Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I mentioned in one of the other posts how Shadow has been tripodding since Saturday. He had hurt the same leg early last month, but the symptoms resolved. Well, he came up extremely lame again on Saturday, worse than last time, so I decided I better have him checked out.

Upon initial evaluation, the vet mentioned osteo. Noooooo!!!!!! Because of his age (9), and the fact that it can present as intermittent initially, it was her initial fear. She took some x-rays, and everything seemed clear. Most of you haven't seen Shadow, but he's HUGE! Every time I bring him anywhere, I get animated reactions because of his size. Even my vet comments on how much bigger he is than she remembers him. Anyway, she had to sedate him with morhpine in order to get films on him, and even then he tried to wrestle her to the floor. Which seems quite humerous to me because the vet is only about 5' 2". A rather daunting task, indeed! Anyway, she concluded it is probably just a severe soft tissue injury and put him on meloxicam and Ultram. If anyone has any tips on how to "pill" a giant greyhound that already has a bite history, I would be happy to hear it!!
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Jen
Daffy - the best dog in the world
Lilly & Shadow - greys
Velvet, Ruby, Abby & Jet - horses
Teddy - Donkey
Sally - the bunny
Kirby - the hamster
The Birds
The Fish

Always in my heart:
Lexi (Cookie's Choice) 7/7/1995 - 3/14/2003
Dynamo (Cedric Dynamo) 5/28/1994 - 2/9/2006

Adopting one greyhound will not change the world, but the world will change for that one greyhound.

Even though I am pretty sure that you know all about pill *pockets*, I am going to suggest them. But instead of buying them, I just use some of Jazzy's (or whoever) favorite treats and wrap the pill up in them. My first choice of hiding a pill is in a huge glob of Peanut butter. If he is on to the *hiding hte pill in the glob*, give him a pill-less glob first (just in case he swirls it around in his mouth to check for pills). Sadie loved Marshmallows, so I would rip one almost in half and shove her pill in it. A chunk of raw hot dog... bratwurst ... that sort of thing. There is also a piller that looks like what you use for shots. But, I prefer the *pockets* if the dog will eat the treat and not spit out the offending pill.

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Gwen & the Zu Kru
Aimee Kylie Jazz & Dakota
Taz(all white Kitty)
Sadie, Luke, Kianna & Jessie at the Bridge
Fill your life with love ~ adopt a greyhound

Thanks for the tips, Gwen. Shadow is "on" to me, however, when it comes to taking pills. He loves food, and surfs the table on a regular basis. He has also been known to steal an entire loaf of bread off the counter and devour it. HOWEVER, if I hand him any kind of treat, unless it's an actual dog treat, he will refuse it. Nice, huh? So much for the pill pockets. I tried a little piece of bread tonight with a glob of peanut butter in between it folded in half. I even presented it to his highness up in my room where he was lounging. When I came back 30 minutes later, it was still there. Well, dang. Now what? I did stick some pills in a glob of peanut butter and put it on top of his dinner tonight. He ate it. We shall see what tomorrow brings. But after his "ordeal" today at the vet's, he looks at me warily now. Poor guy.
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Jen
Daffy - the best dog in the world
Lilly & Shadow - greys
Velvet, Ruby, Abby & Jet - horses
Teddy - Donkey
Sally and Honey - the bunnies
Kirby - the hamster
The Birds
The Fish

Always in my heart:
Lexi (Cookie's Choice) 7/7/1995 - 3/14/2003
Dynamo (Cedric Dynamo) 5/28/1994 - 2/9/2006

Adopting one greyhound will not change the world, but the world will change for that one greyhound.

As easily as I fooled Shadowman into eating his meds last night, he was not so easily fooled this morning. He only had to take 1 Ultram this morning, so I hid it inside another glob of peanut butter. That little stink pot ate everything EXCEPT the peanut butter glob. So I let him outside after eating, and then, in his usual manner, once I let him back in, he goes back to his dish for another scrub. I thought for sure he would simply lick the peanut butter glob right up. Nope. I think he can smell the meds. Fortunately, I do not give up easily. I have some leftover goulash in the fridge, so I took out 4 of the penne noodles and stuck the pill down the tube of one of them. Shadow was looking at me expectantly at that point. I put the 4 noodles in his dish, and he gulped them all. Yay!! I better keep some goulash on hand.

I don't know if it's the meds or if he is simply the world's biggest baby, but I can hardly detect a limp out of the boy today. After spending $330 on him yesterday, I think he should limp a few days longer (or at least PRETEND to have to limp), that way my money will feel more justified.
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Jen
Daffy - the best dog in the world
Lilly & Shadow - greys
Velvet, Ruby, Abby & Jet - horses
Teddy - Donkey
Sally and Honey - the bunnies
Kirby - the hamster
The Birds
The Fish

Always in my heart:
Lexi (Cookie's Choice) 7/7/1995 - 3/14/2003
Dynamo (Cedric Dynamo) 5/28/1994 - 2/9/2006

Adopting one greyhound will not change the world, but the world will change for that one greyhound.

>>As easily as I fooled Shadowman into eating his meds last night, he was not so easily fooled this morning. He only had to take 1 Ultram this morning, so I hid it inside another glob of peanut butter. That little stink pot ate everything EXCEPT the peanut butter glob. So I let him outside after eating, and then, in his usual manner, once I let him back in, he goes back to his dish for another scrub. I thought for sure he would simply lick the peanut butter glob right up. Nope. I think he can smell the meds. Fortunately, I do not give up easily. I have some leftover goulash in the fridge, so I took out 4 of the penne noodles and stuck the pill down the tube of one of them. Shadow was looking at me expectantly at that point. I put the 4 noodles in his dish, and he gulped them all. Yay!! I better keep some goulash on hand.
>>
>>I don't know if it's the meds or if he is simply the world's biggest baby, but I can hardly detect a limp out of the boy today. After spending $330 on him yesterday, I think he should limp a few days longer (or at least PRETEND to have to limp), that way my money will feel more justified.

Jen, if all else fails, maybe you could do liver brownies, cut them a little larger than usual and put the meds in the brownie; it might work for a while. Harry says it would here. Of course our hounds tend to monitor the oven while the brownies are cooking and Bea "skimmed" the top off a quarter of the 9 x 13 pan about 45 seconds after I removed in from the oven on her birthday.
Perhaps rotating what you put the pill in would help.

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Janie
Mom to Katie, Pansy, Ghost and Bea

Waiting at the Bridge:
Lola, Nancy, Vinka, Max and Dart-Greyhounds
Dragon-Cockapoo; Judge Dee-Chow Chow
Ginger Elvira Katt-Maine Coon cat

Oh Jen,
Even if Shadow never limps again EVER, you have to make that money feel that it was well spent. If nothing else, for peace of mind (or in the case of the pills, piece of mind).
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Gwen & the Zu Kru
Aimee Kylie Jazz & Dakota
Taz(all white Kitty)
Sadie, Luke, Kianna & Jessie at the Bridge
Fill your life with love ~ adopt a greyhound

Oh, I know it. My vet called this evening to see how the big lug was doing, and I told her that she cured him miraculously overnight. She laughed. We talked for about 20 minutes, and I mentioned to her that with the odd way this "thing" is presenting itself, that no matter what she could find on yesterday's x-ray, in my mind I have not ruled out osteo completely. She agreed with me and said she was thinking the exact same thing. So, we are just going to take things one day at a time.

Shadow is such a lovable goofball. Just his size alone makes him so unique. I've seen real horses that were smaller than he. He doesn't run through the house, he gallops. Gotta love him!!
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Jen
Daffy - the best dog in the world
Lilly & Shadow - greys
Velvet, Ruby, Abby & Jet - horses
Teddy - Donkey
Sally and Honey - the bunnies
Kirby - the hamster
The Birds
The Fish

Always in my heart:
Lexi (Cookie's Choice) 7/7/1995 - 3/14/2003
Dynamo (Cedric Dynamo) 5/28/1994 - 2/9/2006

Adopting one greyhound will not change the world, but the world will change for that one greyhound.

I can only say that I hope that you and the vet are just being overly cautious (as I would be and am now with Dakota's history) and that Shadow's limp is nothing serious.
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Gwen & the Zu Kru
Aimee Kylie Jazz & Dakota
Taz(all white Kitty)
Sadie, Luke, Kianna & Jessie at the Bridge
Fill your life with love ~ adopt a greyhound

Just like with you and Dakota, that's about all we can do. Kiss that sweet boy on his kissy spot for me!
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Jen
Daffy - the best dog in the world
Lilly & Shadow - greys
Velvet, Ruby, Abby & Jet - horses
Teddy - Donkey
Sally and Honey - the bunnies
Kirby - the hamster
The Birds
The Fish

Always in my heart:
Lexi (Cookie's Choice) 7/7/1995 - 3/14/2003
Dynamo (Cedric Dynamo) 5/28/1994 - 2/9/2006

Adopting one greyhound will not change the world, but the world will change for that one greyhound.

Kiss that sweet boy on his kissy spot for me!

Done!!

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Gwen & the Zu Kru
Aimee Kylie Jazz & Dakota
Taz(all white Kitty)
Sadie, Luke, Kianna & Jessie at the Bridge
Fill your life with love ~ adopt a greyhound

Jen,

I don't know if you're aware of it but I was without a computer for almost two months! Just got a new one though so hopefully I'll be back online more often.

Will keep Shadow (and you) in my prayers. I sure hope he stays healthy for a long time to come. I love that oak!!

So glad it doesn't appear to be anything more serious and will hopefully respond quickly to treatment.

Funnily enough we were at the vets only this morning with my boy Sonny who has been limping for a few days now. I thought maybe he had slipped playing in the snow, or maybe the gritting salt had made his pads sore, but in fact they reckon he has arthritis in both front shoulders. He has started a 4 week course of Cartrophen injections instead of taking Rimadyl as the results are supposed to be good. At least we don't have your problem of getting the meds down him anyway! Good luck with it all!
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Sue, Tru and Sonny
from England

Sue,
I hope that Sonny is feeling better and not limping.
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Gwen & the Zu Kru
Aimee Kylie Jazz & Dakota
Taz(all white Kitty)
Sadie, Luke, Kianna & Jessie at the Bridge
Fill your life with love ~ adopt a greyhound