Re: [HolisticPet] Losing muscle mass in back legs - Cushings?
<snip> I am hoping that I can soon take him off the
meds, but if not, I have to consider the quality of life for my little
one. He doesn't even seem like the same dog. <snip>
<snip>I want to be prepared before going to the vet because they
always suggest stuff like Rymadyl, Previcox, etc. and I don't want to
have to make an expensive judgement call and find out when I get home that I
won't use the meds.<snip>
I thought it might be helpful to share my story about our dog Israel. I'll
try to keep it brief...
About four years ago, our dog Israel (a 60-lb Rott/Chow mix) started crying
about one of her front legs and limping. When we took her in, the vets told
us she likely had arthritis. We were given Rymadyl for the pain and sent
home. She was on this for about six months, when the pain increased and the
Rymadyl was not longer helping. Back we went, and we were given a strong
prescription - Duramaxx. Several months on this, and one day she was crying
again about her leg. Back we went and they did an x-ray, coming back with a
diagnosis of osteosarcoma. We could either have her leg amputated or "put
her down"... we scheduled the surgery for the next morning. (We were also
told that she had about six months to live if we opted not to do
chemotherapy, and possibly a year if we did, but five months of that year
would be chemo treatments. We opted to take her home and try to make the
last six months of her life the best we could.)
After she was better recovered (and I was no longer helping her walk with a
sling made from a thick bath towel), she started crying about getting up and
down and walking again. Back we went and found she had arthritis in her
hips. More Duramaxx was prescribed. Within a few months on this, she was
vomiting blood and had blood in her stools. Back to the vet to determine
she now had a bleeding ulcer, thanks to the Duramaxx. She was put on
Prilosec as well. This helped, but we were growing more and more
uncomfortable with the damage we knew was being done from this medication,
and started to suspect that more and more medication was going to result
from continuing on this path. So, I started looking into more that I could
do for her than to continue relying on prescriptions.
One of the most drastic changes we saw was from a silly-named supplement
called Dog Gone Pain. While visiting a little doggie boutique and bakery,
the owner and I started talking about our "fids" as we call them (kids with
fur) and health issues. I told her the story of Israel's ordeals and she
immediately walked around the counter and grabbed a bottle of DGP and told
me it had saved her 16 year-old Bichon's life. This was a fairly large
claim, but what did we have to lose by trying it but $30 for the bottle? At
that point, I had started to consider whether we were just being selfish
trying to find ways to keep her going.
With the recommendations of the dog boutique owner and some research at the
DGP web site, we started her on the DGP. Over the next week, we weaned
Israel off of the Duramaxx, VERY carefully monitoring her pain levels to be
sure we were NOT going to cause her any pain. Within ONE WEEK, Israel was
off the Duramaxx and NO PAIN. She was happier, no crying, and sleeping
through the night again. Within another week, we took her off of the
Prilosec and monitored her closely for any sign her stomach was having
difficulty. (As I was learning to become an herbalist during this time,
too, I started looking into OTHER things I could do naturally that would
help her and to ensure her stomach was still being soothed and coated, I
also started adding some mucilaginous herbs to her diet for about a week -
slippery elm and marshmallow, specifically.
I'm happy to report that Israel, now 12 years old, is three years (plus)
past her initial prognosis and has been doing fantastically on DGP alone! I
have never ever in my life been happier with a supplement. I have given my
veterinarian information about this supplement, and he is amazed it works
like it has. I do hope he's giving the information to other clients! They
deserve to know they do not have to go through all of the horrible things we
did in order to help their dog(s)!
I give her two pills every morning, and if she has had a particularly active
day, I've found I need to give her an extra one at night. Our other 12
year-old dog (a Gordon Setter mix) has started to seem a bit slow on getting
up and lying down. I'm going to start him on one DGP a day to see if it
helps him. If one doesn't work, I'll up it to two, and I'm willing to bet
he'll be feeling more spry in just a short while.
I hope this information helps. :)
Suzy
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