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Do you have questions regarding the health of your greyhound? Do you need tips what you should feed your dog? Or do you need advice in curing an injury?
Mark Glennerster United Kingdom (Verified User) Posts 3208 Dogs 0 / Races 0 19 Oct 2010 07:33
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Gary,
The specific gravity test should not be a dipstick test either.
I have not found any vets. in the UK so far that actually carry out a good full urine test so be insistent that they carry out the things that you want done, not what they want to do.
Vets can be very dogmatic about things at times and can also be differcult to communicate with.
Not knocking vets. just commenting on my own experiences.
I found vets. in Oz at lot more responsive to greyhound people than in the US, UK or Ireland.
Dean Perry Australia (Verified User) Posts 1048 Dogs 6 / Races 1 19 Oct 2010 07:47
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If the dog has had the problem for a while, giving water on its own wont fix dehydration. If it is dehydration (and it may not be), and it has been hanging on you'll need to use an isotonic solution to enhance the uptake of electrolytes. I'm still tipping a kidney associated problem. Unless there is an infection, like pyelonephritis, a white blood cell count wont indicate a kidney problem. You should get some indication with a dipstick test/sg test if its kidney related.
As a guide I would not be feeding a dog more than about 250gms of rice (cooked weight)or pasta at a time, I'd probably skip on the pasta, you might as well feed 'nuts/kibble'. Pasta is highly refined and doesn;t have the vitamin additives that most proprietory kibbles have. Go for brown rice, very very well cooked if you use rice. For a 30kg dog go for 650 - 700 gms beef and 200 - 250gms of brown rice. You can cut the beef down if you want to add a bit more fat. It might take a bit of fiddling around to keep your dog at its ideal weight.
Too much complex carbs rice/pasta can be a problem for some dogs.
Mark Glennerster United Kingdom (Verified User) Posts 3208 Dogs 0 / Races 0 19 Oct 2010 08:33
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A leading Australian vet. once gave me a 7 point guide to cramp and one of the main causes was too much complex carbohydrates or an imbalance of them, rice is a much better source of carbs. than pasta ask any serious cyclist although they do still eat a fair bit of pasta but like a lot of things there is pasta and there is pasta and ammounts consummed is of major consideration for sports people.
I do use the dipstick test as a guide for SG but if it does not look right then I use a hydrometer test.
Gary Carmichael United Kingdom
Posts 15 Dogs 0 / Races 0 19 Oct 2010 13:12
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i done a dipstick test a couple of weeks back about a day before he had his blood profile done and his ph was 7.0 and spec gr was 1.015.
Carole Brown Australia (Verified User) Posts 32355 Dogs 185 / Races 2 19 Oct 2010 17:27
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Gary, could you answer my questions from the previous page, please.
Daryl Annells Australia (Needs Verification) Posts 4706 Dogs 1 / Races 0 19 Oct 2010 18:02
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gary carmichael wrote:
i done a dipstick test a couple of weeks back about a day before he had his blood profile done and his ph was 7.0 and spec gr was 1.015.
gary, please pay good heed to carole as she will sort the problem out for you i am sure.
on those tests...s/gravity and ph. my papers show the following; urine ph. 7.0 and higher...alkaline urine may be caused by of addition of excessive amounts of ALKALISING MEDICATION TO THE DIET, however consistent alkaline urine may also be caused by a urinary tract infection.
consistent alkaline urine in dogs may cause KIDNEY STONES....these may also by INDISCRIMANATE USE OF SULPHONAMIDE ANTIBIOTICS. Another reason for persistent alkaline urine may BE THE INABILITY OF THE KIDNEYS TO RE-ABSORB BICARBONATE??????
ANY CONSISTENT ALKALINE URINE SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED, INCLUDING A URINARY SEDIMENT EXAMINATION.
SPECIFIC GRAVITY 1.029 - 1.013(your range) greyhounds with dehydration would need tests to check KIDNEY FUNCTION.
Those notes and many more well detailed explanations are to found on; greyhoundtom.proboards
tom is a very experienced and well credentialed person in the chemistry field for greyhounds, and his notes are very helpful indeed.
as for more detailed info, obviously your vet is required.
but between carole brown and toms notes, you should have your answer, so you need to contact carole and supply her the relevant details and im very confident she will give you the answer you are searching for.
daz
Gary Carmichael United Kingdom
Posts 15 Dogs 0 / Races 0 19 Oct 2010 23:18
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carol i e-mailed you a few weeks back but i presume you never received them. his tonsils were enlarged when he came to me from ireland so we had them removed and the vet who operated on him said his cramp should dissapear. that was 6 months ago and there's been no improvement. the electrolytes i've tried have been replenolyte, vytrate, lectade neither have made any difference. only supplements i use are white e one day feramo the next di calcium phosphate every day beta k after race or trial. he has water every day with the electrolytes his diet is high in fat which should prevent any dehydration. i think the elecrolytes are now becoming detrimental to him. one thing i will say is all my racers and pups are on this diet(without electrolytes)and perform well he's the only one who cramps.
Gary Carmichael United Kingdom
Posts 15 Dogs 0 / Races 0 19 Oct 2010 23:22
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oh i forgot he has no breakfast only his main meal. as for him being aneamic then surely his pcv and haemo levels would be much lower than 66 and 23
Jan Jones Australia (Verified User) Posts 298 Dogs 9 / Races 0 19 Oct 2010 23:37
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Gary, one thing I've noticed is that you don't mention feeding a Vitamin A or D supplement to aid absorption of the dcp. You need to add cod liver oil or Vitamin D3 tablet to ensure the calcium is readily absorbed.
Gary Carmichael United Kingdom
Posts 15 Dogs 0 / Races 0 19 Oct 2010 23:44
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yeah jan i forgot to mention we give a splash of cod liver oil with the dcp and white e one day and rely on the feramo for the vits a and d the next.
Carole Brown Australia (Verified User) Posts 32355 Dogs 185 / Races 2 20 Oct 2010 01:59
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Gary, he can be anaemic, but you could not tell while his readings are so high, what his normal levels are. When they are dehydrated, the PCV and HB rise, and give no true indication of what his normal levels would be. We have done many, many tests on dehydrated dogs here, and when the dehydration was corrected, the blood test readings were often low. The dogs needed injectable iron and b12/folic acid to bring their readings up to the normal range, which also helped stop cramping in dogs that suffered from it. Gary, there is no need to give electrolytes every day, as you will be overdoing it. You gave me a good clue when you said that he has no breakfast. Can you please email me again, as I need to ask you something.
Gary Carmichael United Kingdom
Posts 15 Dogs 0 / Races 0 21 Oct 2010 07:36
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carol did you receive my e-mail?
Daryl Annells Australia (Needs Verification) Posts 4706 Dogs 1 / Races 0 21 Oct 2010 07:47
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gary carmichael wrote:
carol did you receive my e-mail?
dying to know the outcome gary. let us know can you. is the dog well at the present?
by the way carole is snowed under with requests and sometimes takes a few days to get back to everyone but she will.
daz
Jack Ogilvie Australia (Verified User) Posts 15483 Dogs 0 / Races 1 13 Jan 2024 20:37
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Interesting thread on messing with electrolytes and cramping .Buyer beware.most of these cramping dogs were on products with sodium citrate. DO NOT USE THESE PRODUCTS
Peter Bryce Australia (Verified User) Posts 706 Dogs 0 / Races 0 19 Jan 2024 22:30
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The most common cause of increased PCV is dehydration, and with adequate fluid intake, the PCV returns to normal. However, it may reflect a condition called polycythaemia where there are too many red cells.
Erythrocytosis, sometimes called polycythaemia, means having a high concentration of red blood cells in your blood. This makes the blood thicker and less able to travel through blood vessels and organs.
The most common treatment for polycythemia vera is having frequent blood withdrawals, using a needle in a vein (phlebotomy). It's the same procedure used for donating blood.
Jack Ogilvie Australia (Verified User) Posts 15483 Dogs 0 / Races 1 21 Jan 2024 07:14
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Very simple solution with no BS don't use any products with sodium citrate.
Peter Bryce Australia (Verified User) Posts 706 Dogs 0 / Races 0 21 Jan 2024 09:10
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Jack Ogilvie wrote:
Very simple solution with no BS don't use any products with sodium citrate.
What does Sodium citrate do to blood? Background: Sodium citrate has been used as an anticoagulant to stabilize blood and blood products for over 100 years, presumably by sequestering Ca(++) ions in vitro. Anticoagulation of blood without chelation can be achieved by inhibition of the contact pathway by corn trypsin inhibitor (CTI).
Why use Sodium citrate in prothrombin time? Background :Sodium citrate has been used as a coagulation test because factor V and VIII are more stable in a citrated specimen. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) has been used for the hematologic test because blood cells are preserved better in the EDTA specimen.
Does sodium citrate raise blood pressure? We found that, although sodium chloride raised mean arterial blood pressure in the salt-sensitive subjects (p less than 0.005), sodium citrate did not.
Why is sodium citrate used for platelet count? Pseudothrombocytopenia can occur in EDTA-anticoagulated blood samples due to antibody-induced platelet clumping or satellitism. Sodium citrate can be used as an alternative anticoagulant to minimize clumping and obtain a result on automated analyzers.
Is sodium citrate inflammatory? Citrate decreases inflammation
Jack Ogilvie Australia (Verified User) Posts 15483 Dogs 0 / Races 1 21 Jan 2024 10:14
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So what veterinary magazine was this from.?..
Peter Bryce Australia (Verified User) Posts 706 Dogs 0 / Races 0 27 Jan 2024 02:25
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Jack Ogilvie wrote:
Very simple solution with no BS don't use any products with sodium citrate.
Jack I dont research Magazines. Research from Veterinary and Medical Journals reveal quality research that is reliable and trustworthy.
Heart disease and failure is a growing issue. Poor health and performance can be avoided as a result of reading and applying the findings from research, including my post above. To sit on ones hands and hope for good outcomes when it comes to Blood and Heart issues is sure to result in some deaths.
Do you have questions regarding the health of your greyhound? Do you need tips what you should feed your dog?
