A Dedicated Doctor -- Blog The Change

We wanted to tell you a little bit about a program that we think is important today, and give you a break from pictures of our vacation.  Dr. Guillermo Cuoto runs a program at Ohio State University that many Greyhound owners are familiar with, however, many others may not know about it.  He does important work there that will hopefully one day benefit all dogs.

Dr. Cuoto runs OSU's Greyhound Health and Wellness Program.  The program helps to educate veterinary students about the special health needs of Greyhounds.  Greyhounds have a bit different physiology than other dogs, including a need for special anesthesia if they have surgery and different blood levels than other dogs.  For example, often Greyhounds are diagnosed as low thyroid by veterinarians who don't understand about their different blood levels.  They also have a universal blood type, which is why they are often blood donors.  It in no way explains why they tend to think that they are royalty, but that's a post for another day.

Winnie, a friend of ours who defied the odds and survived several years post amputation

Another very important part of the Greyhound Health and Wellness Program is helping to treat Greyhounds with osteosarcoma.  While Greyhounds are free of a lot of genetic disorders that plague a lot of other breeds, like hip dysplasia, they often suffer this form of bone cancer.  Not only do they treat many Greyhounds there at OSU, they also consult with other vets all across the country who are treating Greyhounds with the disease.  They are also doing a study to try and map the Greyhound genome and find the markers that indicate Osteosarcoma.  A trial of the drug Sumarin is being conducted there also which seems to be extending the lives of Greyhounds after their diagnosis of the disease.

Often, treatment of osteosarcoma involves amputation of the diseased limb.  Survival after diagnosis and amputation can be anywhere from a few months to a year.  With the new drug survival times seem to be from fourteen to twenty four months after amputation.  The longest survivor so far lived almost four years after amputation. 

Another tripod Greyhound -- picture through Google search

 

Hopefully, all this research will one day benefit all dogs who develop osteosarcoma and seeing tripod Greyhounds and other dogs will become a much rarer occurance.  The program continues partly through donations, so if you would like to donate, I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated.  It would be wonderful to think that one day it will no longer be something we have to worry about.