ahicks51

Depending upon the severity of the wound, I like to check every 8 hours- clean dressing and fresh tape 3x/day, which may help capture an infection more quickly. Once it skins over and dries, one can back off to once a day, or as needed if the bandages tend to fall off.

Is he having any other symptoms? If you don't mind feeding raw, a chunk of beef heart would add a big slug of iron to his diet. Cooked would be fine, too.

Amicar is aminocaproic acid, and is used to manage bleeding disorders, so I suppose it could be used for post-op bleeding. What do you need to know precisely? I'm a little confused by your query.

1664 seems a bit low; Feeman suggests down to 1800/uL is OK if the greyhound is otherwise healthy: http://www.animalmedicalcentreofmedina.com...d%20Labwork.pdf Where are you getting the 2.6 from?

I've used the Krazy Glue. It works. Come to think of it, along with glue, the one recommendation that seems to work is to really wrap the tape the whole length up the tail if needs be- anchor that sucker in place, no chance of it coming off.

Note that the artery that feeds the tail runs along the underside. To stop bleeding in the tail, compress the underside with your index and middle finger. You'll feel a sort of flat area with a channel in it, and it's that area that you want to compress to stop bleeding distal to the site of compression. A long time ago, we had a foster with a bad case of happy tail; we used lots of tape, and I think the foster home used a chunk of pipe insulation. I think we used the NexCare blood-stop spray (it has octylacrylate, which is used in surgical wounds) to stop the end of the tail from seeping blood. (Come to think of it, it'd be interesting to see if a tiny dab of Krazy Glue, chemically similar to octylacrylate, to keep the bandage in place- it's used by special forces in the field to do so.) Anyway- it looked pretty bad and club-like by the time it all healed over, not a lot of hair. A year later, however, one really had to look closely to notice it was any different from an undamaged tail. The owner stopped crating him, too, which REALLY helped.

If you have a muzzle, you should probably put that on her if she tries to bite you when you clean that region! Good luck, and hope it all works out for the best.

Note also there's tamoxifen, used in Dr. Stack's own greyhound who lived at least 4 years post-amp.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Welcome to GT. Is the spotting continuous, or intermittent? I seem to recall that greyhound ovaries can sometimes be tough to find, and that one (or a fragment of one) can be left behind in some instances.

Sounds like things are looking better. Just one comment, a dogs stomach, or a human's for that matter contains hydrochloric acid, not water, there is no chance a pill casing could pass through the GI tract intact. Particularly if it's enteric-coated fish oil, which is seen in some locations. It's specifically designed to resist the acid environment of the stomach, but the capsule dissolves once it passes the duodenum, entering an alkaline environment. Old-style enteric coatings were stuff like shellac; newer ones contain weird phthalates that I'm not so sure are healthy.

There's probably no real chocolate in there anyway- probably cocoa powder. If there was real ground chocolate in there, it'd take a heck of a lot- more than a single brownie from out-of-the-box mix, anyway.

Did she race in the southwest? More precisely, if she has so much as been hauled through the southwest, valley fever (coccidiomycosis) should be ruled out; if you don't know if she raced here, give us a racing name and maybe we can help rule in or out the possibility.

There's a note from Dr. Stack- a greyhound vet in Yuma- about the protocol used on her own greyhound after an osteo diagnosis. It must be noted that living >4 years post-amp is very unusual. My greyhound, Aussie, now 9 years old, is > 4 years post amputation (Oct 23, 2003). His protocol: Took x-rays just a few days after noticed him limping. Saw what looked like osteo at proximal humerus (left shoulder). Did not waste precious time with a biopsy - amputated the very next day. Started chemo exactly 1 week post-amputation - the day we got biopsy results back from the lab (we sent in the amputated limb for biopsy). Aussie had 6 carboplatin chemo treatments. No problems except a low WBC delayed the 6th chemo by 1 week. He's taken 3.75 mg meloxicam (generic Metacam) ever since amputation because he's got a bad arthritic hock in backleg on same side. 1 year post-amputation, I started him on 10 mg tamoxifen once daily. Tamoxifen is the anti-estrogen drug that breast cancer survivors take for the rest of their lives. Anecdotally, tamoxifen may be an anti-angiogenesis drug (a drug that stops new blood vessels from branching out from tumors). Tamoxifen can have some problems in girl dogs but is OK for boys. Not approved nor or you likely to be able to find out much of anything about it. I just started Aus on it because a friend's boy osteo grey was started on it by Dr. Ogilvie (ex CSU oncology guru). I figured if it's good enough for Dr. Ogilvie, it's good enough for me. Aus eats the same food as the rest of my dogs, "Enhance Hunter's Edge" by ARKAT. We feed it because it's relatively cheap (we have lots of big dogs) and does a greyt job keeping weight on my greyhounds with once daily feeding. Relatively high in protein, fat, and calories. Protein 24%, fat 18%, ~585 calories/cup. Aus doesn't get any supplements or special treatment and is very fit (we live on 2 & 1/2 acres). Suzanne Stack, DVM Another, much more experimental method would entail naltrexone, which has few side effects. There are occasional reports of its use in animals; one anecdotal report involving an unspecified bone cancer where the dog was expected to live 5-7 months is alive a year later; the tumor shrank, and when it began to re-grow they doubled the dose and it went into remission again.

There's an "apparent risk" of bone cancer in gonadectomized dogs. There is some conjecture that this is due to the "my dog got fat after neuter" thing, with more stress being placed on the bones. But if they're neutered later (after the age of 1 for large breed dogs, I seem to recall) that risk is diminished. For an Iggy, it's probably not even a consideration.

Glad to hear there's been improvement. As an aside, the "Ridge Rest" foam mattresses used for camping are lightweight and waterproof- nice and spongy.

When Minerva was hurting before her neck surgery (completely recovered and her fur has regrown- I can't even see her zipperneck scar anymore), I would chop up her raw food and then hold the bowl up to her face so she wouldn't have to lean over at all. It was a bittersweet thing, seeing her gobble food, letting out tiny whines of pain- her appetite was never impacted, but to think of her hurting while eating was pretty rough.

That's a good question; I've honestly not studied the subject of supplementation with digestive enzymes too much. However, because that's what the different bacteria in yogurt probably do (as well as physically displace less desirable bacterial species), it may be worth a shot.

We know that as humans age, the ability to produce lactase- the enzyme that breaks down the disaccharide lactose, or milk sugar- tends to decrease. Lactose intolerance is the usual result. Of course, we have an entire suite of enzymes to process food, starting with those in the salive that are imparted during chewing. I don't think anyone has studied whether the concentration of these enzymes diminishes with age. From this, we're left with a big hanging question: as animals age, do they have the same ability to digest food as they did when they're younger- or is lactose absolutely, positively the only one? I doubt it, but there's no evidence either way. Then the question becomes- what happens if these undigested dietary components go a-travelin' down the ol' alimentary canal? As with beans in humans, they ferment- producing gas. From this, we know microbiological populations can change- sometimes startlingly quickly- to adapt to the "new" food items that come to, er, pass. Many people who consume beans on a a regular basis adapt to this change over a period of days or weeks. The problem comes when the host is sensitized to these unnatural populations. We know that some digestive disorders- in humans- carry with them the risk of forming antibodies to specific organisms. This seems to happen under specific conditions under which the host has been fed large quantities of carbohydrates- primarily from grains. A similar thing happens with dogs, although the data are much shakier for that. However, we know that IBD and IBS occur in dogs quite frequently, causing owners to change foods and, if that's not enough, go the route of medical intervention with prednisone and other immunosuppressants in order to keep the interactions between bacteria and host from eventually destroying the animal's capacity to digest food and eventually waste away. This does not happen in all cases, obviously, but a select few animals will go down this route.

Very common; the blood pressure in greys is a bit higher than for other dogs, and then when they stand up, they get all that additional pressure from the "water column" of blood, being so far beneath them that the nails keep bleeding. If you haven't fed dinner yet, do so- that'll keep them off their feet. Add something (flour or pepper) to the cut nail, and then wrap in a couple of paper towels with some tape to keep it on loosely. Put a ZipLoc plastic bag or similar over the foot if they decide to walk anytime soon, wrap it in place with a bit of tape.

There was that similar green sheen, too. Doc suggested it may have been a lens injury at some point in time; it may have been why he was retired, but I forget details now. He was fine when we got him, and he'd just been retired shortly before that, so I kind of doubt it was a recent injury. Maybe he even ran with it like that- I don't know. Correction is straightforward, but- again, provided one eye is at or near 100%, the question would be "why"? Many dogs do surprisingly well even when both eyes are affected. http://www.veterinaryvision.com/dvm_forum/dvm-cataracts.htm

We had a foster that was a bit of a klutz when turning to one side; we took him to the local greyhound vet the day before he was to get adopted out (he was a fast move), and he took one look and said, "Well, he's blind in one eye. Or nearly so." Well THAT was simple. The lens can be replaced; when asked, he took another look, figured the dog had perhaps 30% sight in the affected eye, but he really did quite well for himself. Other than a couple of incidents (bumping into a door frame when turning towards the side with the affected eye, that sort of thing), he did fine. But if something DID happen to the unaffected eye, there was always a surgical option, albeit an expensive one. The adoptive family was notified ASAP; they continued through with the adoption and, best as I know, he's still in the home today.

Part of it is that it covers you- if the dog shows up positive, the company may pay for treatment (Interceptor- don't know about others). Part of it is that it constitutes a much larger program in which if a dog DOES show up HW+ while on HW meds, then we know we have a problem: resistance is forming.

It's very common to have something similar on the chest; blackheads tend to form there. They get a little better with a warm, moist cloth. Welcome to Blackhead Pickers Anonymous.

Orbiflorxacin is in the same class of drugs as Cipro. Best as I know, it's safe in greys.