Hi Tiffany and Capone, you'll see in my sig that we did Palladia and cytoxan, but then had to drop the palladia due to GI issues. Abby now takes the cytoxan every day. I can't really say whether the Palladia helped her - it may have slowed down the progression of her mets, but it certainly didn't stop them. But even if it was slowing them down, we had to give it up because she was having diarrhea too often, which was also affecting her energy level (which was still pretty crazy high, but not as crazy high as it is w/out being on the palladia). She's had no ill effects from the cytoxan. Right now we are doing cytoxan and artemisinin . I don't really know what effect this combo is having on the mets, because we haven't done an xray since July. (Although he lungs still sound clear as a bell.) We are still considering whether or not to do one... Probably will decide this week or next. If we do one and the cytoxan/arte is slowing the mets down, then we'll just stick with that. If we do an xray though and it shows bad news, we might drop all that and try masitinib - which is basically the French version of Palladia. (Our onc. said he's seen some dogs do well on palladia, but not masitinib, or vice versa, so just because she did badly on the palladia doesn't mean she'll be sick on the masit.) Anyway, I mention that because masitinib is something else you could consider if you do find that Capone doesn't do well on the pallladia.

Also, "luckypup" just posted this blog update yesterday - they had AMAZING results with palladia:

http://luckypup.....ainly-ups/

I don't think they visit the site very often, but maybe you could PM them if you have questions.

Also, feel free to PM me if you want to know more about what we are doing w/ Abby.

All the best to Capone!
Jackie, Abby's mom

Hi Tiffany - I'm so sorry about Capone's mets - I know how it feels to have it take the wind out of your sails. Sam had a similar timing of his mets....he did 6 rounds of carboplatin and immediately following, developed mets. We considered Palladia, but he had so many mets (more than a dozen) and didn't tolerate carbo real well, so we didn't want to risk side effects. We put him on metronomics (including Cytoxin) and just hoped to slow the mets and keep him comfortable - our oncologist's estimate was 8 weeks. And that was 13 weeks ago. We pulled him off all meds 5 weeks ago because the mets continued to multiply - he has well over 25 at this point. He's on artemisinin , k9 immunity and fish oil....and he's doing well. The estimates our doctor's give are just that, estimates, so try not to dwell on it. We never know how much time we have left. Also, anything you put Capone on, you can always stop if it does't agree with him. Sam swam for a 1/2 hour just last week...pretty great for a dog with so many mets and 5 weeks past his "estimate"! Hang in! Xo sue and Sammy

Sorry to hear about the coughing/blood. That must have been terribly scary. I hate cancer too! This whole thing sucks and you just want to scream sometimes because it is so unfair.

Hope a lower dose helps and that he is not coughing anymore!

Hang in there,

Jackie, Abby's mom

Sounds like you are taking a good approach. Sometimes it is tempting to try to throw everything at the cancer, but you have to go slow and add things in one at a time so that you can figure out what work's with your pup's system and what doesn't. It took me FOREVER to get Abby on to her current list of 'goodies' because she can sometimes have a sensitive system so I had take a lot of time when adding in each new thing. THen we'd have a little set-back (not necessarily from the drug/supplement) and have to ease off and start again.

Hoping all goes well for Capone! Keep us posted! Abby sends kisses,
Jackie, Abby's mom

We've been on a very similar path with our Sam. We ultimately went with metronomics (with Cytoxan) - he had so many mets we were confronted with trying to find a balance with slowing the mets he had and using meds that were most tolerable if he only had a little time left. It unfortunately didn't slow things down so we took him off (7 weeks ago) and only have him on arteminisin, K9 immunity and fish oil. We did just also add Prednisone about 3 weeks ago. Sam also has a cough and at times he does cough blood. We decided to start the prednisone hoping if he was breathing easier then he would cough less. The cough medicine our oncologist will prescribe is a narcotic and the side effects are sleepiness. Sam still has really good energy so we want to wait to use that for when he appears in distress - for now, he's still calm and can figure out how to slow himself down when he's coughing. So sorry you're dealing with this....I know how stressful it is! Hang in there. Xoxo sue and Sammy

Sorry to hear the palladia didn't work out for Capone.

Metronomics (sometimes you'll see people just write MP - metronomic protocol) is named for the metronome like in music - because you are dosing out a little bit of chemo every day (or every other) like a metronome. At-home chemo pills - like Palladia or Cytoxan - are "MP".

I don't have any experience w/ kinavet so can't help there.

We are having new xrays done this week. If Abby's mets have gotten worse with her current routine (mainly cytoxan & artemisinin ) then we are going to try masitinib, which is supposed to be similar to palladia - but according to our onc. he's seen dogs that didn't do well on palladia do fine on masitinib (and vice versa). So the masitinib might be another thing to consider??

Hang in there! Hope sweet Capone is still a happy boy, even while dealing with all this! Give him some extra loving from us!
Jackie, Abby's mom