ahicks51

Eggs from chickens fed flaxseed. Other sources are available, but they will be considerably more expensive. Beef is supposedly a good source; can you feed beef heart?

Never heard of it being used for veterinary purposes before- or for IBD. As I'm sure you know, it's an immunosuppressant; immunomodulation is a route frequently taken for management of similar disorders in humans. They do nothing to treat the root cause, but they can ameliorate symptoms.

That's a beautiful thing.

Or a dog bed or whatever, covered with a tarp or shower curtain, topped with some sheets or big beach towels...? Fantastic to hear he was standing! If you have to move him on your own, you can make a quick litter with PVC pipe; make a frame that looks like a blocky number 8. Wrap in beach towels, and figure out some way to put wheels on the bottom (easier said than done). Looks a little like this:

The final stage of digestion- in the large intestine- is de-watering the stool. If this does not occur, then the material is pretty much unchanged from the small intestine. From my own perspective, BTW, I have Crohn's. I've been managing it by taking out certain elements of the diet; although much more resistant to dietary management, Lutz wrote a book on the subject from 30-40 years of experience as a gastroenterologist. If you can get it locally, I'd recommend "Life Without Bread." He notes it can take as long as 6 years to entirely resolve it, but that colitis responds well to his dietary recommendations.

I saw a study not too long ago where they showed that OTC NSAIDs had more addictive potential than tramadol. In fact, the drug is available OTC in some countries (!).

Sounds like it's the dinotefuran, a third-generation neonicotinoid pesticide. The permethrin is a pyrethroid- not entirely safe, but generally okay- and the pyriproxifen is an insect growth regulator similar to methoprene, which is generally pretty safe stuff as its activity is to disrupt hormones in the insect (versus blocking its nerve channels unlike the dinotefuran). It's also possible there's a carrier or other compound in the product causing the problems, but my money is on the dinotefuran.

It does sound a bit like louse-flies. http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.js...tm/bc/71712.htm Judging by the Internet, opinions differ as to the safety of permethrin when used with greyhounds. But a regular pyrethrin spray (which would be safe for greys) might work. Frontline would be more convenient and probably just as safe. Otherwise, hand-pick and immerse in alcohol to kill. Just a flying guess, but maybe a "waterless" shampoo might knock them back; asphyxiation with surfactants can really do a number on flies.

Sounds like he pulled a muscle. That can take a few days to work itself out.

Out of curiosity, did you discontinue the course of doxycycline once the results came back negative? For how long was he on antibiotics?

I don't know about pipe insulation for the entire tail- I would think that padding the end, but using bandages running up as far as possible to keep it all in place might work. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't taping the tail to the leg also considered a valid technique?

The pipe insulation foam also works. The main problem is keeping it on! Some recommend wrapping the entire tail; that seems to work best for some. I've also used the spray-on stuff from 3M to stop capillary bleeding and oozing on the tail. Can't remember the name of the stuff.

In terms of surgery, it is also good to look at specialty training and certification, particularly board certification in whatever discipline the veterinarian is practicing in- oncology, dentistry, etc. If they bother with board certs, their dedication is up a notch from that of the typical vet- most of whom are already pretty hard-core when it comes down to it. With human doctors- this may or may not translate well into veterinarians- I always look for the relatively newly minted doctors for weird stuff- people with an MD within the past 4-5 years or so. For routine, run-of-the-mill work where experience counts- look for up to 15-20 years of experience on top of those board certifications. Somewhere around 20 years or so, a lot of doctors get burned out, or their wisdom is dated- they've stopped reading the journals, going to conferences, etc. It becomes an assembly line, and between insurance (which vets don't deal with directly, fortunately) and costs, they start looking at their nest eggs and looking at a nice place somewhere warm. They may practice older techniques that- while effective- may not be the best choices overall for whatever reason. All of that info you can usually get over the phone or off the web. But nothing makes up for recommendations, and even those don't match the opinion one gets of the doctor face-to-face.

True- and there are interesting data supporting the notion that consuming more polyunsaturated fats runs a higher risk of cancer than those who consume *saturated* fats instead. This actually makes sense in that if the fats are saturated, then they are less readily oxidized. A number of studies in humans have indicated that while replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat *may* lower your chance for heart disease, the risk of dying early from cancer is elevated. Moreover, that risk is close to negating the benefits from lowering heart disease risk.

IP-6 is the same as phytic acid, BTW. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytic_acid I think it proved useful in the test tube, but not in the organism. As usual.

*groans* It can be. We had a foster who we had to take in when he split his, and it bled; he would lick it to pieces, and I did my best to bandage it but it was too serious to regrow on its own. The vet took care of it; I don't think he actually removed it, come to think of it. I'm pretty sure he just knocked Dash out and cut it way back. I do remember it was pretty painful for Dash at the time.

The only published study on the subject shows that there's no correlation between exercise before/after meals and bloat.

One group (Dr. C) has proof. The other group has a pile of anecdotes. They might be right, but they might not be. If you're going to follow a veterinarian's advice when it comes to amputation, chemotherapy, etc., it is best if you follow their instructions to prevent undesirable side-effects and potential interactions. There is, after all, the possibility that art. may undesirably impact the performance of the chemotherapy. Best wishes.

Raw. We used to keep a head of cabbage in the refrigerator just for the hounds- peel off a leaf and garnish their meal with it. I think it was Kari over at AAGI that told us once that she has/had a hound that wouldn't eat its meal unless the cabbage leaf was there. There's absolutely no flavor to it; it must be the crunch! that they enjoy.

Cabbage. *munch* *munch* *munch* I don't know what they think they're getting, but many greyhounds inexplicably enjoy cabbage.

There seem to be a couple of forums; this one seems to keep the posts hidden unless you subscribe: http://www.phpbber.com/phpbb/index.php?mfo...bullmastiffforu There's also Bullmastiff Rescue; contacting them with a plea for help- not for rescue, but for breed-specific advice- might help: http://www.bullmastiffrescue.com/ Absolute worst comes to worst- I'd find a machinist that could turn down a nice piece of schedule 40 PVC pipe or similar to fit as a rigid boot over whatever appliances were required for bandaging, pad the ends, and keep that sucker in place somehow. Assuming a muzzle didn't work, of course- but keeping a bullmastiff muzzled without someone present- not a good idea.

We've had two fosters without dews; given that another foster who split his (still don't know how), I'd say that depending upon the cost, getting them taken off if they need to go under general anesthesia for another reason isn't a bad idea.

If your vet is not already familiar with the writings on LSS by Dr. Stack, they should be introduced to her tenets: www.greyhound-data.com/dir/397/Lumbosacral_Stenosis.pdf As a side-note, as LSS is an arthritic disease, the stem cell modalities used for managing hip and knee damage (mechanical injury as well as arthritis) *might* find some utility in managing LSS. I called up the company that makes stem cells for this sort of thing, and they said they did not currently manage LSS with stem cells, but there are constantly new trials going on. It would be fascinating to see if stem cells in the LS joint would improve outlook in the greyhound.

Gas is caused by fermentation in the gut. The components that ferment are those that are not readily absorbed by the dog, and left to be digested by bacteria. These components typically include high-carbohydrate components (starch), which include wheat and corn. You can find foods that are higher in protein and fat, and lower in carbohydrate, that may substantially reduce the condition.

Check and see if a rabies antibody titer will suffice in lieu of rabies. If you can do that, that'll strike the rabies requirement. If you have no dogs coming and going from your home, don't take Alan to meet-and-greets or bump into other dogs (or need to board him), you can skip the bordetella. Not generally recommended, but it's not required unless the risk of exposure is there. Bordetella is a good idea if your dogs meet lots of other dogs, but it's not effective against all strains of kennel cough anyway. Heartworm antigen is a *test*, IIRC, not a vaccination. So- getting that done is a good idea if you're going to continue with HW prophylaxis. The DA2P/CPV booster is voluntary, not mandatory (best as I know- usually it's just rabies in order to get your dog a set of legal tags), and at the age of 11 years, the odds of catching distemper, parvo, adenovirus, hepatitis, parainfluenza, coronavirus, etc. is pretty low and must be weighed against the low risk of the vaccine.