Bone Broth for dogs

So we've mentioned a few times about bone broth in a few of our posts and we finally remembered to take some photos of it.  See our latest cancer post here.  We did forget to take photos before we cooked it but I guess tiny humans can do that to you.

We got our bone broth inspiration from here, and a few of our canine loving friends.  We use raw bones to make ours, we could use cooked but for us raw is easy for us to find at a good price point.  Pork neck bones are awesome to use!  We have also used turkey wings.  That is what we used this time.  Any joint bones are good (the cartilage is what you are looking for).

We just throw ours in a slow cooker and let it cook for at least 24 hours.  The link above is a great site to get inspiration from.  We took ours out of the slow cooker and chilled it overnight then removed the layer of fat which really wasn't that much.

This is what it looked like after we removed the layer of fat, it is a gelatin like consistency when cold.

Then we put it in ice cube trays until frozen and drop them in a freezer bag until we need to use them.  You can also store it in the fridge for 4 days.

Bone broth is pretty easy to make and it helps with so many things.  Definitely something good for our little cancer patient.

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Canine Lymphoma update - Weeks 6 & 7

Well for week 6 we went in on a Friday just went in to run a CBC test to make sure that he was responding well after treatment and to make sure that his cells were responding the way that they should.  Everything went well and he is continuing to respond well to treatment and his blood count was not too low.  We give him bone broth every morning and evening with his meals so we believe that is helping.

Please keep in mind we are not vets but this is just what we think based off of what we are doing.  His first battle with lymphoma he had to skip quite a few weeks of treatment because he wasn't making enough white blood cells.  Since starting the bone broth we haven't skipped a single treatment.  We are going to make some more bone broth next week so stay tuned!  We will photograph the process we go through, it is a very long process but so worth it.

Week 7 - We went in on Friday (can you tell we like Fridays?) to run a CBC and do chemo if his CBC was high enough.  The above photo was him hanging out while they were running the numbers on the CBC.  His CBC was high enough so we went ahead with the chemo.  We had a little bit of  hiccup with his vinicristine injection where the needle went through the vein and a small amount ended up under his skin.  The vet flushed it out with saline and advised us to do a warm compress every 4 hours for the next 24 hours and to call if anything looked different.  So far, nothing is out of the ordinary and you would never know something was wrong.



Everything was covered with our pet insurance, as it always is.  For our pet insurance we pay about $40 a month for him and we get 90% of what we pay back after we hit our $250 annual deductible, which we hit months ago.  His first cancer go, we hit our deductible in 1 visit.  Healthy Paws is so easy to work with.  We faxed them all our of records in the beginning and now all we do is snap pictures of invoices with our phone and in about a week there is a check or two in our mailbox.  They have an easy to use mobile app.

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Sign up to score free samples of items & a quick review

We are a member of pinchme.com which is a site where you select samples to receive from top brands every month.   It's pretty awesome, you receive products in exchange for your reviews.   If you are interested just head on over to pinchme.com and sign up.  The boxes take 4-6 weeks to arrive, but hey, it's free so you really can't complain.  These are some of the things we got last month.

     

We received so Unisom gels, some Iams hairball treats, a Pedigree Dentastix, and Muse wet cat food.

The hairball treats have been a hit for the world's pickiest cat.  If only we were kidding, she doesn't eat certain shapes and colors of cat food and she won't just eat what she's left when she's hungry enough she would rather starve to death.  She's actually that picky.  She does however gobble these down and we haven't had any hairballs which is a plus because if there is going to be a hairball it's at 3 AM and it's on the carpet.

The Muse cat food was also a hit.  She's not normally a big wet food fan, like we said she's picky but she did gobble the whole thing down and it's a good size for just one cat.  Especially if said cat won't eat cold wet food.

Now it doesn't look as good as what it does in the advertisement, but advertisements always look better so we will chalk it up to that.   If you have a super sensitive nose and you don't like cat food smells you probably won't like this.  Pregnant mamas take notice.

    

Please note: We were not given these samples because we blog we were given these samples just to leave reviews on pinchme but since they were pet products we shared here.   Anyone can sign up for pinchme so hurry on over and sign up.  You won't regret it!





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Cancer Updates Weeks 4 & 5

An update for our cancer post, check here to read about it.  Week 2 update can be found here.  Week 3 update can be found here.

We went in for our CBC check on Friday, February 26th and saw the vet techs that adore the little guy.  The vet consulted over the phone when the checks were run since she was out of town.  He was given the go ahead for chemo and he received his chemo that day.  He also had free roam over the vets office since we were the only ones there.  He enjoyed exploring and sniffing everything.   Everything was covered by a pet insurance provided by Healthy Paws.    

Thursday, March 3rd we went in to talk to the vet about his honking goose cough.  Seriously, if your dog EVER does this type of cough please go in and see a veterinarian right away it can be really serious, like deadly serious.   We took x-rays that day of his chest and throat (I wish I had a picture of the x-rays to post, I'll ask next time I'm in if I can take a picture of them so I can post them).  Everything looked good in his x-rays.  His liver, spleen, and heart were all normal sized which is a very good and surprising thing in a lymphoma dog.  He was diagnosed with tracheitis, or canine cough and was sent home with cough medicine.

We also ran the CBC and we came back Friday for our chemo treatment.  It was an IV drip so I dropped him off and left him for a few hours.  Of course he enjoyed every moment of being loved on and getting lots of treats.  He was sent home with anti-nausea meds and diarrhea meds just in case, we haven't needed them thankfully.  He is a very easy going dog and everyone comments on how good he is and how lovable he is.  Trust me, he is the most lovable dog ever.   The love between him and our 6 month old baby is just amazing to see, the giggles that come out of the baby every time he sees the dog is just heart warming.

They matched his bandage to his coat.  Coat is a custom from Made by Meadowkitten

For our pet insurance we pay about $40 a month for him and we get 90% of what we pay back after we hit our $250 annual deductible, which we hit months ago.  His first cancer go, we hit our deductible in 1 visit.  Healthy Paws is so easy to work with.  We faxed them all our of records in the beginning and now all we do is snap pictures of invoices with our phone and in about a week there is a check or two in our mailbox.  They have an easy to use mobile app.

DISCLOSURE SOME LINKS INCLUDED IN THIS POST MAY BE AFFILIATE LINKS FOR WHICH I MAY RECEIVE A COMMISSION WHEN YOU CLICK THROUGH THE LINK.