turbotaina

Ondasatron was what Heyokha was given. Racingdog, I'm sorry you've had such bad experiences, but I don't think it's fair to paint everyone in the veterinary profession with the same brush. I've had wonderful, compassionate vets over the years, who honestly do care about my dog (and my cats, in the past). In fact, when Heyokha was recently hospitalized, the surgeon who operated on him and the surgeon's girlfriend brainstormed about good foods to bring him to tempt him to eat. They brought in yogurt, chicken, applesauce, etc. And that's just one example. Keep in mind there are vets and vet techs who are active on this board, and they are all compassionate people who take the time to respond and offer advice to people they'll never even meet in person. OP - my boy was hospitalized with an obstruction which led to a perforated intestine. He had to have radical surgery to clear the impaction and close the perforation. He also had abdominal sepsis, so that had to be cleaned out, too. He didn't eat for 5 days and lost 13 pounds. I managed to get some chicken in him one night while I was visiting, and his appetite began to pick up from there. So, not the same illness as your boy, but just wanted to share our experience. Don't give up hope - your boy may still be working on his appetite. Hope it picks up soon

As many folks here on GT know, I just went through a $16k + incident with Heyokha for an impaction, perforated intestine and abdominal sepsis. That was a full week in intensive care, daily bloodwork, a lot of drugs, and surgery to remove the impaction and clean out the abdominal cavity. The surgery by itself was about $6k and we were running from $1-1.5k per day for supportive care. This took place at a specialist hospital, though he was admitted through the emergency side. The emergency crew took care of his supportive care and the internal medicine specialists did his surgery. Post discharge care has been about another $500 or so (and we had to do extra antibiotics because his incision wasn't healing properly). Like Laura, I'm in the DC suburbs and everything here is super expensive. About two weeks prior to that incident, Heyokha had a dental done at my regular vet. A cleaning and 6 extractions was $1300. His prior cleaning with no extractions was about $900, and a cleaning with two extractions (of the tiny front teeth) in conjunction with an umbilical hernia repair at OSU was about $900. My regular vet's office fee is, I think, $65. I now have insurance on both the pups. I used to think I couldn't afford the $80 a month it costs to insure both. You know what I really can't afford? A $16,000.00 vet bill. Thank goodness for kind people

Well, nothing left to do except to teach him to speak English and have him explain himself

Very strange behavior. A friend of mine had a greyhound who had a bad case of sleep startle and would growl if anyone bumped into him, tried to wake him, etc. One night she heard him at it and found out it was the curtains brushing up against him. Does he generally have sleep startle? Could something be brushing up against him in his sleep?

Heyokha's came out to about $1200 the last time. The one before that was like $900-ish. I think it ran me about $700 at OSU the year before that. I feel your pain.

Turbo had, I think, 3 dentals during the 8 years I had him, no problems at all. Heyokha has the dreaded greyhound mouth and he's had 3 dentals now. He doesn't do well with certain induction agents/anesthesia, but it's nothing life-threatening - he just gets very dysphoric with dexdormitor, so we don't use it. He has otherwise done great. Had 6 teeth out the last dental. I think Crow had a dental before we adopted him. We've only had him a few months, so no need for one yet. I'm hoping he has good genetics

My dogs sometimes come to the barn with my husband, but only when he's picking me up after riding. They have shown no interest in horses, beyond normal curiosity. Heyokha has been to A Circuit shows (everyone seems to have a dog, but they're usually aussies or JRTs). He enjoys meeting people, but I keep him away from horses we don't know - just because my dog doesn't mind horses, doesn't mean the horses don't mind them - not all horses are "dog broke". More concerning for me at the barn now is that we have two goats - a mini-Nubian/boer cross (as far as we can tell) and a Nigerian dwarf. So they're small enough to be of predatory interest to the greyhounds, both of whom have prey drives.

Diane, I am just seeing this. I'm so, so sorry for your loss

Piggy-backing on Chad's post, to find a coursing group near you, check out www.asfa.org. In addition to making sure your hounds are at or close to racing weight and physically fit, also make sure you keep nails trim. Overly long nails = broken/dislocated toes, especially over varied terrain.

That sock thing is awesome! I'll have to remember that one!

Wendy :grouphug . I'm so sorry

Sorry for the trouble you're having. Please understand that most "aggression" is fear-based, and it's sounding like your pup is very stressed out. I guess I don't understand why your son's friend was anywhere near your dog. How old are the kids? Some greyhounds get very stressed out by the activity and noise level of children. I would definitely take up the offer to have him evaluated at Tufts. What's your dog's name, btw?

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He looks great! Hope the rest of the healing process goes as smoothly

Yep, much better, thanks

That's my hope too, Jen

I just signed up for Healthy Paws. A day late and $16,0000 short, but hey, it'll be there for any other emergencies or issues.

My husband got laid off from his job a few years ago and started his own company. Since then, money has been very, very tight and I didn't think we could spend the extra money for pet insurance, so I never bought it. Until Friday, February 13, our biggest emergency vet bill had been about $1500, which is easy enough to handle with Care Credit or even my regular credit cards. I had just used my Christmas bonus to pay for Heyokha's $1300 dental (he's got an awful mouth ), so my savings account was pretty much at zero. Then, on the 13th, he ate a portion of the filling from a buckwheat pillow. He was taken to the e-vet in the hopes he'd just spend a night, get fluids and pass or vomit the filling. It didn't happen. By Monday, his intestine perforated, causing sepsis. He had to have emergency surgery to repair the perforation and clean the abdominal cavity. We finally got him back home on 2/19, after he'd spent a solid week in ICU. The cost was over $16,000.00 and an additional $300 in follow-up care to date. With the assistance of GoFundMe and an auction some friends set up on Facebook, most of that bill will be paid for, but we'll still be paying thousands. If not for the kindness of friends and strangers alike, we'd probably be staring at bankruptcy, for while we have the credit to cover the bill, we don't have the means to repay it. I'm stunned at the generosity of people and the power of social media, but obviously that's not a go-to solution should something happen again. So I've bought insurance now, and will suck up the $85 a month it costs for both dogs because I'd really hate to have to make a life-or-death decision based on money alone. Heyokha is a young, vibrant dog and this was a situation that was fixable and we couldn't just end his life because we couldn't pay. It's an awful situation to be in.

Just seeing this, Robin. I'm so sorry you're going through it again, but I'm glad the surgery went well and he'll be home soon. May you have a quick and uncomplicated recovery and many years left together!

The one in Frederick does, Jen, so let me know if you need me to pick up a case for you before this weekend (I don't think it's sold by the can, just by the case, but I could be wrong).

I used it with no problems at all when Heyokha had to be on soft food post-dental. He loved it. But then again, he loves everything He's on the dry version of their food normally (Natures Domain Turkey-Sweet Potato).

Tramadol used to be a $4 script at Target, irrc. But I think it no longer is. But yeah, I never get prescriptions at CVS - way too expensive.

A nice brisk walk before bedtime may help. Also, could he be getting cold at night? Many dogs will wake up because they're cold and then have to potty.

Tbhounds is right. I tried to use them with Turbo and couldn't get them to stick.

My quote function doesn't work, but regarding allowing cooking oil to cool - put it in your oven or microwave if you can't babygate your kitchen. My kitchen area opens to my living room, so is too wide to gate. We've learned to be creative