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Greyhound Savvy Vets


Guest sheila

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Guest sheila

I see post after post that insist on greyhounds only seeing a 'grey savvy' vet who has experience with greyhounds. In instances of rare or specific illnesses this is probably the way to go, however 99% of the time your dog will be equally served by a regular vet. Any competent vet can administer vaccinations, perform dentals, routine surgeries (such as neuter/spay and lump removal). One doesn't need a breed specific vet for these things. Greyhounds are still dogs after all, and not hot house flowers.

I have been with my vet for 15 yrs and my greys were the first (and still the only) greys in his practice and he takes excellent care of my hounds. He's willing to research anything that I throw his way if I have any concerns and has consulted with 'greyhound savvy' vets when we've had a situation he wasn't familiar with.

If you don't have a 'grey savvy vet' than you should teach one.

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Guest scfilby

I agree Shelia, but I am always nervous with a new vet and anesthesia. I make sure I am comfortable that the vet is aware of greys special needs before I allow any procedure that requires anesthesia. Never be afraid to question your vet.

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Guest Furmom

My 2 last vets (only because of moving) have never had a grey in their practice. I have given them the material from the adoption agency - educated myself - and am someone who asks questions first. I LOVE my vet - when we brought a second into the house they called to welcome her :)

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Guest Fasave

I agree and disagree. While I do believe any vet can treat a grey, I do think there are some advantages to having a vet that knows things about greyhounds or you need to take on a lot of responsibility for your pups care. I recently dog sat for a greyhound that the owners had spent thousands of dollars on to try to find out why the dog was limping. Turns out, the dog had corns. This was a first time greyhound owner. How were they suppose to know? Also, the differences in the greyhound blood work can sometimes get vets ordering extra tests because the results are "out of normal range". So, I guess find a vet you trust with good recommendations but if they haven't seen a lot of greyhounds, be prepared to do so research and couching along the way or else it could cost you some extra money.

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I see post after post that insist on greyhounds only seeing a 'grey savvy' vet who has experience with greyhounds. In instances of rare or specific illnesses this is probably the way to go, however 99% of the time your dog will be equally served by a regular vet. Any competent vet can administer vaccinations, perform dentals, routine surgeries (such as neuter/spay and lump removal). One doesn't need a breed specific vet for these things. Greyhounds are still dogs after all, and not hot house flowers.

I have been with my vet for 15 yrs and my greys were the first (and still the only) greys in his practice and he takes excellent care of my hounds. He's willing to research anything that I throw his way if I have any concerns and has consulted with 'greyhound savvy' vets when we've had a situation he wasn't familiar with.

If you don't have a 'grey savvy vet' than you should teach one.

 

Exactly right. That's what I did. My former vet in Dallas didn't know much about greys 8 years ago but now he is a vet for one of the big groups here. He was referred to me by a "grey savvy vet" miles away as an excellent vet that would learn about greys and would be open and willing to research. He was and his first Depro and Imizol shots were for my fosters. Now he is a vet for one of the GH groups here.

 

When starting to line up spay/neuter vets for rescue I grilled several vets who in retrospect were probably laughing out loud at me in their minds. Finally one had the nerve to say "M'am, if a vet doesn't know about greyhounds and anestheia he or she has been hiding under a rock for about 20 years".

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Guest LindsaySF

I still see vets that don't know what corns are, or keep telling owners their Greys are hypothyroid when they aren't, so I prefer a Grey-savvy vet. And anesthesia is a risky proposition, I need to really really trust my vet before I put my dog under. But yeah for most minor things it doesn't much matter.

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I recently dog sat for a greyhound that the owners had spent thousands of dollars on to try to find out why the dog was limping. Turns out, the dog had corns. This was a first time greyhound owner. How were they suppose to know?

 

Tavarish has a corn. Was I supposed to take him to a grey savvy vet to have that diagnosed?

There are more important things to me in a vet than if they know greyhounds inside and out.

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I don't think I would say 99% of the time, but for some of the routine medical care I agree. But I feel that it's up to us to know when a Grey savvy vet is necessary.

Edited by cbudshome

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Missing my little Misty who took a huge piece of my heart with her on 5/2/09, and Ekko, on 6/28/12

 

 

:candle For the sick, the lost, and the homeless

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I think an educated owner is the best revenge. Plenty of examples on this board of "greyhound-savvy" vets not knowing to look for a corn, prescribing thyroid meds on the basis of T4, prescribing inappropriate doses of PPA and Ace, telling owners dogs have kidney failure on basis of slightly elevated creatinine, etc. ....... There aren't THAT many differences between greyhounds and other dogs. One of my vets is pretty familiar with greyhound physiology; the others, I do a little coaching and they do a little reading, works great :) .

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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<br />
<br />I recently dog sat for a greyhound that the owners had spent thousands of dollars on to try to find out why the dog was limping. Turns out, the dog had corns. This was a first time greyhound owner. How were they suppose to know? <br />
<br /><br />Tavarish has a corn. Was I supposed to take him to a grey savvy vet to have that diagnosed?<br />There are more important things to me in a vet than if they know greyhounds inside and out.<br />
<br /><br /><br />

 

I don't think that's what she meant. If your non-grey-saavy vet was able to diagnose the corns, then obviously the vet is just fine. In the other story, the vet completely missed the corns and cost the people a lot of money.

 

I think in general you can go to any vet for most things. But it depends on the vet's attitude. I trust them to know their business, but I still ask politely if they are aware of the blood chemistry whenever a new vet has to do a dental or other surgery for my greys. Once a vet we didn't know well had trouble giving Capri a shot because she cried, cringed and fussed. This was when Capri was newly retired, all bulked up and had no slack in her skin - even the scruff of her neck where the vet tried to inject was hard to pull up. Anyway, during the course of this, the vet made some snarky comment about working in the horse racing industry so she knew how to handle greyhounds. And complained because Capri's fussing made her stab herself with the needle. And she re-injected the same needle to finish the shot into Capri's shoulder where there was NO slack in her skin so it was pretty much an intramuscular shot at that point instead of subcutaneous. I wasn't impressed. But it was mostly because of her attitude and the comment about working with horses. (Horses are wonderful, but you can't say they have the same medical needs as a dog!)

Sharon, Loki, Freyja, Capri (bridge angel and most beloved heart dog), Ajax (bridge angel) and Sweetie Pie (cat)

Visit Hound-Safe.com by Something Special Pet Supplies for muzzles and other dog safety products

:gh_bow

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i have used the same vet for 30+ years and love his style and home remedies and he is an excellent diagnositican. but when something pops up greyhound wise that i have a gut feeling about i will take my greys in for a second opinion with an excellent greyhound savy vet. the reason i don't use the greyhound savy vet all the time....economics. she works for a firm who bills big time and i would never be able to afford dogs if that was my primary healthcare provider.

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I agree with Sheila. My vet is a general vet rather than a grey savvy one - as was the previous owner of the practice who dealt with Darcys osteo (not that Darcy is a greyhound - but Mr Thomas researched the relevant info as he had not had to deal with a case like Darcys before and he was prepared to find out all that was necessary to deal with the case in the best way). My current vet is happy for me to pass any info onto her that I feel may be relevant so she has a copy of the greyhound blood values thing for example and will refer to it if needed.

Deerhounds Darcy, Duffy, Grace & Wellington, Mutts Sprout & Buddy, Lurchers Ned & Jake plus Ella the Westie + cats. Remembering Del, Jessie, Maddison, Flo, Sally, Stanley, Wallace, Radar, Mokka, Oki cat, Tetley, Poppy & Striker.

 

Please visit our web store at http://www.dogsndubs.com for our own range of Greyhound related clothing for humans!

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I guess I am extremely lucky. My vet is a general vet and extremely grey savvy. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

 

ROBIN ~ Mom to: Beau Think It Aint, Chloe JC Allthewayhome, Teddy ICU Drunk Sailor, Elsie N Fracine , Ollie RG's Travertine, Ponch A's Jupiter~ Yoshi, Zoobie & Belle, the kitties.

Waiting at the bridge Angel Polli Bohemian Ocean , Rocky, Blue,Sasha & Zoobie & Bobbi

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I suppose the thing to remember is that all vets start off as 'general vets' and they become greyhound savvy as they get more experienced with the breed.

 

I want my vet to be greyhound savvy, deerhound savvy, westie savvy and mutt savvy :D Therefore as long as my vet is prepared to learn about breed specifics when it comes to vet medicine, that will do for me :D

Deerhounds Darcy, Duffy, Grace & Wellington, Mutts Sprout & Buddy, Lurchers Ned & Jake plus Ella the Westie + cats. Remembering Del, Jessie, Maddison, Flo, Sally, Stanley, Wallace, Radar, Mokka, Oki cat, Tetley, Poppy & Striker.

 

Please visit our web store at http://www.dogsndubs.com for our own range of Greyhound related clothing for humans!

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Guest GreysAndMoreGreys

I think if you're not a grey savvy owner it's more important to have a grey savvy vet.

 

The most important thing with a vet, I feel, is them being able to work with you and your concerns. Actually listening to you and not just blowing you off.

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Guest Energy11

My vet here has been practicing for more than 20 years, but mine are the first greyhounds she's seen.

 

When I first started seeing her, I printed out the info. from Dr. Susan Stack's website for her. I give her all the info and handouts I can. She is STILL a bit resistant to some of the stuff, including the fact, greyhounds DO get strokes.

 

She is thorough, ... VERY. She is the ONLY vet that did an EKG and blood pressure on Curfew. She did find he had high blood pressure. She works with me on his condition, as well.

 

Would I trust her for dentals or surgery? I probably would opt to take them to two GH savvy vets I have been referred to. One is an hour away. The other, 45 minutes away. The reason for this is, anesthesia protocols, bleeding, etc., ALTHOUGH, I would be sure my vet here has all of these, prior to surgery.

 

It IS a HARD call for sure!

 

 

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I'm way too lazy to drive farther than 15 minutes, so I go to the closest vet. I happen to like her, so that's a plus. :)

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Christie and Bootsy (Turt McGurt and Gil too)
Loving and missing Argos & Likky, forever and ever.
~Old age means realizing you will never own all the dogs you wanted to. ~

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Guest greyt_learner

My closest vet is a greyhound savvy vet anyway, so I'm lucky - and where I lived before, my closest vet had a resident greyhound that hung out in the office all the time, so I was quite confident there too:)

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This is a great thread, very reassuring. I think my vet only sees two greyhounds, but he's smart and caring and appears super up-to-date on the latest research, and his clinic does advanced procedures like laser surgery you'd otherwise have to go to the state vet school for (and he does acupuncture too!). I do check to make sure he's aware of the greyhound-specific things, but he always seems to know them already.

 

It occurs to me that anyone who reads widely on this forum is probably as greyhound-savvy as most vets you could hope to find other than super-specialists. We can help our vets learn greyhound stuff -- we can't teach them to be great vets if they aren't already.

Edited by PrairieProf

With Cocoa (DC Chocolatedrop), missing B for Beth (2006-2015)
And kitties C.J., Klara, Bernadette, John-Boy, & Sinbad

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I think if you're not a grey savvy owner it's more important to have a grey savvy vet.

 

The most important thing with a vet, I feel, is them being able to work with you and your concerns. Actually listening to you and not just blowing you off.

:nod

 

My main issue with the OP is that there isn't always time for education and what happens in those situations?

 

Also, for me personally, I don't really want to have to educate my vet. I think it can create a difficult dynamic, and frankly I'm the one paying them to figure out what is going on with my dog. That includes knowing things that are specific to my dog's breed. I'm sure all breeds have some things that are unique about them, or typical to that breed, and part of a vet's responsibility in my opinion is knowing those things. Would anyone find it acceptable if a lab owner had to educate her vet about hip dysplasia when she took her 1 yo severely lame dog in to be seen? I think not. So I guess I agree with the OP in that I don't think it needs to be a grey-savvy vet, but perhaps just a savvy vet, who educates him or herself on all breed issues.

 

A little fired up on this issue lately too b/c my vet, who I've always felt was reasonable receptive to my attempts at education disregarded my concerns about Neyla having osteo (chalked it up to a muscle injury and disregarded my strong suspicion that the pain was in the shoulder) and cost me several hundred dollars and 2 weeks time until I finally got the dx from my ortho. And she's a good vet.

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Jen, CPDT-KA with Zuri, lab in a greyhound suit, Violet, formerly known as Faith, Skye, the permanent puppy, Cisco, resident cat, and my baby girl Neyla, forever in my heart

"The great thing about science is that you're free to disagree with it, but you'll be wrong."

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Guest simile

So I guess I agree with the OP in that I don't think it needs to be a grey-savvy vet, but perhaps just a savvy vet, who educates him or herself on all breed issues.

 

Exactly. My vets certainly weren't greyhound savvy when I started going to them - they are now :lol . They've always happily taken any info on greyhounds I've given them (corns are a great example) and they've researched stuff themselves (thyroid values), but they also don't hesitate to refer me to a subject matter specialist when needed.

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Guest sheila

well I can't reply to each individual post but I will reiterate that my vet is very open to listening to anything I have to say and researching anything I feel is pertinent. He gave one of my hounds the first Depo-Medrol injection he'd ever done based on information that I provided and after consulting with a colleague in another state that had more greyhound experience.

I disagree with the comment that suggested that since the vet is being paid, that they are supposed to know everything. Has anyone ever considered that a God that knows everything, can never have an idea? There is always more to learn.

One doesn't need to be a 'grey savvy' vet to diagnose a corn. He only needs to be a competent vet. It's not rocket science that when a dog is limping to start from the pads and work your way up.

As far as greys and anesthesia, I understand that things have changed for the better in this area. Here is an article written by a 'grey savvy' vet that can explain in better than I can:

 

http://www.greyhound-data.com/dir/392/Greyhound_Anesthesia.pdf

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Guest krystolla

I think as long as you start with a savvy vet you should be okay -- although a good vet is difficult enough to find. Ten years of going to the same vet and I believe I can call them Maine coon savvy, even though mine are the only coons that show up. I would have loved to have an Egyptian Mau savvy vet (maus are quirky too) but there are probably only three in the whole country. I have no problem pestering my vets with questions until they research whatever it is they need to answer my questions.

 

If I had only greys, I guess finding a vet based only on their grey-savvy rating would be more important. With four cats, a dog, a turtle, fish and a rotating population of stray critters I need a vet (or a clinic) that's willing to become savvy about whatever shows up at the door. If I show up with a dingo and four marmets I expect they'd kick up the internet connection and start researching -- or else throw up their hands and kick me out for being the most annoying customer ever. :) Hasn't happened yet.

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We actually get quite a few 'my dog has kidney disease/thyroid issues/heart murmur' type freak-outs with new adopters - some of whom end up spending huge amounts of money on tests and bloodwork before they contact us, only to find out their dog is perfectly normal.

 

I totally agree with whoever said if you aren't grey savvy, then you need to get yourself a grey savvy vet.

With Buster Bloof (UCME Razorback 89B-51359) and Gingersnap Ginny (92D-59450). Missing Pepper, Berkeley, Ivy, Princess and Bauer at the bridge.

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