ahicks51

1) Buy some permethrin: http://www.pestproducts.com/ticks2.htm Or Home Depot, Lowes, etc. Read labels. 2) Add to cotton. 3) Put cotton in tubes where mice will steal it to put into their nesting material. From: http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai...hcd2=1182570416 "Alright, so here’s how to make your own, slightly different, ‘traps’: Put on gloves and goggles, spray a permethrin insecticide onto pieces of felt, heavy cloth or old carpet, line the insides of pieces of PVC plumbing pipe with the sprayed material, then place the pipes in brushy areas around your property. The mice will go inside the pipes to hide (they love tight little spaces) and the permethrin will kill their ticks-all without you spraying yourself OR the environment! Heck, you won’t even hurt the mice! Whether you use Daminex tubes or make your own ‘mouse wipes’, space the traps about 10 yards apart on the perimeter of your property, where overgrown, brushy areas begin. Don’t waste them on manicured lawns; you won’t find ticks there." Bear in mind this isn't a good idea if your dogs like to chew on plastic or cardboard tubes. Although it has low mammalian toxicity, greys have funky physiology and they shouldn't be eating pesticides anyway.

I bought a 50-pound sack of the stuff; anyone who wants some for the cost of shipping ($10 for 50 pounds = almost free on a per-pound basis!), drop me a PM. I need to get rid of the extra. We don't feed it here, but I've doled out some to friends. One hasn't related any success or failure, and the other reported it had no impact to date. But- if you want some, a flat-rate boxfull of the stuff should do you for weeks!

If not a Flexi-Lead, maybe a really long rope? Sounds stupid, I know, but if instead of a 6-8' lead, you had him on 10-20' of lead, maybe he'd do his business? Don't leave much slack in it (so he won't bolt) and maybe he'll go.

You could remove the rust with steel wool, and see if it holds up without any paint. If it's a stainless steel drop pin crate, that may be plenty. If it's an epoxy or hard coat over steel, if it's kept dry that may be enough. In other words, once it's been cleaned, if you keep it dry there may be no need for paint. If you are compelled to paint, most paints on the consumer market are safe once dried.

Sounds kind of like septic arthritis. Hopefully the samples of synovial fluid will be given a culture and sensitivity to determine the appropriate antibiotic if this is the case. Normally some sort of infection is required- sometimes surgery or an injury will allow strep or another bacterium in, but Merck says rickettsia (Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis) and spirochetes (borreliosis) can also do it. But the white blood cell count (WBC on any lab results you might have) isn't elevated? Hopefully you have it on the run by now.

Double-check the pads for injury. Slivers of glass, wood, etc. might be caught in a pad. Remove with glue (a touch of Krazy Glue on a needle, to adhere and pull out of the end is exposed), or forceps if you can get to it.

How long have you had Georgia? If she is fresh off the track, you may see gradual improvement in skin condition and quality with improved feed (i.e., good quality kibble). Fish oil capsules are fave-raves here: the dogs come running when I shake the container. For particularly dry spots, I take Vaseline Intensive Care lotion and dilute with water. That gets applied to dry patches; it works very well.

Doc, can you confirm that MSU is back to testing via dialysis? When we went to re-test one of our greys, we were going to submit to MSU again and there was some problem with them losing the license on the test they preferred. So, I sent it to Dr. Dodds instead. It'd be nice to know if MSU is back to testing via their preferred technique. (I don't know because it turns out our grey's numbers were fine, so we don't have a need to re-test just right now.)

If Dr. Dodds at Hemopet says Arlie is hypothyroid, I'd believe it. The meds aren't expensive; give Soloxine a whirl, and see if there's any change in activity, attitude, etc. Some vets prescribe whatever synthetic thyroid they have on hand; others are explicit about Soloxine. I seem to recall Dr. Stack being quite specific with respect to using Soloxine. YMMV.

I'd never heard of the papilloma viruses doing that. I looked it up in the Merck Veterinary Manual (emphasis mine): "In dogs, 3 clinical presentations of canine papilloma virus infection have been described. The first is canine mucous membrane papillomatosis, which primarily affects young dogs. It is characterized by the presence of multiple warts on oral mucous membranes from lips to (occasionally) the esophagus and on the conjunctival mucous membranes and adjacent haired skin. When the oral cavity is severely affected, there is interference with mastication and swallowing. A viral etiology has been clearly established for these lesions. The second presentation is cutaneous papillomas, which are indistinguishable from the warts that develop on or around mucous membranes. However, they are more frequently solitary and develop on older dogs. Cocker Spaniels and Kerry Blue Terriers may be predisposed. A definitive viral etiology has not been established, and lesions may be confused with cutaneous tags. Recently, a syndrome characterized by papillomatosis of one or more footpads has been described. Clinically, lesions appear as multiple, raised keratin horns. A viral etiology has been suggested but not proven. The third presentation is cutaneous inverted papillomas, which have more in common clinically with intracutaneous cornifying epitheliomas. In this disease of young, mature dogs, lesions most commonly develop on the ventral abdomen where they appear as raised papulonodules with a keratotic center. Infrequently, viral papillomas in dogs may progress to invasive squamous cell carcinomas."

Adverse effects noted as occurring with more than 1% of patients with transdermal Fentanyl patches include "application site reaction – erythema, papules, itching, edema." Erythema is a sign of inflammation that commonly occurs at injection sites; edema is observable swelling or water retention. In short, it seems this sort of reaction is quite common, but a quick call to the vet might put you more at ease.

You only need to shut it down until the virus runs its course- a few weeks, at least until the contagious dogs are no longer infectious. Really, the same thing could be done on a human scale during influenza season if people didn't insist on showing up to work while sick. There would still be a risk of re-infection of humans from natural reservoirs (geese); I don't know what natural reservoirs exist for canine influenza. AVMA advises "At this time, there is no evidence of transmission of canine influenza from dogs to horses, cats, ferrets, or other animal species." As far as time is concerned- a vaccine was developed for canine parvovirus strain 2 (CPV-2) in about a year, but that was almost 30 years ago. No idea how tough regulations are to work with today in comparison to then. If it's a "typical" influenza virus, it shouldn't take long provided the virus grows well in eggs. Not my specialty. I was an avian influenza and norwalk virus guy. Canine influenza is new, as of January, 2004 (discovered in greyhounds), and I've never worked on it.

Out of curiosity, are you doing any regular maintenance towards tooth cleaning? An enzymatic cleaner (Petrodex, etc.) along with a child-sized, soft-bristled tooth brush (not the one the Petrodex comes with- you can use that to scrape the gunk off your grill instead) will dramatically improve the appearance and function of the teeth. Another, more radical approach is to feed raw foods- which may not be an appropriate change of pace without doing quite a bit of reading, particularly given the age of the pup. But it sure does keep the choppers shiny without any need for veterinary intervention!

It may be extreme, but the relatively simple measures suggested could shut down the spread of the virus. If everyone did so, that could save lots of suffering, lots of money, and maybe a few canine lives. But that probably won't happen, so the virus will spread and inconvenience people, sicken dogs, and cause vet visits.

Stupid question- is there any difference between 'regular' raisins and golden raisins with respect to toxicity in dogs? Or are they both equally dangerous?

There are a number of conditions that might contribute to behavior like that which you're seeing. While thyroid issues could be real (send samples to Hemopet or, if they're back to doing it by dialysis, MSU's veterinary lab- they have a veterinary endocrinologist who can speak to sighthound issues with accuracy, unlike most labs), there can be cardiac or pulmonary issues, or even pain issues. Does her respiratory rate increase appreciably? Is there panting? Does she do better at night, when it is cooler? Is she heartworm negative?

An interdigital cyst, perhaps? Searching on this forum using the key word "interdigital" comes up with some pretty useful hits.

The sudden onset is suspicious, particularly in conjunction with what happened to Meadow. Although it certainly could be any one of a number of issues, I would be very suspicious if it were bilateral (both front paws, or both rear paws)- as if he had stepped in something that has caused a chemical burn. Other than having licked them raw, is there any sign of damage or discoloration? Check the fur between the pads; has it changed texture or color? Is there anything they might have stepped in on recent walks? Some runoff from someone's yard or driveway?

Frontline is fipronil, a strongly lipophilic substance I suppose- as it works its way into the hair follicle. That's how it manages to keep working for four weeks. Their website boasts the waterproof properties of Frontline twice in their brochure: http://frontline.us.merial.com/products/brochure_dog.pdf

Nice!

Some additional reading on the subject: http://www.geocities.com/bo_freddy/ticks.html "The two most common TBD's in greyhounds are ehrlichiosis and babesiosis. The two diseases are different from each other in the actual form of infection but are very similar in most other ways. They both are cyclical, like malaria, with three primary stages. In the early stage (acute) the dog commonly (but not always) becomes quite ill with flu-like symptoms and sometimes unresponsive diarrhea. This may go on for a few weeks or a few months until either the immune system builds up enough antibodies to fight it to a standoff or the dog dies. If the dog survives thanks to a good immune response, the disease will then go into a sort of dormant stage (subclinical), usually with no symptoms showing. This stage may go on for years; in fact the dog might never be sick from it again in its' lifetime. However, some dogs will exhibit seemingly unrelated or mysterious problems that can baffle many veterinarians, leading to inconclusive tests, incorrect diagnoses and unsuccessful treatments. And sometimes the symptoms will disappear as mysteriously as they appeared. Until the third (chronic) stage. At this time the dog may become seriously ill overnight or gradually, again confusing the veterinarian who is not familiar with these diseases. Usually, the dog dies in this stage and if not (due to treatment at this time), damage may be irreparable. " From: http://www.greyhoundadoptiontx.org/needs/saticks.shtml "Has your Greyhound ever experienced any of the following: * high fever * depression or lethargy * anorexia * anemia * diarrhea or constipation * loss of appetite or loss of body weight * vomiting * nose bleeds, skin hemorrhage or any other unusual bleeding * swollen legs or lymph nodes * nervous system disorders, such as stiff gait, head tile, seizures or twitching * pale gums and/or inner eye membranes If any of these symptoms or conditions apply to your dog, it is important that you know about recent findings of tick-borne diseases affecting Greyhounds all over the U.S. ProtaTek Reference Laboratory has performed serologic testing for tick-borne diseases on over 10,000 Greyhounds since March, 1995. Findings revealed that some 40% of these animals are silent, asymptomatic carriers of at least one or more tick-borne disease agents." As an aside, if your vet sends out a sample for analysis, it'll probably come here, to Chandler, AZ, where ProtaTek's reference lab is.

Sometimes cryptic symptoms can be tracked back to tick borne diseases (TBDs). Have you any results of a tick panel?

Yeah; Flagyl is big for giardia and amoebas. The more I think about it, the pup came in with loose stools, so the vet cuts a script for Flagyl in the hopes it'll cure whatever's wrong- shotgun pharmacopoeia. As for what else might be wrong- he's a young guy (maybe 4 years old), and when he was here, his stool was never very firm. I think it's dietary; he was on Kirkland's when we had him here, and the adopter stuck with that. Maybe I'll see if she's tried the usual pumpkin, or if she's tried other diets.

Some of you may remember our foster who has been having problems remembering he should be going outside, rather than on the carpet. The vet had him on a course of Flagyl (metronidazole); even after discontinuing it, he continued to pee and poop on the carpet. His appetite is also way the heck down. I figured the vet put him on Flagyl for giardiasis, and that it didn't "take" the first time 'round, which would explain at least two of the three symptoms, and maybe all three. So, the adopter (who has had him for over a year now) took him back to the vet- urinalysis and bloodwork- and asked the vet why the Flagyl. Turns out he *didn't* find giardia- he put him on it for "an imbalance of normal bacteria." He's always had problems with his stool consistency, so I'm not sure if he tried that to fix it or not. This is a vet that used to work with greyhound rescue- he supposedly knows the breed. I'm just confused as to why he'd give Flagyl when there's no apparent parasite problem, but to "fix" a bacterial imbalance- one that (best as I know) didn't involve any culture of the stool. Anyone else heard of this?

Her email address is at the bottom of this page (which also references her other works): http://www.greythealth.com/ local.google.com gives her clinic's information thusly: Ironwood Veterinary Clinic: Stack Suzanne DVMAddress: Unverified listing - Rated 5 out of 5 3 reviews - more info » Placement on map is approximate 2632 S Avenue B Yuma, AZ 85364 (928) 726-5432 - call Doesn't appear she's in the pinned list of greyhound vets.