9 yr old boy greyhound suddenly very amorous

[boxfile]

Help! My lovely 9yr old rescue greyhound who we have had 4 months has suddenly become fixated with my 8 year od daughter, he is constantly sniffing her, drooling and trying to get on her. It has only started this weekend but is a nightmare.

He has not been castrated, as up to now had never shown any signs of needing to be, and the RGT who had found him abandoned, had had a tooth operation done on him and he reacted quite badly to the anasthetic, so advised me not to castrate him unless needed as he is an old boy.

Any advice (other than castration)??

[lurcherlot]

I would get him neutered tomorrow! I suspect thereafter it will all stop .....

[boxfile]

I think I may have to! I've been researching on line, but just a bit worried about the post op days, does it take long for recovery?

[sassbu]

My greyhound came to me fully packaged ;D I had him "done" after about 6 months and the post op was no issue at all, he was a bit woozy and quiet from the anaesthetic for about 24 hours then he was normal personality again, short on lead walks for a few days was all required. I think I had him "done" on a Friday so that I had two days off straight after to be at home. Otherwise no issues.

Just make sure your vet is aware that the affects of some particular anaesthetics on greyhounds can have affects very different to other breeds. I assume he has no other health issues?

[boxfile]

Hi, He is really fit and healthy otherwise, although as he was abandoned, the RGT had no medical history for him, Im a bit concerned about his age, and wonder why no-one had done him in all the years before! Im sure he should be past all this by now.....

[vickyb]

The vet will probably do some basic pre op bloods just to check his liver and kidneys are ok. At his age it's worth having them done, I'd ask the vet about it if they don't mention it. Doesn't cost much and they'll do it on the day. Just gives you a bit of peace of mind.
I had a dog that had them done, they showed a liver prob so the op didn't go ahead but after some more in depth bloods she did have the op and all went well, they'd just needed to know what was going on.

Also if you tell the vet he reacted badly before they may put him on a drip while he's under and for a couple of hours afterwards, I believe it helps to get rid of the anaesthetic.


Hope all goes well

[boxfile]

Thanks for the advice, I'll let you know how it goes!

[harrie]

My boy had to go in to have a lump removed from his ear (half his ear had to come off too so he's a bit Batman-esque on one side now!) and reacted really badly to the op. To the extent that when I got him home, we went straight back to the vet as he was unresponsive and it frightened me a bit.

I spoke to the vet (who was brilliant and so helpful) and she said he had probably reacted to one of the premeds they'd used, some dogs do and they can't predict ahead of time. She put a note on his file so we know for next time if he needs anything done again, and as we've changed vets I will double check that they don't use it again.

The other thing I will make sure of next time is that he is the first op of the day. For his ear, he was done at 2pm so really when I collected him at 5.30 he was still a bit far under I think. Next time I'd prefer him to stay at the vets longer so they can monitor him.

He was stoned for a good couple of days, funny in some ways as he went out for his last wee of the night and was stood in his normal spot, looking up at me as if to say "I know I normally stand here at this time of night but I'm blowed if I can remember what to do!", but it was a bit scary too.

My old boy went in to have his teeth done aged 10, no problems at all with the anaesthetic. He had the liver/kidney function tests first as others have mentioned, I was concerned about his heart but the vets said it would be the liver/kidneys that were the limiting factor, not his heart.

Fingers crossed for a quick recovery and a happier daughter!

[Lisa]

We regularly routinely castrate dogs of his age with no problems. If he had a reaction to the anasthesia its imperative to check that your vet is use to and using the right anasthesia for Greyhounds. Rapinovet and Isoflurane are what you should be hearing. Problem with entire dogs as they get older they can get all manner of problems with testicular cancer and more seriously prostate cancer and if he is beginning to act out of character would be getting him fully health checked aswell.

[ritab]

Sometimes the habit has formed and castration may not cure it. Also our previous dog, lurcherish, was female and spayed but tried mounting all the time. She was a fairly submissive dog but would always try to dominate if she thought she could get away with it. Are you sure this isn't to do with the pecking order?