I had always loved dogs and with interest had watched the newspaper articles about the greyhound adoption program  where I live in Southwest Florida.    I never really thought I would get one of these dogs but it one of the best things I've ever done.

In 1992 my husband and I  decided we wanted  to get a dog.  I had talked to him about the greyhound adoption program and he also was interested.   We also had a cat so I was concerned about finding the right match.  I called the kennel and talked extensively to the lady who  ran the program.  She explained how the program worked and how they "tested" the dogs for getting along with cats.  We decided to go to the kennel and see what they had. On a cool day in January, 1992 (remember this is Florida) we went to the kennel .  We had wanted a female that liked cats and that particular day we were introduced to a female brindle, almost 4 years old.  She was quiet and beautiful,  just off the track.  We walked her around and after some discussion decided to take her home.

We named her Cassie.   One of the first obstacles was introducing her to Cali the cat, her new sister.   Cali welcomed her to the household with a bold smack on her muzzled face.
Cassie yipped and ran down the hall.  They did eventually become great friends.  At the end of the day when I would come home from work I often would have to go into the bedroom and wake them up as they would be lounging together on the water bed.

Cassie adapted to her new home relatively easily, however, her vice was chewing.
She even chewed up a muzzle that was supposed to stop the chewing.  We tried to "dogproof" the house but she found the most interesting items to chew up.  Some of her favorites were workout video tapes, sunglasses; leather watch bands (five to be exact) and Christmas ornaments.  Cassie loved Christmas so much that the Christmas tree was put on
a card table so she couldn't pick off her favorite ornaments.

Cassie also liked to eat.  Of course, there was dog food but she had some special people food she liked too.  Her favorite was raisin bread.  One time she stole a bag of raisin, walnut bread sticks off the counter and ate the whole bag.  She also consumed an angel food cake and a loaf of bread.  The best was when she got into some Slim Fast powder and finished off the can.  I guess she heard us talking about her getting too fat.

Cassie was a typical greyhound that she was a couch potato from the word go.  She also did the usual on the back upside down thing on the couch, which always made us giggle.  She also did what my husband called "spins".  She would lay on the carpet on her side and use her long legs to spin around in a big circle.  She loved to ride in the car and every time we took her outside she always stopped by the car just in case.  She had toys she played with but she had a tendency to play more by herself.  One of her favorite toys is what we called "monkey head"  -  it was the head of a monkey but really was a house slipper.   She also loved her chewman.  Pillows, ear rubbing and being petted were big on her list too.  She would quietly come and stand by your chair wanting to be petted.    She was quiet and very polite.  The only time she would really get crazy was when we got her leash out and she would do this cute little dance, with her backend up in the air and her front feet stepping.

Cassie bonded with us rather slowly.  It was not an obvious thing but we would notice small changes happening for about the first year we had her.  She really loved my husband.  They became great pals and she followed him around constantly.  When he was working on the computer she would be laying by him.  If he was watching tv she would be on the couch next to him.  It balanced out because Cali had been my cat before my husband and I were married and she was my buddy, so we each  had an animal.

Cassie had relatively good health.  We had to put her on light dog food as she had gotten too big.   She was a large dog for a female and her best weight was around 75 pounds but she had gotten to almost 80 pounds.  She took off the weight and we kept her on that same food to maintain.

We had noticed that it was time for her to get a teeth cleaning.  I took her into the vet, who wanted to do some routine testing first since she was now over eight years old, and the teeth  cleaning would require anesthesia.  The tests indicated a serious kidney infection.   She was put on some antibiotics for two weeks and would be re-tested.  She did not respond to the medication and it was changed.  She still did not respond.  During this time Cassie did not really show very many symptoms of any problems except that she had lost some weight.  We had kennelled her in March of this year and she had come out rather thin.  We blamed it on her missing us and the kennel lady said she had not eaten well.  We got her home and she was doing much better.  It was now July.  An x-ray was done on Cassie with the thought of kidney stones, but none were found.  More antibiotics and not much improvement when they did a special test and found she was sensitive to some of the medication being given to her.  She again was given new medication.  Also, she was taken to a referral clinic out of town and given an ultrasound.  There it was confirmed that she actually had kidney disease, a form of  Nephritis.  The vet did not know how advanced it was but we knew more what she had.  Over a period of 2 months she was given different antibiotics and put on special food, "K/D". At times the tests showed improvement  and we kept optimistic, but it was hard.  She gradually was losing weight and not liking the food.  We never really knew why but at times she would shake.  She was either cold or in pain, but she couldn't tell us.  We wanted our old Cassie back.  Occasionally she would lay on her back or do the spins and we would think she is getting better.  Finally, she stopped eating.  She actually had her local vet, who was also getting help from her peers, plus the specialty vet that did the ultrasound  working on her case.  Maybe the medication was making her  feel crummy so she was taken off the antibiotics and put her on stomach medication in hopes she would eat.    We were giving her whatever she wanted trying to get her to eat, but she didn't even want the raisin bread she loved.    She was now down to 59 pounds.  She still wanted to be petted and still did her little dance even though she was getting weaker and weaker.  On September 5 they took her off the antibiotics but did a special blood test.  That blood test showed that the kidney disease was making her not want to eat; not the antibiotics.  When the call came from the vet with those blood test results I had very sad feelings.  I knew things were serious even though he was still optimistic.  That evening we took her out to go to the bathroom and she searched around and kept stopping and finally went.  Half way back to the house she stopped walking.  I knew she couldn't go any farther.  My husband picked her up and carried her back to the house.  She laid on a special blanket on the floor with some pillows.  We actually talked about having her put to sleep.  It was horrible.  Finally I went to bed.  At 10:30 PM I woke up to Cassie crying.  My husband was on the floor with her in the living room comforting her.  Every time he stopped she would start to cry again.  We took turns staying with her, not knowing what to do.  She was crying like I had never heard before.  She was obviously in pain and  kept moving her back legs.  I tried an emergency vet but I knew we could not get her there as it was about 15 miles away.  She cried for about three hours.   Finally about 12:30 AM I noticed a change in her.  She stopped crying.  Her body stiffened and then became limp.  She moved for a couple more minutes then she stopped breathing.  It was over.

We miss her tremendously.  The vet assured us that we did nothing to start the problem and did more than a lot of people are able to do with all the tests, etc.  One vet feels that the problem possibly is a residual of something given to the dogs at the track.
She is seeing more kidney disease in young greyhounds.  Even Cali misses her sister.  She demands much more attention from us and hops up by my husband more than before.  Cassie enjoyed her retirement.  We had her for four and a half years and we spoiled her rotten.  We felt she deserved it.  She gave to us more than we ever gave to her.  Even as she was dying I knew how much she loved us just by her actions and wanting us to stay with her.  As hard as it was watching her die we felt at least we were able to comfort her the best we could.

UPDATE -  It is now November and we have a new addition.  We couldn't stand it and went back out to the kennel where we got Cassie.  We now have Reba, a 2 year old red brindle spitfire.  We have only had her two weeks so we are still getting to know each other but she is very special.  She loves people and is very affectionate.  She and Cali are still testing the waters but Cali has let her know who is boss.  They have already been on the waterbed together.   No one will ever replace Cassie but  Reba gives us a reason to smile again.
 

written by Linda Richardson - Cape Coral,  Florida