cello

Zoe is a gorgeous girl! You are lucky that she is eating. Our vet says that she has never had a dog on pred with no appetite until Lady! Good luck. Feel free to message me anytime you have questions. Carol Ann.

Our girl Lady was diagnosed with PLE three and a half years ago at age 8.5. She had no outward symptoms, the low blood protein was discovered during routine pre-op blood work before a dental. Thank goodness they caught it, or we probably would have lost her during the extractions. Immediately started seeing an Internal Medicine Vet at the specialty hospital. Had an ultrasound and an endoscopy done that diagnosed her PLE. She started on 40mg of Prednisone every day, and gradually tapered that off to where now she only gets 10mg three times a week. We use Tylan powder if she has a diarrhea flareup. She takes a Pepcid everyday, along with Mirtazapine appetite stimulant. She has been on an ultra low fat diet since her diagnosis. She strongly resists the low fat kibble. She was literally starving herself to death. So desperate times require desperate measures! Turns out plain boiled pasta has almost zero fat, and plenty of calories! As does plain boiled skinless, boneless chicken breasts! So she now eats one cup of Royal Canin Low Fat Gastrointestinal kibble, with two cups of pasta, and half a cup of chicken twice a day. We sometimes also use the canned form of the kibble to make things interesting. We have to keep switching things around to make her feel like she is getting something new to eat. Hard to due when you only have four ingredients to work with!. OH - plus a couple of hypoallergenic cookies each evening. I smash them up into small bits and add them to whatever food she hasn't finished yet that day. Her weight dropped from 70 pounds to close to 60 - she was nothing but skin and bones. She is back up to 69 pounds and looks awesome. Specialist says she looks like a "Million Bucks!" Her current protein levels are holding steady at the bottom end of normal at 5.4. 2.7 for albumin and 2.7 for globulin. If you look at Dr. Couto's chart for Greyhounds, these are actually pretty good values. When this all went down 3.5 years ago, we had four Greyhounds. Our big goal was to get Lady to her 10th birthday. Now the other three have all passed away, and Lady will turn 12 in four more weeks! You just never know how things will play out. Right now, Lady is still greiving over the loss of her packmates - two in the last four months, and it is effecting her eating. I wish you all the best, and hope that Lady's success story will give you long term hope. Carol Ann & Lady. P.S. This is a photo of Lady taken last week.

It is with greyt sadness I share that Riley Roo has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. His poor back right leg just gave up, and his left one was already weak from an old racing injury. His mobility went downhill really quickly over the past 24 hours, and we had to let him go from his pain. Dan and I are just heartbroken. Lady is confused. Our house seems empty without our big Mama’s boy. Riley Roo passed in my arms, wearing his blue Whirled Famous collar, with his head cushioned on Boo Bear. They will be cremated together. No matter how many times we do this - and this is two in exactly three months - it never gets any easier. We had the privilege to love our boy for exactly ten years. He was thirteen years old. He took a piece of our hearts with him to heaven this afternoon. He will never be forgotten. Carol Ann & Dan This photo was taken last week. Riley Roo and his beloved Boo Bear.

Ducky I am so sorry that your special boy had to leave you so soon. Run free Mikey, there is peace and comfort and no thunder boomers where you are now. Hugs, Carol Ann.

I am very sorry for your loss.

I just now saw that Huston had had to leave you Diane. I am so sorry. There is really nothing that can be said to ease the pain when we lose a pet that stole our hearts. Knowing that we will one day see them again is what keeps us going. Hugs, Carol Ann.

Zinny was a beautiful girl - inside and out. What a precious soul you were privileged to share your lives with. Run free sweet Zinny, run free. Hugs, Carol Ann.

Just in case they have to cast her, these protective boots are AWESOME! Used one for my foster who was in a cast for three months for a bad break with surgical repair. She never even got her cast damp with the boot on! http://medivetproducts.com/products/#medipaw Hope Mazy feels better soon.

Thinking good thoughts for Mazy. Did you check really well for corns? Sometimes they are very difficult to see, but still very painful. See if she walks differently on the grass rather than the hard surfaces.

When Lady needs a course of Tylan I fill the empty gel caps I buy at a health food store, and just pill her. Open. Shove. Close. Rub throat. I do it so fast she doesn't see it coming! Good luck. Tylan is the most nasty tasty stuff.

Our 10 year old girl Lady has been on Prednisone for 19 months now, and is doing great. She has been diagnosed with Protein Losing Enteropathy, and lymphangiectasia through ultrasound and an endoscopy scope. She started on 20mg of pred twice a day. We eventually got her down to 10mg twice a week, but that was not quite enough, so now she is on 10 mg of pred three times a week. She has to eat an ultra low fat diet consisting of prescription kibble, pasta and boiled chicken. She has regained the substantial amount of weight she lost, and rebuilt her muscle mass. We found out that Lady was so ill through routine pre-surgery blood work. Her protein levels were so low, our vet said that she likely would have bled out after the extraction he was planning on doing. Protein levels are now back in the normal range and we are thrilled that our special girl has made it to her 10th birthday! Things looked pretty bleak 19 months ago, but fingers crossed, she is doing great. We are super thankful for the wonderful Internal Medicine Specialist vet that has handled her care for the past year and a half. I won't kid you though, this has been hugely expensive to deal with. Enormous vet bills, and a very expensive feeding regime. In all likelihood, Lady will remain on Prednisone for the rest of her life. I did ask her IM vet about the Budesonide. Her opinion was that she wanted to start her on pred first and see how that went. At this point Lady does not seem to suffer any side effects on this low dose, and quite frankly, pred is a very cheap drug compared to Budesonide. Good luck!

This is why Riley Roo eats in the laundry room by himself. That boy would try and take the kibble off of Gizzy's tongue! And she would probably let him! Lady on the other hand would happily remove the face of any dog who gets near her food. Unfortunately food guarding is a side effect of one of the medicines she is on.

I am so very sorry for your loss. One year ago next week, we lost our ten year old girl Specky to a splenetic tumor. We did an emergency splenectomy, but they had to euthanize her on the table as the cancer had spread so much and was so vascular. One year later and my heart still hurts. But it does get better. At first all I could think about was the pain, but with time, you start to remember all the good times too. Give your heart the time it needs to heal. Sending you many hugs. Carol Ann.

Godspeed Brady. Our dear little old man in the WFUBCC. You were very special and will be remembered always. Cindy I hope that the special memories you made with Brady these past two years will bring you comfort in the days ahead. Hugs, Carol Ann.

Susan, you know how much George meant to me. Never in my life have I cried so many tears for a dog that I had never even met in person. Or for a friend that I have yet to have the opportunity to give a hug. George was meant to be with you. The two of you were meant to share a life together. I am so sorry that your time with George had to end sooner rather than later. These dogs touch our hearts in such a profound way and we never ever seem to have them for long enough. So run free George. No more pain. No more falling. No more pee stains to worry about. You are at peace, and someday you and Chicken Arms will be reunited. Sending many hugs, Carol Ann.

Ron that is exactly why I went to the trouble of making 'kibble cookies'! Try it! You may find that she will eat a bowlful of these. Just don't tell her that it is really kibble! Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

When Lady was very ill at the start of her disease, I resorted to grinding kibble. I ground the dry kibble in a blender. Poured the mix into a large mixing bowl. Add boneless skinless cooked chicken breasts shredded and homemade chicken broth. Then I spread this mixture onto baking sheets and cooked it in the oven until the consistency of cookies! Broke them into pieces and fed them to her in a bowl! Yes, this was a HUGE amount of work, but it seemed to get her over the hump and back to eating something. Now we keep Lady alive (literally - I am not kidding) with boiled elbow noodles topped with boiled skinless/boneless chicken breasts that are pulled. This is in addition to her kibble that she hates but will for some reason right now - eat dry! Good luck!

When we adopted Riley he had 'peel the paint off the walls' gas. It made our eyes water. Turns out that he had a wheat allergy. If I was you, I would switch him to a grain free kibble. Also, some vets are notorious for recommending Science Diet because they have a financial interest in selling you food. If all else fails try the GREEN bag of Iams!

Cindy I am so very sorry that Brady had to leave you. It sounds to me that Brady came into your life at a time that he was desperately needed. And you came into Brady's life at a time when a stable final home was desperately needed by him. Together the two of you became what each other needed. You were both blessed to have found each other. I hope that the special memories you have made with Brady the past two years will bring you comfort in the days ahead. Hugs, Carol Ann.

What time of day are you giving her the Mirtazapine? We switched our Lady from morning to right before bed and there has been an improvement in her eating.

Prayers for you and Huston.

Prayers and good thoughts for Huston. For you too Diane! Hugs, Carol Ann.

Here is a link to a website that has videos of some of his races. Just click on the link on the right! http://www.trackinfo.com/dog-search.jsp?keyword=Flying+Doors&x=11&y=0&by=dogname

Run free Poodle. You will be missed by so many people here on Grey Talk who have enjoyed hearing about your escapades over the years. Sending you hugs and strength Pam. He will never be forgotten. Carol Ann.

Pam, I am so sorry that it was not peaceful. Please try to focus on all the wonderful times you had with Poodle instead of dwelling on the last painful memory. Hugs, Carol Ann.