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Do Greyhounds Have Thin Skin?


Kirty
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Completely agree with everything said here.

Lilly screams when I clip her nails. :eek:

But when she really hurts herself, like the time she was zooming around the yard in Cairns and badly scraped her hind feet on concrete, she just stands in one spot, blood oozing out of her! :cheer:

Have you also noticed the see-through hind legs?

They are amazing aren't they? Just skin on skin.

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You can tell if a male greyhound is too fat by standing him in front of the setting sun. If the skin above the penis is not translucent, the dog is probably carrying too much weight.

That is interesting! I wonder if it would work with Whippets?? I guess it would.

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Yep - can vouch for Superglue. Has to be the brand name stuff. I am highly highly allergic to stitches - so have regularly glued myself back together.

As mentioned, always leave a drain hole at the bottom. Good for tears and holes on pets that you have irrigated and are sure no foreign bodies left in there.

If in doubt - see your vet - you don't want to be sealing grass seeds, splinters or dirt in there.

Re Greyhounds - yes - paper thin. Will scream like a possessed banshee at nothing, but not even whimper at the most severe injuries.

Also beware the bleeding. My first experience with this was a cut to our first girls ear. Dear DOG - they bleed like ruptured water bed bladders. Blood everywhere. The smallest cut - will have you thinking there has been a massacre in the room. Stypic powder (not sure if spelt correctly) is a god send.

Another super first aid product is Cetrigen. Normally used for horses, but is a BRIGHT Purple spray which is both antiseptic and antibacterial and pest repellant. Fantastic stuff. Dries the wound quickly and keeps it from getting infected. Also keeps the flies off. Great stuff.

Does sting like a b$tch though - so be quick. I have a high pain threshold and whilst it stings, I didn't give it much thought. Used it on hubby the other day, poor mans knees buckled and he went deathly white..............oooooppppppps :(

Colliehound

Just a note on Cetrigen, don't use it on a wound if you think there is a chance it will need stitching at some point. It's a nightmare to pick out the edges of the wound once that stuff is on.

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Yep - can vouch for Superglue. Has to be the brand name stuff. I am highly highly allergic to stitches - so have regularly glued myself back together.

As mentioned, always leave a drain hole at the bottom. Good for tears and holes on pets that you have irrigated and are sure no foreign bodies left in there.

If in doubt - see your vet - you don't want to be sealing grass seeds, splinters or dirt in there.

Re Greyhounds - yes - paper thin. Will scream like a possessed banshee at nothing, but not even whimper at the most severe injuries.

Also beware the bleeding. My first experience with this was a cut to our first girls ear. Dear DOG - they bleed like ruptured water bed bladders. Blood everywhere. The smallest cut - will have you thinking there has been a massacre in the room. Stypic powder (not sure if spelt correctly) is a god send.

Another super first aid product is Cetrigen. Normally used for horses, but is a BRIGHT Purple spray which is both antiseptic and antibacterial and pest repellant. Fantastic stuff. Dries the wound quickly and keeps it from getting infected. Also keeps the flies off. Great stuff.

Does sting like a b$tch though - so be quick. I have a high pain threshold and whilst it stings, I didn't give it much thought. Used it on hubby the other day, poor mans knees buckled and he went deathly white..............oooooppppppps :(

Colliehound

Just a note on Cetrigen, don't use it on a wound if you think there is a chance it will need stitching at some point. It's a nightmare to pick out the edges of the wound once that stuff is on.

That is really interesting - didn't know that. Why can't you stitch it with it on? Or just wash it off?

A genuine question - studying vet nursing - so love all these hints, tips and ideas.

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I think it might be a sighthound thing. Our Afghans particularly will scream like princesses if mildly hurt but if seriously hurt will be silent. The Salukis are even more stoic - my boy once sat nicely in a vet surgery while a vet fished around under the skin in his paw to tweezer out an embedded grass seed. At the time the vet commented that he couldn't believe the dog was putting up with it so well. It's a bit of a bugger tho' because if they are injured or sick you often have to find out by observing carefully.

With modest rips and gashes I don't even superglue. I rinse well with salty clean water twice a day and smell it often and observe to make sure it's not hot or inflamed. If all goes well it heals up fine, including our show dogs on the show side. Looks gross for a week but drains freely and is fine. I've yet to have had to take a dog to a vet using this approach. A large rip means a vet trip tho' and I should also mention our dogs are inside when they have an open wound - if there were going to be flies all over it I would handle it differently.

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Yup they have thin skins just like the whippets. Got a whippy here recovering from running past a tree (yes a tree) and a bit of stiff twig opened up her skin about 2 inches. Nothing that peroxide and betadine doesn't fix though. You just have to watch them when it's healing because it gets itchy and they like to chew. All my whippets have cuts and graze scars. My fawn whippets scars show up so easily. Love the colour but they mark so easy :angeldevil: .

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Yup they have thin skins just like the whippets. Got a whippy here recovering from running past a tree (yes a tree) and a bit of stiff twig opened up her skin about 2 inches. Nothing that peroxide and betadine doesn't fix though. You just have to watch them when it's healing because it gets itchy and they like to chew. All my whippets have cuts and graze scars. My fawn whippets scars show up so easily. Love the colour but they mark so easy :rofl: .

Wow I must have been lucky so far with the tears and scarring. Neither of mine have a mark one them really, maby a couple of very small scratches from mouthing at one another but that is it.

I am sure it will happen one day though, Lewis is a bit un-co!

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I don't think that the skin itself is any thinner but all sighthounds don't have the same levels of subcutaneous fat as other dogs do.

That fat cushions the skin. Remove it and the skin lacks the same protection other dogs have.

Edited by poodlefan
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Wow, these greys are opening up a whole new world for me! LOL! A world of injuries and superglue! They certainly are a special type of dog. I can't get over how affectionate Pia is. I find her very cat-like, I think that's why I like her so much. :rofl:

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Will scream like a possessed banshee at nothing, but not even whimper at the most severe injuries.

Another thing I've found with greyhounds if they sit (not on command or for a brief moment before lying down but through their own initiative) is a heads up somethings not right with that dog, be it physical or psycological.

cheers

M-J

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Will scream like a possessed banshee at nothing, but not even whimper at the most severe injuries.

Another thing I've found with greyhounds if they sit (not on command or for a brief moment before lying down but through their own initiative) is a heads up somethings not right with that dog, be it physical or psycological.

cheers

M-J

Nah - mine sit if we're out walking and stop to chat. they sit because they are bored, but can't be bothered to lie down.

And our girl often sits on the couch with OH watching tv.

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mine sit if we're out walking and stop to chat. they sit because they are bored, but can't be bothered to lie down.

:( Yes dogs don't like having their walks interrupted by owners having a chat.

And our girl often sits on the couch with OH watching tv.

Does she sit on the couch if she is on it by herself?

At the kennels I work at my first indication a dog is not happy is the fact that they have started sitting in their kennels, quite often it is my only indication due to the fact they are stoic with injuries. One time a dog started sitting in his kennel was telling me he wasn't happy with a dog that we had recently put in a kennel facing him as they had a fight nearly 8 mths earlier and he was upset that the dog could watch him. When I moved the other dog out of his line of vision he stopped sitting in his kennel.

cheers

M-J

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