Heavy Hearts

SHEP
July 29, 2009
Rest In Peace Our Sweet Boy

Panting

Last night was very hard for Shep. Yesterday afternoon he started panting for no apparent reason and continued to do so all night and is still panting this morning. Our only hope is that the Reglan (which we are giving him to stimulate his appetite) or the neoplasene (which might be causing inflammation to his lung tissue) are one of the reasons for this to be happening. The more likely reason is one I can't bear to think about. Compounding our fear of the worst is the fact that one of the lumps on his rib cage suddenly grew much, much bigger yesterday. But could this be the neoplasene causing inflammation again? We just don't know.

This morning we thought perhaps we could get him to eat without the Reglan so we tried giving him ice cream first to coat his stomach. A few licks is all the interest he showed. We have been giving him the Reglan in raw ground beef per Dr. Fox's recommendation. After the failed attempt with the ice cream, he licked the meat a couple of times and didn't want to eat it either...a dog that doesn't want to eat ice cream or raw hamburger...

We had to make him eat the medicine/meat and 30 minutes later he ate his whole morning meal plus some ice cream afterward - perhaps a glimmer of hope...

He can't seem to get comfortable now and is still panting and breathing in short, shallow breaths.

It's so hard to see him like this...

Addie and Shep Update - July 23

First, the good news. Addie is still doing remarkably well. It still amazes us how well she is doing. She does make us coax her a bit on the cottage cheese, but then eats it 100% after she starts. She adores her food/Neoplasene mixture. We are very fortunate on this front.

Shep is hanging in there. He has mostly bad days, but yesterday was a good day for him. Stairs are very difficult for him and he has zero desire to hike/run.

He is very picky about eating and it has been a huge struggle each meal to get him to eat. We hate forcing him, but sometimes we feel we don't have a choice. Rob did call Dr. Fox at Buck Mountain today to speak with him regarding the situation. Dr. Fox was pretty helpful and dare I say friendly.

Here is a summary of what we discussed:

1. The lumps Shep has developed since early July have gotten only slightly bigger over the past week and some of them seem to be sore to the touch. Dr. Fox told us that the fact that the lumps are only slightly larger probably means that they are inflamed. This is a good indication that the Neoplasene is doing its job.

2. He was surprised and concerned about our holistic vet putting Shep on such a large dosage of Neoplasene (10 cc per day). The fact that Shep is still with us after a week of that high dosage indicates that the cancer on his lungs may not be as bad as we thought. If the cancer had been more widespread in his lungs, then the cancer tissue would have inflamed once the Neoplasene interacted with it and could have caused him great difficulty in breathing and may have been bad enough to suffocate him. We have not noticed any breathing trouble but he does seem to get tired quickly.

3. Shep’s lethargy and unwillingness to eat very much is probably a direct result of the high dosage of Neoplasene. Dr. Fox re-iterated the details of the feeding plan for optimal use of the Neoplasene. We will be adjusting things slightly as opposed to what we do for Addie. Specifically, we will be chopping his food up more finely, will stop feeding the Orijen kibble for now, and will provide a scoop of vanilla ice cream after each meal to help protect the GI tract from the Neoplasene.

4. Dr. Fox also recommended we start Shep on 25 mg of metoclopramide (aka Reglan) twice daily before meals (to help increase appetite). We will begin that regimen tomorrow. We are pretty concerned about this drug as it has some unpleasant side effects.

Shep's new meal plan:

Meals 2 times per day consisting of:

25mg Reglan 30 minutes prior to dinner
1/2 c. ground meat - cooked
1/2 c. veggies/fruits - cooked
2.5cc Neoplasene

Vanilla ice cream after dinner

We haven't discussed, but I believe we will still use the Fractionated Pectin as well.

We hope this improves his quality of life. I feel so bad that he cannot do the things he loves - chasing squirrels, running down to see his friend Jack, going on long hikes, etc.

Shep Update

It is with sadness that I am posting about Shep. As mentioned in a previous post, he had an appointment with an Oncologist last Thursday. The history prior to that appointment:

May 6th
* Notice a 3/8 inch diameter lump on Shep's right side which appeared quickly - never saw it before. Since Addie had a vet appointment the next day we took Shep along to have the lump examined. Vet thought it was a fatty deposit (even though it was not like Addie's lumps - much more firm), and advised us to watch it for sudden growth.
* Lump grew to golf ball size within a couple of weeks.

June 9th
* Made an appointment to have a fine needle aspiration cytology performed.
* Results were inconclusive but it was recommended to remove the lump.

July 1st
* Noticed more lumps - total of 6 new lumps by the 3rd of July.

July 3rd
* Arrived at vet's office for surgery - surgery canceled as there were too many lumps to remove and the cause was unknown.
* Made an appointment with Oncologist for July 9th.


Oncologist Visit results
* Chest X-ray revealed an undetermined type of sarcoma which probably started in the lungs and has already metastasized to the lymph system (cause of the lumps). Oncologist gave Shep a 1-2 month prognosis.


We immediately made an appointment the next day with Dr. Friedly, the holistic vet in Falcon, CO that takes care of Addie and monitors her diet and neoplasene dosage. (We started Shep on neoplasene the night he came home from the oncologist - we were optimistic that it would work just as well for him).

After reviewing the oncology report and the x-rays, Dr. Friedly was not as optimistic as we had hoped. He told us that the metastasis into the lymph system was a very bad sign. Although he recommended we put Shep on neoplasene, he did not know how much it could help. His 'best case' scenario for Shep is 6 months - and I don't think he felt confident with that.

Shep still seems to feel good. He still runs and gets excited about going for rides and hikes. We will continue to take him on those excursions for as long as he can go.

He is far more picky when it comes to eating than Addie. We are struggling to get him to eat the new meals. We have him on the same diet as Addie now, but his neoplasene dosage is much higher. Addie is getting 4cc/day but Shep is currently at 10cc/day. That dosage is scheduled to drop to 8cc/day in 2 weeks. We decided to start feeding him 3 meals a day so we can minimize the amount of neoplasene he must ingest at each meal. We have tried many things to get him to eat his food including bacon. We can eventually get him to eat everything but it is quite trying. We will persist.

The last few days have been very devastating for us. We now have 2 dogs with cancer. Shep is only about 8 years old, so we really did not even think about him getting cancer. The thought of losing one of them was horrible, but now it is possible we may lose them both at nearly the same time. They have both been with us for many years so that is an overwhelming thought.

We are fortunate (if I can use that word) in that we already have experience with cancer and neoplasene, so we were able to act fairly quickly. I hope that time helps us with Shep.

Please keep both Addie and Shep in your thoughts. They are awesome dogs (as all dogs are), and we are very lucky to be sharing our lives with them. we truly hope for many more months of quality life for them both.

Happy 1 Year Anniversary Addie!

Today is Addie's 1 year anniversary post surgery. We are so excited that she is still with us 1 year after that horrible day when several doctors told us she would not see the month of October.

Today, we will celebrate with a big steak dinner for her and plenty of puppy kisses :-)

Unfortunately, Shep, our other dog is having his own issues. We have discovered several lumps on him that are multiplying daily. The biopsy was inconclusive, and we have an appointment with an oncologist on Thursday. We so hope that he does not have to go through cancer too.

But today, we are celebrating with them both and feeling very fortunate.