Unwell Rotties

[oonga]

oh thank goodness for those results cavNrott!!

i totally agree with the mistletoe and giving it a go!!!

from what i can see the natural things are really helping so it is worth a go!!!!

as for the hills sd yes i agree with you, forget about it!!

it totally contradicts with your feeding regime, and your beliefs on what constitutes a good canine diet.

I admire you for staying true to your beliefs and keeping up with what YOU know is working for YOUR Sophie

thanks for the update

[Allerzeit]

Just wanted to send my thoughts, hugs and kisses to you and Sophie, Anne

Keep on fighting the good fight Sophie! She has shown, and continues to show, an amazing amount of strength - part of which I know is a testament of your love and devotion to her, and the care you provide her.

[cavNrott]

Thanks for the votes of confidence guys.

Oonga the Hills rubbish that the onco wants me to feed Sophie is not S/D it's canned stuff called N/D which is apparently for cancer dogs....they make a few outlandish claims about dogs living longer on this diet. Well Sophie hasn't done too badly without their smelly canned stuff and she won't be eating it.

I guess I should throw it out rather than return it to the onco. She didn't charge me for the 2 cans and would probably be insulted if I returned the unopened one. I will tell her though that Sophie doesn't eat animal by products. I know what by products consist of and I wouldn't feed it to any dog.

[Staffyluv]

I would not feed it to her either CnR.

It was offered to us as well. When I gave it to Ollie he sniffed it and walked away - I am still cooking for the lad and will continue to do so.

Glad to hear that she is as well as can be expected.

Go team Sophie.

J

[laneka]

CavnRott, so please that Sophie's results were good. She is one hell of a spunky girl.

Have you tried www.greenpet.com.au or one of the other health sites for the mistletoe. I am learning so much from reading your posts. Even though I hope I never have to use it.

[Kaz]

cavnrott, iv been reading and following your story

i wish you luck for your results tomorrow

but either way what an insperation you and sophie have been for a lot of people myself included !

she has fought so hard to stay with you, stay strong and me and my rotts will prey for her tonight .

I couldn't have put it better than Berty has.

So glad Sophie is still having her good times with you. Hugs and kisses to you both.

[oonga]

Hi cavNrott,

just wanted to say hello to you and Sophie and let you know you are both in my thoughts.

Sending you big hugs, hugs to your other puppies too!!

[cavNrott]

Thanks to all for the kind thoughts.

I've spoken with Robert McDowell and he is sending me a bottle of Mistletoe. He uses it in some of his preparations but usually combines it with other herbs and I'm not sure what the effect of the other herbs would have on Sophie or if any are contraindicated. He's agreed to send me a bottle containing just Mistletoe, hopefully I'll receive it by tomorrow.

There's another herb I've found that they claim shrinks tumours. It's called Neoplasene. I need to find someone who has it in Australia. Customs are very wary of stuff like that coming into the country though I know where to source it overseas. Maybe I should give customs a phone call to find out if they will let me import it.

I spoke with the onco about the Neoplasene but she's not in favour of it because it's been successfully tested in vitro only. They say it's not contraindicated with other drugs so I wonder what we have to lose by trying it. Sophie's cancer is very advanced and very aggressive and I'd stop using it immediately if it caused her any distress.

Sophie isn't feeling the best today. I do think she's winding down. I didn't take her out in the cold wind. I don't know if it would make a difference but I don't want cold wind on that tumour. It might cause pain and I'm trying to spare her from pain. I remember the dentist saying not to go out in the cold wind after a tooth extraction so I think it better to keep her inside where it's warm.

[dogbesotted]

Ah.. hugs to you both. This journey is so difficult .

Helen

[laneka]

Anne, everything is worth a try. It cannot hurt. I would be ringing customs and see what they say.

It is far too cold to be venturing outside. Much better in a nice warm home.

Thank you so much for your updates. They are very important to me. I feel like Sophie is a little bit mine even though I know she is yours.

[cavNrott]

Anne, everything is worth a try. It cannot hurt. I would be ringing customs and see what they say.

It is far too cold to be venturing outside. Much better in a nice warm home.

Thank you so much for your updates. They are very important to me. I feel like Sophie is a little bit mine even though I know she is yours.

Kiash, if it wasn't for your boy Ash, there would be no Sophie so I understand and feel your connection to her and I'm really glad you feel that way. She's a wonderful girl.

She was a little bugger as a puppy, a real land shark. It was all play for her but everything within Sophie is kind and gentle. All she needed was training. She's intelligent and easy to train. I'm lucky she is who she is and that her breeder decided she was the right puppy for me.

The Mistletoe extract from Robt McDowell arrived. It smells like the osteosarcoma and pine bark stuff. She had her first dose this morning. It's only 5 drops twice a day so not too difficult to get the foul smelling stuff into her.

I don't know what I expected would happen but I've been keeping a very close eye on her since she took the meds. I hope it will reduce the size of the tumour...very quickly.

I'm still trying to source Neoplasene in Australia. I wouldn't use the mistletoe and neoplasene together so I'll give the mistletoe a chance while I continue my search for neoplasene.

I don't get why the oncologist isn't in favour of me using these herbs. Not that it will stop me. All I need to know is if anything I want to try is contraindicated with Sophie's meds. Oncology has nothing further to offer Sophie except amputation of her right mandible and that's not going to happen. There's no chance it would cure her cancer and it's painful surgery. I won't put Sophie through that.

I can't just sit back, do nothing and wait for her to die when conventional medicine has nothing to offer. We have nothing to lose by trying out anything that might help so I'll keep searching. If anything makes her feel unwell then I'll stop using it immediately.

She's quiet again today. They all are. It's too cold and wet to take them out so we're confined to barracks again.

[Jed]

Haven't checked here for a while - pleased you are both still fighting the good fight. A long and difficult journey bravely travelled.

And all mine are curled up out of the rain and wind too - no interest in doing anything. I think even dreams of chasing mice are too much for them in this weather!!

Hope the alternative treatments do have good effects, so will cross my fingers again.

Again, a hug for Sophie. Such a good and brave girl. :D

[laneka]

Laughing at the land shark Anne, a lot of Ash's kids seem to have this trait . But with proper training come through the other end great dogs. It is like the 'devil made me do it'

I do hope the mistletoe works for Sophie, she so deserves it. It might take a while to kick in. Don't herbal medicines take a while?

Sophie is an inspiration for a lot of us. If we are feeling a bit down, we only have to come in here and read. Sophie makes us understand that our woes are nothing compared to what she and her loving owner is going through.

[Mr R & NR]

The Land Shark comment made me laugh. I wonder if Nellie is related to Ash and Sophie? I often call her Jaws, but as you say, so worth it, so special. Keep your spirits up CNR.

[shekhina]

So glad to see you found the mistletoe! How is it all going now that she's been on it for a few days? I hope that there will be improvement soon for you both.

It is very cold, everyone here is more subdued too (although I'm thinking thank god). Hopefully it warms up a bit for you over there so that you can get her out and about a bit again.

[Staffyluv]

The journey is always one step forward and two steps back - I have been thinking about you two for a couple of days.

Your oncologist is not in favour of the use of alternative medicine because they don't understand it - don't let that worry you at all.

Anne, you are doing what you think is right for Sophie and that is all that matters.

Big hugs to both of you.

Jodie and Ollie dog

[cavNrott]

So glad to see you found the mistletoe! How is it all going now that she's been on it for a few days? I hope that there will be improvement soon for you both.

I'm not sure Shek if the mistletoe is doing anything. It's only been two days so I guess I have to wait and see. The tumour has only bled once today and that's an improvement. It's been bleeding on and off all day for the last few days.

The journey is always one step forward and two steps back - I have been thinking about you two for a couple of days.

Your oncologist is not in favour of the use of alternative medicine because they don't understand it - don't let that worry you at all.

Anne, you are doing what you think is right for Sophie and that is all that matters.

Big hugs to both of you.

Jodie and Ollie dog

Thanks for the hugs Jodie.

I figured the oncologist wasn't keen on the mistletoe because she hadn't read any studies on it or doesn't agree with it because it doesn't come under the banner of conventional medicine.

It certainly hasn't done Sophie any harm and that she's having less bleeding than before is an encouraging sign. The onco's evidently not against all natural supplements because she suggested the milk thistle to bring down the liver enzymes level. It worked too.

I've done more research on the Neoplasene and there are a few risks involved. There's one company that has done extensive research and they appear to be the only ones who know a lot about it. I've forwarded the link onto the oncologist so we'll see what she has to say about it on our next visit. It's only about 90 pages!! I did indicate the pages with information that relates to Sophie's problem so she has about 10 pages of technical info and scientific diagrams to read and then about 4 pages of stuff specific to Sophie. I bet she puts the kibosh on Neoplasene.

It seems this product needs to be administered under the guidance of a vet so I won't try it unless the onco learns about it and agrees to Sophie having it. Some of the side effects are painful, Sophie doesn't need that. I'm doing what I hope is right to prevent her having pain so I won't take any risks that might cause her pain

[Staffyluv]

Do you mind me asking how much milk thistle she is on a day?

And can I have a look at the link regarding the Neoplasene, if you still have it handy?

I don't think you can ever learn enough about these things.

Cheers

J

[cavNrott]

Do you mind me asking how much milk thistle she is on a day?

And can I have a look at the link regarding the Neoplasene, if you still have it handy?

I don't think you can ever learn enough about these things.

Disclaimer: This post will be sooo boring for people who don't have cancer dogs.

I was going to pm you the details but maybe someone else with a cancer dog might be interested.

Jodie the milk thistle is Nature's Own Milk Thistle 7000. The adult directions say 2 tablets daily with food. I give Sophie 1 tablet with breakfast, 1 with dinner and another 1/2 a tablet when she has her bed time organic yoghurt and goat milk. I should mention that Sophie is 48kg so that dose would probably be too high for a smaller dog.

I started the extra 1/2 a tablet in the last couple of weeks because one liver enzyme was a bit high again. If the level hasn't come down by the next test I'll increase the late night one to a full tablet. Prior to me giving her milk thistle 3 of her liver enzymes were really high. They came down to the high end of normal but now one is above normal again. Hopefully the extra 1/2 a tab will bring it down.

Her kidney enzymes were high too in the test before last so I started her on coQ10 and at the last test the kidney levels were within normal range. The onco said to save my time and money regarding the coQ10 but it seems it worked.

Re the Neoplasene, get ready to spend a couple of hours reading. The link is:-

http--www.buckmountainbotanicals.net-pdf. (pdf gives me the irits).

I don't know how to post links but the buckmountainbotanicals will get you there if you need to google it. Buckmountain seem to know more about Neoplasene than any of the other sites I've read and I've read enough to give me square eyes and a headache.

I have Sophie on a few other supplements too but the milk thistle and coQ10 seem to be the ones that are doing the most for her.[/i]

[Staffyluv]

Thank so much for that - will spend some time procrasinating at work later to read the link

I have decided to start the milk thistle for Ollie - he has not needed it before and the vet suggested that he does not really need it now as there is only one liver enzyme that is off a bit. However if I start him now and the next lot of complete bloods come back OK, I think that proves a point...

Cheers and hugs to you and Sophie today

Jodie