met, tail wagging furiously, and accepting all the compliments paid to her. She was not as bouncing around us as some we have had but was always in the background, quietly waiting for love and soft words. I miss that outstretched leg and paw reaching out to me every time I walk in the bedroom. She is deeply missed. Godspeed, sweet Phoebe. Find the softest bed and make your claim on it.

About 4 years ago Graham tested positive for anaplasmosis during a routine annual snap test. I was very surprised because he showed no symtoms and the previous tests had all been negative. He went on a 3 or 4 week course of antibiotics (can't remember which one) and never had a positive again. The only hard part of this for us at least was as the antibiotic treatments wore on it really affected his appetite and I remember giving him pepcid to help some.

I am in shock that I am on here so soon, to ask you to honor and remember a wonderful girl. I posted here at the very beginning of February about 12 1/2 year old Geoff who we lost to osteo after just 6 months with us. Within a few days a girl named Gracie needed to be rehomed and we thought that would be a good healing for us. She slipped right in, and she and our old girl Phoebe hit it off. They would mash their heads together on our walks, sniffing exactly at the perfect spots. They were sweet with each other. Gracie loved stuffies, sun bathing a lot, watching the neighbor cat, eye balling squirrels in the hopes of someday catching one, and she especially loved her food bowl. Sadly, without hardly any progressing symptoms she went into liver failure. In the course of 1 week, despite IV, meds, etc she was not going to be able to turn it around and we let her go. We do not know what caused it, I only know we have never put anything on our lawns or plants, being extra cautious. All things point to something toxic but that is unknown. I just know we are lesser for not having this sweet girl with us, and having her for not quite 3 months, so soon after losing Geoff in a traumatic way has just emotionally devastated us. I will remember the things we loved about her, but I am not there yet. So please think of Gracie, wish her well, wish her squirrels to chase, wish her perfect sunbathing weather, and the best food bowl ever.

The mystery of the shaking leg has a good ending. Vet did xrays of leg, hips, etc and down at the lowest joint (my ankle?) there are screws from a break a long time ago. Vet said everything looks fine and what we are seeing is probably nerve damage from the injury and setting. Whew! She is a sweet girl and after Geoff last week I am a nervous person. We'll hear blood work, thyroid, etc next day or two. Thanks to you all for "holding my hand"!

Gracie has just come to live with us and I am puzzled over something. One hind leg shakes a lot when we are on a walk. Also sometimes standing but extremely so on a walk. We are not walking fast and she stops and sniffs along the way. It is not the distance because it starts right on. She does not seem in any discomfort. No limp. No corn. I know very little from her previous home, just that she was tested for Addisons last May and found negative for that. She is on thyroid meds of .7 twice a day, altho I know nothing more about these reasons. She is just turned 10. Coat is fine, appetite is fine, output is fine. She has a vet appt this afternoon for blood panel, T4, general looking over. I am thinking of asking for an xray of that leg. Please, any thoughts on any or all of this. I would like to have more things in my mind when she goes in. Could the leg issue be tied in with the Addisons test last year needing done? Could she be over medicated on thyroid meds and that cause this? I know some of this will be resolved by blood work but really need to have some good questions for the visit today.

This is the forum that I hate to have to write in and yet I absolutely feel I have to give words of love, respect, admiration, and yes, loss, for a fine greyhound. Geoff came to us Aug. 8 of this last year. He was 12 1/2 and had lived with his family many years but with a toddler added to their home they made the decision to return him. Their loss was our gain. He was absolutely the sweetest, most gentle soul ever. All he wanted was to be wherever you were and lots of love. He went from a very dejected boy to one who would terrorize stuffies, blankets off the dog beds, and pillows from the couch. He never raced because of a broken right hind leg when he was young. That leg caused him to have arthritis, and generally be a little gimpy. An xray from our vet showed a badly set leg with bone chips, in fact the vet said he couldn't even tell if it had been set. So we always were aware of that, gave him the joint supplements, rimadyl, and kept an eye on if he was having more trouble than usual. We tried so hard for him but we didn't know the insidious thing that was happening in his good hind leg. Friday after his walk he tried to get up from laying on a rug in the kitchen and had a spontaneous fracture in the good leg. There was nothing we could do but calm him, pet him, and take him to our vet to send him on his way to no pain, just running on 4 wonderful strong legs as he was meant to. Although Geoff was only with us for 6 months, he has left a huge hole in our hearts and in that of our other greyhound Phoebe. She has seen 2 other hounds leave but this is the first one she has been looking for everywhere. I think that alone says what a very special boy he was. God Speed, Geoff!

Last summer my greyhound Phoebe got completely terrified by the ring tone on my granddaughter's cell phone. It was a short, nothing loud or weird sound but for some reason Phoebe was completely spooked. She wanted outside and hid in a hole In the flower bed or by the fence and would not come back in. We finally got her back in but she was very nervous. Ring tone again and same complete panic reaction. Immediately my g-daughter changed her ring tone and that was the last of it. Phoebe has heard many ring tones over the last few years and never reacted to them. Why this one is still a puzzle to us but I know if no one had been here when it happened we would have been at a loss to know what caused her behavior. Phoebe is not a fearful dog and I have no idea why this bothered her so much.

Thanks, everyone for your thoughts. Right now she is having no tummy issues with what I am feeding her~~half cup boiled chicken, half cup cooked elbow pasta, 3/4 cup green bag and a little broth. She is chowing down on it and so far so good.

Does anyone know if the formula for the Iams large breed green bag (mini chunks~she doesn't have all her teeth) has changed? I know they were bought by Mars Co. but I don't know more than that. Phoebe isn't doing as well on it even after changing to a new bag to be sure of freshness. Might be changing her something else~any opinions on brand? Vet mentioned Natural Choice and Eucanuba. Any experience with either of those? Thanks again to all for any input. I have gone to you many times and so appreciate your help.

I'm so sorry to hear this. What terribly rough thing to go through again. Hugs to all your family.

I'm so sorry you have lost your Zim. You must have had a wonderful life together.