State of the Hounds update
Jul. 22nd, 2012 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Az is still doing fairly well on his frusemide and vetmedin heart medication. He's stopped coughing and is still always keen to come or a walk, and he can keep going for an hour or so even if he does seem a bit tired by the end. Sometimes he will still run and bounce about, particularly if there are rabbits to be seen!
His back legs are still just a bit wobbly, and I've had to put down mats at the bottom of the stairs and in the kitchen so he doesn't slip over there. The slipping seems only to be an issue on hard floors when going round corners. He had a bad spell this week, and had a day when he seemed very tired and didn't want to eat, but has perked up again.
I'm giving him Yumove joint supplements, which seem to be basically ground up mussels in pill form. I was a bit dubious about these, because I'd read that the science of glucosamine and chondroitine supplements was quite dodgy, but figured : what the hell, let's give them a go. And although it is absurdly hard to tell for sure whether a dog is feeling slightly less arthritic, and it's a condition that varies over time anyway, my impression is that he's improved enough that I shall go on giving them to him. Also he does love his special stinky-fish treats. :-D
I had recently reason to look up Vetmedin dosage instructions for another dog, and was surprised to see that Az seems to be on a half-dose for his weight: my vet had not mentioned this to me. I might take him in for a checkup soon and just clarify this, though I'm not complaining, since Vetmedin I assume contains gold chips or something from the price of the damn stuff.

Yogi is doing well: she's lost some weight, gained some muscle, and is full of the joys of playtime. I have to admit that she is my first failure in the cat training department. She's mostly OK with them, but from time to time she just thinks the day would be more exciting if she yelled at a cat. Most of the cats have got wise to her and just ignore her (she doesn't take it beyond barking), but poor fat Henning takes her seriously and will run if she barks at him, and then of course she chases him. I have to tether her out of the way in the morning while I feed the cats, or she sits outside the door yelling at me to come out and bring the cat food. It's manageable, but I can't rehome her as cat friendly, so am looking for a home for her without cats.
Sadly there are a hell of a lot of non-cat-friendly lurchers out there, most of them younger than 12, so we have not had any serious interest in her yet. This is good for Brythen, who loves Yogi (Brythen kind of loves everyone in the entire world, even if they are grumpy granny-lurchers). Yogi enjoys chasing Brythen in mad circles. He can run about twice as fast as she can, but seems to have less stamina, so they are quite evenly matched.

Brythen is still a big daft floppety thing who loves everyone in the entire world. I think he may have grown a bit, but I'm not sure. I think I've finally found a food that suits him - Arden Grange's chicken and rice, with butcher's tripe as a topping : he seems to tolerate that with not too much runny bum. Fortunately this also seems to suit the other two, though I need to feed a bit more of it than the lamb and potato food that Az was on before, or he drops weight.
Brythen is still rather thin and bony-looking with rather too many ribs on display - but he's all muscles, so I'm hoping that's mostly his age. I am still struggling a bit with his recall - he is SO easily distracted! And he has a strong tendency to go haring off at incredible speed and come back when he feels like it, in open country, so have to be careful where he goes off the lead. Oddly, he is much more reliable in woodland - presumably because he can't see things to chase at a great distance there - completely different to Mollydog, who was generally OK in the open but would go charging off after squirrels in a wood and lead me a merry dance. Anyway, the recall is still a work in progress, but I am lucky to have access to some places where I can let him off without him hurting himself or upsetting livestock. Must buy more liver paste.
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Date: 2012-07-22 10:29 am (UTC)The evidence in favour of glucosamine for joint issues is indeed dodgy but cod liver oil has much stronger backing - does the supplement contain that too? Our dog used to get Vitapet oil on his food but that was donkey's years ago, I don't know whether they even make it these days.
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Date: 2012-07-22 02:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-22 12:08 pm (UTC)It's a shame about Yogi and the cats - though it sounds like she might be alright homed with a big bruiser of a cat that stood its ground...
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Date: 2012-07-22 02:42 pm (UTC)I think Yogi has quite a lot of growly terrier attitude in with the sighthound.
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Date: 2012-07-22 05:50 pm (UTC)I've always been amazed at how quickly most of your Oldies settle down and get used to the cats, but I suppose there will always be one or two dogs that just can't get their heads around the whole cat thing.
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Date: 2012-07-22 08:57 pm (UTC)There's definitely something growly with giant eyebrows in there. :-D
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Date: 2012-07-22 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-22 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-22 11:18 pm (UTC)Lurchers, however, are traditionally used to hunt in conjunction with ferrets, and originate from the British Isles where cats have been a routine part of the scenery for a very long time, so I'm always a little surprised by the assumption that they are unlikely to be cat friendly.
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Date: 2012-07-22 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 03:58 pm (UTC)