Month: May 2014

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Swimming

 

Living in Atlanta, I struggle with finding locations with good footing to let the hounds run.  Fortunately, I have great friends with a farm in Newnan.  They graciously allow me to bring the hounds down and let them run.

In addition, to their runs on the farm, I felt that the hounds needed to be doing more conditioning.  I wanted to try something that was easy on their joints and feet.

I was speaking with another greyhound friend about this and she told me about Wag-N-Swim.  The facility is located slightly OTP (outside the perimeter), the pool is warmed to the dogs liking and salt water.  I was very interested and we went for our first session this past week.

 
 
I knew Darla would like the water, she is always wanting to play fetch in the lake or lay down in creeks.  I was a little worried about how Jethro would do.Here were my favorite things about swimming: the dogs slept for hours after the class, I learned a lot about the hounds gait, and I can already see improvement in their muscle definition after one session.  I will continue with this training once a week for the remainder of the summer.  They will also continue with their FitPaws Peanut and free running.  We should be properly conditioned by fall.  They are already complaining that they haven’t lure coursed in over one month.
On another note, no seizures in 11 days!

 

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Greyfest

 

A few weekends ago the hounds and I attended the annual Greyfest at the Georgia International horse park.  I volunteered to trim nails on the hounds attending the festival.  It was a lot of fun.  I was able to keep D&J close by while I was working.  

 

 

 

The festival is dedicated to celebrating Greyhound.  It is hosted by SEGA (southeastern greyhound adoption) and coordinated by the ever-organized Lisa Strickland.  They put on a wonderful event with several contests celebrating all that greyhounds are. 

 

 

They also have a contest called “Blur the Fur”.  This contest allows the greyhounds to run in a horse arena.  The hounds are encouraged to run by the sound of a squawker and visual stimulation of a lure.  The hounds love it!  The best part for the human was that your hound’s speed is clocked with a radar gun!  Darla was clocked at 41 mph.  That is fast!!

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately Jethro was still recovering from his toe surgery and was unable to run.  I will post photos of him running later.  We were given the okay to run last week! 

 

Darla continues to be seizure free.  We are going on one week without seizures, touch wood.  We are continuing our raw diet and I am continually pleased with how my dogs are improving. 

 

Photo credit: Cindy Frezon

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So far so good

It has been quite the week.  I have continued to feed the hounds a raw diet and they are doing very well.  I have noticed quite the difference in Jethro’s coat.  His eczema is much improved and hardly noticeable.  He also looks better.  He is sleek and his muscle definition is improving.  We will begin conditioning next week to prepare for coursing this fall.



On another note, Darla has started having seizures.  This began in April with a severe tonic-clonic seizure.  She has had three over the last three weeks.  This has been devastating to me.  She is a performance dog and the thought of putting her on medications that would prevent her from being her is heartbreaking.

I spoke with my vet and animal nutritionist.  We linked these seizures back to a dog food change.  After much thought, I have completely stopped giving my hounds kibble.  They are 100% raw now.  I continue to be very concerned about her relapsing but since the switch to all raw we have been seizure free.  I am hopeful that her dietary changes will stop her seizures. However,  I do have phenobarbital on hand in case this doesn’t work.  I know it is a long shot.

On to sight hound stool… I am amazed at how little poo they produce now.  No one has a belly ache and diarrhea has stopped.  I am very pleased so far and I hope that we continue on this path.  I aim for healthy happy dogs and so far so good.

 

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Taking the plunge

 

Day 1 of raw feeding—so far so good.  The hounds ate their food like champs.  They enjoyed the veggies as well as the raw meat.  While on our walk, I was impressed with Jethro’s stool.  He is currently on Metronidazole for his bacterial bloom; he has been having issues with this for the past six weeks, after taking antibiotic post surgery.  Today, his stool was solid, I am not noticing hyperactive bowel sounds and he seems more comfortable.  Darla is a once a day girl so I am looking forward to how she does this afternoon.

I am trying to feed Darla 1.5lbs of food a day and Jethro 2lbs per day.  I know that there will be a learning curve for this and I will continue to monitor their weight.  A few greyhound and whippet friends have been extremely helpful in giving advice about feeding.  I have also read several books as well.  Currently they are getting .5-.75lbs of Blue Ridge beef in the AM and ½ cup of veggies, 1 cup of grain free kibble, and 1 tablespoon of yogurt in the evening.  Sometimes, I will give them ½ cup of kibble and ½ cup of oats instead of 1 cup of kibble.

Regarding supplements, I have done extensive research regarding the most needed additive to a raw diet.  I am adding vitamin C, vitamin E, Omega 3-6-9, and green lipped mussel.

 

 

I have made a promise that I will do raw food for the next three months; I will then reevaluate the hounds and see how they are doing.  During this time we will be training hard for field trials in the fall.  I feel that this will be a great time to evaluate their health.