Vet notes

Acidosis

Although severe acidosis, or rhabdomyolysis, is not a common problem, it can have a devastating effect on a greyhound’s future racing career. Symptoms include depression, inability to walk or stand, muscle seizure with pain and swelling along the back and hind limbs and extreme dehydration with weight loss of up to 1-2 kg in 24 hours.
It is considered to be a form of severe cramping, occurring most commonly in unfit, highly-stressed, excitable dogs or those that over-exert themselves following a collision or fall in an effort to catch the rest of the field.
Affected animals pass small volumes of urine, which is extremely dark due to muscle breakdown and this should alert trainers to the severity of the condition. Although electrolytes and fluids, with supplements of potassium are useful in mild cases, in all cases it is best to seek vet advise. Dehydrated and collapsed dogs must be given intravenous fluids, vitamins and metabolic aids and be monitored over a 24 to 36 hour period. If not treated quickly, the affected greyhound can dehydrate severely and will die within two to three days due to kidney and liver shutdown.
However while fluid therapy under vet supervision is helpful in overcoming the immediate life-threatening problem, many greyhounds are left with extreme muscle wastage along the back, which hampers return to their future racing career. Physiotherapy and exercise to rebuild wasted muscles, including measured doses of anabolic steroids and an adequate protein diet are useful. But recovery from the more serious forms of the disease can take two to six months and the greyhound is unlikely to regain its previous speed or class of racing.
Acidosis can be divided into 3 categories depending on the symptoms seen.

Hyperacute Acidosis – this form tends to be seen after an unfit dog is raced or trialed. When an unfit greyhound is subjected to excessive fast work there is an enormous production of lactic acid in the muscles. The intracellular buffers in the muscle cell are unable to neutralise such a large amount of lactic acid and acidosis develops. In this situation the dog needs to be treated with intravenous fluids and electrolytes by a vet

Acute Acidosis – this form also follows a race or trial. Greyhounds that are either highly-strung or tense or racing under hot and humid climatic conditions can develop acute acidosis. These greyhounds spend a lot of time barking and panting and this can lead to loss of the electrolytes that buffer (neutralise) lactic acid. The greyhound is primarily a non-sweating animal and when the environmental conditions are hot and humid it has an increased difficulty in getting rid of heat. A veterinarian should also treat acute acidosis.

Subacute Acidosis - it is thought that this form of acidosis is due to a deficiency in potassium that can develop in greyhounds that are trialing or racing too frequently. The immediate treatment of subacute acidosis is aimed at minimising any damage to the kidney from the myoglobin in the urine. It is also important to keep the urine alkaline. For this you can use Neutradex This is a special formulation of buffering salts designed for use after racing to flush the system and aid recovery. Anabolic steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs can be used as necessary to aid recovery. These dogs should also be trialed or raced less frequently.