Zephyr found her forever home with Trish and Robert, and while it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, Trish and Robert say that she is funny, quirky and never fails to make them smile.
You may remember Zephyr, formerly named Joy, who came to Greyhound Rescue with a leg injury that had never healed properly. While she still has residual pain, Trish and Robert have gone to great lengths to help her live as pain-free as possible.
“Zephyr is quite a character,” says Trish. “She is a talker. She will let you know when she wants to go out (she’s been brilliant as far as toileting), when she is feeling uncomfortable, when she wants her jacket on, when she wants her jacket off, when it’s dinner time – well, you get the picture.”
“Zephyr’s all-time favourite things are going for a walk or a ride in the car… hear the tiniest rattle of car keys or her lead and will be at your side all excited in a nanosecond.”
“She has quite a repertoire of moans and groans when she’s settling on her bed, whilst asleep or close to it along with vocal doggy dreams.”
“She loves everyone and, depending on their reaction, will put on quite a welcoming show. It doesn’t last long and having done her duty of meet-and-greet she settles back on her bed or shows off by picking up one of her toys or blankets or jackets etc. and runs off into the bedroom with them. The funniest part of this routine is when she runs out of ordinary things to take and looks around in desperation to continue her game. She might take the pillow and then one day she picked up the bed, one of those really big, fluffy, round jobs probably more than a metre across… It’s the funniest thing to watch.”
Unfortunately Zephyr’s pain has never completely disappeared, but with Trish and Robert’s love and care they manage it as best they can.
“We finally got what we feel is a correct diagnosis of her shoulder problem – supraspinatus tendinopathy – which is apparently common in racing or ex-racing greyhounds,” explains Trish.
They trialled multiple medications to find the right combination for Zephyr, and it was a visit to an osteopath that would eventually make all the difference.
“It’s been difficult but we wanted to try everything within our ability to relieve her pain.”
“He found several promising physical changes that we either hadn’t picked up on or inadvertently misdiagnosed and feels very optimistic about future physical improvements,” says Trish.
“We’ve found people are really interested and happy to approach us when we go for walks. And the first question is almost invariably ‘is she a rescue Greyhound?’. We have happy chats all about them. And we often point out that their positive attributes include being just the right height for someone in a wheelchair.”
Zephyr “is funny, quirky and never fails to make us smile each day”.
Check out our adoption process here. If it’s not the right time, you can still help us find loving homes for hounds by becoming a ‘Help a Hound’ supporter. Find out more here.