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If it was me I'd just call and ask for my pet's medical history to be sent to my new vet. Clear, honest and upfront. Hopefully stops reminder letters being sent unnecessarily (it would cost the clinic time and money to send out reminders too).

Contact details for vets in the places you're going. In an emergency you don't want to be trying to find out where the closest vet might be while worrying about a sick pet (speaking from experience it sucks).

A guy once told me that my cattle dog cross was a nice looking dog. She's an Aussie so I corrected him. Twice more I tried explaining but he wasn't going to believe me. He leaned down near Ivy and said "did your mummy get ripped off???". They was my cue to tell him to have a nice day and walk away. My 17kg whippet gets called a greyhound all the time. My fawn greyhound got called a deer several times by kids which was kind of cute.

My girls Ellie, Maddie and Ivy. They put up with me posing them in different places all the time and taking many, many photos of them :laugh: Dal the giant whippet. His whole life I've had people asking if he's a greyhound but he's not even close to that size :laugh: . He had his leg amputated 18 months ago and while he's a little slower and gets tired quicker than he used to he is still loving life at 13. He's got a completely unique hop because of that missing leg and the sound of him hopping through the house and along the hallway is one of my favourite sounds :D My amazing greyhound Stevie. A little older and greyer than he was in this pic but so much love for this boy. He will be 13 in September and I almost want time to stop because I'm not ready for him to be this old yet.

I haven't seen that statement of acceptance made by anyone. Things have to change. Things were changing. All I hope is that the opportunity to see if the changes are successful is given. Hence why I didn't quote anyone here. But the numbers have been staggering for a long long time. The numbers are also rubbery. The numbers are ridiculous. I know adoption has been improving every year since I adopted my first in 2003. And I got my pets straight from their trainer so I know the "official" adoption numbers do not reflect every adopted dog in the country. But the number that find homes after racing is only a portion of the dogs bred each year.

I haven't seen that statement of acceptance made by anyone. Things have to change. Things were changing. All I hope is that the opportunity to see if the changes are successful is given. Hence why I didn't quote anyone here. But the numbers have been staggering for a long long time.

I find it hard to pick a side. I know a few people in the industry, good people who I know care for their dogs. One who kept their racing dog in the house even when they were told that the dog would do no good on the track (they proved them wrong on that :) ). And some that are heavily involved in greyhound adoption as well. I've been offered dogs at the track and told if I didn't take them right then that they would not be making it back to their kennel that night. This was before I adopted my first grey and I went home devastated and feeling like I had killed that dog myself. I also have my boy Stevie at home. I was lucky enough to adopt him and he's been with me nearly 11 years. One week shy of his second birthday he was shot, they had obviously aimed for the back of his head and instead just hit his spine. This is his X-ray from last year with the fragments still in his neck (they're scattered throughout his face as well). Eleven years and it still makes me furious that somebody could do that to my gorgeous boy. And it obviously still happens, we saw that in Queensland. I love the breed, I love fostering, I've even enjoyed some time at the track over the years. But the sheer numbers of dogs bred and the number that get PTS is huge! We don't have a local track anymore but do have some local trainers still and seeing even the occasional young healthy dog making it's way to the vet for euth is heart breaking for me. How anyone that says they love the breed can accept the euth rates for greyhounds right now in this country is beyond me. I don't know that complete shutdown is the right thing but something definitely needs to change.

:laugh: :laugh:

Nope, I'm not adding it up. With a 13 year old whippet, an almost 13 year old greyhound with both new and ongoing health issues, a 16 year old terrier with heart problems (and the meds to go with it) plus the 2 Aussies and kelpie it adds up fast. I've spent over $2000 in the last couple of months easily but the actual figure might make me flinch. Best not to know the numbers :laugh:

Charting Maddie's growth.

I insured my mum's 2 dogs for her. In August her Border Collie was diagnosed with a fungal infection (Cryptococcus) and so far I estimate her bills just for this are around $5000. Just one of her medications is $4/tablet twice daily and treatment could go on for some time yet. The insurance company has paid back 80% of her bills without any issues. Waiting to see what her premium will be when renewal is due in May though. I also insure my own dogs but haven't needed to use it for them yet. At my vet clinic money is one of the hardest conversations staff have with clients. Euthanasia of pets with treatable conditions due to finances is difficult and extremely sad for everyone.

I was in a very similar situation last year. My boy had 2 surgeries in 2013 to try and remove a soft tissue sarcoma on his front leg. Pathology came back the second time saying that we didn't get the margins again (really hard to on a skinny whippet front leg!) and that the cancer seemed to be more aggressive this time. I was given the option of a third surgery with us being really, really aggressive and trying to get margins and then doing radiation or amputation. I decided on amputation. My boy turned 13 in November and we just celebrated 1 year post amputation last week. Surgery day was awful (for me, I was a wreck) but he coped amazingly well. He walked out of his hospital bed that first night and never looked back. It's a very difficult decision to choose amputation and I agonised over it mainly because of his age. I don't regret anything about choosing amputation for Dal, he's adjusted so well and is still his normal happy self. Every day with him is so special

My greyhounds used to donate.They've passed away and my current dogs are too small to donate now. They always got spoiled after donating, I figured they deserved it after saving a life.

Red in greyhounds is different to this. Not the best pic but this girl was registered as red.

I actually took my 7 month old Aussie to a Bunnings on the weekend. Didn't see another dog inside the store at all. A quick run inside ended up being a 30 minute socialising session for my girl though. At one point I think we had 6 employees hanging out patting Maddie. So if you weren't getting help at a Southern Adelaide bunnings on Saturday afternoon, I'm sorry.

My clinic faxes a lot. It goes all day long :laugh:

Never heard of anyone charging a fee. I know my vet doesn't. Much more time consuming to scan a faxed history on to a new patient's file than to print and fax one of ours to a new clinic or specialist. I'd be quite shocked to be charged a fee really.

This just popped up on my newsfeed No idea if it's real or not but I wouldn't be surprised if it is. WARNING BUNNINGS - NTH GEELONG I've received a report of snail bait pellets found scattered on the floor in the aisle (presumably the garden aisle where the bait is for sale). Apparently the amount was fairly substantial. Snail bait can cause serious harm and possibly death to any animal that ingests it. Staff were notified but understandably, they can not monitor at all times. Please - avoid taking your dogs to Bunnings unless completely necessary - it's an introduced policy by Bunnings as a good will gesture - a convenience for those that need it so they don't leave their dogs in the car. It shouldn't be treated as a novelty outing for you and your pet - it's not a dog park !! Keep your pets safe.

I do. I'd leave the Bunnings trips for a day I had no dogs with me. It's not that I don't trust my dogs. I don't trust people to behave appropriately, and to supervise their kids. Bunnings makes for distraction. It's for my dogs' safety that I leave them at home. 5 hour round trip for me to go to bunnings and I rarely make the trip to the city unless I've got dogs with me (trialling, etc.). Separate trip sans dogs is not likely. I'm often cautious when dealing with other people's dogs around mine when I have no choice (vet waiting rooms can be a nightmare!) so the thought of dodging them in bunnings is not fun. I know my dogs and I know they'd handle the atmosphere and experience well but I've had "friendly" dogs attack mine (and the other owner blame my dog while theirs had my submissive girl pinned to the ground) so I have little faith in the average dog owner. It would take me forever to shop as I would rather avoid meetings with random dogs in the confined space of a shopping aisle. I really hope they don't change their policy back though. It's great to have the option there if needed. I fear though that it will be short lived, not only because of incidents like this one but because people are irresponsible. There will be dogs peeing on shelves and merchandise, breaking things, chewing stuff, etc. A minority will ruin it for the majority that would do the right thing.

I pay for insurance for 3 of my own dogs (because we travel a lot) as well as 2 for my mum (she's on a pension). She was considering telling me to cancel hers as she felt guilty about the cost. Not a week later her dog was diagnosed with a fungal infection called Cryptococcus. Since late August she's spent more than $3000 on treatment which Bow Wow has refunded 80% with no issues. She may have been forced to make a difficult decision had she not had the insurance. And with the online claim option she has the refund in less than a week. It's literally been a life saver. Treatment will be going on for a while with no guarantees as it's a nasty infection but it's a relief for her that she can treat. It's going to be interesting to see the premiums when renewal time comes around.

Parvo is crazy near me lately, well always but it's pretty bad right now. And we had a distemper outbreak locally last month too. Because I know how common it is here I'm extremely cautious with puppies. Socialisation is really important to me but I'm very careful with where we go and who we socialise with (friends say paranoid but I prefer careful :laugh: ). Ask local vets, they should be able to tell you what is going on in your local area.

None of my greys have been jumpers of any description (unless you count the couch). The whippets on the other hand wouldn't even consider that height a challenge. Do agree about the size being a potential issue if considering small/medium breeds. Many people are surprised by greyhound size.

One of those curly 12v car phone charger cords. And a Pepsi can, after chewing it into confetti size pieces.

My black greyhound started going grey at 3. He's 11 now and most of his face, chest and legs have gone quite grey. He has the odd white hair on his body but for the most part he's still completely black there. It's an interesting look he's got going on :laugh:

My Aussie is now almost 2 and her worst chewing days are hopefully behind her. I was thinking about the stuff my dogs have chewed and destroyed over the years and a couple stand out over the usual shoes, etc. A couch was designated as the "dog couch" after my whippet, Dallas, had a fun afternoon tearing one of the cushions. This is the result of a bored foster greyhound Ivy the Aussie got a hold of my iPad last year and this happened my fault for leaving it down but still The very worst chewing incident involved my kelpie, my car and a full 1 litre long life milk :eek: The car was never the same and even after cleaning the smell could never be forgotten