Galgo News

Category: Advice

  • Sago Palm – poisonous to dogs

    Sago Palm 1 400 11 2020
    From a Veterinary Clinic.

    ‘Please help us spread the word about this. We are seeing more and more Sago Palm’s for sale as house plants. We were very disappointed to see that the Sago Palm plants in some stores still have no warning label. These plants are very toxic to pets. It takes a very small dose to cause liver failure. Many dogs don’t survive, even with treatment. We took the picture on the left at Home Depot (warning tag). Walmart in the US are also selling them and none of the Sago’s at Walmart had warning tags. These have also been seen at Target and Ikea.

    Familiarize yourself with its distinctive appearance, because often they are just called “palm plants” (technically they are not palms, but cycads) or not labeled at all.

    Edited to ad: The seeds are the most toxic part of the plant, but these small versions usually are not big enough to produce seeds. However, the entire plant is toxic, so please be careful.’

  • Acorns are poisonous to dogs

    Acorns are poisonous…often meadows are surrounded by acorns and if horses eat enough, they suffer. I didn’t know that some dogs might also eat acorns until I read this article.

  • Greyhounds In Need Autumn/Winter newsletter

    Click on this link to read all their news about GIN work with galgos and rehomings.

  • Recognising heatstroke in dogs

    Heatstroke in dogs 450

  • Hypothyroidism in dogs

    Recently our galgo Bracken has been off his breakfast, losing hair on his tail and feeling the cold weather more. So a trip to the vet was booked. After an examination and a blood test, he was discovered to have a low thyroid problem. He’s now on medication, Forthyron, probably for life. He’s 11. Read about hypoththyroidism on this weblink.

  • Tribute to animal rescuers

    To Love a Rescuer 400
    To Love a Rescuer:

    To love a rescuer you must love all of her. You must love the scars covering her body from panicked and hurt animals she was trying to help. You must love her fractured heart, that has been broken so many times she no longer even takes the time to mend the pieces.

    To love a rescuer, you must embrace her grit and determination, and know that although she fights a war she can never win, she can and does win a few battles. You must love the tears she will shed over those she lost. You must give her comfort that she refuses to accept, as she blames herself for things she could have never foreseen.

    To love a rescuer you must acknowledge the rage she feels towards the world at times, and know that anger is driven by a love of life too few have. You must give her space and room to cry and mourn for the losses that others have caused out of carelessness or cruelty.

    (more…)

  • Whole Dog Journal – things to consider on fostering a dog

    In the 13 years I’ve been involved in the plight of the Spanish galgos and podencos, I’ve fostered several dogs which I’ve brought back with L’Europe des Levriers from Spain for rehoming. Only 3 of them didn’t go on to forever homes elsewhere. Podenca Bebe, galga Carmela and galgo Bracken remained with us. Why? Well, Bebe was my nickname at school and she was rescued by a wonderful young Spanish girl called Marisa – which is my daughter’s name. So you see, I couldn’t let her go! Carmela came as a foster with serious behaviour problems and by the time over 2 years had passed and she had become what I would term a ‘normal’ dog, I could not break her trust by homing her elsewhere. And Bracken? He was already reserved by a couple in the UK and we took him and handed him over ourselves. Sadly a few months later due to unforeseen very serious health problems with the couple, their hounds had to be rehomed. As soon as my husband knew, he hopped in the car and drove back to the UK to bring Bracken home!

    Fostering a dog is very rewarding and it helps the shelters insofar as when one dog is fostered, it leaves room for another needy dog to be rescued. Unfortunately at the moment, our household is not suitable for fostering. Bracken and Polar would not tolerate another male dog introduced and Bebe is such a dominant bitch she would not tolerate another female.

    So here are some other points to consider about fostering.

    Read the full article on this weblink.

  • Dental care for your Galgo’s teeth

    All my galgos have luckily arrived with fairly good teeth but my little podenca Bebe was about 5 when she was rescued injured from a Seville road, very thin and petrified. Her teeth were already in a poor state. In the 12 years she has been with me, she has had her 4 front teeth removed because they were bad, and also a couple of back teeth. Despite being given chews regularly.

    The Blue Cross charity has the following advice on dental care for canines. Click on this link.

  • Sign the Petitions and share

    Not about galgos but greyhounds, who also suffer terrible abuse. Hundreds of British, Irish and Australian greyhounds end up in China, where they eat dogs, as you know! Belle Vue, Manchester, and Peterborough Stadiums are two recent closures in England, Florida is a recent closure in the US, and now Kansas. Grey2K USA has launched a ‘Help End Greyhound Racing’ action pack of petitions.

    ‘Big news is that a Kansas dog track will be sold to create greenspace and a new business center offering 1,000 jobs, we know that the trend is with the greyhounds. That’s why we have just launched our brand new action center! That’s right, greyhound advocates can now sign multiple petitions to decision makers around the world, send emails with a click of the mouse to every governor in every US racing state, and share special memes and messages on social media to help greyhounds far and wide.’

    Click on this weblink to the petitions to sign, and share please.

    Don’t forget galgos are also raced, Medina del Campo being the racing centre in Spain. I’ve written to ask them to include that in their International Petitions link.

  • To neuter or not?

    So many unwanted puppies, born because people can’t be bothered to neuter their dogs. Or breeders who are after the ‘perfect’ one which will win Crufts! Or galgueros who want the champion. Thoughtless selfish people who don’t really care about the dogs.

    Most of the animals I have had in my 70 years have been neutered, dogs, cats, horses. Not the ducks, hens and geese of course!!

    Here’s an article raising the question ‘to neuter or not?’.