Greyhounds Advice

Dr Ray Ferguson has been extensively involved in greyhound racing for over 25 years. He is past president of the Australian Greyhound Veterinary Association and is currently the secretary/treasurer.

Ray is a lecturer on greyhound medicine and surgery at the University of Melbourne and has presented many lectures in Australia and the USA.

Ray owns, breeds and races his own greyhounds.

Dr Mark Foley is highly experienced in greyhound work. He is an expert greyhound surgeon.

His work in the repair of fractured hocks, metacarpals and other bones is outstanding and his “back to racing” record is excellent. Mark carries out referral surgery on greyhounds from all over Australia.

Dr Stuart Mason is highly experienced in greyhound surgery and medicine.

Stuart has a special interest in reproduction and infertility in greyhounds. He achieves a high level of pregnancies with frozen semen inseminations.
He has mastered Transcervical Insemination (TCI) which is a non surgical insemination technique.

Racing Injuries and Poor Performance Return to top

Monash Veterinary Clinic uses magnetic field therapy, local injectable muscle treatments, chiropractic treatments and physiotherapy to treat injured and poorly performing dogs. Blood profiles, urine and faecal tests with complete interpretations are carried out. High quality radiographs are utilized to diagnose stress fractures and bone chips. CT scans, MRI and ultrasound are used to diagnose difficult fractures and injuries. High quality surgery for muscle tears and bone fractures is undertaken using the latest bone plates, screws and surgery equipment.

Feeding

Keep your feeding program simple and practical. Many trainers feed non-essential and costly supplements and so
"double up" on vitamins and electrolytes. Trainers are encouraged to write down their daily feeding regime and bring it in for analysis during a consultation.

Breakfast

• 1 or 2 weetbix or 2-3 slices of toast with margarine and honey or vegemite.
• 1 cup of kibble may be added. Moisten this with 1-2 cups of milk or vegemite-water. The moisture is important to help prevent dehydration.
• Half a teaspoon of multi-vitamin mineral supplement such as Feramo Greyhound.
• 1 calcium tablet or half a teaspoon of calcium powder.
• Alternatively feed 1/2 cup of premium quality food such as Hill's Science Diet "Active Formula"
  or Eukanuba Premium.

Dinner Return to top

The basic evening meal should consist of:

• 500-750 grams of fresh raw or cooked meat (not too lean).
• 1 or 2 cups of vegetables raw or cooked.
• 1 or 2 cups of kibble or 1 or 2 slices of toast.
• Half a teaspoon of multi-vitamin mineral supplement.
• 1 calcium tablet or half a teaspoon of calcium powder.
• Half a teaspoon of multi-vitamin mineral supplement.
• 15 or 30 grams of pork fat or 1 or 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil.
• Megaderm may be fed as an alternative to the vegetable oil and pork fat.
• 1 or 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil.
• Electrolytes if required.
• Iron supplements if needed.
• 250mg Vitamin C tablet.

Premium Quality Foods

Premium quality foods such as Hill's Science Diet Active Formula and Eukanuba Premium have simplified feeding. Their use is recommended. These foods can be fed as a complete diet or supplemented with 150-200 grams of meat and some vegetables. Feeding these foods avoids the risk of intestinal upsets and diarrhoea which may occur from poor quality meat. Also less toxic meat preservative is taken into the dog's system. There is a lower risk of a positive urine swab resulting from medications present in the meat.

Important Points Return to top

Protein

Greyhounds need 30% protein in their diet. This is simply done by feeding 500-750 grams of meat. Feeding less than this may lead to weight loss, poor form and stamina especially over long distances.

Fat

Fat is an essential energy source for dogs. Fat deficiencies cause poor coats, weight loss, dehydration and poor form. Pork fat and vegetable oil are cheap and efficient fat supplements. 1 or 2 raw eggs weekly and 60 grams of raw liver twice weekly also helps in both fat and protein supplies.
Megaderm is an excellent commercial fat supplement.

Variety

A weekly stew of meat and vegetables should be fed. This helps prevent dehydration and provides some variety for the dog.

Bones

Greyhounds need a bone at least once weekly to help keep their teeth clean.

Dietary Supplements Return to top

Multi-Vitamin Mineral Supplements

There are a number of these available. Feramo Greyhound is recommended. It has an excellent supply of minerals including iron and multi-vitamins, especially the B Group vitamins.
Feeding Feramo Greyhound can eliminate:

• The requirement for other dietary supplements such as iron tablets.
• Multi-vitamin tablets and capsules.
• The requirement for Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 and Vitamin B complex injections.

Electrolytes

The most common electrolytes found deficient are potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.
Dogs with these deficiencies show:

• Dehydration.
• Poor form.
• Inability to run on in distance events.
• Respiratory distress after running.
• Increased thirst and urination after running.
• In extreme cases, acidosis or water diabetes may develop.
• Accurate diagnosis of their deficiency requires a blood test.
• In cases of potassium deficiency, 1 Slow K or Beta K tablet daily is adequate.
• In cases of calcium deficiency, 250mg calcium gluconate tablet, calcium carbonate powder daily is adequate.

Beta Cel or Recharge for Greyhounds are excellent electrolyte supplements.

Phosphorus deficiency requires the use of phosphorus containing injections such as Coforta or Tridenosin Injections. Recharge for greyhounds is needed to maintain normal phosphorus levels.
NOTE: Many dogs do not need electrolyte supplementation.
If your dog is running well and there are no signs of electrolyte deficiencies, do not add an electrolyte replacer. Excess dietary electrolyte may cause dehydration.

Minerals Return to top

Iron

Iron deficiencies cause anaemia, weight loss and poor form. Iron deficiencies are easily detected using a simple blood count test called a PCV. PCV blood counts of less than 50% indicate that the dog is anaemic and deficient in iron.
These dogs need the following treatment:

• Dewormed for hookworm, roundworm, whipworm and tapeworm.
  Drontal, Interceptor spectrum, Canex All-wormer or Ivomectin and Droncit are recommended.
• 2 iron injections of intravenous Hippiron or intramuscular Ferrocyl at 1 or 2 week interval.
• Assess the dog's diet to ensure adequate protein (meat) and a good multi-vitamin mineral supplement is being fed.
• Oral iron given 4 days out of 7. Ironcyclen is recommended.

Note: Some dogs naturally have low blood counts and no amount of therapy will increase the count. These dogs tend to be sprinters and have difficulty in competing in races longer than 450 meters.

Selenium

Selenium deficiencies cause muscle weakness and cramping. Dogs can become deficient in selenium because the meat being fed may be deficient in selenium. If a deficiency is suspected, an intramuscular injection with Kynoselen is recommended.

Calcium

Young animals need a high intake of calcium. 600mg calcium gluconate tablets or one (1) teaspoon of calcium carbonate powder twice daily is adequate. This dosage should be continued until at least 2 years old. Young dogs being broken in are especially at risk due to the combined stress of running around bends, being housed with other dogs and changes to diet.

When rearing a pup it is highly important that great care be taken to not feed them too much and make them fat.

Fat puppies place extra weight on their bones and predispose them to fractures or deformities. The extra weight can also cause joint pain and lameness. No amount of calcium supplementation can compensate for this. Reducing the protein intake is the only treatment. Racing dogs require a 300mg calcium gluconate tablet daily.
Dogs being fed Hill's Science Diet require less calcium to be supplemented.

Whelping Bitches need special care. They should receive a twice daily dose of 300mg calcium gluconate tablet during the last 3 weeks of pregnancy. At the time of whelping this needs to be increased due to the huge demands for calcium required to make milk. 600-1200mg calcium gluconate tablets or 1-2 teaspoons of calcium carbonate powder twice daily is adequate. Bitches that are prone to long labour or milk fever at whelping time need even higher doses of calcium.

Fat Supplements

Some dogs have high fat requirements due to high levels of energy expenditure (seen with nervous, excitable dogs) or poor fat absorption from their intestines. Their fat and energy requirements cannot be filled in the normal diet and so supplements are needed. Megaderm is an excellent supplement. Fat supplements improve coat quality and provide an increased energy supply to promote weight gain. Normally, the addition of pork fat and vegetable to the diet is adequate for most dogs but if your dog fails to thrive in spite of this then Megaderm should be considered.

Digestive Enzymes

Dogs which still fail to gain weight in spite of digestive diet supplementation, anabolic hormone and decreased work load often require the addition of digestive enzymes to their food to promote the absorption of dietary nutrients into the intestine. Enzyplex powder is recommended.

Training Return to top

Each greyhound is an individual and needs to be treated as such.
Training methods that work for one dog may not work for another.

Walking

Dogs enjoy a walk as it breaks the monotony of their day and also allows them to empty out (remember to pick up the dogs faeces). Brisk walking is better than slow walking as it promotes better muscle tone. Walking a dog for more than 20-30 minutes twice daily is excessive and can harm your dog. 10 minutes on a walking machine is similar to about 20 minutes lead walking. There are no walking races for dogs!

Free Galloping

Free galloping in a long run or paddock can be used to achieve and maintain fitness. Free galloping eliminates the need for walking.

Running

The best way to get a greyhound fit is to run them. Most dogs need only a few runs to achieve race fitness. To achieve maximum fitness the dog should be run over the distance it will race. It is a good plan to run the dog over a distance greater than the proposed race distance to ensure the dog has the required stamina. Short slips of 250-400 meters can be utilised to maintain fitness between races.

As a basic guide - restrict walking to 20 minutes twice daily.
Have one slip and one run on a track behind a lure per week.

Your skill as a trainer is then required to assess what else the dogs need. Once a dog is fit it needs very little work to maintain its fitness. Gaps of 10-14 days can be left between runs and most dogs will perform up to expectation. Some stayers need extra work to maintain their ability to run out longer distances.

Too much running and walking predisposes to:

• Muscle and joint injury.
• Poor recovery after each run.
• Excessive "puffing" after a run.
• Fatigue after 400-500 meters.
• Increased thirst and urination.
• "Water Diabetes", Dehydration and Acidosis.
• Kidney infections.

Post-run Nutrition

It is most important to provide your greyhound with some protein, carbohydrates and fluids within 2 hours of a run. This ensures maximum replenishment to energy and electrolyte levels and so promotes rapid recovery. Vanilla Sustagen is recommended. For fussy dogs, milk and honey or an ice cream will suffice.

Dogs need to drink 1.5 times the amount of fluid to compensate for weight loss during a run. If a dog loses 1 kg in weight then it should drink 1.5 litres of fluids.

Performance Improving Medications Return to top

Owners and trainers must be aware of the rule which prohibit the use of any drug which will affect a dog's performance. The following notes refer to preparations that can be used to improve the performance of dogs that have either lost form or are recovering from stress, situations such as breaking in, illness, or injury. Once the dog is entered in a race the use of these medications must stop.

Anabolic Hormones

These are drugs that are related to testosterone (the male hormone).
Uses:

• To improve weight gain in dogs which have lost weight either after breaking in or after illness.
• To improve weight gain in lightly built dogs.
• To promote healing muscle, tendon and bone after injury.
• To increase tissue strength in dogs that repeatedly tear muscles, sprain joints or develop stress fractures of bones.
• To stimulate timid dogs to chase and compete more keenly.
• To stop bitches coming into season.
• To stimulate blood formation in anaemic dogs.

Side Effects

• Both bitches and dogs may become very aggressive and "fight".
• Bitches may become sullen and depressed causing them to race poorly.
• Bitches may develop bladder and vaginal infections.
• If used in young dogs and bitches they can cause infertility.

There are many different types of anabolics available. Some affect the dogs personality more than others while some have stronger tissue healing capabilities than others. Individual dogs may react differently to different anabolic hormones.

Note: the use of anabolic hormones must be discussed with your veterinarian as they will return a positive urine swab in racing dogs. Their use is only to be considered in younger dogs during breaking in or when convalescing after serious injury or illness.

Vitamin B Complex Injections

• Produce a feeling of well being in the dog.
• Are useful in dogs under stress or in poorer condition.
• Are a little benefit in fit, well-prepared animals.
• Aminolyte or B complex injections are recommended.

Vitamin B12 Injections

Produce a feeling of well being in people. Deficiencies are most improbable in racing animals.

Vitamin E

A natural antioxidant. Supplements help heart and muscle function. Use 200-500mg daily. White E is recommended.

Electrolytes

Calcium is required for normal muscle and nerve function. Deficiencies may cause cramping. Use a 250mg calcium tablet or one (1) teaspoon calcium powder daily.

Potassium is required for normal muscle contraction and nerve function. Greyhounds are often deficient in potassium. Deficiencies cause dehydration and poor form. Use either 1 Slow K or 1 Beta K tablet daily.

Phosphorus is important for energy production (ATP, Creatine Phosphate) and phosphate is an intracellular buffer helping to reduce acid levels.

As a routine supplement use

• Hepasol (glycerophosphates) - one (1) teaspoon daily
• Phosphorus injections such as Coforta.

Selenium is required for muscle activity. Some greyhounds respond very well to selenium injections. They need to be repeated every 4 weeks.
Selenium deficiency occurs by feeding selenium deficient meat.

Iron low red blood cell counts may indicate an iron deficiency. Dogs with a PCV less than 55% tend not to be able to compete over distances greater than 450 meters. Check the diet and deworming program.

Anti Inflammatory

There are several anti-inflammatory medications which can be used to treat post run soreness and injury. These medications are only available from a veterinarian.

They must be stopped before racing.

Keeping Bitches Out of Season Return to top

Bitches that come into season are not allowed to race. If found in season before a race they are stood down for 30 days. They can be trialled whilst in season, taking care to avoid male dogs. Once the season is finished they can be kept in work and will often race well. Six weeks after the season the bitch may show signs of a false pregnancy and she starts to develop milk. During the period after a season bitches are more prone to injury because their tissues are softer. They may also not chase as keenly as they used to. It is therefore advisable to decrease the lead work and only run once a week.

To stop bitches coming into season:

Hard Training - Often the stress of racing is sufficient to stop a bitch coming into season. If your bitch has been racing well, is over 2 years old and has not been in season for the past 12 months there is a good chance she will not come into season as long as she is in work. You may be well advised to not use any treatment to try to stop her coming in.

Anabolic Hormones – From the 1st March 2008 only oral anabolic medications will be permitted. These are usually adnministered on a daily basis.

Stopping 'Milk' In Bitches

If a bitch comes into milk it is best to reduce her workload and administer anabolic hormones to suppress the milk supply.
Severe cases may need alternative medication to stop the milk developing.
A hormone test to measure the progesterone level can be used to determine if a bitch has finished her milk period. High levels of progesterone means the bitch needs additional therapy.

Pathology Tests Return to top

Blood Tests

Regular monitoring of the PCV which assess the red blood cells should be carried out.
Full blood profiles are needed when a dog is not running up to its best form.
Thyroid blood tests should also be carried out when a dog develops poor form, a dull coat and hair loss over the thighs.

Urine Tests

It is important to monitor the urine of dogs.
The most common problems are:

• Infection which is detected by the presence of blood and pus.
• Thin urine indicating that the dog is stressed and may be prone to water diabetes syndrome.

Faecal Tests

All kennels should have faecal tests done twice a year to ensure there are no worms present.