Dogs Can Get Concussions [long...]

Who knew? I learned on Saturday. After running all over town to have sets of race jackets made for Gracie & Flash and signing them up for LGRA [straight racing] and NOTRA [oval racing] for the weekend, Saturday's straight racing finally arrived.

Practiced Flash a few times in & out of the boxes to get him used to it - and the noise. When the boxes open, they can make quite a banging sound. And knowing Flash, any unknown or unfamiliar noise can cause panic. He did VERY well with the help of a pharoh hound owner! Time to qualify...a nice lady who owns silken windhounds [totally cute little borzoi/whippet cross of a dog - bigger than a whippet but smaller than a greyhound] took Flash & Gracie down to load them into the boxes while I waited at the other end to "catch" them! Perfection! Thundering greyhounds. Flash overshot the lure. Gracie dove for it - hit her head & her right shoulder flared out in an odd angle.

Walking off the field, Gracie started to collapse. She couldn't seem to put weight on her right side and her breathing seemed "off." Did she have a dislocated shoulder or break something? I screamed for help as I couldn't get her to stand & was also trying to deal with Flash. Gracie's eyes appeared to glaze over but she could somewhat focus on people. She had weird shallow breathing - not the huge chest expanding breaths a greyhound should be taking at this point. ER vet? Her gums turned a weird purpl-ish color. Hmmm. Ran to the car & by the time I got it down to her, people carried her to me & her color came back. She began breathing normally, drank some water. Loaded up Flash & made the almost 2hr drive from down near Tacoma to Snohomish to the vet.

Xrays taken. Not her trachea [thought maybe cause she seemed to be breathing oddly], not her lungs. Diagnosis = mild head trauma [aka minor concussion]. Didn't even know dogs could have such a thing, but apparently it does happen.

SIGNS OF A CONCUSSION:

• Losing conciousness for a period of time [though not always]


• Woozy or disoriented behaviour [normally from a mild/light blow]


• Vomiting, not eating OR eating normally & vomiting frequently


• Dilated pupils in one or both eyes


• Seizures


• Lethargic, extremely tired or disoriented


• Difficult to wake if excessively sleepy


• Aggressive behaviour if the bruised area is touched


• Head tilted or hanging in an odd manner

Not all of these symptoms are present but if any are, you should probably consider going to the vet as there could be a more underlying condition like a skull fracture, brain swelling or bleeding. Seizures are normally a sign of a severe brain injury. It doesn't matter how hard you were hit, but HOW you were hit. A bump on the head doesn't have to be big and dramatic to cause a lot of damage.

By the time we arrived home, Gracie was back to her normal self. Ate fine, drinking fine, and played a little. Papa was up a few times with her overnight to check on her & let her out to potty. Honestly, I was disappointed that they didn't get to run a full program of straights as the qualifying run looked SO good but I'm SO glad Gracie is OK!

Sunday, we went down for the oval racing. On vet advice [and stern lecture], Gracie wasn't allowed [quite frustrating because she was SO eager & excited] to run so we turned in their paperwork to get NOTRA numbers for next time and signed up Flash for practices.

I was concerned because Gracie wasn't running with him & was unsure if he'd run without her or freak in the boxes despite doing fine yesterday. WOW we were wrong! Flash & Gracie were QUITE vocal in the car watching the whippets run. Barking. Spinning. Yelping & yipping. Annoying, yet fun :)

Gracie & Flash watching the action with papa...

Let me at that lure papa!


And a brief run preview:

Wish Us Luck...

So, Flash has had many digestive issues since he's been here in September. All sorts of trials, probiotics, etc. Determined lamb is too rich for him; salmon & sweetpotato by Diamond [at Costco] showed some improvement but ultimately too rich I think. Settled on Kirkland Chicken...

Gracie also has digestive problems. Massive antibiotics for an infection she had plus probiotics helped marginally. Her continual plant/foliage/shrubbery eating + the poo eating = she's lacking something in her diet. I started her on vitamin supplement in her food this week - but I'm suspect that it may be giving her the horrid runny poo/diarrhea she has now.

Now to be fair, I've fed super high premium dog foods before [AvoDerm, Canidae, etc] until my dogs went from 2 to 5. When I had 5 adult *performance* greyhounds in my house that ate through 2.5 bags [at 40lbs each] per month - $50+ per bag would've been insane. Kirkland was a great choice & my dogs did great on it for years. They were also supplemented by raw food with their kibbles.

So...It came down to a choice between Go! grain free and Taste of the Wild. I went with the bison Taste of the Wild. Hopefully the meat will be nice & neutral - not too rich - for Flash. Hopefully it will provide plenty of vitamins for Gracie. Maybe the extreme gas will stop too.

From their website:



Protein: 32% Fat: 18%
Calcium: 2.1%, as-fed; Phosphorus: 1.4%, as-fed
Calories: 3,719 kcal/kg (370 kcal/cup) Calculated Metabolizable Energy
Available in 5lb, 15lb and 30lb bags.

Ingredients
Bison, lamb meal, chicken meal, egg product, sweet potatoes, peas, potatoes, canola oil, roasted bison, roasted venison, natural flavor, tomato pomace, ocean fish meal, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, yucca schidigera extract, dried fermentation products of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D supplement, folic acid

Yes, it's much higher in protein than Kirkland, so hopefully it won't be too rich...but wish us luck...I bought a small bag tonight & mixed it in with the Kirkland...

It's Been Awhile...

and I know I promised myself I'd blog more this year. What happened?

Update on the dogs:
Flash is doing TONS better. He still has his moments. I'm thinking more about his behaviour, and his biggest phobia is new situations [not terribly uncommon] and the door. He's afraid of the door - as I think he thinks it's going to pinch him when he comes in the house. Coming in the house can totally freak him out. He's getting better around men - and warming to Alan more. He even sleeps with us in bed at night.

Gracie. She's very loving and friendly. Loves to lick your face and can be held like a baby. She's still *very* enthusiastic about things, and follows you everywhere to the point of being annoying. Her new nick-name is "chicane." She has also stolen 3 peanut butter & jelly sandwhiches off the counter [2 in one day no less] because someone in the house makes them, leaves them close to the edge, then walks away to do something else. She's also about to start a new vitamin supplement in hopes of stopping her eating poo and the plants in the back yard.

Evie. Started Glyoflex III tablets as the arthritis has been rearing its ugly head of late. After all the running today, she'll probably get a tramadol for pain at dinner. I just want her to have fun in her later years, as well as be comfortable & as pain free as possible.

Everyone [well, namely Flash & Gracie] are improving on their off leash skills. Today we went to the other side of the off-leash park nearby that has access to the river. It flooded a few months ago & the river changed a bit. There used to be a big sandy area to run - so maybe it will reappear this summer. Right now, I didn't want them too close as the current was wayyyyy to fast and cold!