Lucy's Nasal Cancer Has Another Month in Remission

Lucy's Nasal Cancer Has Another Month in Remission

She has been in total remission now for 1 full year and 2 months! 
A year and a half after diagnosis of dog nasal cancer adenocarcinoma!
Look, this is a long time in dog cancer time. Keep your fingers crossed.

She had all the symptoms, had a scan, AND had a biopsy sent to a lab to be sure. There is no way it could be a misdiagnosis. A foxtail does not resolve itself, was not found either, aspergillus fungal infection was not the biopsy report, nasal cancer was, and aspergillus fungus does not usually have unilateral (only on 1 side) bleeding episodes, it's both sides. It could only be cancer with symptoms, symptom and diagnostics results and exclusions. There are vets and professionals who simply don't believe this protocol could possibly put cancer in remission and claim it must be the vet misdiagnosed it. Too many tests and biopsies and scans to be that from many different professionals. I am not selling anything. I am not charging anything to anyone nor pushing anyone to buy anything. I don't know what to say to them. This diverse method worked without using radiation or chemotherapy (I am just as surprised. I just wanted her to feel better as long as possible and neither one of us stressed). Just natural versions of things that work against cancer. Lots of them and all of them coming at it from different angles. It just a concept based on vast research and using diversity in attack and symptom support.


Original biopsy report of canine nasal adenocarcinoma in 3/31/2011

http://dognasalcancertreatmentforlucy.blogspot.com/2012/04/original-biopsy-of-lucy-of-nasal.html

Why are commercial diets so poor? Part II

Why are commercial diets so poor?

Here are some of the reasons:

1.                Cost

• Even premium diets cost about 2 dollars a pound. When we factor in manufacturing, marketing, shipping, packaging, and markup costs for the manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retailer, the true cost of the basic ingredients is more likely 10-50 cents per pound.
• Reflect on what type of raw ingredients can be purchased for this price.
• Commercial diets are primarily conceived and developed to minimize costs, not maximize nutrition.
• To keep the cost so low, commercial diets have foods in them that have been rejected for human consumption. Even those that refrain from using condemned foods must resort to including foods that are far worse than what people would demand for themselves.

2.                Diets are made to meet minimal standards, not optimal standards.

• Again, due to cost considerations, essential fats, complex carbohydrates, and high-quality digestible proteins are kept to a minimum in the diet.
• Healthy animals can survive on these diets, but over time, there is a price to be paid in deteriorating health and a more rapid aging process for your canine companion.
• Sick animals, and those with a more fragile constitution, require high quality, optimal diets.

3.                Over-processing (i.e., high temperature cooking under pressure) is used to make indigestible foods digestible.

• Food processing plants have known for a very long time that if one wants to feed a food item that is essentially indigestible, the way to do this is to cook the product so excessively that it turns into a soup. Then, by adding grains (again, after extreme cooking methods), one can cook the product once more and turn it into a hard biscuit or kibble.
• Unfortunately, all of the complex compounds we already mentioned as being so essential have disappeared.
• Vitamins are also gone, so the commercial food industry will then spray vitamins mixed with oils (which have likewise been destroyed) onto the resulting hard kibble at the end of the processing. The vitamins are often synthetic, and the minerals are often poorly digestible at best. An example is zinc oxide and ferrous oxide, forms of zinc and iron supplementation that are often preferred by the food industry because they are so cheap (they are, in reality, rust). But they are very poorly absorbed, making them almost useless to the body.

4.                "Garbage in garbage out," a long-standing truism in the computer world, is just as true in diets: poor quality foods can't become good quality foods, no matter what one tries to do with them.

• To the degree possible, diets should start with the highest quality, most digestible and wholesome food possible, instead of starting with the worst foods and trying to improve them with synthetic vitamins and false claims of being "nutritionally complete".
• This is called the food's "Biological Value".

 Labels and Labeling Requirements

All regulations that control the labels on dog foods are created by AAFCO. AAFCO, as has already been stated, is a group controlled by commercial animal food manufacturers.  It is not surprising to find that there are enough loopholes in labeling requirements to make it completely impossible to know what is in a diet, let alone the quality of the diet. Any manufacturer who wishes can create the marketing image that their product is a "premium diet".

In fact, most of these premium diets are, at best, only marginally better than the average diet, and many of them are conceived entirely as a marketing ploy to sell an average diet with a higher markup, creating higher profit margins.

One example of how easy it is to use subterfuge to create an image of wholesomeness, or using a term popular in the industry, "natural", is in the use of preservatives. Many companies will use standard preservatives such as ethoxyquin; yet not mention this in the ingredient list. This is possible if the company adds the preservatives themselves instead of buying a product that already includes them as a preservative. Making the situation even worse is that it is common to then say on the package, "preserved naturally with Vitamin E". This statement naturally implies that no other chemical preservative is in the product, when in fact the company can make this claim by simply adding a little extra Vitamin E than is required by AAFCO to meet minimal needs. The ethoxyquin can then be purchased in a product such as chicken fat that contains ethoxyquin, and thus that information never needs to be placed on the label!

Mushroom Derived Compound Lengthens Survival in Dogs With Cancer

Mushroom-Derived Compound Lengthens Survival in Dogs With Cancer, Study Suggests


 Dogs with hemangiosarcoma that were treated with a compound of Beta glucans derived from the Coriolus versicolor mushroom had the longest survival times ever reported for dogs with the disease. These promising findings offer hope that the compound may one day offer cancer patients -- human and canine alike -- a viable alternative or complementary treatment to traditional chemotherapies.


The study was conducted by two University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine faculty. They published their findings in an open-access article in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

The Coriolus versicolor mushroom, known commonly as the Yunzhi or Turkey Tail mushroom, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 2,000 years. The compound in the mushroom that is believed to have immune-boosting properties is polysaccharopeptide, or PSP. In the last two decades, some studies have suggested that PSP Beta glucans also has a tumor-fighting effect.

"There have been a series of studies looking at groups of people with cancer,"  "The issue with those studies is that they weren't necessarily measuring what most people would think is the most clinically important result, which is, do people taking PSP Beta glucans live longer?"

To address this critical question,University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine pursued a study in dogs with naturally occurring hemangiosarcoma, an aggressive, invasive cancer that arises from the blood cells and typically affects the spleen. It commonly strikes golden retrievers and German shepherds.

Fifteen dogs that had been diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma participated in the trial. Divided into three groups of five, each group received a different dose -- 25, 50 or 100 mg/kg/day -- of (Beta glucans), a formulation of PSP.

The owners were instructed to give their dog capsules of (Beta glucans), compounded by Penn pharmacists, daily. Each month, the owners brought their dogs to Penn's Ryan Veterinary Hospital for follow-up visits. There, the researchers took blood samples and conducted ultrasounds to determine the extent that tumors developed or grew and spread in the dogs' bodies.

Based on the ultimate endpoints -- how quickly the tumors progressed and how long the dogs actually lived -- the results of the researchers' trial suggest that the Beta glucans was effectively fighting the tumors.

"We were shocked," University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine said. "Prior to this, the longest reported median survival time of dogs with hemangiosarcoma of the spleen that underwent no further treatment was 86 days. We had dogs that lived beyond a year with nothing other than this mushroom as treatment."

There were not statistically significant differences in survival between the three dosage groups, though the median survival time was highest in the 100 mg group, at 199 days, eclipsing the previously reported median survival time.

The results were so surprising, in fact, that the researchers asked Penn Vet pathologists to recheck the dogs' tissue biopsies to make sure that the dogs really had the disease.

"They reread the samples and said, yes, it's really hemangiosarcoma," University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine said.

Chemotherapy is available for treating hemangiosarcoma, but many owners opt not to pursue that treatment once their dog is diagnosed. "It doesn't hugely increase survival, it's expensive and it means a lot of back and forth to the vet for the dog," Cimino Brown said. "So you have to figure in quality of life."

 As an added benefit, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have found no evidence of adverse effects from the Beta glucans treatment.

 "Although hemangiosarcoma is a very sad and devastating disease, in the long term, if we prove that this works, this treatment can be a really nice alternative for owners to have increased quality time with their pet at the end of its life."



I give Lucy Swanson Beta Glucans or Beta 1,3/1,6-D-Glucans (same thing) 100mg- Immune Boosting beta 1-3, 1-6 glucan is a potent immune system stimulator. It is derived from yeast and specifically activates macrophages turning on your immune system.  I believe, though, cancer treatment needs to be as diverse and multi-pronged as possible. So it needs to be more than just this.
Here is what is working on Lucy
http://dognasalcancertreatmentforlucy.blogspot.com/2012/03/dog-cancer-supplements-and-herbs-i-use.html

What to Do Before Rover's Vet Bill Hits $15,000

What to Do Before Rover's Vet Bill Hits $16,000

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, veterinary costs have increased an average of 79% from 2000 to 2010. Rising operating costs are to blame, but so is the quality of care that is now available.

What would you do if faced with a $15,000 veterinary bill for a pet you love as much as a child?

While most financial planners would advise against borrowing funds from savings, retirement or equity accounts to pay a vet bill, every case is different.

"For some people, their pets are their lives, they are their children, a part of the family, I would ask them if it would give them a better return on their life if they extended that of their pets. If a pet brings extreme happiness to an elderly person and they can extend that pet's life by five years and maybe that five years could be a big portion of that person's remaining life, then I would definitely advise them to do it," he adds.

Once that question is answered, list your financial goals in rank of importance and that's where they would determine from which account to withdraw the funds.

Where to find Fido's medical fund

Many have used a variety of sources to pay the vet bills thus far. Some might have a basic pet insurance policy, which is usually maxed out at $3,000 in benefits. The remainder was drained from her emergency fund, as well as placed on a low rate credit card. So far, she says, she has been able to pay the bills as they come due.

There are financing options most veterinarians offer through their office, such as CareCredit or Citi Health Card. "They offered one year, no interest and you can figure out how much you need to pay each month to pay it off," . That is key to these programs, or you could be slammed with high residual interest at the end of the loan.

Knowing when to stopIf a beloved pet needs long-term care that requires ongoing expenses, this is when it becomes a really tough decision.

"Even $2,000 in treatments can be [too much for] some people's entire budget for a year. That's when we slip into quality of life mode, really a hospice model that will not attempt to cure, but will keep the pet comfortable, happy and eating for as long as possible. It circumvents the $15,000 bill and the emotional decision."

Ask yourself two questions:

What happens with my pet if I continue to do this?

What are the consequences for me if I continue spending the money?

Faced with the possibility of bills upwards of $400 every three weeks for chemotherapy injections or $6000 on radiation plus all the other vet fees, some may come to the painful conclusion that they just may not be able to afford to continue treatment.

"I don't think maxing out your credit and getting more is the answer. If you don't use credit in a strategic way, it can ruin you."

While many remain optimistic about the pets recovery, you also need to be trying to be realistic. "I do worry about making that decision and my ability to recover from that decision. It would be different if she were old and sick with no treatment options. That is a different thing than making the decision based on finances."

Tips for dealing with your vet

Consider a Plan B:

When bringing in a sick pet, vets will typically offer the Plan A treatment plan. If the client indicates they cannot afford all of the tests and treatment options, some vets, if you simply ask them, can tailor the plan to fit the client's budget. Many say they can still typically offer therapy without compromising quality of care. Work with a holistic vet as well. 

Negotiate: Ask your vet to price match other vets in the area.

I couldn't afford very much for Lucy. It nearly killed me agonizing over what was the best compromise in this situation. That's part of the reason I researched all alternative treatment routes I did.
 I don't spend that much and Lucy is still in remission after a year. I hope I am as lucky with your dog going my route as I am with Lucy's cancer if you choose it.

Why are commercial dog foods a problem?

Let's look at some of the most recent research on human nutrition:

"Consuming a diet rich in plant foods will provide a milieu of phytochemicals - nonnutritive substances in plants that possess health-protective benefits."

"Vegetables, fruits, whole grains, herbs, nuts and seeds contain an abundance of phenolic compounds, terpenoids, sulfur compounds, pigments, and other natural antioxidants that have been associated with protection from and/or treatment of conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer."

        Craig W, Beck L. Phytochemicals: Health Protective Effects. Can J Diet Pract Res. 1999 Summer;60(2):78-84.

Many of these phytonutrients are not heat stable, especially when cooked extensively, as with commercial dog foods.

Considering the high temperature, high pressure, and processing that commercial dog foods receive, we can expect that these dog foods are totally devoid of the beneficial nutrients mentioned by Dr. Craig in this well-respected study.

In recent years, the practice of recommending commercial diets as the only source of food for dogs has come under increasing scrutiny, often by trained animal nutritionists. 

It has been stated by one veterinarian with a Ph.D. in nutrition that we "are killing our pets with commercial diets".    Most dog and human holistic doctors agree that the best diets are those with home-prepared foods that are at least part of the diet. 

Many conventional veterinarians will at least agree that diets will improve when we offer some fresh foods and use variety.

"I have seen the health of almost all dogs deteriorate, in general, when fed commercial diets. Conversely, when my canine patients are placed on wholesome diets, fully a third of the dogs that arrive in our practice diagnosed with a chronic, incurable disease return to complete health just by the change in diet!" He said.