The Treatment

I currently have a passed-out pooch next to my bed, snoring happily, and dreaming of dog parks and car rides.

Today we went for our first session with the holistic vet. Very nice lady. Her house was right next to the local off-leash dog park, which was a total treat for Sparky, since we never make it over there anymore and he's just not that agile to actually make it worth the trip. Anyway, we met for an hour and unbeknownst to me, she had intended to give him some acupuncture for his hip dysplasia and arthritis. I 've always been skeptical of this type of treatment. I attribute the skepticism to my German upbringing and also the lawyer in me. But the vet was convinced it would do good, and at this point I'm desperate for results. She had observed him and noticed that he was quite slow, and frankly, I have grown so accustomed to it, that I hadn't noticed; not until I saw the other dogs outside the dog park. It actually made me sad, because he used to be such a happy, bouncy boy who'd partake in impromptu chases and things like that.

Anyway, the visit was good. After about 20 min of needles in his back and legs I could tell he was relaxing and enjoying himself. He was less suspicious and actually let her massage his back. We decided on the Neoplasene treatment, which was no surprise to me, since we had talked about it. She praised me for switching him to such a healthy diet, and said that diet alone was gonna work wonders on his immune system and his ability to put up a fight against the cancer. I was never aware how unhealthy commercial dog food is... I'm ashamed that I never looked more closely into what I was feeding my sweetheart. Anyway at this point he's getting:

• canned salmon
• chicken
• cottage cheese
• cheese
• 2 - 4 eggs per day
• rice
• zucchini or squash
• some tuna
• ground beef
• apple or pear
• plain yogurt

Distribution-wise it should be about 50% protein, and 25% veggies/fruit and 25% rice. In addition he gets Omega 3, 6, and 9 ... tho I must say, it's been giving him a little bit of diarrhea, so I will be giving about 1000 mg per day for a while and see if it changes, instead of the 3000 mg he's been getting. From now on he's also getting 0.75 cc Neoplasene twice a day as liquid in this food, as well as 1-2 cc Astragalus. Both fight the cancer, the Astragalus builds a better immune system.

In order to fight any tummy upset that may develop from the Neoplasene, and to kind of mellow out his already existing, mild diarrhea I am also going to add Pet Probiotic (by Jarrow) and Colostrum (1 capsule 2x per day). She thinks that the current mild diarrhea is the result of him having been fed commercial food for all his life, and his body isn't used to the good stuff he's getting now. Besides, my boy always had a somewhat sensitive stomach, so this new stuff might work great for him.

Furthermore, we will continue with the acupuncture on a weekly basis, until we see some results, and then we will probably go down to twice, or maybe just once, per month. Also, the Previcox he's been taking, I am going to try and stop right now. She said to only give him the Previcox if absolutely needed, but it's counteracting the Neoplasene, so the less he gets the better. We may try Arnica later, once he's off the Previcox. Though she feels he might get to a point with the acupuncture, when no Previcox and no Arnica will be needed. That would be awesome.

I feel good. I feel a little relieved. I'm happy that I've been doing a lot of things right already. She was very happy to hear that he's got such a big appetite, and she can tell that there is a very happy, playful pup lurking inside him. I hope all this stuff will work out just fine. She said I should see some changes in mobility tomorrow or the day after. Today, she said, he's most likely going to be wiped-out ... and yup, she sure is right.