Übersetzung folgt:The Retired Greyhound Trust (RGT) say in their posters “A greyhound is for life, not just for racing” and for all of us who are greyhound adopters it is indeed true. To us ‘life’ means a full, happy, settled life preferably in a pack with support for whatever comes along. Our initial commitment when we decided to start adopting retired greyhounds was to provide a stable, loving home for as many dogs as we could for their remaining years and to ensure they never had to suffer…………….. of course, we had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for ! The reason I say this is that alongside the usual sprains, pulled dew-claws, dislocated toes, cut pads, etc we have had one or two much more serious problems.
The fifth dog we rescued was a very young ‘reject’ from Milton Keynes. He came to the RGT Croftview kennels in Kent in April 2006 with his sisters who were all much bigger than him and who had clearly been pushing him around. We turned up at the kennels the day they came in and he didn’t even look like a greyhound at first, he was very small compared to the rest of the litter but of course we agreed to take him after the usual introductions to our other three greyhounds. We named him Bertie and from the very beginning he showed no fear of the others in our pack so the treatment his sisters had handed out had not made him fearful. Within a few weeks of coming home he had a growth spurt, becoming much more like a greyhound.
As time went by we became increasingly concerned about Bertie because he had a very small penis and it was a long way back. Our vet felt he could be a hermaphrodite although he had the physical build of a boy dog. At one year old he had a series of urinary infections and his testicles had not dropped so our vet referred us to North Downs Specialist Referrals and in March 2007, after ultrasound and dye scans we were told he was a hermaphrodite.
There was a lot of debate about Bertie’s internal structure, in fact he definitely has retained testicles, or maybe they are ovaries and a partly-formed womb plus there are complications in his urinary tract which might have led to frequent infections. He has a penis but, as mentioned before, it is small and very far back. There was also much talk about his possible future problems and whether we ought to have corrective surgery. The prognosis was not good as the surgery would be complex, not knowing what might be found until he was opened up. Also the routine would involve splitting the pelvic bone to gain access and could have left him incontinent afterwards.
There was no question in our minds: he was a happy, healthy, hungry, energetic dog with a big heart and he made us laugh every day with his naughty antics…….we weren’t going to risk that unless things got serious so we declined surgery and took him home. To our delight our decision was the right one and Bertie has had no serious problems since 2007.
In the past few years Bertie has had bouts of losing blood for a few weeks twice a year. We assume this is him ‘coming into season’ as he does attract the attention of other local dogs, which he rejects quite firmly. Also, occasionally he has periods of urine incontinence, especially after heavy exercise and mainly when he lays down. Late last year and again recently Bertie had a period of acting very strangely: whining, looking to us for company, messing up the dog beds, etc which appear to be the classic signs of phantom pregnancies. This lasted in both cases for a couple of weeks and then he went back to his usual naughty, silly self.
Despite all the worry and cost we have stayed true to our commitment to give our rescue dogs a long and happy life without suffering.
Thank you to Paul Stanley for this great article
Quelle: Greyhound-Data Newsletter
https://www.greyhound-data-membership.c ... cle25.aspx
