Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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I know there is a lot here about diet and supplements for dogs with cancer but how about preventive supplements? Flat coats are susceptible to histiocytic sarcoma and I'd like to improve Sam's odds. I wish I could manage a homemade diet but I can't. The only thing she's on is fish oil. Does that make sense for a puppy? Any other thoughts?
http://tate.tripawds.com/
August 16, 2006 to November 28, 2011
TATE ~ Forever in our hearts.
Hi there Jan. I am new to this whole supplements thing myself and I had to get advice from our integrative vet in Chicago on what to give Cadence when she got cancer. As far as what to give to a healthy dog, not sure, but I think the fish oil sounds like a good start, especially for the skin and coat. And you don't necessarily need to do a homemade diet to get the benefits of raw, if that was what you are referring to. There are a lot of companies that make very good raw foods with everything that is needed for the dog already put together in one pack and frozen so all you have to do is thaw and put into the dish. I can help you with that. Also it is a good idea to feed green tripe once a week if you can stomach it. I would recommend seeing a nutritionist about Sam. Let me know what you find out.
Cadence's Mom
Cadence Faye: Born 10/30/04, stepped into our hearts 12/23/2004. Rear leg tumor found 7/24/11 by mom and dad, Xray on 7/25/11, Osteosarcoma suspected 7/26/11, amputation 7/29/11, Carboplatin started 8/23. Met free so far!
Have you searched the Nutrition Blog? There may not be much about preventive measures, we'll take that into consideration. Please feel free to share whatever you find out.
Honest Kitchen makes some of the best pre-made "homemade" foods, and Epigen from Wysong is the first totally starch free kibble. Hopefully others can provide additional feedback
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks Jim and Heather. Green tripe! Sounds yummy!
I'll peruse the blog, but in the meantime, I have Shawn Messonnier's "Preventing and Treating Cancer in Dogs". I could only find a short section on prevention. His main points:
- Minimize byproducts and chemical preservatives in their diet (homemade is best...sounds like I should look into Honest Kitchen)
- Minimize vaccinations, consider using titer tests
- Use natural products to prevent or treat diseases, like natural flea control instead of insecticides, glucosamine instead of NSAIDS
- Prevent diseases like heartworm that would require harsh chemicals for treatment
- Annual vet visits under 5 years old and semiannual over 5; aspirate every lump
- Don't expose your dog to toxins like tobacco smoke (or garden chemicals, that's from me)
- Use nutritional supplements of fatty acids, antioxidants, and "health maintenance"
Pretty common sense stuff. Although one of our friends up north recommended a spray to use in addition to Frontline because the ticks are so bad up there. I read the label and you're not supposed to get it on your hands - if I don't want it on my hands, why would I want it on my dog?
http://tate.tripawds.com/
August 16, 2006 to November 28, 2011
TATE ~ Forever in our hearts.
I've been feeding Percy a partly homemade diet for the last two months or so and, surprisingly, it has not been as difficult as I expected. I basically just boil everything and make 1.5 to 2 weeks worth of food at a time and portion it out in plastic take-out containers and freeze them. It takes me an evening to cook each time, but then the next two weeks require no work at all.
When I talked to the nutritionist about a homemade diet, he recommended that I give Percy a multi-vitamin called Total Formula 2 (http://www.inte.....ula-2.aspx) daily. For Percy who is about 45 pounds, the dose is 0.25 tablet a day.
Thanks Percy's peep. I guess Micki's Dog Soup recipe could be done that way. But what do you do if you are traveling or other situation when you can't carry frozen food around with you? Do you just switch over to kibble?
http://tate.tripawds.com/
August 16, 2006 to November 28, 2011
TATE ~ Forever in our hearts.
tatespeeps, would you want to do a book review for Shawn Messonnier's book? We haven't checked it out, but if you have time, I know everyone here would love to hear more about it. PM me if you are interested.
My personal philosophy is that everything starts with diet. A dog who eats well will have healthy skin and fur, which leaves him less prone to itching and flaky skin, which parasites LOVE. So start with a good, human-grade diet and work from there. Avoid as many toxins as possible.
One thing we were shocked to learn when we did our Tripawds Amputation and Cancer Care Survey, was that even dogs like Maggie who've always had a 100 percent super healthy diet and never used toxic flea products, got cancer. That disease is ruthless! But if we do what we can to avoid it, our risk is definitely reduced. My #1 way to attempt to avoid it, is by feeding Wyatt the best diet we can afford, which is a combo of fresh raw, dehydrated raw, home cooking and high quality kibble. Being on the road as much as we are, it's pretty easy to manage.
As for using toxic sprays...you're absolutely right. If it's not safe for you, why would it be for your dog? We follow that philosophy, and with Wyatt Ray , we've never used a single flea or tick preventative on him despite being in the thick of tick country, south Texas a few times. So far so good, we've only found two ticks on his fur, but not sucking his blood and he's never had fleas. We use cedar oil and other natural-herbal sprays made from things like peppermint, and that's it.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
tatespeeps, would you want to do a book review for Shawn Messonnier's book? We haven't checked it out, but if you have time, I know everyone here would love to hear more about it. PM me if you are interested.
My personal philosophy is that everything starts with diet. A dog who eats well will have healthy skin and fur, which leaves him less prone to itching and flaky skin, which parasites LOVE. So start with a good, human-grade diet and work from there. Avoid as many toxins as possible.
One thing we were shocked to learn when we did our Tripawds Amputation and Cancer Care Survey, was that even dogs like Maggie who've always had a 100 percent super healthy diet and never used toxic flea products, got cancer. That disease is ruthless! But if we do what we can to avoid it, our risk is definitely reduced. My #1 way to attempt to avoid it, is by feeding Wyatt the best diet we can afford, which is a combo of fresh raw, dehydrated raw, home cooking and high quality kibble. Being on the road as much as we are, it's pretty easy to manage.
As for using toxic sprays...you're absolutely right. If it's not safe for you, why would it be for your dog? We follow that philosophy, and with Wyatt Ray , we've never used a single flea or tick preventative on him despite being in the thick of tick country, south Texas a few times. So far so good, we've only found two ticks on his fur, but not sucking his blood and he's never had fleas. We use cedar oil and other natural-herbal sprays made from things like peppermint, and that's it.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I have to agree with Jerry...cancer does what it wants to do no matter what. After going through this journey with our two year old lab Misty, I can say there is nothing I could have done to prevent it. She was adopted from one of the best breeders in our state. I gave her the absolute best food, she was up on all her shots and every recommended test. She had the best of everything. Then once she was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma I bought into the supplement and no grain diet. We spent over $25,000.00 on Misty's treatment and probably $2000 of that was on supplements. Nothing slowed down or stopped that cancer in anyway. From the time she was diagnosed till her passing with, chemo, radiation, surgery,prescription drugs and supplements, she had no greater prognosis than if we had just done nothing and controlled her pain. My point is do what ever you can for your dog that makes you and them happy. If your stressed out about making special foods for your dog or stretching your budget for expensive supplements then don't do it. Yes, toxins are bad but I think common sence tells us to stay away from them with our dogs and our human family. In the same way that there isn't anything we can really do to prevent cancer there really isn't anything we can do to cause most cancers except give our dog a cigarette! That money spent on supplements and such is better spent on a donation to cure canine caner.
Misty's blog: http://misty.tripawds.com
Sister to Millie, 9 yr old choc. lab
Sister to Lola, 6 yr old choc. lab
Sister to Toby, 7 yr old rottie mix (officially my sons dog, but I'm still his mama!)
Sweetness to Fiona and Bill
tatespeeps said:
Thanks Percy's peep. I guess Micki's Dog Soup recipe could be done that way. But what do you do if you are traveling or other situation when you can't carry frozen food around with you? Do you just switch over to kibble?
Yes, traveling is an issue, and that is actually why I've only got Percy partly on home made food. I wanted to try and keep him used to eating some kibble in case I have to just feed him kibble. Plus, I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep it up and figured it would be harder to get him back on kibble if he was used to all home made. He gets half a cup of Evo with his home made food am and pm. I try to get him to eat a few kibble alone before I give him the rest of the kibble mixed with the good stuff.
We actually took a road trip last month and I tried to mimic the home made portions with canned food — 3oz cans of white meat chicken in water, small cans of green beans, carrots, and potatoes (no sodium if possible), things like that. I could not get the portions exactly right, but it was close enough for a week or so. Unfortunately Percy is a really picky eater and turned his nose up at the canned food, so he did not eat very well during that trip, but I would guess that a dog that likes to eat would like the temporary canned substitute just as much as the home made version.
Percy's diet is just like Micki's Dog Soup, only not soupy. I found if I make the home made part soupy, then Percy slurps up the good stuff and leaves the kibble. But if the home made part is solid and dry, then it's harder for him to leave the kibble and eventually he'll eat almost everything.
I'm thinking of moving Percy to an all cooked diet now, since I'm not anticipating any trips coming up and I've been able to keep this up for a couple of months ok.
mistysmom, I have to confess I felt a little better after reading your post about Misty's treatment. Noone, not even my family, knows how much I've spent on Percy's treatments and care. I haven't reached what you all spent yet, but I have to do everything I can to help Percy fight this.
tatespeeps said:
I read the label and you're not supposed to get it on your hands - if I don't want it on my hands, why would I want it on my dog?
Im in LA for the holidays, but when I go back up to central CAL in Jan, where it will be the start of tick season, I plan on using a natural product on the yard to keep ticks away. It is called "Mosquito Barrier" and is a concentrated garlic formula you spray once a month around your yard. Pesky things like fleas, mosquitos and ticks don't like the smell of garlic so they avoid it. I plan on trying it out soon, since I would rather not put smelly tick collars or liquid on Chloe either. Maybe try this and see how it works since its only garlic and not an insecticide?
Earlier this year we had a discussion on flea/tick products in a forum I started. You can read it and see if you get anything out of it.
Fleas, heart worm and parasites, OH MY!!!
-Chloe's mom
Chloe became a rear amp tripawd on 7-29-10. Another tumor was removed on front leg 2-20-14. Found 3rd tumor on neck 2-2015, but she's still kicking cancer's butt at age 14. Chloe's blog
mistysmom said:
…cancer does what it wants to do no matter what. After going through this journey with our two year old lab Misty, I can say there is nothing I could have done to prevent it.
You are right. "Prevent" is too strong a word. "Make me feel like I have some control" is more accurate.
Okay, this is going to be a comment I will come to regret but I'm going to say it anyway because I'm crabby because this morning I am really missing Tate. So I'm asking forgiveness ahead of time. When people say (in so many words), "My dog is having his 10 millionth ampuversary and it's because I'm giving him all the right supplements" here is what I hear: "Your dog would have lived longer if you would have taken the time and spent the money to find the right supplements".
You know what? Maybe your dog is living a long time because what you're doing is working but maybe you are just lucky.
My grandpa smoked like a chimney and lived to be 96. Not that I'm going to give Sam a cigarette, but you get my point - Grandpa was lucky.
http://tate.tripawds.com/
August 16, 2006 to November 28, 2011
TATE ~ Forever in our hearts.
P.S. Thanks for the reference, Chloe's mom.
http://tate.tripawds.com/
August 16, 2006 to November 28, 2011
TATE ~ Forever in our hearts.
we know what you mean. we were so blessed to have each and every day we had with gayle. was it cause we did chemo, k9 immunity, melanoma vaccines????? or maybe it was the bites of donuts, chunks of extra sharp cheddar cheese, or those perfectly wonderful scrambled eggs don would make each weekend...
well, whatever the reason, i know we all agree that whatever time we have, it never seems like enough. we tend to think that perhaps, the time we are given is just a matter of grace.
charon & spirit gayle
Life is good, so very, very good!!! Gayle enjoyed each and every moment of each and every wonderful day (naps included). She left this world December 12, 2011 – off on a new adventure.
Love Never Ends
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