Thursday, December 4, 2008

Post Thansgiving Update

Addie, Shep and I went to my sister's place in Buena Vista for Thanksgiving while Rob traveled back to Indiana to visit relatives (including his 102 year old aunt). Addie and Shep got to visit, yet again, with Mazie and Lucy.

It is snowing here in the mountains of Colorado and it has been pretty cold as well. Addie just doesn't like to be outside much when it's like this so she has been spending most of her days lounging inside and playing with what is left of her Kong Wubba (the interior rubber squeaker).

We have some new neighbors below us and they have a Lab mix named Jack. He seems to be Addie and Shep's new best buddy. They have been running up and down the mountain together with tails-a-waggin...good to see them having fun.

There have been no major issues with Addie's health over the past few weeks. She did have one day with a bout of cold paws and pale gums but a couple Yunan pills seemed to have solved that problem. We also discovered some new fatty deposit lumps under her skin near the base of her rib cage. No cause for alarm at this point but we will continue to monitor just to be sure they don't get bigger. Another interesting issue is that about 2 weeks ago, her tongue went back to a darker red like it was prior to the surgery.Perhaps she is not so anemic, but perhaps this is unrelated.

We have also started to mix some Orijen kibble into her food to cut down on the amount of work related to cooking, chopping, and storing the meat we feed her. Now she gets 1/2 cup each of Orijen, meat, and veggies at each meal. The Orijen costs just as much as the meat per pound but saves us quite a bit of work.

Orijen is a Canadian dog food that has only meat, vegetables, and fruit as ingredients. Perfect for keeping wheat and by-products out of her system. We have also started feeding it to Shep in hopes that he won't develop cancer or have other such problems in the future.

4 comments:

Jen O said...

Yay for Addie! That's really great to hear how well she's doing. Interesting to hear that you are feeding dog food. I tried to switch to a wheat-free/grain-free food, but was told it was a bad idea. So, still cooking away! :)

Anonymous said...

FANTASTIC NEWS!! Glad to hear all are doing well!!

Molly said...

Hi! Thanks so much for sharing your story! We also have a dog diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma :( She is a female 8.5 year old boxer named Molly :) A crazy little girl! Her companion is also a boxer of 9.5 years old (male) without any cancer issues. Molly has a history of other cancers (mast cells etc.). They are both on a raw food diet (meat & veggies), Molly is also on Robert McDowell's hemangiosarcoma remedy and Maritime pine bark remedy. Our holistic vet approves and our vet now wants to try Neoplasene - so we are very encouraged to read your progress with Addie. Molly was diagnosed in Sept '08. Hers is subcutaneous and as of Oct 31-08, she did not have any spreading to any major organs (had an ultrasound). So thank you so much for you blog progress! It is very encouraging! Please keep us all posted!!

Denice said...

Thanks everyone for your kind words. We are so thankful that she will be with us over Christmas!!

Denice