New Owner Needing Advice

[Guest nic1709]

Hello,

 

I recently got two beautiful greyhounds (about 4 weeks ago) called Lexie and Luther. I've never owned greyhounds before or any dogs for that matter so I'm very new to it all. Lexie is 3 and Luther is 5 and up till now everything has been great- they are well behaved and have been settling in well. However, recently Lexie was spayed and since then she has had the most awful dandruff. It's not all over- just around her legs and the base of her tail. She scratches a lot (when she's not sleeping!) but is otherwise in good health; shiny eyes, wet sniffy nose, waggy tail and curious. I've no idea what may be causing the dandruff- after some rooting about online it may be diet, it may be because she's just been spayed...? Both dogs have 2 weetabix and 2 slices of wholemeal bread with milk and water in the morning. They'll have a treat in the middle of the day just to keep them going and at night they are getting two cupfuls of Harrington's adult dog complete topped with either tuna in sunflower oil or Pedigree dog food or leftover bits from our dinner. I have read online that retired greyhounds enjoyed weetabix for breakfast and that they enjoyed bread when living in kennels but somewhere else online suggested that greyhounds with dandruff may suffer grain/wheat allergies. I am confused!! I'm looking for experienced greyhound owners to point me in the right direction with regards to food and how much food is enough food- mine are always looking for titbits!

 

Also, today I spotted two large tapeworms in Lexie's poop. Again, I searched online for some answers and came up with worms can be caused by fleas. Maybe this ties everything together- the itching, the dandruff and the worms...? Having a look at both dogs, there are no signs of fleas skipping about, but last week Lexie did have a tick which had fallen off by the time I was getting tweezers to pull it out. Where it came off I have no idea! Luther has recently started scratching and seems to be shedding large clumps of fur. Lexie had this when she first came to us and her coat is now sleek and shiny whereas Luther's is quite thick and fluffy still. Do tapeworms mean fleas? And what treatments are greyhounds not allowed to treat fleas?

 

So many concerns and I don't want to get things wrong! I want my hounds to be happy and I am willing to spend money to achieve that. They do seem content but the scratching is frustrating me, I can't imagine what it must be like for them! Any advice on these topics and any other amazing gems of info would be much appreciated.

[tbhounds]

What you're describing is not uncommon for newly adopted hounds. You might want give them each medicated shampoos. As far as the tapes they need to be de-wormed with praziquantel. Things will settle out-try not to change things to much. Many owners switch foods frequently and the hound never gets a chance to adjust to just one food--keep it simple.

[Guest nic1709]

Thank you for your quick reply. We're just in from walkies- one poop had worms and the second didn't- well, none that were visible to my eyes. I meant to mention that both of them are now chewing long blades of grass when out for a walk- her more so than him. Is Harrington's a good food for dogs? On advice, I looked for a complete kibble that had roughly 20% protein in it and avoided Bakers. They do wolf down their food- we changed to it after we finished the bag we got when we adopted them because they often didn't eat it. She used to turn her nose up at it!

[GreyhoundGirl]

Congrats on your newest additions! Mine have had worms as well. A quick call to the vet for meds will take care of that. I would recommend if you treat one, treat the other just in case (they do like to share ).

 

I've had some Greys eat grass and keep it down, others eat it and vomit and others ignore it. My vet told me it was like lettuce for us. As long as they're keeping it down it's not a problem. My Molly has just recently started eating grass but as long as I'm not cleaning up vomit (and I'm not) I'm pretty ok with it!

 

I don't know anything about the food you're feeding, but I'm not a food snob; my feeling is if they're happy, healthy and have firm poop it's fine.

 

Enjoy youre new furbabies!

[silverfish]

Hello and welcome!

 

Yes, one of the types of tapeworm does cycle through the flea. Another (more common to cats) cycles through small rodents. Others use different intermediate hosts.

 

Tapeworms are segmented worms that live attached to the gut wall. The 'worms' you see in the poop are mature segments which have been shed, and which are busily producing eggs. It's worth bagging/destroying all the poop at this stage until you deal with the problem. If you leave the segments to dry out they will shrivel and eventually crack open to release the eggs, which are then eaten by the intermediate host (in the case of the 'flea' tapeworm, the flea larvae eat them) and when the intermediate host is eaten by the true host, the adult worm will develop and the cycle is complete.

 

Are you in England? Couple of things in your post suggested you might be! The greyhounds in some kennels over here get fed Weetabix in milk for breakfast, and in Ireland it certainly used to be 'brown cakes' which, as I understand it, were small loaves of rough wholemeal soda bread.

 

I'd be wary of changing her food too often. It can cause diarrhoea.

 

Dandruff often comes along with stress. It could be that the stress of being spayed is the cause. You can add a little good quality oil to her food, for instance, fish oil, extra virgin olive oil, oily fish once or twice a week, and it may help to solve the problem.

[Guest nic1709]

Thank you for replies! I'm going to take them both to the vet tomorrow to get everything checked over. Yeah, they appear to enjoy a wee nibble on grass but have never brought it back up so I've just let them do their thing- they obviously take something from it!

 

Thank you for that info regarding worms. I really hope we don't have a flea problem- I remember my Gran's cat had them and they were everywhere, all over the house. I'm not in England, I'm in Scotland! To be honest, I wasn't told to feed them that from the rescue centre- it was something I picked up online and thought it would be a good way to give them something different. Now I'm not sure! Is it a good idea? I think I might give them a posh breakfast on the weekends- some scrambled eggs with fish! Yeah, I have been popping a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil into their dinner every other day and it seems to have brought up a nice shine in their coat, but hasn't rid her of dandruff. I think I read somewhere that evening primrose was good for dandruff, but I have no idea where I'd get it, what it would look like and how much and how often to give them some!

 

These replies are really putting my mind at ease- it's good to hear others have experienced similar things and all your knowledge is great to hear! Maybe one day I'll become an expert in greyhounds!

[Guest Scouts_mom]

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of Greys!

 

There are a couple of things I would like to add to the above:

 

It only takes one flea to give a dog tapeworms, so the presence of tapeworms doesn't necessarily mean you have a flea problem (but it's very likely). Your vet can show you how to use a flea comb to check. Many of us have our dogs on a monthly treatment plan to keep the fleas away. As to what treatment to use, I would see what your vet recommends. Some treatments can be deadly to our dogs and others are just fine. I do know that you should never ever put a flea collar on a grey. You may have different treatments available than we in the states do.

 

It is quite common for greys to "blow" their coat when they are adopted. I don't know if it is the stress, the warmer environment or what. But their new coat will be soft and shine.

 

Finally, if your dogs have loose stools, the first thing to do is stop giving them milk. Very few mammals can tolerate it after babyhood. Milk problems are much more common than other food allergies with dogs.

 

Relax and have fun with your dogs.

 

P.S. My dogs love spring grass, they consider it one of the tastiest things out there. While they don't rate as high, scrambled eggs are also a favorite here.

Edited August 18, 2013 by Scouts_mom

[Guest Marsroving]

Mars breaks out in dandruff whenever he is nervous or overly excited. When we first got him I thought he had a skin condition but it went away...until his first stressful situation! And then it was flakes city! He's been with us for about 8 months now and eats raw food and gets fish oil daily. Everyone remarks on how beautiful his coat is, and how soft, but no matter what, he still has situational dandruff.

[silverfish]

Ah, Scotland! Not America, anyway!

 

Jeffie had horrible dandruff when we got him, and it took a long, long time to get rid of it. The EV olive oil will definitely help over time, but it will take time. I find also that exercise and hand massage help too, by increasing the circulation to the skin. We were just saying this evening how much better Jeffie's coat looks now that we have an electric massager for Sid (who really needs it for his crampy muscles, being an older 'tripod'). Jeffie looooooves to get a massage after Sid is done!

 

As to the milk, mine get a daily (small) bowl of milk which is a habit I started when I had a dog with an acid stomach. It helped him settle before bedtime. None of my dogs have reacted badly to milk, but it's true, as Scout's Mom says, that some can't tolerate it. You'll have to experiment and see, but it's perhaps a good idea to hold off on the milk until the diarrhoea is gone. My dogs' trainer gives her house dogs toast for breakfast!

 

For fleas, I use Program and Capstar, because I don't like poisons and I'm a tad chemically sensitive myself. Program is a once a month tablet which you give to your dogs and it prevents any flea that bites them from laying viable eggs. If you see a flea (perhaps you've been to a park, or a walk in the country, or to visit someone with dogs or cats) then you can give a single table of Capstar to each dog and any flea that bites them over the next 24 hours will die. Both are very safe for the dogs. Other people use various types of flea treatments, but be careful, because some pesticides are NOT suitable for greyhounds. Your vet should know which or you can ask here.

 

I don't know Harringtons dog food. Basically, you'll have to keep an eye on their weight to see if you're feeding them the right amount! Greyhounds should not be allowed to get fat, but neither should you see their vertebrae like a mountain range. You should be able to see the last one or two ribs, and be able to easily feel the rest, and they should have a nice 'tuck', which is the bit where their belly slopes up to meet their pelvis. They should have a 'waist', too.

 

I hope that helps! Read around this site in the various forums and you'll pick up a huge amount of information! You can do a search if there's a question you want answered, but all words must be above three letters or they get ignored, I believe.

 

 

[Guest nic1709]

Wow, thanks for all the replies and advice! It's great to get a variety of answers and find out this happens to other people's greys too! It has been a busy and long day (back to work after 7 weeks holiday- the life of a teacher, missed my doggies though!) and we headed to the vet when I got back. The vet didn't seem too concerned about Lexie's dandruff- he said it wasn't the worst he'd ever seen and he reckons it's come about due to the change in becoming a house hound! He said there is a mite that can cause clumps of dandruff but she isn't suffering from clumping. He said to keep an eye on it and if it doesn't get any better over time, to pop back and get some specially formulated shampoo and treatment for the possible mite. He also suggested feeding only dog food for breakfast- I'll do this over time I think as they do love their weetabix and bread- gone in seconds! I did wonder about the milk- I do add more water than milk but I'll perhaps cut the milk altogether to see if that changes anything.

 

Ah, I didn't realise only one little flea could cause worms. I wonder if the tick had anything to do with it? We are surrounded by the countryside and even I am struggling with bites- I must have the tastiest blood to midges and berry bugs! The vet checked both dogs for bites and bugs- nothing was found... don't know if that's a good or bad thing because at least if they found something, I'd have answers! At this moment in time we have pills for both dogs to treat the worms, fingers crossed that helps!

 

Poor Mars and Jeffie- watching Lexie itch makes me want to itch! My dogs love their curry comb time and their grooming gloves- they'd stand there all day! Even a wipe down with a towel chills them out! Luther gets a rougher rub down as he is a huge boy- height and weight! The vet was having a giggle at him on the scales, poor soul. Lexie on the other hand is tiny and very skinny (to me anyway). I raised with the vet when I first took them to get registered. She wasn't concerned about her because she does have amazing muscle definition and when she doesn't want to do something or sees a wee cat, she is incredibly strong! She eats the same as Luther but maintains her weight well- I guess she is more active than him and her nosiness must burn calories!

 

Thank you silverfish for the info on the treatment of fleas- that helps a lot. Both dogs are up to date with their jabs, but am I correct in saying this doesn't cover them for fleas, mites and worms? Is there anything else that isn't covered? Perhaps I should start flea treatments etc especially as we're close to fields and often walk in woods and on the beach for our long walks.

 

Haha Scouts_mom, the grass thing made me laugh- Lexie is very selective over the grass she eats! She takes me on a walk in the morning just to go to the place where she knows the long, spring grass is that she likes!

 

Thank you for the replies. It's put my mind at ease!