Dismayed

[krissn333]

There is a Gentle Giants breeder too that breeds pitties and the like...if it was Googled maybe that's what came up initially? I googled "Gentle Giants Rescue" and got the site that I posted...

 

Anyway, sorry to be so off topic

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

A discussion started at our M&G last weekend about osteo. 2 people told of greyhounds they knew of that had amputations and 5 and 8 years later were still trucking. I told them my opinion was that they didn't have osteosarcoma then. They had a vet that didn't want to take the chance and was proactive when he saw something suspicious. Kudos to that vet. Here in the desert we deal with valley fever which creates lesions that look very similar to osteosarcoma events on film. One continued on to say, well if you just do an amputation it takes care of the osteo and the dog is fine. If it were only so easy wouldn't we all be thrilled. I'm sure the blood was trickling down my chin as I bit my tongue. My response was that by the time you discover osteo micromets are already on the move. You can only slow it not cure it.

I think cure is rare but can happen. My Morgan lived 3 years without a recurrence. His osteo was confirmed, He lived to 13.5 and it was LS that got him. From what I've seen here, it pretty rare though.

[Guest greyers]

 

I once asked my vet in dismay whether I could be inadvertently doing something to give them cancer. (wrong food, bad city tap water, over/under medicating...) The answer was that if your pets live long enough, something has to kill them - usually that ends up being cancer. He said I should be proud that I kept them healthy enough that other illnesses didn't get them first.

 

 

Twiggysmom, that comment made me cry tears of happiness and reflect positively on the life we give them. So thank you for that. My husband always feels like he let the dogs down when it's time to help them pass. He feels like he didn't do enough and it breaks his heart and makes it impossible to stop grieving and regretting. And that pain makes it often impossible for him to go on with a new adoptee. I always tell him that we do the best we can to give them the best life we can. And when it's time we should reflect on all that we have given to enrich their short lives and what they have given us in return.

[greypuppyluv]

All long-boned canine breeds have a high incidence of osteo.

 

You will find that breeds like wolfhounds and Great Pyrs also get bone cancer.

 

 

As a total aside, I would do some more investigation if you are under the impression that Gentle Giants is a rescue group.

Looks like a rescue group to me...run by Burt Ward (TV's Robin from the original Batman series) http://gentlegiantsrescue.com/

Swift hounds I too am confused by your comment about Gentle Giants not being a rescue? I'm speaking of the organization in Southern California which is the same group I believe that Kristin quoted. Are you perhaps thinking of a different group with the same name? Or are you suggesting that the group isn't "kosher"? *scratches head...

 

Swifthounds is correct. Anyone who thinks Gentle Giants here in Southern California is a bonified "rescue" is sadly mistaken. Interestingly, they always seem to have puppies (possibly bred by them?) and tons of borzoi (it's been said they come from a breeder who was kicked out of the national borzoi club). Please see Gentle Giant News to see what others have posted about them. They have a very pretty website, but IMHO they are both wackos. And, yes, this is the same one run by Burt Ward.

[Guest greyers]

All long-boned canine breeds have a high incidence of osteo.

 

You will find that breeds like wolfhounds and Great Pyrs also get bone cancer.

 

 

As a total aside, I would do some more investigation if you are under the impression that Gentle Giants is a rescue group.

Looks like a rescue group to me...run by Burt Ward (TV's Robin from the original Batman series) http://gentlegiantsrescue.com/

Swift hounds I too am confused by your comment about Gentle Giants not being a rescue? I'm speaking of the organization in Southern California which is the same group I believe that Kristin quoted. Are you perhaps thinking of a different group with the same name? Or are you suggesting that the group isn't "kosher"? *scratches head...

 

Swifthounds is correct. Anyone who thinks Gentle Giants here in Southern California is a bonified "rescue" is sadly mistaken. Interestingly, they always seem to have puppies (possibly bred by them?) and tons of borzoi (it's been said they come from a breeder who was kicked out of the national borzoi club). Please see Gentle Giant News to see what others have posted about them. They have a very pretty website, but IMHO they are both wackos. And, yes, this is the same one run by Burt Ward.

[krissn333]

Wow...well that just sucks. Talk about being duped I guess when you have money and a "famous past" people just don't really ask that many questions...myself included

Edited October 23, 2011 by krissn333

[greypuppyluv]

Wow...well that just sucks. Talk about being duped I guess when you have money and a "famous past" people just don't really ask that many questions...myself included

 

Well, once you got there and they wanted to charge you $1000 for a "rescued" borzoi, you would probably become suspicious and ask a few questions.

 

This website focuses on bone cancer in dogs, and they are doing clinical trials on dogs with bone cancer, but their focus is on greyhounds and rottweilers at this time.

[Guest greyers]

They are def whacko about some things, such as the food they insist makes an Irish wolfhound live well into the double digits! Apparently it's a miracle food!

 

Thanks for the info though. I know little about them except that I know several people who got their Danes from them and all had positive experience except that the adoption process was rather involved and they appeared very particular about their adopters. This was about 5-8 years ago though..

 

To my original point though, I likely wouldn't be getting a young Irish wolfhound if and when I ever get one.

 

Thanks for the info. Will check out more info on them.

[KF_in_Georgia]

I adopted my first greyhound almost 10 years ago (9 years, 11 months, actually).

 

My first girl died in surgery at age 8--she had broken her leg, and she threw a blood clot. Possibly the leg-break was caused by osteo, although it didn't show on her x-rays, but the blood clot actually killed her.

 

My second foster dog died in his forever home at about age 3--hit by a car when he got loose one night.

 

My third foster dog died in his forever home at about age 9--some unusual long-term ailment, but not cancer of any kind.

 

My second girl died this year at age 8--immune mediated thrombocytopenia.

 

My third girl (age 6) and my boy (age 11) are alive and well. Knock wood. I lost touch with the owners of my first foster. So four of the seven dogs that have been through my home in ten years have died...not one killed by cancer. I know we're defying the average here by not encountering cancer. But it's almost as if the dogs didn't live long enough for cancer to get them.

Edited October 23, 2011 by KF_in_Georgia

[greyhoundlov]

Doesn't Dr. C say that 60% of greys get cancer in the video that is in another thread?

 

Our first grey had osteo. We let her go just before her 12th birthday.

 

Our second (who was nearly 15) had cancer in his liver and spleen.

 

Our third had kidney disease. She barely made it to her 10th birthday.

Edited October 23, 2011 by greyhoundlov

[JJNg]

Thanks for the info. Will check out more info on them.

IMO, all you need to do is browse through their available dogs for adoption. Look at the number of puppies and young dogs that are always available, as well as the number of mixes of very unusual breeds. Keep in mind that other than greyhounds, almost all of the other sighthounds are relatively uncommon and responsible breeders make up the majority of fairly small, close-knit communities. With even some of the more common sighthound breeds (like whippets), there are often no more than a handful of individual rescue dogs available at any given time through legitimate national breed organizations. And many of these dogs are middle-aged or older.

 

Unless you're willing to wait a long time, or have personal contacts with breeders, it can be virtually impossible to adopt a rescued wolfhound or deerhound. I can't even find any listed on the breed club sites because there are so few and usually more than enough people willing to take them when situations do arise. It's great that these breeds are small enough that there are so few dogs needing rescue, but people often want to adopt a rescue rather than buy from a breeder. And I suppose it's this demand allows scams to develop.

[Hubcitypam]

Just a random thought...where do dual registered greys fall on the graph? Yes they are very few, but as small as the AKC numbers are it might be a blip if they are called AKC and not even a pimple if they are called racers....

[Charlies_Dad]

I believe unfortunately Krissy has the numbers correct. The incidents of Osteo in NGA pups is closer to 1 in 3 than 1 in 4. It's only one cancer out there but as we know one of the worst. Most dogs regardless of the breed die of cancer and so do humans. I believe humans it's currently 25% will pass from cancer of some form and heart failure is still number one but if you're got a strong heart, most likely you will die from cancer at some point. The numbers suck for our Greys, lets be honest. They also suck for some other breeds whether it's cancer or some other disease. We just have to love them while we have them, keep them happy, warm and content and they will be forever grateful. As someone else wrote, they give back so much more than they take when they pass.

[kudzu]

I've had 9 dogs in the last 25 years, 4 Greys & 5 mixed breeds. From the 6 that have died, 50% died of cancer. Only one of those was a Greyhound. This stat really doesn't say anything about the incidence of cancer in Greys. However, my experience with mixed breeds & cancer seems to be reflected by my friends experiences as well. Seems that over half our dogs die from cancer. In the 5 years I've been in the Greyhound community it appears to me that Greys have a similar incidence of cancer. The only real difference I see is which form of cancer is involved.

 

Something to consider in all this is age at time of death, length of illness, amount of pain & discomfort involved. Several dogs died in a good deal of pain but were leading apparently healthy, happy, pain free lives up until anywhere from 2 hours to 2 weeks prior to death. Those were all my cancer dogs. The dogs that died from illness other than cancer had years of illness with periods of pain, discomfort or generally feeling ill followed by stretches feeling quite good. At a certain point with them the bad outweighed the good & it was time to say goodbye. My cancer dogs were great until they simply were not & the decision at that point was basically out of my hands. At the time it seemed cancer was the worst thing ever. In retrospect, I feel differently. My cancer dogs had it better since on average they spent far, far fewer days feeling bad.

 

PS Swifthounds is right about Gentle Giants. They are not reputable & not a real rescue group.

[Guest greyers]

Thanks for the info jing.

 

Charlies dad, the numbers really do suck, but you and many others on here are correct in that we give them the best we can for whatever time we have them.

 

I want to extend a thank you to folks who have helped me come to grips with the fact that these numbers ARE higher than I expected. While these is next to nothing we can do to prevent it from happening to our pooches, knowledge is always power. I feel more prepared and once again the osteo thread, however hard it may be to read, is such a beautiful way to support each other during some very rough times in our lives. What I love about it is the care and compassion you see from others also going thru or having been through. There is no bashing of people's choices on how they choose to move forward once diagnosed, just support, encouragement, knowledge and tips. It's always nice to feel you aren't alone.

[Guest GryffinSong]

...Well, once you got there and they wanted to charge you $1000 for a "rescued" borzoi, you would probably become suspicious and ask a few questions.

...

 

I'm not surprised. I became suspicious when I saw how many borzoi they had, and that they advertised puppies and Silken Windhounds and other things that are usually not readily available, especially in rescue. Their site also looks very, very commercial, which is also surprising in a rescue.

[seeh2o]

Sad sad news last night, my friend's AKC greyhound was diagnosed with osteo. I, naively, thought he would be ok. He broke his leg on Labor Day and was healing really well up until Thanksgiving, then it appeared that the healing stopped and he developed an infection. He's 8, doesn't appear to be in any pain (he has a fixator on his leg) and wants to go for walks and do all his normal things.