Three Greyhounds

Three Greyhounds Profile: Tess
Tess is the baby of our geriatric family. Turning ten this June, she is light-hearted and carefree. She still jumps on visitors. She's grins up a storm when a stranger comes to the house. She really likes people, especially someone new. You would think we give her no attention the way she carries on.

She was our "accident". We were fostering her for MGPS and fell in love with her within a day. She seemed to fit in so well with our family (Luci still wonders when she will be leaving to go to her "forever home"). She has a very unique, non-greyhoundlike personality. She is a bundle of energy. Loves to race out into the yard, barking at full volume at the neighbor dogs. Sometimes she goes out and barks and we could swear she's gossiping - "hey, it's me Tess - what are you all up to? We had chicken with our kibble for dinner. And we went to the IGA today! You won't believe what Cori did today..." The barking just continues nonstop until she's spent. We have rued the day that the neighbor dogs moved in. Prior to that Tess never barked. Literally. She was not a barker by any stretch. Not anymore.

Tess has a sensitive little stomach that gets very growly with no notice. Sometimes we can calm it down. Sometimes not. Every once in a while she does something to her neck which results in a few days of pain. When it's bad she screams. Usually some prednisone straighten it right out. Tess doesn't do anything halfway. Otherwise she's on the healthy side. Thank goodness.

She can be grumpy, especially when she's in bed and has been awoken unexpectedly. Barking and growling may ensue. Cats beware - she especially doesn't like you jumping up onto the couch where she's sleeping. You WILL hear about it.

Tess adores her sisters. She loves to be involved in pack outings and HATES to be left behind. She also enjoys a little ride all on her own. Getting a little "Q" time of her own makes her very proud. And big for her britches.

Tess would love to be alpha but unfortunately she's not. A sad state of affairs for her but she lives with it.

She is soft and sweet and really believes she is a lapdog.

A beautiful sunny, warm day! Perfect for a nice walk. Yesterday we went for a walk in the woods but it was muddy. Really muddy. And wet. We ended up back on the road and then went for a carride to the IGA. Yes, we are now entertained by much simpler things than during a fun-filled summer. A trip to the IGA wouldn't even tweak our radar in July.

Tess had diarrhea again last night. Third time this week. Cori is getting pickier about her eating but approved a new kibble this morning - Nutro's Natural Choice Ultra. She ate a whole cup of that and then a can of Nutro's Some Flavor or Another (whatever). Luci is fine.

Toby seems to be calming down a bit since he'smedicated. Nick is the same as always.

Forgot to tell you that we finally met "Little Man" last weekend. Eeek. Luci thought he was fabulous. He's black and sleek like her. She sniffed noses with him and wagged her tail and everything. A far cry from her normal treatment of non-greyhound dogs. Cori sniffed him a little but basically thought he was clearly a puppy without complete doggy etiquette in place. She will undoubtedly put him in his place sometime in the future. Tess barked and growled at him and was generally non-plussed that she might no longer be the baby of the family. That does not sit well with Tess. Right about when he was going to leave she was starting to get over the trauma. Maybe they'll be friendlier next time.

(post by Cathy): We found out yesterday that Toby (grey tiger cat) is hyperthyroid. Just like Nick (other grey tiger cat). We're glad it's not diabetes or kidney disease, but what's going on? Is it something in our water? Have to get methimazole for him today. Started him on Nick's meds yesterday. Of our pet population, this leaves only Tess unmedicated. Our pet medications bill alone is slowly creeping upward, not to mention normal pet supplies. Note to self (and others): if you plan to have multiple pets, try to stagger their ages - all geriatric pets at once is a tough one.

Tess: more diarrhea. A long night.

Three Greyhounds Profile: Luci

Luci is our beautiful, black, fun-loving girl. She is about 10 years old - the exact age is uncertain since the tatoos in her ears are blurred, but she came off the racetrack with a group of other ghs all born around Jan-Mar 1994 or so.

Luci loves her toys. She prefers them soft and chewy and she treats them well, other than leaving them out in any weather, sometimes allowing them to be buried in snow for an entire winter. She enjoys taking a toy for a walk (often her beloved "Hedgie"), dropping it off roadside and then picking it up on the way back.

As a young gh, Luci was jet-black. She now wears some distinguished white on her face. She has a luxurious triple-strand of pearls (her "Jackie O's") that she wears for holidays and other special occasions.

When riding in the car, Luci prefers to sit on a seat and have her nose out the window. She often sits in the seat directly behind the driver. We call this "Driving Miss Luci".

Luci is a homebody and she prefers her homes soft and cushy. She enjoys visiting other people's homes too. Please let her lie on the couch - couches were clearly made for her comfort. She would also prefer it if you could keep the cats to a minimum. Non-existent is even better. She doesn't hate them; she's afraid of them.

In the summer, Luci likes to retire to her country home and enjoy the serenity of the lake from the comfort of a lakeside couch or puffy bed.

In Fall 2002, Luci had a sudden drop in her platelet count, probably triggered by a bad reaction to a distemper/parvo booster. She underwent a round of prednisone and her platelets rebounded for a short while and then fell to dangerously low levels again. She was treated more aggressively, using a combination of drugs which resulted in boosting her platelets back up, but at the same time they took a toll on her body and she experienced a painful and frightening episode of congestive heart failure. IV Lasix, heart medications and TLC slowly restored Luci's health and she is now seems to be stable. She had always had a heart murmur, usually graded a 3. Following the CHF, her murmur is a grade 5. She also has gum disease, but because of her heart she is no longer a candidate for anesthesia and regular teeth cleaning, so she is on antibiotic pulse therapy for her gums. It's a delicate balance for Luci.

As of Winter 2003-4, Luci's health has continued to improve and she enjoyed snow again this winter - her favorite activity is burrowing up to her eyeballs! So much fun!

It's been quiet here. Cori has had a few good rides. She's not as in to walking right now. Weak back leg? Out of the habit because of winter? Hard to say why.

Today we all had a walk to the neighbors' and then a fun-filled ride to Rite Aid. Woo hoo! Such excitement. Actually, we've been cooped up this week and even a ride to Rite Aid was a treat.

Tess had diarrhea all last night and kept us all up. She had to go out every two hours all night. Her last diarrhea was at 10am. Now she seems fine and had a normal dinner. So far, so good.

(Cathy posting): Anyone else have lots of aging pets? Our greyhounds are 9, 10 and 11, soon to be 10, 11 and 12. Seems like pet care has increased dramatically over the last few years.

I spend about 15 minutes every Sunday morning dividing out the pet meds into little daily pillboxes for morning and night for Cori and Luci. (Tess just gets vitamins and fish oil.) I get their medications in three different places - our vet's office, the local pharmacy and a specialty pet pharmacy in Yarmouth - Petscripts.

My morning pet routine takes almost an hour. This includes letting each of the dogs out. Scooping the litter box. Feeding and medicating the cats. Giving Cori her morning food plus medication. Meds for Luci. Letting Cori out again. It seems to go on and on. I haven't even addressed walking the dogs and scooping the yard. Those happen later in the day.

Then there are the intermittent bodily fluid clean-up projects. Right now it's biley vomit some days, urinary incontinence others. I'm getting quite handy with the incontinence pads, tucking them under the tushy as it descends onto the bed, couch, floor, etc. We've been addressing the bile stains with Nature's Miracle, which is pretty good, but our carpets are definitely suffering. Cori is the one with these particular ailments, related to the kidney failure, we think. Yesterday she vomited a biley mess in my van.

Luci and Tess are pretty well these days. Luci's heart seems to be stable. She receives lasix and vasotec daily and is on antibiotic pulse therapy for her terrible gums. And potassium supplements. Tess is just our happy-go-lucky girl. Last summer she had two weird allergic episodes where she swelled up and broke out in hives over most of her body. Benadryl helped. It hasn't happened again. Maybe reactions to a bug bite?

Not to mention that we have two elderly cats - Toby (17) and Nick (16). Nick is hyperthyroid and receives daily medication for that. Plus he's deaf. Toby has been losing weight and suddenly he's on the hyper side too. Vet visit this week to see what's going on.

This all keeps me busy and mentally occupied. How did we plan so poorly that all our pets would be reaching old age at once?

(post by Cathy): We met Little Man Sam (Schlam?) on Friday. He is fabulous. What a sweetie-pie. He is a pit-bull, shepherd mix. About 40 lbs. Very sweet disposition, although quite wary. We both managed to scare him a couple times, usually by an inadvertently raised hand. He seems very attached to Bub and Greg.

He was also quite interested in getting to know the cats, Mags and Missy, better. Apparently most of their encounters have been from the in-closet or under-bed safety vantage points. He had done a little no-no that day as he tried to claw his way out of the bathroom - the door was quite nicely shredded. He must have been exhausted after all that work! He eventually accepted some treats from us.

Our girls will probably enjoy meeting him - it will be interesting to see him around other dogs.

Three Greyhounds Profile: Cori

Cori is a dark brindle greyhound who is now 11. She will be 12 in June of 2004. She is a former racer and was retired and adopted in September of 1994.

Cori loves to go for walks and rides. She is a very experienced meet 'n greet greyhound, with at least 50 such events under her belt. As the alpha of the household she rules with a rabbit fur-lined glove.

Her main occupations are guarding the office, testing the puffy beds and keeping the cats and other greyhounds in line.


At a tender age Cori realized how much she loves a good fast boatride. At the cabin, Cori loved to stand in the bow of the boat and sniff the air flying through her muzzle. A few years later when the powerboat was exchanged for a slower pontoon boat, Cori was a tad disappointed. She still enjoys riding anyway.

Cori discovered later in life that she really enjoys being in the water. Now she loves to go to camp so she can loll around in the pond. She bolts into the water and promptly lies down. Drinks. Looks around. Eventually she toddles her way out. She does not care to swim, just likes to cool off and get a drink. Given the opportunity she will go lolling 6 or more times a day. Overnight stays at camp are best. Lots of lolling, lots of walks, good sniffies, usually an early morning car ride with Cathy to get coffee. An all around great time.


In March 2000, Cori was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. Her left hind leg was amputated and she underwent 6 rounds of chemo (alternating carboplatin and adriamycin). She has not had a recurrence of the OS to date. Her life as a "tripod" is about the same as before the amputation, except she has learned that she can get a "ride" up any stairs, simply by hesitating and looking pitiful. She uses her power to its full advantage. If only she could remember where she left that leg! She has had the phenomenally good fortune and fortitude to be a 4 year survivor of OS and still going strong.

Recently Cori has developed some signs of kidney failure - elevated BUN and creatanine levels, urinary incontinence. She is being treated for incontinence with a combination of PPA and DES. She was taken off piroxicam (which she was taking at low dosage as a cancer-preventive, along with minocycline) this winter. She is currently being monitored and some dietary changes instituted. A kidney diet is diametrically opposed to a cancer-preventive diet so there are a lot of new habits to learn dietarily.

Cori forges on, still running in the yard, demanding walks and her new favorite activity - car rides.

More profiles soon...

We expect to go somewhere good today - it's sunny and warm and Sunday. We will update you later.

Sunday night and Monday Cori had a very upset stomach and threw up several times. We switched her to a non-chewable form of PPA (picked up at Petscripts) and she was ok yesterday and today. Who knows what the culprit was? One suspicion: all the DIRT she ate in the yard on Sunday. She must have eaten a lot because one of her voluminous vomits was dirty, literally. Try cleaning that off the rug. Note: Nature's Miracle does not miraculously dissolve dirt.

The yard is starting its early Spring transition into a muddy mess. Tess is doing her best to bring in at least two paws' worth of mud every time she goes out. Luci is doing her best to avoid it at all costs, but even she brought in a muddy one today. Cori has the good fortune to be picked up and hand-carried in from the yard every day so she has no need to get her feet dirty. Not that she cares about that.

The girls have a new cousin! We haven't met him yet. He's not a greyhound, but he is black, so Luci approves. His name is "Little Man Sam". We intend to call him Sam or Schlam depending on how ethnic we feel at the moment. He is a beautiful black pitbull, maybe lab combo. Hopefully we will put noses to butt soon.

Fabulous walk at the Eastern Prom today! It was sunny and warm with a nice breeze. We got excellent sniffies because of all the dogs that walk there. Not very many people out today. We walked by the waste water treatment plant which smelled really good. One lady was afraid of Cori and gave her a wide berth. Cori is so FIERCE, especially with her leg missing and now weighing about 40 lbs. What a fantastic morning walk.

We also got to see something very unusual. Humans running a roadrace. We were fascinated. Tess was whining. We wanted to place bets but couldn't decide who was fastest. Why were all those humans running anyway? And why are they so SLOW? The race took forver for something that should have been about 30 seconds. They're all just greyhound wannabes.

Then a nice ride home and we're going to nap the rest of the day way. The way life should be.

The PPA seems to be working wonders on Cori's incontinence problem. Unfortunately it also seems to upset her stomach. Today she took it in the morning instead of evening - maybe that will help. She's only taking it once a day anyway. Maybe it's because it's a chewable? Chewable Rimadyl used to give Tess an upset stomach. Stopped by vet yesterday to find out if it comes in non-chewable format. No word yet.

We had a fabulous walk on Ferry Beach Monday. It was in the high 40's and sunny. The tide was out. The sand is a little softer there than Scarborough Beach and it was a real workout, especially for the Camel Foot. Cori was a little lame for the next two days.

It's been a good weather week and since we're all on vacation there has been more excitement and more walkies than usual. Plus Grandma and Grandpa visited on Sunday - always fun to see them. Especially since they tend to slip us treats. You know, Cinnamon Buns, cheese, etc. The good stuff.