Fastgals

I got a harness for one of our greys when she was diagnosed with LP (and then had surgery for it). She was never a puller, but even if she had been I think this harness would have still been great. It's a "martingale" style harness, made in the US, designed not to pull against the base of the dog's throat when tightened. I think she found the harness very comfortable. I got Girlie's from 2houndsdesign - link: http://www.2houndsdesign.com/Harnesses-Tag-Collars-c-13.html.

Ox tongue is a regular part of our greys' diets. I pay $2.50 or $3.00 per tongue. Like any red muscle meat, ox tongue is a good source of minerals and protein and is also rich in fat. The fat is a great energy source for dogs, but you should be wary of this if your dog is for medical reasons on a low fat diet. I also feed lamb tongues and, when I can get them, pig tongues.

I give all our greyhounds fish oil as a daily supplement. Not because I think that the meat I buy for them is lacking in anything, but because, as with humans, fish oil can be helpful in reducing arthritic pain and inflammation. Our greys are 11, 10 and 6. It's probably not necessary for the 6yo yet, but it helps with her tendency to dry skin and coat. I also give eggs as a multi-vitamin supplement between 1-3 times a week.

Yes, our oldest grey was finally diagnosed with LP in March last year, after suffering intermittent breathing problems for many months. Girlie was 13 and a week after diagnosis, had a unilateral tieback operation by a soft tissue specialist surgeon at Werribee. Girlie's LP was life-threatening by the time it was diagnosed and surgery (pronto!) was the only option, there weren't any medicinal alternatives. Surgery may be postponed in some dogs where the LP is not so severe. Girlie only had another 8 months with us after her operation, but this was nothing to do with the LP or the surgery. The surgery was worth every cent - she could breathe comfortably, cope with the heat, she was sparky again and put on more weight in the six months after surgery than she had the whole time we'd had her. We had adopted Girlie as a frail 10yo and it had been an ongoing battle to keep weight on her, amongst other things. I used to call her my "work in progress" . Has your vet suggested surgery? As far as age goes, Girlie was pretty close to the expected life-span of a greyhound and I do remember thinking that I wished this had happened when she was "only 11 or 12"... but she coped well with the surgery and made quite a speedy recovery.

Oh Dogangel, I'm so, so sorry. You did your best to find out what was wrong with your girl, so don't be blaming yourself. I'm so sorry. My deepest sympathy. Your darling little girl is at peace now, no pain. Sleep softly little one, now in God's care. Kind regards, Fastgals.

I've tried to fit a pair of doggles for Lulu - as she's the one of our 3 greys who loves the sidecar the most . I carry eyewash when we're out riding in case she gets sand or bugs in her eyes. Haven't been able to find a pair of doggles yet that fit her skinny face and big gorgeous eyes . I'll check out the K9 Optix to see whether that style might fit better. Doggles may look a bit weird, but they're very practical for canine motorcycle enthusiasts - and dogs with pannus . Regards, Fastgals.

Great Thanks for the info, charliehotel! Bo is a smallish/average male grey of around 31.5 kilos, so I'll start with a teaspoon of m.honey morning and night and can try cutting the "dose" back a bit if it seems to be working - assuming that this will be an ongoing supplement. Bo will just love getting fed honey morning and night! Regards, Fastgals&Bo

I do hope Rinse feels better soon. Sounds like quite a severe case. Our latest addition to our greyhound family is a 10yo male, Bo, who has that permanent bronchial condition that apparently sometimes results from having encountered kennel cough early in life. As his previous owner did, I have continued a regime of garlic/horseradish tablets to keep the condition under control and I have also just started giving Bo manuka honey - every now and then. Those out there who are giving Manuka honey - how often do you give it, please? And do you think the sugar in the honey would be any problem? I'm not in the habit of giving the dogs sugary treats and Bo needs the garlic/horseradish supplement daily, for the rest his life. Thanks, Fastgals. (That should be Fastgals&boy, now )

Not all of them do! Silver only has six teeth (she's a "gummy mummy"! :D ), & they are all front teeth...she has no molars to chew with...hence the question. Our old Girlie (greyhound) only had about 7 teeth left - two of these were upper and lower canines on one side and she still had four lower incisors. She took very little time to adapt to eating bones such as chicken legs and even chicken quarters or rabbit pieces. Because chicken bones are softer, she was able to use her remaining canines to crunch the bones. I admit I supervised Girlie's eating, particularly after her tie-back operation and she would often wait for me to join her for the bone-in part of the meal - my job was to hang onto one end of the chicken leg while she got started crunching and tearing at the other . After a while she'd take over on her own.

Our greyhounds have always had ProHeart 12. Neither they nor I have any issues or bad experiences with it. I was starting to hesitate with both vaccinations and heartworm injections for our oldest grey, who passed away last year, but simply because of her age, not because there had been any negative affects from either.

Tinned mackerel or sardines are favorites here. Both are really oily, strong smelling (and presumably flavored) fish. I used to sometimes feed the dogs and cat whole raw fish, until Lulu arrived. Lulu likes to play a little game called "slap the fish". This is terribly amusing, and involves taking the fish, gripping it firmly in mouth and slapping it up against chairs, tables, doorframes, walls - anything really. Oh, so funny, and when one has had enough of slapping the fish, or when I've had enough and confiscated the smelly thing, one finds as many uneaten pieces of raw fish as possible from the other dogs' bowls and then hides them all over the house and yard. The idea being that as each piece is sniffed out and removed (by me) another one is brought in from the garden to replace it . Lulu eats, rather than plays with, the tinned stuff - so that's the only fish I feed now.

Yep, and it's a big favorite with dogs and cat! I feed everything from shoulder roasts (when they're on special), pork ribs, hocks, trotters, tongue, cheek, heart, kidney, ears (raw) as treats. I even save some of the fat from pork cheeks to add to the dog's meals when extra fat is needed in the winter for warmth, or in the summer for hydration, or if one of the dogs needs to gain weight.

I feed our three greys and cat a raw diet - I call carnivore-style. The base of the diet is meaty-bones, meat and offal. I'm not a fanatic with their diet (with my own either), so they do get table scraps and treats, which are usually veges, fruit and biscuits - stuff like that. And, every now and then I'll give the dogs a meal of one of those good-quality pet rolls, or perhaps some left-over cooked meat (my other half eats meat). As our oldest grey, Girlie - nearly 14, has recently been diagnosed with a particularly nasty form of cancer, I'm limiting the amount of carboyhydrates and fruit sugars she gets even as treats - all the "cancer diets" seem to say no carbs and no sugars, because cancer feeds off them. KateM, no problem here with feeding raw meaty bones. Our oldest grey gets less bone than the younger two - and because she only has a few teeth left, only gets the softer chicken bones. She doesn't seem to have any problem digesting them properly. The others eat any bone, except most beef bones, which are too hard for them to eat and there is a risk of tooth cracking or chipping. One thing I never give our dogs or cat is chicken necks. These tend to be swallowed whole by the dogs and I don't like spotting whole vertebrae in their poop (it's gotta be uncomfortable on the way out ). These vertebrae also caused Girlie quite a bit of discomfort once when it became a temporary anal obstruction...

16 is a fine old age for a grey or greyX! My condolences for the loss of your lovely and very handsome boy. Although I've just advised Imy that her Radar could do with losing a bit of weight, I would have given anything for my old girl (13) to have been able to put on weight like your boy. It's been a constant battle with Girlie, for the nearly 4 years we have had the joy of her company, to keep weight and condition on her. Skinny old bird, she is .

I voted "they're just big boned" 'cause I didn't want to hurt your boys' feelings. Seriously, Imy, the alternative practitioner we see from time to time "the greyhound man" has told me off before because Maggie was a couple of kilos overweight. She went to him with a thigh injury and he said it was no wonder. An overweight greyhound is much more prone to muscle injury and to grief later in life from serious arthritis, etc. Maggie is once again about 1.5 kilos overweight and is currently on a diet (my vet thinks she looks fine, but I've told him she's definitely got too much weight on). As Maggie gets older, her metabolism seems to be slowing down. Radar needs to get some nice tuck going...healthier for him, get rid of all that fat build-up around his internal organs.

Someone has been pulling his leg - I wonder if it's the only grey he's ever owned and he's just repeating the nonsense he was told by the "breeder". If you do end up grooming this grey, check it's ears for tatts as I'm guessing it won't have any. Why would you need to clip a 6-7cm coat anyway? I know, it's a new designer breed: the greyhoodle - specially designed to be even more low shedding than the original .

Of course you can . White rice is included in Girlie's upset stomach recipe. I understand that grains provide no nutritional value to canines, because of their lack of ability to digest them. Rice tends to just pass through. The principle is that in doing so it provides a gentle cleaning of the bowel. Dark leafy vegetables and parsley are included in this mix - for their tonic properties - ie. as herbs. Does the trick for Girlie when she's feeling crook. :D Regards, Fastgals.

No offence, Red Mal, but this is the whole point of the research I continue to do and that Squeak is obviously doing. Rawfeeders would debate your point re wolves eating stomach contents, due in part to the observations of a US grey wolf expert, David Mech. Observers of wolves in the wild sometimes comment that it's the organs and very meaty bits that seem to be most prized. B-naturals points to the fact that there is no proven requirement by canines for carbohydrates from vegetables. Etc., etc., etc. The addition of veges to a raw diet is certainly quoted as balancing a BARF diet, but there are no such directions for a rawfeeding style diet. The ratios of meat, bone and offal in a rawfeeding diet also differ from those in a BARF diet. Rawfeeders do have an understanding of how dogs can benefit from that style of diet and I presume that's why most of us - BARFers and rawfeeders - do it . Regards, Fastgals.

Squeak, I was also nervous about removing the veges etc. I did a lot of reading of everything, from these rawfeeding sites (like rawfeddogs), to b-naturals articles, US dietary charts on nutritional values in meats and organs, definitions of carnivore, canine digestion, etc, etc. Even so, I commenced full-on rawfeeding with some trepidation. In an attempt to allay my own paranoia, I even made vege puree for them once a month for the first three months, but the dogs started turning up their noses at it :D . A fabulous substitute for vitamins that dogs may or may not be able to utilise from veges, is the humble egg. I regularly feed raw eggs, and consider these natures vitamin supplement. After a couple of months, I settled down and now only feed veges as a treat. There is one exception: if Girlie does happen to get a stomach upset, the best meal for her is minced lamb, well-cooked white rice, with parsley and green leafy veges (pulped or cooked) stirred through it. I figure the rice acts like a cleanser on the way through and parsley is supposed to be a liver tonic. Most vets aren't familiar with this type of raw feeding, although if you have a great vet like mine, they'll read up on it in between visits. For instance, Girlie has just been at the vets and when I said that she'd turned up her nose at offal the past week or so, the vet said...."so, her diet's not well balanced at the moment". I was chuffed. Doesn't matter that a week without offal doesn't really hurt - it all balances out over time - just really pleased that he'd obviously looked into the feeding method. Poor, old Girlie has got to the time of life where she can eat whatever she damn well wants to for whatever time she has left. Luckily for me, she still prefers her raw diet to anything else...except a certain dog treat...that dogs go wacko for... . Regards, Fastgals.

Hi Squeak, I feed raw, rather than BARF-style, but have only been feeding this way for 18 months, maybe 2 years (hopeless at keeping track of time). I moved from BARF-style (including veges and some rice) to full 'carnivore-style' mainly for the sake of our oldest grey, who does best on a diet with little or no added extras. Any extras, like grains, veges, most supplements (including fish oil) ultimately upset her stomach if given regularly in any quantity. My other reason for it was an underlying desire to feed fresh, whole foods - like I should eat myself - rather than have my dogs live on a diet of processed or cooked food. I have found our 3 greys do well on a raw diet and absolutely love their food. Healthwise, apart from Girlie not getting constant digestive upsets anymore, I'm not sure I've noticed a whole lot of difference - apart from nice soft, shiny coats (which I believe can be achieved with a premium dry food). In the last 12 months, I have twice had reason to get a full geriatric blood panel done for Girlie, and a basic blood panel for Maggie. Where there was nothing previously wrong with Maggie's levels, there had been with Girlie's - a panel taken nearly 3 years ago after she first came to us at 10 years old. At that time, Girlie was showing definite unbalanced phosphate:calcium levels and a couple of other areas to do with kidney function were borderline. She now shows "unremarkable", average results. To go any further into it nutritionally, I would have to get one of those hair tests done, for vitamin and mineral levels and have never felt there is a need to do so. I feed as varied a diet as I can buy for them, including whole rabbit carcasses (skin on) when I can occasionally get them, and a wide range of offal - it amazes me (as a long-time veg-head) what "bits" you can actually buy :D . So, the good is that a "carnivore-style" diet suits my dogs, they do well on it and are absolutely crazy for their food. Our cats, have always been fed this way. The bad and the ugly: well, that would have to be preparation. Even my omnivore OH sometimes blanches at what he sees me chopping up - I'm banished to the laundry these days. It's amazing how many meat-eating blokes go a bit green when you waft past with a couple of sheeps' heads for the younger greys' dinner . Having said all that, it doesn't mean my dogs don't get non-meat treats. They are offered vege table-scraps, pizza crust, etc., and dog biccies as treats. They have pretty normal eating habits, I just make sure that their diet is based on one that I believe is the optimum for a carnivore and appropriate to their needs. On the very occasional "junk-food" night, they might have a big slice of eco-pet roll - which is not junk food at all, but tastes as good as! If you haven't already, you might like to check out the yahoo forum: rawfeeding. There are people on that forum who have been feeding this way since the dawn of time (or so it seems). The rawfeeding archives are an excellent source of information. For a veg-head, I really love to rabbit on and on and on about dead-animal parts ... Regards, Fastgals.

The statement about raw diets containing too much protein is simply incorrect. Raw meat is largely water - off the top of my head I think average protein content is around 17-18%. There are premium dry foods with higher levels of protein. I would think the only time a dog may show increased activity levels once on a raw diet would be if the dog had been previously fed cheap cr*p kibble that was not giving proper dietary requirements, or had too high a grain content for that particular dog.

I once sprayed an entire house out with Mortein Surface Spray - my sister and a friend were soon to move in to the place and had already discovered that it was infested with fleas. Sprayed it two weeks before they moved in and it seemed to work really well....and then they discovered the rat problem ;) . Didn't last long in that house. If my sister or her friend had had pets, I would have been concerned about putting them into an environment laden with surface spray, but since they didn't, I didn't follow up that aspect of it.

Dogs that have pannus are recommended to wear doggles, as sun exposure worsens the condition. I've been meaning to get Maggie and Lulu doggles for ages - to protect their big, beautiful eyes from dust and flying insects when they're riding in their sidecar. Murphy's are totally , and I think would suit our two biker-chicks well. I wonder if someone makes greyhound sized (ie. pin head ;) ) helmets???

Our 3 greys all have Proheart 12. It was actually Proheart-6 that was recalled, only in the US, and it was recalled for further investigation following a report on the occurrence of adverse effects. That report compared Proheart with two of the worming tablets on the market. For anyone interested, following is a link to a review of the research report that triggered the recall, which presents the report's findings in quite a different light. Here's a snippet to wet your appetites "An analysis of Banfield data in this study showed that allergic reaction rates following ProHeart 6 administration were comparable overall to those for 2 oral heartworm preventives and far less than the incidence when any of the heartworm preventives studied were administered with a vaccine, or when vaccine alone was administered." Intern J Appl Res Vet Med • Vol. 3, No. 2, 2005 http://www.jarvm.com/articles/Vol3Iss2/GLI...t%2012%20FDA%22 Regards, Fastgals

Girlie was on prednisolone (spelling?) before her throat operation. She drank heaps and was weeing an awful lot - not even able to make it to the back door sometimes. She was like a ravenous wolf at mealtimes and I took the opportunity to feed her quite enormous (for her) amounts of food. Despite the extra food intake she lost probably over two kilos in the week and a half or so she was on pred, and this unfortunately included most of what little muscle tone she had. Post-op and post-pred, Girlie's appetite remained excellent, and she proceeded to put on weight at a tremendous rate. I'm keeping my fingers crossed she'll never have to have pred again...