tamborine

8 is still young, the odds are good, and she's still playful. I would go for it, if she were my dog.

Discussion of mounting behavior in another thread got me wondering... If a dog tries to mount, but can't, does that diminish his dominance? I'm thinking, of course, of my corgi Henderson & grey Stephanie. If they're playing and she happens to stand next to the couch or loveseat, he'll jump up on the piece of furniture & try to mount her. She always just walks away , then he jumps down and the games resume. So who's dominant? Henderson, because he attempts to mount, or Stephanie, because she doesn't let it happen? Is it the attempt or the the actual completion of the act that would make him dominant? With all their other behavior, I think they're about equal as far as dominance is concerned. So my silly question has no bearing on anything - just idle curiosity!

What an awful thing to happen - but it sounds like you saved Katie's life. Wishing her a full & quick recovery!

Great news! Who would've ever thought? Never heard of a histiocytoma on the nose before! But I guess they can turn up anywhere.

I'm so sorry

Oh no. When you first posted the pictures I didn't want to say anything depressing, but they resembled when my Odd Cat's mast cell carcinoma didn't respond to chemo & spread. I thought they looked like something malignant. I think this has a better prognosis than mast cell though. Are you contacting Dr. Couto? Sending lots of white light & good thoughts to Sunny (and hugs to you!). ETA: Nevermind the Dr. Couto question - realized Sunny's not a grey. Sorry.

Hugs to you & Pearl

Thanks for the input, everybody! Have to research & make final decision. But if we go with the specialist, I don't want it to be too far away, so I'd lean toward either Red Bank or Animal Eye Center (I'm in Carteret). When I adopted Bear, he came with a certificate for a free visit at a certain vet, which is who we got the estimate from. I think I'll take him to my regular vet, see what they say, and take it from there!

Not only non-grey, but non-canine: I apologize in advance if this post is inappropriate for H&M - please move if necessary! Last month I adopted a shelter cat who turned out to have entropion of both his lower eyelids, and he'll need surgery. I've already got a quote from the regular vet on the procedure (can't afford it until my tax refund comes!). But in talking to several people, I'm thinking maybe it would be safer to have an ophtalmologist do the surgery. There are only a few in NJ - just wondering if anyone's had any experience with them? Has anyone had a general vet do entropion repair surgery on their cat or dog, and what were the results? Thanks! Here's Bear...the shelter pictures are the only ones where you can really see his eyes:

from Middlesex County (and right on the border of Union County)!!

That's called a stuffed animal! Even a cat will respond to you at least some of the time (if he feels like it!). My previous pack of 3 greys were all therapy dogs. My current pack is 2 greys & a cardigan welsh corgi. They all know: Who wants to go out?; Who wants to eat?; Do your duty ; Who wants to go for a walk?; Go lay down; Come here; Get down; Get up here; Go ahead (to keep going, or get out of a room); Wait; Drop it; Git! (to get away from something), and probably others I can't think of right now. The only difference I see (in our home setting, not aiming to have agility dogs or anything) is that I was able to teach Henderson, the corgi, "sit", "down" (not Go lay down, but to just lay down right where he is), and "give me your paw" pretty quickly. Giving paw is pretty useless, but sit & lay down come in handy sometimes. I'm sure if I put enough time & effort into it, I could teach the greys, too. But it wouldn't really serve any purpose, so why bother?

My Odd Cat had several of those things on various parts of his body. A few different vets all told me they were nothing to worry about. Odd Cat developed mast cell cancer, too (very aggressive - ultimately caused his death despite surgery & chemo). He had cutaneous mast cell tumors which eventually spread internally. I can't help but think that there was a connection between these bloody little growths and the mast cell cancer.

Thanks! I fixed mine!

I lost my Magic to hemangiosarcoma almost 9 years ago. Hope you're able to spend a lot more good time with Hobbes. Sending him & you a

Don't know if this has been posted before, but here's a National Geographic interactive chart for chocolate toxicity in dogs. By the weight of the dog, it tells you how much of various types of chocolate cause various toxic effects. chocolate toxicity chart

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histiocytoma_(dog) My Tammy had a bump on her toe that turned out to be a histiocytoma. It went away on its own after a few weeks (but the vet was monitoring it).

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Get well, Cali

Pictures of Bama's nose added to post #1.

Kind of - but his are discrete little areas, not so widespread (yet). Do you think I should bring him to a veterinary dematologist? Is discoid lupus something a plain ol' general vet would recognize right off the bat without a biopsy? I think I may be getting ahead of myself a little here...

Bama has had a small circular pink spot on his nose for months now. Just this past week or so, the black part of the nose seems to be peeling away, bleeding, then healing up to pink areas. I was cleaning it & putting EMT gel on it, because at first I thought it was traumatic. It doesn't seem to bother him - he's not scratching at it or anything. I just inspected his nose VERY closely, and there are even little pink areas inside the nostrils. The nose isn't crusty or scabby, but looks like it's less "cobblestoned" than it should be. And where the "leather" meets the fur is kind of puckered or dried-out looking (it's been that way for a while - about as long as the original pink spot). I'm going to get him in to the vet this week, but in the meantime.... Could it possibly be a plastic bowl allergy? They use plastic bowls, but I'm going to run out & get some stainless steel ones. Could it possibly be the Iam's food that he's been eating? I recently changed them over to green-bag Iams for Stephanies bowel problems....it DID help her greatly, but..... I've read that grain-free diets are used for discoid lupus. What are some grain-free dog foods? Raw isn't really an option for me (I'm too poor!). Are they the type with a protein source & sweet potato? Are there other kinds? (I know I could google this, but I'd like some personal GT opinions!). Aside from all my other questions, does his nose sound like discoid lupus? I'm charging my camera to try to get a picture of it, but I'm the world's worst photographer, and trying to get a close-up of a nose is really going to challenge my pitiful abilities! Here are the best pictures of his nose I could get (he kept moving his head). As you look at the pictures, the pink spot on the lefthand side is the original spot, which has now gotten larger, and it's not round anymore. It seems to be kind of sunken in now, whereas it used to be just a smooth area of discoloration. And the fresh lesion alongside it is new today. The one to the righthand side was new yesterday: suddenly the thin black skin peeled off, and left a shallow bleeding wound. Does this look like discoid lupus, or something else?

That hematocrit seems kind of high....I know it's higher in greys than in other dogs, but Rudy's seems extra high (his hemoglobin looks a little high, too). I don't know if it's indicative of anything, or just a normal variation for him....

I'm so sorry.

Loss of vision could also be considered a neurological sign. But just from your description of the signs/symptoms, it really sounds like something's going on with the thyroid, and the eyes are a separate issue (possibly PRA). Sending good thoughts! Hope you get some definitive answers soon.

Robin, I feel so badly for you, your DH, and Beau! I can't help but think that poor Beau is probably hungry, but afraid to eat because of what the consequences have been in the past (abd. pain, D, etc.). He does take some food, and he should be ravenous on the pred....so it could be partially psychological. Reminds me of when cats have a UTI - they stop using the litterbox because they associate it with pain. The only other thing I can think that I'd investigate, if Beau were mine, is if maybe he could be started on some type of SSRI, which might reduce his anxiety over eating as well as increase his appetite a little more. I know, another pill, just what you don't want to hear. But maybe you could ask your docs' opinions on this? I'm glad to hear his weight is up!