2 years ago...

Two years ago I posted the photo below with the caption that I received the results of the biopsy and that Maverick did have Lymphoma.  It has been almost 3 weeks since he crossed the rainbow bridge.  It is very odd not having him around.

Run free Maverick.  I know you are enjoying your time at the rainbow bridge.

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A very sad lymphoma update

We come to you with a very sad update today.  Today we had to let Maverick cross over to the rainbow bridge.  

His lymphoma came back and it came back with a vengeance.   We tried treating him with prednisone to reduce the swelling but we it just wasn't responding.  Today he just was not the same dog anymore, you could see in his eyes that it was bothering him and that it was time for him to go.  After talking it over with the veterinarian, who we trust deeply, we came to the same conclusion that it was his time.  

The vet suspects that the cancer spread to his bone marrow and there wasn't much else that could be done without him suffering.  So today, Maverick crossed peacefully with his favorite people by his side and my 13 month old holding on to his paw.  

Run free, sweet Maverick.  You won't have to suffer anymore.  

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Making bone broth for dogs

As promised before in our previous blog post, we documented making bone broth from the beginning.

We started off with raw bones (beef bones are on the left and pork neck bones are on the right).  Pork neck bones are relatively inexpensive so we definitely recommend them.

 We then add them to the slow cooker and cover them with just enough water to cover them by an inch or two.  We added Italian Seasoning and turmeric which is where the yellow tint comes from.

Then we set the slow cooker and forget about it for at least 24 hours.  The bones will break down and the pork neck bones mostly just dissolve away.  When you take the bones out they crumble with any sort of pressure (it doesn't take much).   We remove the bones and let the mixture sit in the fridge and remove it when the fat forms a hard layer on top of the liquid (which turns into a jelly like form when chilled).

After being chilled the mixture becomes a jelly from all of the cartilage that dissolved

Once it is chilled and the fat is removed we mix up the jelly mixture and place it in ice cube trays to freeze it.  The mixture is only good in the fridge for 4 days and we can't use that much in 4 days so we freeze it and just defrost when we feed the dogs.  The little dog gets 2-3 cubes a meal (he eats twice a day).

This may not be for everyone and we get that but we think it benefits our cancer patient and helps him battle his lymphoma.   Feel free to follow us on Instagram.

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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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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.

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Cancer Updates - Week 3

An update for our cancer post, check here to read about it.

We went back on Monday to have our CBC levels rechecked and they were still not high enough to receive chemotherapy so we did not received chemo that day.  We went back again today (February 18th) to recheck the levels and we haven't heard back yet.  Our vet didn't come in until later so we probably won't hear anything until tomorrow.  

Added February 21st:  His levels were high enough so we gave him his chemo of two capsules on Friday morning, then one capsule every morning for 3 days.

He loves going to the vet so it's no big deal.   He actually loves going wherever, he's not particular.  

Everything so far has been covered by a pet insurance, yay for pet insurance!

No real changes in personality or appetite.  He's still a pig, still hyper, and still destructive.  He's pretty cute though and the baby loves him.

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A cancer update...

An unfortunate update on one of our "bloggers"

In October 28, 2014 our Boston Terrier mix was diagnosed with lymphoma.  We went in for yearly blood work and ended up coming back on the office's surgery day to have a biopsy done (photo is at the very end of the stitches if anyone is interested, it's not that gory and trust me, I do NOT do blood or anything gory).  The biopsy results were supposed to take 10-14 days, we had the results back in less than a week and it was a confirmed diagnosis of lymphoma.  We immediately set up an appointment with the specialist and began chemotherapy that day.  Fast forward to May 2015 we made it through chemo every week or every other week to achieve a diagnosis of the cancer being in remission.

An image from our first go with chemo...

February 6, 2016 we received the unfortunate diagnosis via needle aspiration that the lymphoma was back.  I already knew it was back, I just knew.  We have already begun chemo and we will try and update weekly with how everything is going and hopefully end with a blog post that he is in remission.


We do have pet insurance through Healthy Paws.  They were rated the best Pet Insurance in 2014, 2015, and 2016.  They have a phone app so all you have to do is snap a picture of the invoice from your veterinary visit and they take it from there.  It's simple and easy to use.  The process the claim and we get a check in the mail.   We have an annual deductible of $250 and unlimited lifetime benefits so no cap on how much they will pay out.   Feel free to check out Healthy Paws and get a quote by heading over here.

Biopsy photo

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Pet Insurance & Lymphoma in Dogs

We've been meaning to blog about this for a while, but blogging about a pet that has cancer is never an easy subject to write or talk about.

Just over 6 months ago, one of the dogs received a diagnosis of having canine lymphoma.  Lymphoma is apparently very prevalent in dogs and very deadly.  Thankfully we had pet insurance, more about that later.  We immediately began chemotherapy.

We had 12 weeks of chemotherapy every week, and 12 weeks of chemo therapy every other week.  I must say, the every other week was a lot easier on everyone.  During the weeks of having chemotherapy every week we had to skip treatments which meant it really took us longer than 12 weeks to complete the beginning half of chemo because his white blood cells were regenerating quickly enough and were too low to receive some doses on time.   We also had a very scary ER visit where the little guy was hospitalized for 2 days.

 

IV port during his hospitalization stay at the ER due to a severe drug reaction

I cannot be more grateful that we had invested in Pet Insurance.  We ended up going with Healthy Paws Pet Insurance when we did purchase our pet insurance and I cannot say how easy they were to work with.

They have a phone app where you take a photo of the invoice that you receive from the vet's office and Healthy Paws takes it from there.  It takes a day or two for them to process the claim and about a week after a submitted the claim I received a check in the mail.  Their prices are reasonable, they don't cover exam fees, but not many insurance companies do.  They also do not cover vaccines or other typical care, which is normal.

The biggest plus, other than the phone app, is that you have 1 yearly deductible a year that you must achieve before you start getting money back.  Not one per incident like most of the other companies I looked at (i.e. one deductible for a broken leg, one deductible for a dog bite, another deductible for an obstruction).  With Healthy Paws you get one deductible regardless of how many different problems may arise.

You may not think Pet Insurance is worth it, but accidents happen and one visit to the emergency vet and you are going to hit your deductible in one visit most likely.  By our first vet visit, which included the biopsy we had already hit our deductible for the year.  The insurance from Healthy Paws has more than paid for itself.

I seriously encourage and urge you to look into pet insurance.  Lymphoma is so prevalent in dogs, I cannot tell you how many dogs I met with Lymphoma during our vet visits.

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