Does anyone know anything about Greyhounds?

There is a man in my building who has one.
He obviously loves her very much, but she is SO thin.
You can see every rib and vertebrae.

He says she is about 12 years old, so I figure that might be the reason, considering the fact that greyhounds have very little fat cover...but she looks cadaverous.

has anyone seen anything like this before?
I should probably just keep out of it, but I can't help it.

Greyhounds ribs and vertebrea usually show.. I've known a few and they are always boney dogs
You can always call the SPCA just incase, and they will work things out.

I'll move this to Cats & Other Animals.

Originally Posted by valanhb

I'll move this to Cats & Other Animals.

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eep. sorry.

A healthy greyhound usually shows all of their ribs and vertebrae. They are considered fat when you can't see them. With that said, it's a matter of degree that you can see them. I've been owned by 2 and both showed their vertebrae more so than their ribs. If the skin is sunk between the ribs, they are definitely too thin. On my "skinny" one you could see his ribs and vertebrae (our friends actually nicknamed him "skinny"), and our larger one could see his vertebrae only - he was considered fat.

A 12 year old greyhound is VERY old for greyhounds and this dog could just be having general old age health problems.

Here's a picture of my fat greyhound running (this was when he was younger and not so fat). This was taken about a year after we adopted him and this is slightly over what is considered ideal weight. You can see his ribs and vertebrae.

Doug was a larger than normal greyhound. To give you an idea how big he was, I could barely wrap my arms around his chest and couldn't fit both hands around his thighs. And yes, the picture is blurred because he was running full out in the back yard.

The only thing I know about Greyhounds is apparently you can't get them off the couch! They are big couch potatoes and love lazing around all day. That is so funny to me, especially as they are racing dogs!

They are prone to osteocarcoma as they get older, so that may be why as well. But yes, they are skinny and sometimes their bones are defined- not sunken, but defined.

Originally Posted by hissy

They are prone to osteocarcoma as they get older, so that may be why as well. But yes, they are skinny and sometimes their bones are defined- not sunken, but defined.

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I lost both of mine to osteocarcoma - Doug at age 6 and Tyler at age 10. It's very prevelant in large boned dogs, particularly greyhounds. Both lost some weight after they were diagnosed with it.

Originally Posted by KitEKats4Eva!

The only thing I know about Greyhounds is apparently you can't get them off the couch! They are big couch potatoes and love lazing around all day. That is so funny to me, especially as they are racing dogs!

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That is a fact! Doug actually preferred floor beds, but Tyler had his own couch (for the days) and his own queen sized waterbed (for nights). I invited them in bed with me a couple of times but even with a king sized bed, they took up the entire bed. They are so bony that they don't like to lay on hard surfaces - I think it hurts them.

Originally Posted by Momofmany

That is a fact! Doug actually preferred floor beds, but Tyler had his own couch (for the days) and his own queen sized waterbed (for nights). I invited them in bed with me a couple of times but even with a king sized bed, they took up the entire bed. They are so bony that they don't like to lay on hard surfaces - I think it hurts them.

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Oh how beautiful!!! I would love to have a proper-sized bed for my doggies so they didn't have to lie on the floor (where they have a soft doona to lie on) or our couches, where they leave dirty doggy smell!!

I think I will end up getting them one second hand and put it in the shed for them, once I have cleaned it all out and made it like a second bedroom. That way they'll have the run of the yard if they want to have a frolick, and a nice bedroom of their own for sleepy time.

I think Greyhounds are lovely dogs. Apparently you just can't have them with cats, though, so they would be out as a breed for us.

There's a 4 y/o retired racing greyhound in the HS I volunteer at. He is acutally good with cats & other small animals. It depends on the dog. Ireally want to bring this guy home. A greyhound would be awesome to have around. He is such a sweet boy & he has to live indoors as winter is cold here, so I don't think he will get adopted very quickly.

Originally Posted by KitEKats4Eva!

Apparently you just can't have them with cats, though, so they would be out as a breed for us.

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My 2 greys lived with up to about 20 cats (including the ferals). Our first boy Doug (in the picture above) was adopted at 22 months old and I had to muzzle him for a few days to make sure he was cat safe. He was trained at a track to chase down small furry objects. Tyler came to us as a 6 month puppy with no track training. He did fine with cats for 6 years then one day he caught and killed one of my feral cats. A tragedy that I used to correct him.

The prey drive is VERY strong with these dogs and you have to be sooooo careful if you have them with cats. Most of the greys up for adoption are listed as not being cat friendly. Few are tested with cats because frankly, they catch and kill so fast that you are jeopardizing a cat by testing the greyhound.

So it can be done, you just need to be really knowledgeable about their instincts and be prepared to give them up if you can't correct them.

Yes, that's what I'd read. I think that you can pretty much train any dog to get along with cats, but you just need to watch some much more closely than others. With our GSDs, we never had to supervise, the cats would sleep in between their paws, they were so gentle with them, there was never any concern.

With Ruby, we'll always have to watch her. High prey drive combined with high PLAY drive spells a combination that cats would run a mile from!