Worried About My Hound

[Guest 1greyhound1weim]

Hi. Just registered. Wanted to get straight to it and see what you guys think.

 

I've got a girl, who is 5 1/2. I've had her for over three years. A little over a year ago I lost a male, who was nearly 7, to cancer. I decided to get another dog to keep her company, because she doesn't have an "only dog" personality. But I didn't get another greyhound. I got a male weimaraner who desperately needed me. She seemed relatively ok with having a different breed in the house, at first. But the farther we got from the date that I had to finally say good bye to my boy, the less like herself she seemed to become. I put it down to grieving for her "brother."

 

Now it's been over a year since I let him go. And she seems even more depressed than ever. Just completely uninterested, and unwilling to really connect with anyone. She's snappy at the weimaraner when he tries to play with her. And she doesn't have any interest in doing anything besides eating and lying on "her" chair. She's so disconnected that she almost seems to be getting dumber!! She always seemed so smart with the other greyhound around, and was quick to play with him, too. Now it's like he took her heart and brain with him. She does not want to go for walks, or car rides, or do anything that isn't lying on that darned chair. I've tried taking away her furniture privileges, and that just made for a depressed dog lying on the floor like a lump, even though at the same time I also tried to engage her in learning some tricks, or anything that would get her mind working. Didn't work.

 

The past couple of months she's shown a dramatic decrease in her weight. She's ribby and her hips stick out. She's enthusiastically eating Pro Plan, and her poops are good. Coat is nice - super thick and bunny soft. She's getting quite a bit more than my weimaraner, and he's a LOT more active. She just can't seem to gain weight, or keep it on.

 

So, the depression, lethargy, the "dumbness," and the weight loss have all concerned me, but I've tried to work with her on all of them to help bring her around, figuring it was just behavioral and that she's still grieving the other grey.

 

Only, just today, since it was finally nice and not a cooker, I took her for a walk, that she very much did not want to take. Never does. She continuously turns and looks behind us, like, "OMG, look how far I am from my chair now!" What was different today, though, is that even slight correction on the leash, either to get her moving again, or to snap her interest away from a couple of "lures" walking with their people on the rail trail, caused her to cough! It's not like I yanked hard on it or anything! But there she was hacking and coughing. And more coughing when I picked the pace up a little (the weimaraner takes a LOT of brisk exercise to get his energy worn down). Her coughing made me think of other times I've heard her recently, and had chalked it up to maybe snorting up a bit of cat hair or something. Thinking more on it, though, I've seen her start coughing, and she'll get off her chair, cough a bit while standing up, stretch, and then as soon as she's done, she'll crawl right back up.

 

I'm religious about her vaccinations - DHLLP, rabies, bordatella - and her testing for heartworm and administration of preventatives for that. And her exposure to unvaccinated dogs or puppies is extremely limited, if not nonexistent.

 

I'm working on making arrangements to be able to take her to the vet. But I wanted to check with you folks and see if you had any ideas? I'm really afraid that I could be losing another young (well, middle aged) dog.

 

Please be honest - what could it be? I want to be prepared to have the vet check for anything and everything. And I also want to be prepared in case I AM losing another grey.

 

Thanks.

[Guest kydie]

I think I would have a thyroid check, even though her coat is good, this can cause a unatenative pup, also a diabetic pup can have these symptoms, and all dogs, like people react differently to disease processes, CBC is always good too. I am sorry your girl seems so unhappy, Please keep us posted

[ZoomDoggy]

When one of my dogs died, My girl Marla seemed depressed. Like you, I chalked it up to depression/grieving. She moped, lost her appetite, seemed to stop enjoying things she once loved...

 

Turned out she had lung cancer.

 

The first thing they asked me after the chest xrays revealed the tumors was "has she been coughing?"

 

She actually had not, but your mention of coughing and mopiness made me think of my poor little Marla...

 

So I don't mean to scare you unduly, but a full vet workup would be in order. Blood tests, xrays, etc. This could be much more serious than just depression over losing her companion.

[Guest scfilby]

Lethargy with weight loss would make me think of parasites. Tape worm specifically. One flea is all it takes. Get her a good check up and ask to check for tape worm.

 

Oh.. and Welcome to Greytalk..

Edited August 27, 2009 by scfilby

[Guest Energy11]

First, I'd check the thyroid. It makes them lethargic, aggressive in some cases, lazy, and, can act "dumb." Another possibility.

 

I have noticed a huge difference in Curfew since he has been on thyroid supplement, but, he has a lot of other things going on, including high blood pressure.

 

The cough? Vet listening to her lungs, and a chest x-ray, and the parasite check, too. Like her 30,000 mile check up :-)) Good luck, and Welcome, as well!

Edited August 27, 2009 by Energy11

[Guest 1greyhound1weim]

Thanks for the quick responses so far. I'm going to keep an eye on this and write down everything for when we go to the vet.

 

First thing I noticed with my boy's cancer was a cough, too. No lethargy or anything. Just that cough. But it was springtime, so I figured it was just a spring cold. We didn't catch it until he started to limp on left front, and by then it had taken over much of his insides. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, and feeling guilty that I didn't catch his earlier. *sigh*

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

I would do a complete CBC and a thyroid panel as a starting place; also see if the vet thinks chest xrays are advisable because of the cough. There are a LOT of things that could be contributing to weight loss and lethargy; no need to envision a worst-case scenario before further investigation. I hope it turns out to be something treatable and simple!

[iluvgreys]

I'd definitely get her to a vet. A chest x-ray would be good, and also get LP (laryngeal paralysis) ruled out. Sure sounds like she's grieving mightily. Sending light and prayers her way.