I can't imagine what those greyhounds really have to go through.

I never went to a track to see them race as I never really got into that or even horse racing for that matter.
That horse that broke his leg, was it last year? I saw that on the news and it freaked me out!

I bet the greyhounds get arthritis really easy too.

MY VET said for me to put my dogs on Glucosamine for their joints which I did...I don't see any improvement yet though.

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You may want to try a glucosamine, condroiten (sp?) combination product for joints. I have had excellent luck with that combination in both horses and an older dog. The products with both ingreadients in them work much better then either one of them alone for some reason.

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FunnyFarm04

Actually as breed they are fairly healthy considering. We are on our third one. He came to us with a broken hind leg. Kinda funny trying to teach a grown dog how to climb stairs for the first time in his life on 3 legs. Our first two grey's got Osteocarcoma. Fine one day and in two weeks almost crippled. Put them both down.

Nothing like seeing a dog run flat out at 45 miles per hour, poetry in motion.

When I was in Germany there was a couple there that had a greyhound that was adopted after he had been a race dog. Thay would take him for a walk and have to carry him back. He was crippled up pretty bad with a bad limp. Hips were all messed up.

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!

Yep, some of them are pretty "tore up" once they're done at the track. But, they are great, and by great I mean lazy dogs. Sleep 20-22 hours a day.
Run around crazy for 5 minutes then back to the bed/couch/sunny spot.

They've done studies that proved glucosamine and condroitin don't work at all. The best thing you can do for your arthritic dog is keep him/her at an ideal weight, on soft surfaces (dirt, house, not concrete as much as you can) and not let them overdo it.

I love greyhounds. What they do those poor babies is just sick. I don't know why it isn't outlawed everywhere yet.

The best thing you can feed your dog is fresh food, not dog food. Dog food is a nightmare and the worst thing ever "invented" for dogs. I could give you a ton of links but I don't want to get up on my soapbox too much.

I was hoping you'd pop in here, minpins, 'cause it sounds like Ronno's greyhound could really benefit from the raw food diet. No wheat there!

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What exactly do you feed your dog? I have a maltese, he is 3 years old and weighs almost 4 lbs. But he absolutely hates dog food. I eat alot of chicken myself and normally feed him that. He prefers anything with meat and very few veggies but absolutely hates anything potatoe related.

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January 20, 2009 End of an Error!!
I think...therefore I'm a...Libertarian!

I appreciate the benefits of raw food diets, but I worked too hard to find something that he can handle to ever switch again.

I feed my dog all different meats and mix it with veggies so she has more bulk as she eats VERY little - she only weighs 6 pounds. We get our raw meat from a local place that grinds the meat, bones, etc., all together so then we just add veggies to it and feed her that.

I can understand not wanting to change a dog's diet when they're stable. Zoe does horribly if we switch her diet but she's been great for years now.

If your dog stinks or smells "like a dog", has itchy skin or breakouts, has "bad" ears, etc., your dog would do much better on a fresh food diet. There is no such thing as a dog having an oily smelly skin/fur - it's the diet, not the dog. Some dogs have a waterproof-ish coat but it doesn't STINK. Dog food is the worst thing you can feed any dog except for a very few types out there that use minimal fillers. Most have a ton of chemicals in them to help the dog's stool be firm, help the dog's body handle the foreign things it doesn't need, and make it the right color. The fillers used in the cheap dog foods are things like sawdust and peanut shells. Feeding your dog a top of the line almost no filler dog food is well worth it because they need to eat a LOT less food (so it's not as expensive as you think it is) and it's better for them.

Zoe eats two tablespoons of food a day and a few treats a day - maybe 15 or 20 (they're teensy). Period. If she eats more, she gains weight. She weighs 6.5 pounds when she's "just right". If I fed her crap dog food, they'd recommend she eat about 3/4 to 1 cup of food a day. Ugh... and it stinks coming out, that's for sure. A dog fed a natural diet has very small amounts of waste and they decompose naturally outside - they do not last forever. They turn to dust and blow away.

Dogs do not eat potatoes or wheat. Ever. They need meat and bones. Period. One thing you do have to be careful with is to balance the potassium and the calcium so if you're feeding him chicken, I hope you're feeding him whole raw chicken rather than a piece of cooked stuff here and there OR you're supplementing him with calcium tablets or another source of calcium as that balance is very important for your dog's health.

Something most people don't realize is that a dog's insides are still exactly the same as the wolf's. They have evolved to live with humans but their insides are still exactly the same.

Also, most vets have NO nutritional training. They go to a few seminars during vet school (sponsored by the big ones - purina, etc.) and learn nothing about proper nutrition for a dog. If more people realized exactly what they put in dog food, they'd not feed it. The reason most people's pets do well on dog food is there's a ton of chemicals in it to make the dog's body tolerate all the junk fillers and crap that dogs DO NOT NEED to be 100% healthy.

Dogs do NOT need veggies. Dogs do NOT need fruit. Dogs do NOT need wheat or any other type of carbohydrate. They need meat and bones, whole animals. Period. But you'll never hear that from a vet because they'd go out of business.

Also, the absolute worst thing you can do to a dog is get them vaccinated after the first round of shots and the one year boosters. Vaccinations are absolutely unnecessary for dogs EXCEPT for rabies in rabies prone areas. The other shots have been proven to last 10 years or more so, once they've got a good immunization to it from the baby shots then the one year boosters, they're set for life. The American Veterinary Association actually put out a paper with all this info but most vets ignore it. After all, shots are one of their biggest money makers.

My dogs don't smell like dogs. They smell like humans - fresh and clean. They have perfectly clean ears - never need cleaning. Their skin is perfect with no dandruff, sores, bald spots, etc. Their fur is shiny and soft. Their eyes are clear. Their teeth are sparkling white. They're in perfect health. And they never see a vet unless they get ill - which never happens.

You should also learn to dose your flea medication (if you need it) so they use a lot less than vets think you need and you should NEVER use the powders or sprays. There are natural ways to eliminate fleas such as diatomous earth but it must be the CONSUMABLE type. You use it on your yard and in your house and the fleas are gone forever. No poisons, no chemicals.

You should almost never need to bathe your dog if he/she eats properly unless they get filthy fur from rolling in stuff!!! LOL I haven't bathed Zoe in over a year. Last time was because she rolled in something that smelled disgusting and it was so gross!!!! She is brushed regularly and never smells. Shampoo is very hard on a dog's skin. Water is great but if your dog gets dirty often (sand, mud, etc.) try to use only water as much as you can.

My sheltie died from eating dog food all his life. I know that now. If I'd known better then, he'd have lived a lot longer and had a much better quality of life.

Anyway, if you want more info, let me know. If it gets into a debate on here, I won't participate because I'm vehement about these things, I've researched to death, I've talked to many experts on nutrition and dogs over the years and I know what I'm talking about.

I'll stop now. I could go on for pages and pages...