I have just phoned the vet and the situation is not good.

Skipper is still bleeding into his scrotum, but also from his gums where his teeth were cleaned and even from the anaesthetic injection site - so he does appear to have some sort of clotting problem, but confirmation from the lab won't be available until tomorrow.

Meantime the vet has to decide whether he must re-operate today, or whether he can wait until tomorrow when he has an exact analysis from the lab.  Obviously - if he has to re-operate - it carries further risk.

Poor Skipper - I am so worried about him - he needs everyone to keep their fingers crossed for him.

I have Skipper at home for tonight, but he is by no means out of the woods.

There is definitely something wrong which is causing him to bleed incessantly from punctures, but also from areas which have not been punctured.

He has stopped bleeding from his gums - he only had three tiny teeth out from the front - and the injection site on his leg has stopped bleeding.  But he has a huge scrotal haematoma, plus swollen areas full of bruised blood all down his thighs to below his knees, extending across his tummy in front of his penis, and even in areas such as his armpits which are nothing to do with his op.  Some of these areas are still oozing blood through the skin.

The vet asked me whether he could have come in contact with Warfarin (anti-clotting agent used in rat poison).  Certainly not here!

We are due back at the vets tomorrow morning, by which time he should have the blood results.  Hopefully that will make it clearer what is happening and what action can be taken.

On the bright side - Skipper has a good appetite and ate a good dinner when he got home.  He is currently lying peacefully on top of towels in his indoor kennel.

Thank goodness for the indoor kennel and for the ramp I bought for Suzie (achilles injury) as Skipper is not allowed to move around freely, or jump out of the car in case he bumps himself and starts bleeding from somewhere else!

Well - we are closing on the culprit (I hope).

Skippers blood results show that he has a severe clotting deficiency - so severe that it is the pathologist's opinion that it must be acquired rather than genetic.

Genetic clotting problems such as haemophilia, or Von Willebrands Disease - can exist undetected in dogs until they have an operation or a physical trauma, but apparently Skipper's clotting deficiency is so severe that - in a racing greyhound - it is unlikely he would have survived until now without suffering a fatal bleed.

So - the main suspects are: Warfarin (rat poison), or Hook Worm.  One or other of which will be confirmed or eliminated in the next few days.  Skipper is receiving intravenous Vitamin K injections and another blood test has been sent off which will tell us whether it is Warfarin poisoning.  Covering all bases: I have also taken a 'poo' sample which will be sent off to see if he has Hook Worm (he was wormed on the day I collected him, but dogs which have never been wormed need to be wormed more than once).  He does appear to be responding to the vitamin K injections, so Warfarin is the hot suspect and apparently could have remained in his blood since he was racing 3 weeks ago as the effects are cumulative.

Adding fuel to this theory is the fact that earlier this week Lita spoke to a trainer from whom she is picking up a dog for fostering tomorrow.  This trainer had to have a dog put to sleep this week after she suddenly developed a fatal haematoma mid-race - post mortem results suggested rat poison!

Meantime Skipper is doing ok.  He is terribly bruised, but it doesn't appear to be getting worse.  However - I noticed this evening that a bit of blood was once again seeping through the skin of his scrotum - just a little though and he has had another vitamin K injection this evening which should help.

He continues to be bright and nosey with an excellent appetite!

Fingers crossed (still)!

OK folks, here's the poor lad - be warned this ain't a pretty sight....

People do deliberately poison greyhounds.

One reason for doing this is to 'knobble' potential winners at races. Like in many other sports, there are folk who will try to fix a dog race or try anything to win.

Another reason is that it's a cheaper way of sending a dog off to Rainbow Bridge when its racing days are over. Don't get me wrong...not all trainers use this method of putting a dog to sleep.  Many trainers do the right thing and use organisations like GAL to rehome the dogs when they're finished racing. 

There will always be unscrupulous people in the world.

Hi Lesley,

You are fast becoming a vet expert - with greyhounds a speciality along with the ailments of chinchillas.  Every hound you have had has had a major life threatening condition!

Great to hear Skippers progress. In some ways it was fortunate his poisioning was picked up via the operation.  If it had not been he might have had a major interna bleed could have finished him off before cause could be detected.

I believe that rat poison is quite palitable. So dogs and cats will eat it.

I when I was young one of our cats ate quite a bit. She survived. So be careful especially if you see 'rat poisioning' signs  on lamp posts etc

One of the great things about the health post is the medical information dissemination. We get to know the signs of various dog conditions etc etc so can take prompt action. And get the hound  propmtly to the vet.

Charles

Skipper gave us another fright this evening.

He was back at the vets to have his castration stitches out.  The vet had a bit of a poke at the remaining scrotal haematoma and we discussed future possible treatment if Skipper's body doesn't re-absorb it all.

By this evening he had another small haematoma coming up which later burst and doesn't appear to be clotting.  It is still bleeding, although not badly.

This suggests to me that the Vit K tablets are not doing the job the injections were doing.  The vet did say that they are not as effectively absorbed.  So - BACK to the vet we will go tomorrow morning and see what he thinks.

Hey ho! 

I am sorry to say - today has not been a good day.

Naturally medication administered orally does not benefit the body as fast as the same thing injected straight into the bloodstream!

So - despite Skippers increased dosage of oral Vit K yesterday - this morning we got up to find that he had another rupture which was bleeding into his bed!  There were two areas of blood about the size of a saucer!

Over the next few hours there was no sign of the blood drying - it was just a constant drip, drip!

Back to the vet (on a Sunday )!!  He had an IV Vit K injection, plus antibiotics (blood is a great breeding ground for bacteria), and an IV sedative which lowers the blood pressure and hopefully helps stop the bleeding.

Skipper and I have got so good at this that I raise his vein and Skipper never utters a sound!!  He is amazingly stoic!

He has spent the day on towels in his indoor kennel (thank goodness once more for the indoor kennel) and the bleeding has not stopped yet.  It is not drastic, but constant, and I have spoken to the vet three times through the day.  At one point she thought he might have to go in to the surgery overnight, but we have decided that I should get up at around 1am and check him.  If he is losing blood any faster than now I have to phone her.

If he continues to lose blood he may need a transfusion!  I will be back at the vet tomorrow so they can assess him.

Skipper remains cheerful (now that the sedative has worn off) with a good appetite.  Something to be thankful for!

The poison is supposed to stay in the system for up to 6 weeks.  But we are more or less at 5 weeks since he left his previous 'home'!!!  And it doesn't seem likely at the moment that he will be clear in another week.

The reason this has happened now is - when he changed from injections to oral Vit K the dosage wasn't enough.  But of course you don't know that until something like this happens.

When he has been on a high enough dose with no episodes for a couple of weeks, he will have a few days or a week off and then his blood will be tested again.  Once the blood clotting values are normal without additional Vit K he will be in the clear.

There is no sign that the poison is leaving his system yet - he is still on a big dose of Vit K daily to keep it clotting.

The gruesome fact is that he now has a hole in the back of his scrotum beneath his tail.  I have not taken photos as it looks horrible.

It is possible that once his blood is stabilised he may have to have the whole lot removed.

He has started squeaking in pain now when he moves around and I am not able to tell if the pain is coming from the site I just described, or from somewhere else (there is a constant possibility of internal bleeding).

He has a long way to go.  I am very worried about him (and I am very tired)! 

We were back at the vet this morning and Skipper had another antibiotic injection.  He is still on oral Vit K and will be for another couple of weeks.  After that it will be fingers crossed for another blood test to come in favourably.

Don't read the next bit if you are squeamish.

The vet managed to squeeze a lot of old blood and huge treacly clots out of the hole in his scrotum.  This has been oozing old blood constantly, so hopefully should be improved now that some more of it has come out - although so far I am still having to follow him around and put towels beneath him every time he sits down. 

Hi Siouxsie - thankfully Skipper is stable at the moment.  So - for the next couple of weeks it is a case of continuing with his oral Vit K - then he will have a few days/week off and then have another blood test!  That blood test will be critical because it will tell us whether his clotting levels have returned to normal without administering Vit K either orally or intra-venously

If at that point his blood is normal then he is in the clear once and for all.

Meantime - we must just wait.

I will keep you all posted, and thanks for your concern.

Skipper's pills came to an end yesterday, so today is the first day with no additional Vit K!  By the beginning of next week he will be ready to have another blood sample taken - and 48 hours after than we will know whether or not he is back to normal.

Fingers crossed!

Skipper's blood results came in today . . . . . . and . . . . . . .

HIS BLOOD IS NORMAL

I can't begin to tell you all what a relief that is!