Our First Visit to the Alternative Veterinarian

We met with the alternative veterinarian Monday afternoon. Clancey seemed very comfortable at the clinic. In the waiting room, there was a tiny pitbull puppy that had just finished her appointment so Clancey and I both got a little “puppy therapy”. Clancey has always liked puppies and this one was no exception. Clancey brightened right up, his tail was wagging and he was giving her some big sloppy kisses.

The veterinarian did confirm my suspicion that he had another infection in his nasal cavity so prescribed Baytril for that. I suspect this is the reason that he wasn’t hungry yesterday morning and why he seemed to feel so tired and out of it. He seemed better this morning after a couple doses of the Baytril.

In addition to continuing the supplements he is currently taking, we are going to add a few more, she suggested I look into Hoxey and possibly mushrooms. She sent home Astragalus to help his immune system and Enzymes which apparently, when given away from food, helps heal damaged tissues. She also sent me home with a bottle of Phosphorous that should help inhibit the bleeding from his nostril. I have not noticed any change in the amount of bleeding so far but will keep watching this.

I am also going to start him on CoQ10 and small doses of Probiotics that we will increase once the infection is gone.

We are starting him on twice daily doses of a Neoplasene solution in the form of nose drops. This has already proven to be a challenge, I was able to surprise him with the syringe last night and got the drops in his nose successfully, however, this morning things did not go so well as he took one look at the syringe and knew exactly what was going to happen, I couldn’t fool him again! This boy is much too strong to man handle so I am going to have to find a way for him to willingly accept the drops. I think I will start with a saline solution so I don’t waste the Neoplasene and see if I can win him over with treats etc. Once he gets used to that, I will use the real solution. If anyone knows a good way to convince a dog that nose drops are good, please, please share it with me.

The one other treatment we are going to be using is acupuncture to “help him get his energy moving”. I don’t know anything about acupuncture and need to do some research on it, any personal experiences with acupuncture would be very much appreciated. We are treating the “Chong Mai meridian in the eight extra”. Again, I have no idea what that means but I figure it can’t hurt.

The vet showed me where to put the needles, one in each of his legs, and I was able to place them correctly while I was at her office, doing it at home with no coaching will be a little scary. I am going to try tonight so we’ll see how it goes. Clancey actually cooperated with the acupuncture as they were feeding him treats while I was placing the needles. I think this will prove to be easier than the nose drops, as long as I can keep him occupied with treats, he didn’t seem to even feel the needles. We do this daily and leave them in for ten minutes each time.

I did have a discussion with the veterinarian about quality of life and have decided not to pursue the radiation treatment at this time. There is no cure for this cancer, the best we can do is try to inhibit it from growing larger and hopefully even decrease the size of it with the Neoplasene so that he is more comfortable. We can enhance his immune system with therapies that will help his body to fight this unwanted monster that has set up residence in his nose.

Clancey is a survivor and other than this tumor, he is in good health. I may change my mind down the road and I will be watching Clancey for signs but for now, we are going to stay on this path and see where it takes us.