ahicks51

Is this available in written form somewhere? In other words, something written by Dr. C that can be printed out and handed to a vet?

I remember what it was- it was that the whole cornea reflected- so the reflection seemed to be "in front" of what was normally seen, and the green-ish flash was larger in diameter than a normal eye.

It's been raining for the past three weekends here in the Valley; I have no idea what it is about the mud, but we get that here, too. For some reason, they find the hay I put down to be particularly palatable. Reasons elude me.

Kind of a white-green flash that the other eye didn't have. It was similar but different from the "usual" green reflective glare the eyes give. That and the whole bumping into things on one side.

We had a foster through here not too long ago that presented with weirdness in one eye- it just wasn't quite right. So, with the approval of the adoption group, I took him into the vet, and- yeppers, young dog with ~70% loss from a cataract. To be fair, I had suspected as much because he whacked his head into a leg and a door frame once each when he turned to the affected side. Entirely correctable, but I wouldn't want to guess at the price. Cute dog, too- about 2-1/2. You didn't adopt him in Phoenix, did you?

Yep. Baking soda, sodium bicarb, bicarbonate of soda- the stuff that fizzes a lot when mixed with vinegar.

Baking soda. If you wish to make it more palatable, mix it with oil; a paste with water will work, but it's not yummy and they may not look forward to it. It will not dissolve in oil (fish oil, chicken grease, whatever), so you'll get a mushy paste that will be mildly abrasive but tasty. Moreover, oil keeps stuff from sticking to the teeth. Fats are the great anti-tartar compound.

Corns: Pics not mine.

Yesterday he was all urgent at the door, which is unusual for him as he can hold it all day with no problem. Last time he did this, he knocked the door open- which he'd never done before- and threw up, so I opened the door for him, and he runs out and starts grazing almost immediately. I grab some long forceps and my sandals, and he throws up- a wad of grass. It then becomes a Barf Memorial that he and all the other dogs have to check out every time they leave the house. This afternoon- same deal. Urgency, grazing, forceps, barfing up grass- and no plastic bag. Everything's still going through him just fine, so I'm hoping it's not made it past the duodenum yet and it's just irritating his stomach. Last time it took 7 days, so- we're not even halfway there yet.

At least some autoimmune diseases seem to be caused by "molecular mimicry." For example, rheumatic heart disease- caused by rheumatic fever- results from the body confusing proteins from group A streptococcus. Once the body is sensitized to the bacterium, it may begin autoimmune assault on the body. Another example is Reiter's syndrome (reactive arthritis), resulting in autoimmune attack of the eyes, urethra, and large joints (presenting with the lovely triad "can't see, can't pee, can't bend the knee"). This comes from confusing a number of bacterial proteins with human collagens. The third example is bacterial proteins from Klebsiella pneumoniae mimicing certain types of collagen causing ankylosing spondylitis. Similarly, Chlamydia pneumoniae (related to the chlamydia that's an STD, but NOT the same organism) may cause multiple sclerosis in a similar fashion. For "true" autoimmune hemolytic anemia (versus that caused by TBDs), a latent infection or commensual organism could cause sensitization during periods of stress when the organism undergoes a growth spurt for whatever reason. Some protein cranked out by some bacterium or virus- maybe even a fungus- might resemble some protein on, say, the outer part of red blood cells. If that becomes an epitope- whammo, the body starts attacking its own red blood cells. Bad juju.

Stab in the dark- make sure nobody's feeding him onions. Although the mechanism is very different, they too can cause hemolytic anemia.

The primary benefits from feeding raw- particularly in an IBD dog- would come from the feeding of material that has no grain, and is low in carbohydrates. In this context, the feeding of cooked food (composed of meat with calcium added later- eggshell, etc.) would work just as well as the feeding of raw food. The other argument would be- what the heck kind of bacterial growth are you getting in the gut when you feed all that starch from grains, anyway? The one persistent objection with greys is that they fart, and it's the kind that removes wallpaper. Flatus comes from bacterial fermentation. If one's own children smelled like that all the time, you'd figure you weren't feeding them right, so there's no reason to believe it's any better in the dog. Take out the starches and grains, and the gas goes away. Most of the non-water volume of feces is bacterial anyway; poop is mostly bacteria. The production of bacteria is an effect from feeding large amounts of vegetable matter, which is perfectly satisfactory in ruminants that have the requisite number of stomachs, as well as specialty flora that have evolved to break down large quantities of vegetable matter. In primates, it's the same deal: special adaptations to manage large amounts of vegetable matter. This is why gorillas look like John Goodman: Gorillas are vegetarians, which is why they have such a large belly. John Goodman has no such excuse. This is probably why disorders like diverticulosis were unknown until the early 20th century: too much fiber, too many bacteria, stretching out the intestines until they herniate and form diverticula. Certainly the *type* of bacteria is of concern as well, but- heck. Must be a few times a year, ProMED digest has a story about someone catching salmonella from bagged kibble.

Not to threadjack, but have you considered feeding raw food? Check your local grocery stores, see what you can get- beef heart, chicken and turkey necks, or even if there's a raw food co-op locally. It's a lot of work, but the results are hard to argue with, particularly when exploring options to incipient GI issues.

Oh, he's fine. I felt compelled to give him a light dinner due to his cheeseburglary, and he was unhappy about that. He has yet to receive breakfast- I'm slacking- but he'll get his usual meal today. The Lisa informs me that it was 7 days, not 3, the previous time he ate plastic; he managed to consume the wrap off of an empty chicken flat he stole out of the trash. We're pretty sure he has something very independent in his background- certainly a herding breed, but I don't know what else. He gets caught in the trash, and there's no guilt no matter the admonishment. This time, he stole a large chunk of brie right out of the grocery bag, which he's tried before without success. I figure he must be about 2-1/2 years old, and his independence is starting to show. I was concerned last night that he may, in fact, be a wolf hybrid and that I have trouble brewing, but the experts tell me he's not part wolf, and based on his morphology I agree. He's started asserting himself in ways that make me uncertain- most recently, he's been sleeping in our bed when we're out, which is allowed by none of the dogs. Part of it is that we have to crate our current foster, so Tito- normally kenneled while we're out- has the option of getting into bed while we're gone. He knows better; he just chooses not to listen, and this latest excursion is an extension of his independence.

An hour after my last attempt to put hydrogen peroxide in him, he walks past me, pauses momentarily to offer up the tiniest "...urp..." and just keeps walking. I have the most sarcastic dog in the universe. Hopefully we'll see the plastic wrapper within a day or two. If it doesn't involve surgery, I'm all for it.

Squeeze bottles, syringes, rubber tubing (and Tygon and silicone and...), you name it, we got it. But the guy is just too strong. I may have another go here with the peroxide in a few minutes if nothing comes up. It's just that it doesn't seem to work with him. I've never seen anything like it.

Yeah; bought the peroxide a couple of weeks ago. I'm trying to consider the logistics of the plastic; I'm thinking the odds of it getting caught in his intestines are more likely than it getting caught in his esophagus coming back up. Feh. ETA: I'd try to cram more peroxide into him, but he's way too strong, and he fights me every bit of the way. And then what I get into him doesn't bring it back up anyway.

Tito, furball of unknown origin, managed to gulp down a chunk of brie before we could even get it out of the grocery bag. The problem is that it was wrapped in plastic, and now I'm concerned it might cause a blockage. Last time he swallowed a wad of plastic (no food inside), it showed up again three days later. At the time, I tried to induce vomiting about four times with hydrogen peroxide, to no avail. This time, I tried to stuff some peroxide into him, and in typical Tito fashion, the most I got out of it, two minutes later, was a tiny ".....urp....". Sarcasm is his forte. I dosed him again- nothing yet. I'm going to try salt next. He's about 70 pounds, and he has a lot of strength. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Milk thistle can't hurt. Some small amount of bilirubin is normal, but if it's elevated that can mean bad juju. My experience has been that the urine test strip color for bilirubin is a very subtle difference between +, ++, and +++. If it's read by eye, it should be tested again- and I *think* there are machine readers that are more reliable than eyeballing it. So, you might check to see how it was tested- in-house, or sent out, and if tested in-house, what technique they used to read it.

For maintenance, about 1000-1200 Calories/day in a grey that age.

We never give the bordetella vaccine as we don't board our dogs, etc. In fact, when we got Fletcher (non-greyhound) from the pound as a foster, we kept them separate for I forget how long to make sure the greys didn't come down with it. Fletcher ended up with kennel cough, and I braced for having it go through all the other dogs, but it never happened. The vaccine isn't even a very good one; it doesn't protect against all strains. It's a vaccine that carries a relatively low benefit, IMO, although certainly folks may want it if they board their dogs or have a lot of dogs coming and going for whatever reason.

Here in Phoenix the heat is miserable for 3-4 months out of the year; we just walk late at night. Walking in the morning would probably be better from a heat standpoint, but we're too lazy.

From the sounds of it, the same surgery- they went in and removed the material from two ruptured disks. She was held 48 hours (it's usually 24 or 48 hours for release), and she never stopped eating. She's fed raw food, so I brought them several cans of grain-free, meaty stuff- and a can of "pull pin and throw" tripe just in case- but she's always been a glutton. One time she ate a 3-pound box of treats that had just been opened that day. She was just shy of 7 years old when she was operated on. The scar isn't even visible today- you'd never know she'd been under. I checked with The Lisa last night, and her meds consisted of prednisone, Valium, and tramadol- no antibiotics, which made me wonder at the time. She tolerated the tramadol very well, and the Valium kept her sedated and calm. She's not a whiner or a nervous dog- we just didn't want her seeing a cat and trying to chase it down while on lead after the surgery.

She could stand to lose 0-1 pound, and that's about it. I like 'em on the thin side- I figure it's better on their joints, among other reasons- but she's certainly not overweight. If you can, go for the full-fat or 2% yogurt. There's no reason to exclude the fat.

I skimmed- sorry if this was mentioned- but what are the pain meds? They may be giving problems. Minerva went through the same thing; she wasn't given any oral antibiotics, but there was prednisone, Valium (to slow her down a bit), and tramadol. Maybe something else in there. Anyway- if it's not the antibiotics, the pain meds or sedatives given might be causing some of the problems you're seeing. A little note: even 3-4 weeks after surgery, we'd get a little "yipe" out of her when getting up. Although she was considered an excellent candidate for surgery, it took a little longer for all the symptoms to subside. She's now 100%, no yiping for months.