One page for the clinic: what is different about this dog before anyone reaches for a drug or a reference range.
Greyhounds, and in most respects whippets, galgos, lurchers, deerhounds, salukis and other sighthounds.
Emergency
Bloat / GDV — the one that cannot wait
A deep, narrow chest is the shape most associated with gastric dilatation-volvulus. It can go from the first sign to fatal in about an hour, and there is no version of it that waits until morning.
Signs 8,9
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Restlessness, pacing, or an inability to settle
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Retching or gagging that brings nothing up
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Drooling more than usual
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A swollen, hard, painful belly — the dog may keep turning to look at it
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Pale gums, fast shallow breathing, weakness or collapse
Do this now 9,10
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Phone the nearest 24-hour hospital while someone gets the car, then go. Do not wait for a callback.
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Say the words “I think my greyhound is bloating” — it changes how the call is triaged.
Do not
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Do not give food, water, antacids, oil, or any human medicine
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Do not press on the abdomen or try to pass a tube
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Do not wait to see whether it settles
For the anaesthetist
Anaesthesia
Sighthounds carry roughly 17% body fat against about 35% in an average dog, and they metabolise lipophilic drugs differently. The result is longer recoveries, more hypothermia, and one drug class to avoid outright.
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Avoid thiobarbiturates (thiopental). Recovery from recumbency to standing has run three to four times longer than in mixed-breed dogs, in some greyhounds beyond eight hours, with prolonged respiratory depression and rough, relapsing recoveries. 1
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If acepromazine is used, keep it below 0.1 mg/kg. Greyhounds are more sensitive to it, and it lengthens sedation and deepens hypothermia. 1
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Propofol, alfaxalone, or ketamine–diazepam are the usual induction choices; alfaxalone tends to give the shortest recovery. Neither propofol nor alfaxalone accumulates the way the barbiturates do. 1,5,6
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Maintain on isoflurane or sevoflurane. Halothane is discouraged in this breed. 5,1
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Plan for hypothermia before it happens: warm the table, use forced-air or circulating-water warming through premed, surgery and recovery, and monitor temperature before, during and after — watching for post-anaesthetic hyperthermia as well. 1,5
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Expect a longer recovery and keep repeat top-ups of lipophilic drugs to a minimum. Premedicate with sedation and, for anything painful, an opioid. 5,6
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Take care with drugs that slow hepatic metabolism — H2 antagonists, macrolide antibiotics, azole antifungals — given before an induction agent that depends on the liver. 6
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Read the pre-anaesthetic bloodwork against greyhound intervals, not standard canine ones. See the panel below. 2
Day two, not day one
Delayed post-operative bleeding
The bleeding shows up on day two, after the dog has gone home and everyone has relaxed. It is the single most useful thing on this card for a routine spay or neuter.
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In a blinded trial of 100 retired racing greyhounds undergoing routine gonadectomy, 30% of the placebo group bled 36 to 48 hours after surgery, against 10% of the group given epsilon aminocaproic acid. 4
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The trial protocol was EACA 500 mg orally every 8 hours starting the night of surgery, for three days; a weight-based 15 mg/kg has been proposed instead, since the odds of bleeding rose about 19% per additional kilogram. Some clinicians continue it for five days. 4
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Send the owner home knowing what day-two bruising, swelling or oozing looks like and who to call — the clot breaks down after they have stopped watching for it. 4
Read the panel differently
Bloodwork
A healthy greyhound reads as polycythaemic, leukopenic, thrombocytopenic, hypothyroid and in early kidney failure on a standard canine panel. It is none of those things. IDEXX now reports greyhound-specific intervals in the US; the figures below are the ones the community and the literature publish, and exact cut-offs vary by laboratory.
Analyte
Greyhound
Typical dog
Unit
PCV / haematocrit
At or above the top of the canine interval — a relative anaemia is easy to miss.
50–65
37–55
%
White blood cells
Low neutrophils are the breed, not sepsis or marrow disease.
3.5–6.5
6.0–17.0
×10³/µL
Total T4
Most healthy greyhounds look hypothyroid. Do not treat on a T4 alone.
0.5–1.7
1.0–4.0
µg/dL
SDMA
Unaffected by muscle mass, so a better read on kidneys in this breed than creatinine.
0–20
0–14
µg/dL
—
Creatinine runs higher in healthy greyhounds — attributed to muscle mass, and accompanied by a glomerular filtration rate that is normal or higher, not lower. With concentrated urine and a normal SDMA, a raised creatinine alone is not kidney failure. 2,3
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Also higher: hepatic enzyme activity and cardiac troponin. Also lower: total globulin and haptoglobin. 3
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The same red cell mass that confuses the panel is why greyhounds are sought after as canine blood donors. 7
In the room
Handling
Small things that make the visit go better, mostly learned by the clinics that see a lot of them.
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Sleep startle is real: they often sleep with their eyes open and can snap when woken by touch. Wake with your voice from a step away, and tell the owner you are about to.
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A muzzle is ordinary equipment to a retired racer, not a sign of a dangerous dog. Many are calmer wearing one.
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Thin skin over almost no subcutaneous fat tears easily and bruises visibly. It also means very little padding on a hard table or a cage floor.
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Ribs, spine and hip bones showing is correct body condition for a sighthound. Owners are told constantly that their dog is starving; the card is a good place to settle it. 1
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Retired racers travel: a full tick-borne panel, babesiosis included, is worth doing early, and periodontal disease is close to universal in the breed. 1
This card is a summary of published veterinary sources, assembled for owners to hand to a treating veterinarian. It is not veterinary advice and it does not replace the judgement of the clinician in front of the dog. Doses and reference intervals should be confirmed against your own laboratory and formulary.