cavNrott

Thank you Leanne for the info, kind comments and your warm wishes. We are still battling on. I am due to medicate Sophie now and then get a few hours sleep before the next onslaught of pills and potions. I've had a very strong feeling for some weeks now that I should stop one of the medications the oncologist prescribed. She talked me out of it last visit but the feeling stayed with me so I've gone with my gut feeling and stopped it. It's a chemo tablet that Soph takes every 48 hours and it's job is to stop or slow the growth of her tumour. It hasn't been doing the job for the last 2-3 months. Sophie was drooling and bleeding constantly and it had a very metallic odour. She hasn't had the chemo tablet since Wednesday morning and today she's bled and drooled only twice for a minute or so and the metallic odour has gone. It was also causing gastro problems and liver damage and I haven't heard any loud rumbling or gurgling today. If I thought it was helping in any way then I'd continue but the feeling that I should stop it is strong. At the rate the tumour is growing Sophie doesn't have much time left and I want her to have quality time which she won't have if she has gastro pain. I've added in some natural products that I think may help her. Apart from that she is her normal happy self. If she continues to bleed I will certainly go for the chinese herb. If the bleeding stops as I think it's doing then I won't need to pump anything else into her. The poor girl takes so much medication. I'm very lucky she is easy and compliant.

You may well live to regret the day you ever started doing this with your dogs. Many dogs have ended up with total obsession of lights and shadows. Train the dogs in the proper manner.

I'd leave him be too. I wonder why they didn't do a fine needle aspirate when they had him in to clean his teeth.

Thanks Jodie, I have that website bookmarked. Hope Ollie's doing as well as usual. Give him a hug from us.

That's rubbish - They don't need presciptions. They may not know how much to give the dog?? Dogs don't need as much as humans. My vet does Chinese Herbs for dogs - they might have it? Prahran Vet Clinic. Or else there are alots of herbalitst and holitisc vets. Also look under "Natural Therapy Pages" for some practioners in your area or around anywhere. I can also help to try and find you one too if you like. Thanks Ci. The problem with human medical doctors is that the AMA does not allow them to treat or prescribe for dogs. I can only find two holistic vets but the thing is I know what herbal mix I need, it's a matter of finding someone who has it or will make it up.

I agree. Poor thing is lonely, unhappy and miserable outside on her own. I won't rehome to people who want outside dogs either.

Oh wow! That is so kind of you. I will pm you with the name of the product. It's a herbal product and doesn't need a doctors prescription but I can't find a chinese herbalist around these parts. The chinese doctors I spoke with yesterday agree that it's safe and will do the job it's supposed to do. They suggested I try to find a chinese herbalist

Thanks again for thinking of us. Sophie's tumour is bleeding again and I found out about a chinese herbal product that will stop it without causing harm but I can't find a chinese herbalist anywhere. I contacted a couple of people today after doing a search on the net but they're human doctors and they know of the mix I want but they're not allowed to prescribe it for animals. I did find it on Ebay from China but customs wouldn't let it through plus the product itself is $12.00 but the postage cost is $84.00. It's only a small bottle. What ever happened to those little chinese shops that smell very strange and have peculiar looking bits and pieces in jars and drawers in their shops? Anyone know a chinese herbalist in the Eastern 'burbs of Melbourne?

Coprice is not a good quality food. It's full of grains and fillers.

Jodie, do you use any chinese herbs for Ollie? I'm trying to get hold of a particular blend and can't find it anywhere or even a chinese herbalist who can make it up for Sophie..

Invest in a crate and bring him inside the house and crate him when you have your dinner. Dunno why anyone would want to throw water at a dog because he wants to be with his people.

Thanks so much for keeping Sophie in mind. I appreciate your encouragement. Everyone has busy lives I know and you guys are great to think of us often and send your good wishes.

The proportion of bone would certainly be well above the required percentage if the pet chicken mince is given without any vegies or organ meat. I would not feed the pet chicken mince without adding vegies, yoghurt, eggs and organ meat as well as some muscle meat and meaty bones. I feel human grade food to my dogs but have in the past used chicken mince but never without adding various other things to it.

Sounds like the Ollie boy is still doing well Jodie. I do hope it's just a lipoma on his tum. I guess by now you'd have a good idea just by how it feels to the touch. The good wishes and support from the kind folk on DOL encourage us to keep going during the dark times and there are those dark days when we think 'this it it'. You and Ollie are an inspiration and have been a great help to me in dealing with Sophie's cancer. Sending positive vibes Ollie's way.

I misunderstood LOL I said earlier on I'm having comprehension probs today All the suggestions are good but I think you need to dose with paraffin first to soften the hard, crumbly poop that they're trying to push out. That will take care of the immediate problem, then you can institute the good advice given by everyone.

And that causes the constipation. Try more meat and less bone (eg human grade chicken mince, lamb mince) with some veges. I'm not quite sure which part of my suggestions you're saying causes constipation Are you saying that adding blended vegies to the chicken mince causes constipation? Or are you saying giving the dog some paraffin oil causes constipation? Neither is correct. It's the pet grade chicken mince without added vegies that causes constipation.

Paraffin oil will soften whatever is already in their system and make it easier for them to pass it. That said I wouldn't feed dogs pet grade chicken mince on its own, it's nearly all bone. Add blended raw vegies to the mix.

Thank you for your kind comments. If Sophie put up a fight against taking dozens of tablets every day and was difficult to treat we wouldn't have been able to come this far. She wants to stay a while longer and calmly puts up with a few indignities. She shows acceptance of all the changes in her life -and there have been so many. There's one capsule where I have to empty the powder onto her gum once a day. That stuff is so bitter, it's truly foul (I tasted it). I can see she hates it but she trusts me and accepts me opening her mouth to tip the foul stuff on the tumour. She really does make it easy for me to treat her.

Excellent news Petmezz. Glad all is well with your boy now.

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Sophie's still doing well with no more 'break through' days but it's good to know I now have the means to deal with it. The script is for 5 tablets with repeats. I won't need repeats, if Sophie had more than a couple of days of 'break through' I will heed her message. I don't think the onco agrees with me using the natural meds but she's come to realise there's no point in talking down to me. I'll do what I think is best for Sophie providing the naturals are ok with the prescribed meds. It was more of a stalemate situation where I agreed to continue with the prescribed drugs as well as using the naturals. I won't bother the onco with what I'm doing unless there is obvious improvement. Sophie's been on the naturals for 10 days. The tumour has stopped bleeding so anaemia is not an issue now. Soph had been bleeding for 4-5 weeks fairly constantly. The onco said there was nothing to stop the bleeding. The tumour hasn't decreased in size but it's early days. We're doing ok, it's almost 1 year since the first sign of her osteo without a chance of remission. Sophie is an amazing dog, she's fighting with courage and tenacity.

He's just too beautiful Erny. Congratulations

I'm sorry for your loss. Godspeed Sunny

Huh

I thought the same as you Botheration. The posting style is identical.

How rude of you You came to a dog forum presumably for advice. When a post is displayed here it's open to all. Anyone who wishes to reply has that right. You don't get to dictate who can or cannot respond. It's easy to figure out those with dog knowledge and experience. They're the ones suggesting what is best for the dogs. Then there are others who are simply telling you what you want to hear, which is of little value to the dogs. This is a dog forum, not a mutual admiration society. If you don't want advice from experienced dog people then don't ask questions on a dog forum. This is not about your family, they are not of our interest or concern. It's about two puppies who will most likely bond to eachother instead of the human members of the family. The dogs will be the ones to suffer if taking on and living with two rowdy, messy, destructive puppies doesn't produce that rosy glow you are anticipating. If you think that responsibly raising and training two Labrador puppies is a walk in the park you're in for a rude awakening. Cazablanca took the time and made the effort to offer you sensible advice. As she said, 10 week old puppies don't do obedience classes. Did you not know that? Also, many obedience classes will not allow children under 12yo to handle a dog in class. I find it very unusual that a registered, code of ethics breeder would agree to sell you two pups from the litter. She may well have been breeding for 20 years but is she a registered breeder? As you will note, some ethical breeders here have stated they would not sell two puppies from a litter in this situation.