Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Beautiful Tessie--We Will Miss You So Much

On October 11, 2008, we lost our beautiful Tessie. She was so sick and was having trouble breathing. That day was a beautiful day. We took Tessie for a lovely walk on the beach and then she came home and ate a few treats. We brought her to the veterinarian's office thinking it would just be a routine draining of the fluid that accumulated on her chest and abdomen. Tessie had responded so well to prednisone which we had started just a few days before, we were mistakingly hoping we would have a few more months. Tessie collapsed following the procedure and she went into congestive heart failure. We let our Tessie cross the rainbow bridge so she wouldn't suffer. We miss her terribly. The last few days have been filled with sorrow and grief. It is hard to believe that the dog we rescued from such a difficult life, only 3 1/2 years ago, is no longer with us. Darling Tessie--you were such a joy and we will miss you so much. You will always be in our heart. Mom and Dad
Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Update on Tessie's cancer progression

The past 10 days have been so incredibly painful that I haven't been even able to write. Tessie showed initial tremendous improvement but her body is so taken over by the cancer, there is no hope left. We are now in the "waiting" stage to find just the right time to put her to rest. We have been filled with so much grief and sorrow and anger too. One thing we have learned is that crying and sobbing in front of the pet is not good for anyone. We sobbed all weekend because we know the end is near and by Monday morning, our poor Tessie was shaking. This helped us realize that we will have to keep our emotions in check and be strong for her until it is all over. I can't believe what a difference it made!

I told Tessie I would be ok without her and that she was safe and if she needed to leave us, it would be ok. I took her to the park, even though I knew she could only walk a few steps and told her that I loved her and everything would be ok. She has perked up quite a bit and my taking the emotional pressure off my poor girl, it helped her feel better. We know we only have a few days left but are going to try to act cheerful in front of her so that it doesn't make her feel worse. This is probably the most important message I can provide to you--if your pet is very sick--please try to control your emotions and negative discussions. If you have to go outside or go somewhere else, please do that---it upsets them terribly. They love you and need you to be strong for them.

Think about yourself and if you were dying--would you want your loved ones to be falling apart? Just watching my husband cry broke me up terribly. It takes all of their energy away and whatever energy they have left to stay with you a little longer. Save your tears until after they are gone as much as you can. It is so difficult but do it for your beloved pet.
Monday, September 22, 2008

Tessie The Rescue Dog's Journey With Cancer

If your pet currently has cancer or if you are interested in preventing cancer in your pet, my hope is that by sharing our journey, you will gain some insight on how to help your pet. Last week I reported that my rescued husky dog Tessie was diagnosed with chemodectoma or possibly mesothilioma. She has a mass on the base of her heart and because of the location, it cannot be biopsied so we will never know for sure.

For about 5-7 years, Tessie endured a terrible life before we rescued her--she was used for breeding, locked in a cage and has no front teeth to show for it. There is a very sweet, short video (I promise 3 minutes max!) about Tessie on www.naturesvariety.com as it was this wonderful food that helped her get well.

In any case, for anyone who has ever rescued a dog from a shelter or a terrible life beforehand, we are left with so many unanswered questions--How could someone do this to my dog? How old is my dog really? What happened to my dog that he or she behaves this way?
We want to erase all of the bad things that happened to them and make everything good from now on. If you watch the video mentioned above, you will see before/after photos of how Tessie transformed from a beat up rescue dog into a beauty queen with soft, lustrous fur that could even pass her for a show dog.

Thus, I had thought that her bad days were over and then.....the cancer diagnoses. We had a terrible week and even thought at one point, that we would have to put Tessie to sleep but I am happy to report, she is feeling much better. While it may seem unrealistic to some, I believe that hope, faith and holistic medicine will guide us through this journey. We put our tears behind us and are taking action quickly. Tessie doesn't like going to the vet's offices but we did all the necessary testing because knowledge is power. In fact, it is the knowledge, as painful as it was, that saved Tessie's life. We had NO WAY of knowing that one of Tessie's lung lobes had collapsed under pressure of the fluid that was collecting in her chest. She was still going on walks and acting fairly normal. I think if you read our newsletters you will see that Dr. Gordon and I are always promoting the incredible importance of getting laboratory tests done BEFORE your pet is sick. Well, this saved Tessie's life as the ultrasounds and XRAYS started to show a problem and so at the slightest bit of malaise, we rushed her to the hospital. Many clients come to us and aren't fortunate enough to pick up on these very subtle clues---but in our case, because we kept testing, we knew there might be some trouble. In just a week's time since our last time showing only minor abnormalities and no masses, Tessie's chest and abdomen had filled with fluid. Doctors had to remove a quart of fluid from her chest cavity to help her lungs expand. Had we waited even just another day, it might have been too late.

Tessie has been improving a little bit each day as I have added some key supplements to her regimen. We have seen a wonderful internist and oncologist and put Tessie on diuretics which have taken a few days to start helping but are slowly improving her condition. We are researching many new supplements for cancer and started her on OncoX, Carnitine Synergy, Q-Avail, Renelix to name a few. They definitely helped as she is displaying more energy and breathing easier. We have received many wonderful emails from caring clients and friends and can't say enough about the power of good thoughts and healing energy. We urge you to try to stay positive with your pet, even when the darkest days come, as they want more than anything to heal your pain and this just takes more out of them. Tell your pet that you are getting help and reassure them that you are taking care of them--not that they have to take care of you.

We will continue to keep you posted on Tessie's journey and thank you for caring enough to follow her story!
Monday, September 15, 2008

Question About Preparing Homemade Food For Pets

Q: My dog was recently diagnosed with kidney disease and lymphoma....I have to get his kidneys in better condition before he can start treatment for the cancer. Of course he wont eat the food the vet recommended...is there a homemade food recipe that you can pass on to me, so I can get sammy into better shape.

A: So sorry to hear that your dog is diagnosed with these two conditions. We understand how stressful it is when a pet isn't eating. There are much healthier alternatives than using the prescription veterinary food but you need to be very careful in constructing your diet. One of the problems we see frequently is that when a pet is inappetant, people start feeding them anything--ice cream, cheese, bacon, etc--None of these are good for pets with cancer, kidney disease or anytime.

We don't use "canned" recipes for different health conditions because what works for one pet may not work for another. What we found to be most effective is to carefully construct, ingredient by ingredient a custom diet specifically for that pet. We interview you first and get insight into all of your pet's health concerns, e.g. food preferences, allergies, pancreatitis concerns, etc and then construct a diet that your pet will thrive on. We use mathematical models to determine the exact ingredients to make sure the diet is balanced. Just getting recipes from books or off the Internet, you most likely run the risk of giving your pet the wrong diet---one that might have worked for another pet, doesn't necessarily mean it is right for your pet.


Sunday, September 14, 2008

Tales From Tessie: Cancer Diagnoses

Today, we discovered that our beautiful Tessie has very limited time left with us. We rescued Tessie from a horrible life as a breeding dog in a puppy mill. Her cruel owners threw her over a 6 foot fence into a high kill animal shelter after she could no longer have puppies. She had no front teeth from chewing on the cage where she had been locked for years. We heard her plight and our rescue, Ariel Rescue saved her along with another husky male. We didn't know her exact age, but the veterinarians estimated her to be about 5-6 years old. That was only 3 years ago.

Tessie never had a lot of energy and tired easily. She had bursts of hyperactivity but for the most part has been a very mellow dog. Always, from the time we had her, there was a slight cough.....

For so long , we checked on the cough, had bloowork, XRAYs and really not much ever showed up. Through great nutrition, supplements and lots of love and patience, we transformed this ragamuffin into a beautiful dog (Tessie's before and after pictures can be seen on our Testimonials page). However, in the past 6 months, her cough progressed.
Pets often don't display their pain because of their survival instinct in the wild. We are so grateful we continued to follow through with the laboratory work and went back over/over until today we received our sad news: Tessie has cancer. Because the tumor is located around her heart, there is nothing that can be done from a conventional veterinary standpoint. The veterinarian said it is either canine chemodectoma or canine hemangiosarcoma but we may never know for sure. Of course, we will do all we can to keep Tessie comfortable using diet and supplements but the prognosis is bleak. We thought by sharing our heartbreaking story with others, that somehow, it might provde insight to all pet owners. We will provide regular updates to Tessie's tales and hope that by following our story, it will be helpful to you.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Pet Nutrition Seminar To Help Homeless Animals


Volunteers from Ariel Rescue will be hosting a fundraiser at VCA Arroyo Animal Hospital (Lake Forest, CA) on Saturday September 13th from 10:30 to 12:00. Susan Davis, Pet Nutritionist and Dr. David Gordon, Medical Director, VCA Arroyo, will be speaking about how holistic veterinary medicine and pet nutrition can enhance your pet's health. $15 entrance fee with 100% of proceeds going to Ariel Rescue, a 501 (c) (3) public charity that saves the lives of shelter dogs in impoverished communities.

Special Note about Ariel Rescue: With the current state of the economy, we have been doing our best to stretch donations to help get the dogs out of the shelters and into loving homes. But, overall, there has been a big shortfall. Yesterday, we hosted a bake sale at PETsMART in Aliso Viejo which helped to pay for veterinary bills for the 4 dogs we had available for adoption. Happy to say that 3 of the 4 dogs were adopted yesterday! Ariel Rescue has saved over 1000 dogs that would have otherwise been euthanized over the past 9 years. For more info about Ariel Rescue, please visit http://www.arielrescue.com/ To make a donation, please send to Ariel Rescue, P.O. Box 723, Dana Point, CA 92629 We will send you a tax deductible receipt.