Stories & Appeals
The story of Flash and the Twins
In August 2025 it is 9 years since Flash passed away and on his anniversary we thought it would be nice to
tell his story - bear with us, it gets complicated! Flash arrived in Sept 2015, he never raced due to corns. These were operated on when he was castrated and the plan was to rehome him but that
didn’t go quite to plan……In Jan 16 he had his first episode and collapsed, the same day that his sister Chloe arrived with us! They were aged 2 and a half, she had been retired due to a broken wrist
(any normal doggo would have made it back to the track as it healed fine....obviously not my little drama queen!) within an hour of picking her up I was winging it to the vets with Flash! Think he
was trying to tell her something!! I was about a quarter of a mile from my van in the middle of effing nowhere!! I had to half carry him and half support him in a steady walk! Whilst Flash was in and
out of the vets over the coming months, Chloe decided he shouldnt get all the attention and nicely ran into a fence post and imploded all the muscles in her shoulder, she too spent a night in the
vets, on the same day her brother had been discharged only an hour before, he had collapsed again the previous day and was kept in overnight! I literally arrived home with him and turned round and
'blue lighted' Chloe to the vets, her timing was always impeccable!! Later, after Flash died, she held so many memories she just had to stay but at that point I didn't know I would ever have the
chance to have Billy too. Anyway I digress….Flash had test after test to try and diagnose the cause of him collapsing and having such high blood pressure. Eventually in May-16 when he had another
collapse and his behaviour started to change for the worst it was thought it was neurological and he was referred to a specialist in Newmarket for a MRI. Sadly he passed away just 10 hours before his
appointment and never had the scan. Two months after Flash died (Oct 2016) Kelly told me Billy's trainer up in Sunderland had let her know he had retired him and had asked if I wanted him....of
course I did! When I brought him home, within an hour of being here, he jumped up on the paddock fence, slipped and landed in a crumpled heap on his head on the other side....to which Chloe looked as
if to say “you fool!!” So yeah....the third one was just as disastrous as number one and two!! You couldnt help but love them though. Chloe and Billy had been kenneled together when in race kennels
but had been separated for nearly two years when Billy went up to Sunderland and were reunited here after he retired. Within minutes of been back together it was evident that the brother sister bond
was still there and became inseparable, they quickly became known as the twins, and that name stuck, don’t they were ever really referred to as Billy and Chloe after that! In November 2020, Chloe,
collapsed displaying exactly the same symptoms as Flash, she was assessed along with Billy by Andy (Wicstun Vets, Market Weighton) and both were diagnosed with greyhound hypertensive syndrome,
basically unexplained high blood pressure, only specific in this breed. Thankfully, four and half years after Flash’s death and due to more research into the condition, more effective medication was
available and the twins began lifelong treatment to stabilise their b.p. Generally speaking their condition remained stable throughout the rest of their lives, Chloe had odd t.i.a's, on average two a
year, but they were minor symptomatically. As Billy got old his vision, in particular his distance perception became impaired. But I lost neither of them due to the hypertension. Billy got hindlimb
oesteosarcoma (bone cancer), chloe lymphoma. I always said I would be happy to get them both to double figures and both surpassed that too. Whilst I had Billy he also had his fair share of drama, he
under went surgery for a twisted gut 18th December 2021, that was the only time he was away from Chloe (for 18 hours), he pulled through despite the odds been against him (less than 50% chance of
survival) I barely left his side, day and night, for a week following the surgery due to the high risk of a retwist, then 6 weeks to the day later he broke his tail on the wall in the living room and
was back under anesthetic to have it amputated, all this on top of been diagnosed with hypertensive syndrome 14 months earlier. All three had eventful and at times difficult lives, but their
quirkiness and general clumsyness and happy go lucky personalities made me laugh every single day, I would never of changed them for the world. I will always wish better treatment had been available
when Flash needed it, because I would have given anything to have the three together....they would have been a complete nightmare.....but to see them grow old as a trio would have given their story a
happier ending!! But it is what it is and I will always love all 3 dearly and never forget the memories they leave behind, truly a trio missed forever. Clare
xxx
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Kizzy's Story
Kizzy will is 9 years old in August 2025, she
came to me late 2019, she was 3 years old, retired due to right carpel injury most likely due to a bi-lateral deformity as there is an abnormality in the left carpus joint too.
I used to call her Fizzy Pop and Kizzy Whiz as
she loved to run around and be crazy, she’s a very tough cookie which is fortunate as she had a hard journey ahead of her….
The leg never bothered her initially but about
2 years ago the right carpus started to rotate due to weakened ligaments, she started suffering with corns and was always lame.
We took the decision to try corrective surgery
in Oct 2023 - to cut a wedge out of the long bone in her leg to straighten the leg and have metal plates fitted. It was so successful that the Veterinary surgeon put a picture of Kizzy’s Xray on his
fridge at home, he couldn’t believe how straight he had gotten the leg! We were really pleased and commenced the recovery process which involved a lot of crate rest which Kiz coped with really well,
despite being a very active and busy girl.
6 months after the surgery she started with
problems of recurrent Osteomylitis (bone) infections which we treated with antibiotics but was not successful and further x-rays showed her body was rejecting the metal work. The plate was removed
Aug-24, the bone had fused and looked strong. She recovered well up until Feb-25 when she started suffering with inflammation again, this developed into recurrent Osteomylitis which caused a honey
comb structure to form in the bone, weakening the carpus joint, causing a risk of a pathogenic fracture. The constant inflammation meant she was unable to weight bear, making the leg effectively
useless, so amputation was seen as the best option, surgery carried out less than a fortnight ago.
The total cost of vet fees so far for Kizzy is
around £7000. Once she is healed from the amputation she will need to recommence hydrotherapy treatment to support her recovery.
Any funds we can raise for Kizzy will go
towards the cost of her ongoing treatment and to replenish funds that have been spent on her which are badly needed to continue our work in rehoming and supporting the Humber Hounds.
Thank you for reading Kizzy’s story. If you
would like to donate towards her ongoing treatment, here is the link to her Go Fund Me page: https://gofund.me/60c0e628.
Contact us...
Telephone:
07722 179342
Email: humberretiredgreyhounds@gmail.com
Or use our contact us form.
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