GreyGirlQld

Sounds like this will be the way of things into the future, if Jack's eyesight is affected - at the moment, in any case, he doesn't seem distressed or particularly concerned about things, but he can be a little 'surprised' if he doesn't get any warning that someone or something is about to be in his space. Thank you to everyone for your responses. I think we'll just keep an eye on things (excuse the pun! ) for the time being - as has been pointed out, the only real treatment option (if Jack's eyesight is actually degenerating) would be surgery, and at this stage I don't know that this is a path we would necessarily go down (possibility of success, benefits vs. risk, etc.). So we'll check in with our regular vet, and maybe look into some general preventative options if available. Plus, I think the personality thing is just Jack... from all accounts he's always been a bit of a grump (albeit a lovable grump!).

I know this topic has been covered a couple of times in the past, but I was hoping to get some consolidated answers/opinions... I have a near 11 year old greyhound who we adopted at 7 1/2 years old. He has always had a slight bluish tinge to his eyes, and a subtle cloudiness. Behaviourally, he's always been a bit of a grumpy old man - and *really* likes his personal space (i.e. if our other dog lies down near him, he'll huff and puff until she moves). Generally, though, he hasn't developed any particular clumsiness or problems that would suggest he's got major problems seeing things around him. My questions are: 1. From your experience, how common are age-related / general eyesight issues in greyhounds? 2. Are there particular, even subtle, signs (behavioural, physical) that I should look out for, that would indicate a worsening of his eyesight? 3. Does anyone know of a good doggie eye specialist in the Brisbane (inner west or thereabouts) area? (and should my regular vet have the facilities to diagnose particular eye conditions?) 4. I've read on a couple of DOL topics that Vitamin E and bilberry (sp?) are good supplements to support eye health. Anything else that we should know about? Thanks in advance for your advice!

That's fantastic - congrats to you and the little guy! Definitely a testament to the great care you've been providing for the last couple of months! And thanks for the kind thoughts - prompted me to finally get off my backside and post some update photos: here's one of Lacey's burn about a month ago... (yicky brownness is due to the creams and ointments! ): ... and here's one from the week before last (i.e. much more recently) - still looks pretty extreme, but for a full-thickness burn the size of my hand, it's doing unbelievably well! ... Plus the vet reckons it's now healed so well that we should be able to go bandage-free from this week on! Boy oh boy, she'll be getting a nice soothing bath, and a big bandage-free trot around the off-leash when all this is over!

1. What is my relationship with the breed? (ie breeder, first time owner etc) Currently own two greys - Jack, almost 11 years; and Lacey, 9 1/2 years. We adopted both when they were 7 1/2 years old, from GAP. 5. What is the general temperament/personality? / 6. How much daily exercise is needed for the average adult? My two are quite different, but equally lazy and happy to lounge around most days - a 10-15 minute walk every other day is more than enough to keep them happy. Temperament-wise, Jack is quite dominant and can be a bit grumpy around unfamiliar dogs; while Lacey just wants to be everyone's friend, and I'm completely comfortable with her around other dogs. 7. Is it a breed that a first time dog owner could easily cope with? In general, yes - my experience is that they are incredibly low maintenance, with low exercise and grooming needs, and don't ask an awful lot of their owners at all. Neither of our greys has ever demonstrated anxiety-related problems, either - they're both calm and are happy to be left at home on their own. We've never come back to the yard or furniture destroyed! 10. Is it too boisterous for very small children or for infirm people (unless the dog is well trained)? In general, again, I would say no - but this depends on the individual dog. I know from my experience of GAP's rehoming process that these are the sorts of circumstances that are taken into account when matching a dog with a new home. Jack, for example, would not have suited a home with small children, cats, or unfamiliar / non-greyhound dogs - so GAP did not try to rehome him with a young family that owned cats. Instead, he came to live in a cat-free, child-free zone, and has done extremely well. (Lacey, on the other hand, is bomb-proof - she just doesn't have an over-react button at all. Makes her the perfect candidate for noisy, dog- and kid-filled environments! ) On that note... My experience is primarily with GAP, and therefore of greyhounds that are assessed and appropriately matched with adoptive families' circumstances. As such, the adoptive owners know what to expect, and the dogs are set up for success. If Jack, for example, had been placed with a family that owned three small fluffy dogs, two cats, and had several children under 8, he likely wouldn't have come up looking like the star greyhound - and in such circumstances, the answer to 'Is it a breed that a first time dog owner could easily cope with?' could suddenly look very different! In a home like ours, however (and at that stage, first-time dog owners), he is free to be the gorgeous, well-mannered, laid-back, independent and only slightly curmudgeonly old man that he is. We understood from day one exactly what he'd be like, and manage his behaviour appropriately. If I were ever looking to adopt yet another grey, even having some small degree of experience with retired racers, I'd still go back to a reputable rehoming organisation like GAP - I trust their judgement when it comes to assessing potential pet greys. So best of luck with your grey-search, percyk - may you find the perfect couch-potato for your situation!

Quick update (no photos - haven't been organised enough to upload them yet! ) - it's looking like we'll be able to avoid the surgical path altogether. Lacey's wound has gone from about being about 8cm across a week ago, to 3cm across as of this afternoon. We're all a bit stunned by the progress - but obviously pretty happy, too! So you're right about the healing being quick - it seems it gets to a certain stage and then just takes off. Will post some shots of the impressive healing soon...

Her name's Lacey - don't worry about not asking. I hadn't really used her name much in posts - still feel kinda funny about going semi-public re. the burn injury, I suppose, given the vet circumstances surrounding it. That looks great - well, you know, in a relative sense! (Funny how your perspective on 'looking good' changes when you're faced with these sorts of injuries! Sounds like the vet has been really helpful re. the treatment regime. And he does look *completely* sorry for himself in that photo... Lacey tends to get the same look on her face when the bucket goes on. Usually she just gets her revenge by rampaging through the house smacking into all available hard surfaces... :rolleyes:

WARNING - icky photos ahead! Yes, definitely keep posting updates. It will be good to see how our furrkids burns progress. Don't want to gross anyone out, but I've attached a couple of photos showing how well the burn is granulating and healing - while it still looks for all the world like a great big wound, all the signs are actually really good. No infection, and lots of skin regrowing. Phew! (The discolouration is just from the creams being used - she's normally a very clean white dog! ) She's being an absolute trooper about all of the bandage changes, not to mention the medications... although we suspect she may be developing an unhealthy love of the pain meds. We've been advised that there should be enough surrounding skin to attempt some wound closure (stitching, under a local anaesthetic) in a week or so. Crossing fingers for that!

Great to hear Moose is responding well to the treatment - sounds like Dermaclens does a similar thing to the Silvasine cream we used (both protects the new/raw wound areas, while assisting the necrotic skin to detach and slough away). In any case, a good result by the looks of things... I'll have to post some updated photos of my girl's wound - it's amazing how quickly the skin is starting to regrow and knit back together. :D

Sorry - should have read your post / questions a bit more closely! Our girl was quite lucky (as far as these sorts of things go) - because it was a full-thickness burn, she didn't have any nerves left in the wound area to transmit pain. She was also only off the pain meds for a day or so (she'd been on them post-dental for about 10 days), so that would have helped to manage any initial pain. At the moment she's on a twice-daily dose of Metacam - it's only as the dose is wearing off that we occasionally notice some pain reflexes (deep muscle twitching, usually). I'm guessing she'll feel more discomfort as the healing progresses, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. So, short answer - we're managing her pain as best we can, and she seems quiet and calm and not too worried by things (other than the elizabethan collar! ).

You must have a fantastic boss! It would make my day to be able to take one of my hounds in to work with me... not much chance of that, me being a public servant working 20-odd floors up in a city building! Sounds like you're on top of the treatment for the burn... we've got Lacey on such a range of medications, supplements and daily dressings at the moment, we've had to stick a list on the fridge so we don't miss anything! It seems to be worth it, though - her wound is granulating at a rate of knots, and hopefully it heals well enough on its own that we can avoid surgery. Cross fingers... :rolleyes: Best of luck with the continuing treatment - looking forward to the updates!

It seems that in our case there were two highly experienced vets (50+ years of combined 'vetting') who had simply never encountered this specific cause-and-effect before - they had both used HWBs in numerous surgeries without incident, and always took precautions (thick towels covering the HWB, not using boiling water from a jug, etc.). Unfortunately, a small towel slippage, and a couple of minutes' contact on a relatively thin-skinned dog was all it took. In future we'll just be a lot more insistent with our (now quite long!) list of pre-surgery questions...

Moosepup - So very sorry to hear about your little guy's troubles. :D Our greyhound girl recently sustained a full-thickness (third/fourth degree) burn to her back leg during a surgery. A HWB was the culprit (they don't use heating pads at that particular surgery). After some initial (and fairly understandable) debate re. the cause (burn, spider bite, reaction to injection), we managed to get all the vets and specialists involved (two different vet surgeries - our usual one, and the one involved in the surgery -, a surgical specialist, and the third party vet who did the surgery) talking the same language - i.e. it's a pretty classic presentation of a burn. But it was a tough road to get to that point - so I can appreciate your struggles with this part of the process. ;) As for treatment - So far we've followed a very similar treatment and consult regime to GoldenGirl - initially we had to wait a week or so post-diagnosis (about 18 days after the burn incident) for the necrotic skin to slough away. That's when it was diagnosed as full-thickness - gotta say, it's kind of weird to see your dog's muscles up close and personal like that! So it sounds like you're playing that particular waiting game at the moment. Since then, we've seen a surgical specialist re. our options - he was wonderfully supportive, and gave us both surgical and non-surgical options. He also communicated directly with the vets involved in the initial surgery, and they're now providing us with ongoing (no cost) support to treat the wound. Like you, we felt a lot better once we'd sought the opinion of a specialist - helped us to understand what our options were. We're now taking the non-surgical path - daily wet dressings (done by the vet), to facilitate the natural healing process, plus antibiotics and pain meds (Metacam) to manage the other risks. Silvasine cream was prescribed about 2 weeks into the process, and does appear to be the standard treatment for burns. Down the track, if the wound doesn't completely close and heal by itself, we can then consider a final surgery to deal with that. I'm no vet (caveat! caveat! ) - but it does look like your boy has a burn... perhaps not full-thickness, though (hard to say if the slough isn't complete)? I've attached a photo of my girl's burn wound - it's about the size of my hand - as a comparison (photo was taken last weekend, after most of the necrotic skin had come away - you can already see the areas where it's started granulating). WARNING: it's pretty graphic in full view, so don't look at it if you're in any way squeamish! I understand how difficult it is to manage not just the wound care, but also the different opinions and options (not to mention the difficulties of discussing causality, and who should be responsible for costs, etc.) - but it looks like your little guy is getting great care from you and that you've got some cluey vets on side. Best wishes for the next part of the journey... and, given our recent experience, I'm happy to provide (layperson!) advice/support if you need it.