Filed under: Uncategorized
Disclaimer: It’s kind of an inside joke, but most holistic doctor’s I call ‘voodoo doctors’ — ok, it’s not really an inside joke: I had a friend who went to a holistic doctor for herself and she would always say that the holistic doctor worked her ‘voodoo magic’ and made her better after seeing the holistic doctor. So after that it became her ‘Voodoo doctor’ and the name kinda sticks. So, I might interchange Voodoo Vet/Holistic Vet and I don’t mean to offend anybody, it’s just become a bad habit. Disclaimer over.
We got there and I realized I forgot Denali’s leash and collar because when our ride got to my house, I wasn’t ready. So my parents loaded Denali up and I got Loki ready and didn’t think to grab a collar and a leash <<mental note: purchase a couple slip leads to keep in all family member vehicles>>. So I borrowed one of their slip leads and got Denali in. The office said they’ve had a couple dogs that walked like Denali that they got moving around.
He went over food and supplement with us. He was THRILLED she was on Acana as Champion Pet Foods is his favorite food company. He recommended I take her off EVO wet and put her on Party Animal (if I can get Party Animal cheaper — otherwise he said it’s ok for her to stay on EVO canned just didn’t like the P&G buyout).
Her list of supplements will be:
6000mg of fish oil daily. Increase to 4000mg now and then increase by 1000 mg every 3 days until I get her to the 6000 mg
1500 mg glucosamine daily
Alfalfa/Yucca as directed – continue tramadol until next appointment
Massage around her spine 10 minutes daily
Chiropractic adjustment today, in 10-14 days and 3 weeks later
Accupuncture, hydrotherapy and other supplements/herbs if needed.
We did ask about Chemo and the vet said it’s a personal choice. He said he has some patients who do it and some that don’t. He said that he doesn’t really know if it helps or not but in most of the dogs he’s seen they MIGHT live 1-3 months longer. I’m torn between Chemo now, so I’m thinking maybe just doing 3 treatments instead of 5 (depending on how well she does). I’m just not sure about it yet.
I think that’s everything we covered. He was very nice and wanted to keep things as inexpensive for me as possible telling me that I could get it at his clinic for X amount or I could get it here for X amount.
Question to Denali’s Blog followers —
Does anybody have any experience with acupuncture ? If so – what was your experience.
EDIT: I forgot to add some pictures!!
What great photos! Your appt with the voo doo doctor 🙂 sounds very positive. Interesting about what he’s recommending for supplements. Just curious if you talked about the Power mushrooms (thought maybe you had ordered these at one time?)
Regarding the chemo, I remember when Mackenzie was doing chemo, they came out with these new studies that showed doing 5 – 6 treatments (carboplatin) was more effective than doing 4 which was the norm at that time (back in Dec/Jan). There were many discussions on the forum about this. Just a suggestion to look at the stats of doing 3 treatments vs. 4 vs. 5 – 6 treatments. You may find that doing 3 may not be enough to get the results you want. I’m certainly no vet but we went through a lot with these chemo treatments and ended up doing 5 in total. But you have to do what you think is best for Denali. There’s also the other option of the metronomic therapy which is proving to be more and more effective. Just some food for thought.
For acupuncture, never did this but I know other tripawds have and it was quite effective.
Yes, I did talk A LITTLE about the power mushrooms. What I did is put ALL her supplements on the table with what I’m currently doing and what I plan to do when the K-9 immunity runs out (I just can’t fit the $200 for Denali’s size in my budget – if there were studies that showed 90% of dogs got 4+ months out of it – I would find a way, but all studies I’ve seen have been inconclusive). He grazed over everything I put on his counter and said ‘you got the fish oil – good, you got the power mushrooms – good’. I wonder if he would have recommended the mushrooms if I hadn’t been there and it was one of my questions to ask him if he did believe in the powers of the mushroom.
I also know with chemo if the first 2 sessions don’t go well – I do not NEED to continue down that path. I thought the metronomic was for just when the cancer is visible in the lungs/other organs.
Voo-doo doctors….I think that saying is a common one 😉 I’ve used it myself!
Maggie is treated homeopathically by Dr. Charles Loops in NC(note: you can do phone consults – no need to see him – I’m in Maine). Does this holistic vet do homeopathy by chance? You didn’t mention it? Dr. Loops is highly regarded as a cancer specialist in the ‘voo-doo’ world 😉
Maggie gets 4 Life Transfer Factors Complete – which has mushrooms in it. She also gets Omega 3 oil. These are the things Dr. Loops suggested for Maggie. He’s been treating her since December. She isn’t being treated with chemo.
I also give her Glycoflex III for her joints & Nature’s Made Sam-E that Dr. Waldman suggested in a live chat once on Tripawds. And for her muscle strength I give her Vertex by CPN…I have seen a BIG improvement in her strength since adding Vertex and it could be the Sam-E too as I added those two things about same time.
Maggie was recently adjusted by her chiropractor and she was ‘out’ in places that she would of figured she would be for being a Tripawd but all in all I was happy with her findings.
Good luck & great photo’s!
Tracy, Maggie’s Mom
Hi! I just wanted to say how beautiful Denali is. I love her thick, white fur. And she has a very serene sort of smile in that last pic. 🙂
Leslie
great pictures!! gayle is getting acupuncture treatments (along with sisiter jane) – the schedule is every two weeks. if you can swing the extra expense, i highly recommend trying it. gayle LOVES it, it really relaxes her, she almost glows after the treatment. we focus mostly on her front shoulder and spine(right front leg amputation). also some needles are used to boost her immunity. we did five treatments of chemo (doxorubicin) and are on k9 immunity and factor. glad you are seeking out the possibilities – the more you know the better your choices!!!
charon & gayle
You’re absolutely right that you don’t need to continue down the path of chemo if it doesn’t go right. As for the metronomic, no this is given usually after the treatment of regular chemo – or in place of chemo – it’s almost like a maintenance chemo plan. Mackenzie didn’t have lung mets when she first started it and I know there’s another tripawd Holly who is on it too following her regular chemo plan. Power Mushrooms – seems to get the thumbs up from a lot of people. I give them to Mackenzie too.
Kami