ahicks51

Liver failure is a concern, if they don't sugar crash. I'm not sure what to think about greys and whether they have "normal" liver function like other breeds. From: http://www.kbvetcenter.com/toxicity_bubblegum.asp On the other hand, popular gums, such as "Orbit" contain about 0.3-0.4 g/piece, so the same weight dog (22 lbs) would need to eat 6-7 pieces to have a similar effect. Since manufacturers are not required to report the exact amount of xylitol that is in their product, it is best to assume ANY ingestion of xylitol by your dog to be potentially toxic. Signs of hypoglycemia can begin as early as 30 minutes after ingestion and can persist for 1-2 days. Some dogs have a delayed onset of hypoglycemia, up to 12-18 hours later. Symptoms of hypoglycemia include: weakness, depression, disorientation, ataxia (unsteady walking), collapse, and seizures. It Gets Worse... Xylitol has also been shown to cause liver failure in dogs. There is much research that needs to be conducted in this area, but it seems that many dogs that do not show symptoms of hypoglycemia can go on to develop problems with their liver if left untreated. Dosages of greater than 1.5-2 g/kg are thought to cause hepatic necrosis (death of liver cells).

Our foster Jake came back with bilirubin in the urine, at "+2" levels. Doc advised to get him on SAMe or milk thistle, and to look into low protein diets. While further work will almost certainly be required, how bad is "+2", and what should I start doing for this guy? ETA: And if I wanna run my own tests, are the human test strips also good for use in dogs? Like these: http://cgi.ebay.com/100-Urinalysis-Reagent...QcategoryZ26420

In this context, specific gravity measures salt. If you add salt to water, it gets denser; distilled water has a density of (about) 1.000. Ocean water is typically around 1.027, thanks to added salt, but it varies greatly. The Dead Sea has a specific gravity of 1.166, thanks to large quantities of salt. Other solutes, like sugars, can increase specific gravity of solutions. With urine samples, it's important to measure the salt concentration, as others have already noted, to make sure the ol' kidneys are working right.

Some wisdom imparted by Dr. Feeman: two links he posted that should be read when considering this option. http://www.avdc.org/Dental_Scaling_Without...0statement' http://www.bayparkpetclinic.com/article.ph...re+for+Your+Pet

The dentist probably isn't up on state-of-the-art like the oncologist in this sort of thing. You might want to see the news video on the vaccine- Lori is an acquaintance of mine, and her rottie is the dog I alluded to above. http://www.kpho.com/video/13744207/index.html The story's almost a year old, back when it was brand-new.

3mm is a small lesion. From the description, it sounds likely that an excision followed by treatment with the vaccine has a good pronosis.

Well, there's some good news- IF it's the same type of cancer. There's a melanoma vaccine- and it's a "curative" vaccine, not just for prevention. http://www.amcny.org/technology/melanomavaccine.aspx http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-...itional-ok.aspx I know one person whose rottie was treated with this vaccine at one of the first places to use it experimentally. In the case of her dog, it worked. If your vet is not familiar with it for whatever reason, it's produced by Merial (which should be abundantly clear in the press releases above!), and if they STILL don't know about it, I'll find all the information they need. There may be better data now that it's out, but the life expectancy went from 1-5 months without the vaccine to a median survival time of 389 days in one study. Let us know how it comes out. Best wishes.

Along the lines of what greytexplorer has to say- provided the vet says he can tolerate it, I would suggest raw food. Fiber = bulk, and quite frankly, if it's excretion that pains him, a raw diet would provide reduced stool volume. However, it would make it considerably firmer, and I'm not sure if that might injure him. It is interesting to note that there may be considerable changes in the intestinal flora of carnivores that are fed high-fiber diets- and these changes are not for the better. A diet of meat may improve things dramatically. If you need more info on the raw diet, try Food and Dietary Discussion, just down the hall and to the right.

Note that spay/neuter is not without its risks. Specifically: "Neutered or spayed dogs have a one-half to threefold higher risk for developing bladder tumors and twice the risk of developing osteosarcoma as compared to intact dogs." That's from: www.geocities.com/rottndobie/SpayNeuterCancers.pdf I believe the osteo study related to rottweilers, but they may have looked at other large breed dogs as well. I think the cut-off was one year, i.e.: the two groups consisted of dogs neutered before 1 year of age versus those left intact. Which is not to say I oppose neuter. But one has to weigh the risk of a disease like osteo against getting stupid and ending up with a box of puppies on "Craigslist."

BTW- if he's fresh off the track, the shedding is normal. He's probably blowing his track coat; it'll come in much nicer when it's all done.

Hundreds of years ago, a dog didn't live to be half the age a dog will today and if teeth went bad, they went bad. While true, it's worth noting that many greys have particularly foul mouths even at relatively young age. It seems likely that carbohydrate-rich kibble is at least partially responsible for this. There is no nutritional requirement in the canine for carbohydrates; start giving them long-chain polysaccharides, and the next thing you know, there are calculus deposits impinging on the gumline. Next step- pocket formation, and then serious disease. Bagged kibble is a relatively new invention. Our great-grandparents fed 'em table scraps- which isn't to say this was a balanced diet. But today, the over-engineered kibble (the "Blue Food" from the movie 2001, if you will), the all-in-one, no nutritional deficits, same-stuff-every-day-for-life food from who-knows-where, is- to the skeptical eye- perhaps not the best stuff for the teeth. Simply put, oral flora do not do well on the Atkins diet; in humans, ironically, the Atkins diet causes tooth decay, probably from some weird metabolic acidosis thing. In the canine, it can do very nicely to keep the teeth white and shiny. It's partly mechanical, and partly biochemical. It could be that, as a prey-hunting breed, greyhounds were selected to have lower tolerance for carbohydrates in the oral environment. This may partially explain why greys tend to have rotten mouths, moreso than many other breeds.

The "go to" vet for all things greyhoundish is Dr. Gary Yocham, over at Southside Animal Hospital. No appointments, hardly no waiting, hardly any sense of humor. But the fellow used to be the track vet for Phoenix, and he knows the breed better than anyone else. The specifics on Yocham and other "AAGI-approved" vets are here: http://www.arizonaadoptagreyhound.org/vets.php I originally went to see Kleban on the list, but they were out of the office and Dr. Pears (?) in the same office informed me greyhounds were just like all other breeds. I didn't go back. I now go to the vet up the street for routine maintenance; she's good, but the office is undergoing expansion. They gave me an estimate for $550-650 for general anesthesia to remove two spots of what were probably hemangiosarcoma; I took Coco to Yocham for a second opinion, and he quoted me $90 and took 'em off with a local. It wasn't just a cost savings (although that was a consideration); it's also the risk of a general, plus the recovery time and unnecessary trauma to the animal.

You might want to keep Brady out of the sun quite so much. The risk of sun damage is real. Coco had a couple of spots of hemiangiosarcoma removed, and I'm pretty careful to keep him out of the sun now even though he's a dark brindle. They always get walked at night (always have- nothing new just because of the skin thing). The only good news is that there's now a decent curative vaccine available for malignant melanoma in dogs. IIRC it's $500 (it might be more- they have to grow the animal's own cancer cells), but I think it adds an extra 14 months on average or something like that. I'm admittedly a little hazy on the details now (plus, it was brand-new when I read this- things may have changed), but a good portion of those dogs were flat-out cured of disease. I think it broke down into thirds- one third cured, one third life extended, one third no difference.

Fertilizer is a low-risk proposition, provided it is delivered without herbicides or pesticides. Mainly it'll be nitrates (ammonium nitrate and potassium nitrate), with smaller amounts of phosphorus and potassium. The nitrates are the biggest risk; they turn people blue (methemoglobinemia, seen mainly in infants in areas where farm runoff gets into the water supply). Try a water-soluble fertilizer, the sort that attaches to the hose-end, and spray a day or two before you expect it to rain. (This is counter to what one should do- normally you do NOT want it to run off, and this is still the case. The idea is to deliver it to the plants, then the rain washes any residue into the ground.) Or you can use the hose-end fertilizer attachment, and then a few hours or a day later, go over it again with the hose to get all of it into the ground. Again- no herbicides, no pesticides, but all the N-P-K that you want. This method should reduce exposure to near zero for the hound. Another suggestion would be to top-dress with composted organic mulch. Back in Pennsylvania, we could get "mushroom soil," which is used in coal mines for growing mushrooms, and disposed after a short period of time. It's really very good for the lawn.

You might be able to reduce the damage he can do by wrapping the leg with some Vetrap. Put in a few wads of 4x4 gauze or similar to bulk it up. I don't suppose a muzzle would cover the affected area, would it? That might prevent him from getting to it at all.

And substantiation that tetrachlorvinphos is not good for ghds: google up "tetrachlorvinphos" and "organophosphate," and you will see it is an organophosphate pesticide- a "nerve agent" for bugs. This is a good thing. We like dead bugs. Now google up "organophosphate" and "greyhound," and up come the links saying OPs are bad for greyhounds. In all likelihood, brief exposure will not cause harm. However, if any of the usual signs come up, get help. From the Merck manual: In general, OP pesticides have a narrow margin of safety, and the dose-response curve is quite steep. Signs of OP poisoning are those of cholinergic overstimulation, which can be grouped under 3 categories: muscarinic, nicotinic, and central. Muscarinic signs, which are usually first to appear, include hypersalivation, miosis, frequent urination, diarrhea, vomiting, colic, and dyspnea due to increased bronchial secretions and bronchoconstriction. Nicotinic effects include muscle fasciculations and weakness. The central effects include nervousness, ataxia, apprehension, and seizures. Cattle and sheep commonly show severe depression. CNS stimulation in dogs and cats usually progresses to convulsions. Some OP (eg, amidothioates) do not enter the brain easily, so that CNS signs are mild. Onset of signs after exposure is usually within hours but may be delayed for >2 days. Severity and course of intoxication is influenced principally by the dosage and route of exposure. In acute poisoning, the primary clinical signs may be respiratory distress and collapse followed by death due to respiratory muscle paralysis.

Advantix liquid has permethrin and imidacloprid: http://k9advantix.petparents.com/howItWorks.cfm Hartz InControl Reflecting Flea & Tick Collar for Dogs Active ingredients: Tetrachlorvinphos : 14.55%, S-Methoprene: 1.02%, Other Ingredients: 84.43% They may have other models out there. But after a quick peek at www.hartzvictims.org, I wouldn't use anything they make. Lots of reports of bad reactions, many of which have some horrible photos to go with 'em. ETA: It's worse than I thought. Hartz pulled all their old stuff as per the EPA. They re-released it, same junk but with new labels. Too dangerous to use for normal animals with normal physiology, let alone greyhounds and their quirks. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/flea-tick-drops.htm

Who did the lab test is also important- IDEXX and whatstheirname are different from other labs. Highly recommended: Michigan State University's lab, along with thyroid interpretation. Their interpreter will give you a sighthound-specific diagnostic consult for a couple of extra bucks. Don't know if they're back to doing it by dialysis or not. Sighthound levels can be low, and most labs don't calibrate their instrumentation in that range. Worst case: try a low dose of soloxine, see if there are any behavioral changes.

Sparrows are nasty creatures. The cigarette butts have occasionally caused homes to burn down. Frontline (fipronil) is an acaricide; it is highly effective on mites- probably on bird mites as well. They make a 0.29% fipronil spray for treating fleas; you could use that to hose down the area in which the nest was built. Don't worry too much. It's unlikely to become a problem.

I always worry about 'em breaking a leg or hurting their necks while traveling in the car. At the same time, these dogs *are* hauled all around the country, sometimes hundreds of miles at a clip, occasionally with more than one dog in a "hole." Locally, where the Phoenix track does not kennel dogs on track property, some of them are hauled ~100 miles round trip every time they go to the track- and probably more. I think David Blair is down by Marana, and I understand he races dogs at Tucson as well as Phoenix. But, of course, retired hounds aren't in the same condition as current racing dogs, so their treatment should be tempered by this fact.

Flushing is good, and- not to disagree with Lynn- but you could go the other way 'round, flushing with water and then dilute Betadine. That might help prevent additional growth. I do agree that frequency wouldn't hurt- every 8 hours is a nice set regimen. Best of luck with your pup.

There is also the very real risk of the organism developing an immunity to the various prophylaxis available for HW. It would be nice to know ASAP if such resistance were to develop. I suspect the prime reason for it is to keep from killing the animal if for some reason there were HW infection and the preventative were provided without precautionary measures taken.

I would ask for an explanation from the surgeons involved. I've been trained in intubation as an EMT, and although one can do damage via intubation, such a gross injury from highly-skilled people seems unlikely. You may ask for a necropsy at a local vet school if possible. Sorry for your loss.

I'm no expert at this, but let me throw this out- have you tried a diuretic like lasix? Just a stab in the dark- if the anxiety, diminished energy, panting, etc. is the result of congestive heart failure (a bit of a stretch- more likely, he's just getting old), it could be a relatively simple fix. I don't think it likely, but I thought I'd mention it.

Has anyone ever tried a Surgilast for this kind of injury- just enough to keep the ear gently bound to the head so they can't shake it apart?