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Maine Greyhound Placement Service
Adoption Center
249 Old Belgrade Rd.
Augusta, ME 04330
Phone: 207-626-2893 Fax: 207-626-2835
or email Scott Bruns at
greyhoundplacement@verizon.net
Eight Critical Hours:
Greyhounds Given Lifesaving Treatment
By Scott Bruns, President MGPS
(Click on images for larger
view)
 On
Memorial Day weekend six Greyhounds were received at MGPS from Birmingham,
Alabama. MGPS has a wonderful working relationship with one of the racing kennel
managers and through his dedication and commitment, six retired racing
greyhounds were transported a long distance to Maine (three with recent hock
fracture injuries). Our team met the hauler in southern NH. The temperature was
in the 80’s and rising at 6am. We made a quick assessment as we transferred each
dog from the commercial hauler to our transport truck. Although they were a
little stressed, we decided it would be best to get them to our facility where
we would be fully equipped to handle any medical problems.
As we unloaded the dogs at MGPS and led each one into the turnout yard, their
stress
became more obvious. They were brought into the kennel and triaged. We started
taking temperatures and found out very quickly this group was going to be in
very serious trouble if they did not receive treatment immediately. Five of the
six dogs were found to be in severe to critical condition. Findings of high
temperatures, stress response and dehydration required rapid treatment by the
MGPS team. As I was the only vet tech on the property at the time, it was
certainly a blessing to have Elizabeth Tulip (physician assistant) available on
the team. As we cooled the exterior of the dogs, we recognized we needed more
hands to deal with this situation. A call was made to Elizabeth’s husband Dana
Briggs, MD, who was near by. We also contacted Dr Alan Slack (our clinic vet) to
discuss our treatment plan. The team worked continuously over an eight hour
period of intensive care treatment; giving cold baths, meds, IV lines, blood
workups and other vital treatment to stabilize the Greyhounds. They all
recovered. The six dogs have continued to adjust well, including the healing
progress of three with hock (leg joint) fractures.
This was an event that clearly exemplifies the importance of our MGPS staff and
available equipment. Without having everything necessary in place, the future of
these particular hounds would have been jeopardized
Long distance travel is a fact of life for the greyhound; starting from birth,
pups may be whelped in the mid south, raised in the southeast for a year or so,
trained in central US and then transported to their first track any where in the
country. It’s also not uncommon for Greyhounds to move around the country from
track to track before retiring. Once retired, the Greyhound is transported again
to an area of the US that has room at a placement organization. Long distance
transport requires special consideration. The reality is that some Greyhounds
can and do die, whether they are being transported from farm to training,
training to track, track to track, or track to placement. A few of the obstacles
to overcome in transport are heat exhaustion, stress response, critical
hyperthermia and the condition of the hauler’s equipment as well as the amount
of stops made along the way.
There is true dedication between some racing kennels and adoption groups to
safely transport. After all if the people in control of the racing Greyhound did
not care about the hounds well being, why bother putting the effort into getting
the Greyhound into placement in the first place. Experience with long distance
transport has provided MGPS with an approach to immediate care (refer to
“Tragedy Sets MGPS into Action”, Fall ’05 issue of Greyhound Express). In 2005
the MGPS medical team developed a transport pack that consists of pre-shipment
vitamins and calming agents to make traveling safer for the dogs. However, we
cannot implement our pre-transport protocol unless we have complete control of
the journey. On some hauls greyhounds are dropped off while others are being
added to the overall load. Mixing sedated greyhounds with those not sedated is
not necessarily a good thing, as it puts the medicated dogs at risk of injury.
We are now using a very good commercial hauler who transports racing greyhounds
as well as hounds heading for adoption centers. The stops are kept to a minimum
and his equipment is kept in top-notch shape.
As we come closer to building the new Greyhound Clinic, we foresee having enough
greyhounds coming up to MGPS for neutering and medical work along with full
loads going back south to adoption centers along the East Coast. We will
eventually have full control of the hauling schedule, stops and condition of the
equipment.
MGPS is truly dedicated to safe transport of greyhounds; the logo “Arrive Alive”
has even more meaning to our group.
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