Advice and help needed for a dog with cancer

[TranceWax]

Over the past few weeks, I've done a lot of reading on this forum and the information is overwhelming, especially when you're relatively new to biology etc. I've received a number of brilliant responses from the brilliant minds on this forum and with compassion I'm hoping to hear a few more of your opinions.

My dog was diagnosed with TCC (transitional cell carcinoma) at the start of the year and I hear that it's generally quite an aggressive form of cancer, from the ultrasound, it seems to have spread from the urethra line up into the prostate. I was recommended a number of interesting treatments and drugs like Fenbendazole, Cyproheptadine, Aspirin and Glycine found in Gelatine.
I've managed to secure Fenbendazole which he started two weeks ago and I'm currently giving gelatine, turmeric, bio kult probiotic, turkey tail and the NSAID meloxicam. The vet was unwilling with prescribe aspirin and without proper dosing guidelines I didn't want to go it alone and cause any issues or drug interactions etc, so I just rolled with meloxicam despite it probably not been favourable from users on this forum.
That been said, I feel like there's more than can be done and I'm going to push strongly and request Cyproheptadine to be prescribed, they'll unlikely prescribe it for treating cancer but I'll say it's to be used as an antihistamine to treat allergies like itchy paws. I've also been reading about Thiamine and Niacinamide which also look like sound things to add in but I wouldn't have the slightest idea on the dosage for a 10kg dog and there doesn't seem to be much of a market for dog supplements so it looks like I'll have to use human supplements and maybe spilt the pills into a lower dose that is more suitable if I can find clean products, unless I can get therapeutic doses from certain foods?

As for the diet, he pretty much just eats beef, chicken, lamb or duck with broccoli, sweet potato, green beans, carrot, mixed berries and apple with a little cheese which he takes the meloxicam with. I don't add any form of PUFA and I try to be conscious about the Lysine and Arginine ratio. I've also tried giving him liver but he wasn't a fan lol.

Hopefully I've covered everything I'm doing in my power but I guess I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can or if I'm missing anything out? I could spend months or even years reading this forum but hopefully I'm on the right lines with what I'm doing. I honestly believe from everything I've read here that cancer is a metabolic disease and it can be reversed but I just hope I have enough time to give this my best possible shot.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate any replies, means a lot.

 

[peateats1]

I don't know if things like eggshell for calcium, vitamin k, maybe vitamin d, progesterone might be things to try or might be somewhat helpful

 

[Izzybelle]

I would second all of the above. Don't forget lots of fun and outdoor play. I know someone who adopted an old cancer-ridden Baja camp dog in Mexico, and it has taken on a second wind with lots of love and care and daily walks on the beach, mountains, desert etc. He posts their adventures with pictures online and that dog is looking youngish, happy and healthy. It's really amazing.

ETA: Has vitamin E been mentioned, or thyroid?

 

[Jennifer]

@TranceWax, I’m sorry your dog has cancer. If he likes and tolerates it, maybe increase the dairy, especially raw milk if you have access to it or cottage cheese? Ray once talked about a dog that was put on an all milk diet after his eye was injured in an attack (?) and it grew back.

Edit: Here is where Ray talks about an all milk diet and the dog’s eyeball growing back:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTvB9lDk5PM&t=576s

 

[LucyL]

You can get the aspirin dosage for dogs here - Aspirin For Dogs: What You Need to Know

Here's another site Aspirin Dosage for Dogs | LoveToKnow Pets

a 10 kg dog = 22 pounds, so the dosage would be 110 mg. If you wanted to buffer it for him, you could dissolve 1 350 mg tablet in a little water, with a 1/4 tsp of baking soda mixed in, then divide that solution into thirds and give him 1/3 of the solution each day. That would actually be a little bit higher than the recommended dosage, which is probably ok given the extremity of his situation, but if you wanted to play it safe, you could divide it into fourths.

I like the Gericare aspirin, as it only has aspirin and cornstarch, so no coatings or any other chemicals the dog might react to.

You can get Cyproheptadine in liquid for (for research of course) from Cyproheptadine - Liquid Serotonin Antagonist For Lab/R&D Haidut's site, and apply topically.

 

[TranceWax]

I would second all of the above. Don't forget lots of fun and outdoor play. I know someone who adopted an old cancer-ridden Baja camp dog in Mexico, and it has taken on a second wind with lots of love and care and daily walks on the beach, mountains, desert etc. He posts their adventures with pictures online and that dog is looking youngish, happy and healthy. It's really amazing.

ETA: Has vitamin E been mentioned, or thyroid?

He's out at least two times a day for at least 45 minutes to an hour, sometimes longer. We're in England so we have plenty of fields and countryside here. I'm aware of vitamin E and it's something I'm looking in to as it's supposed to work well with the Fenbendazole.

 

[TranceWax]

You can get the aspirin dosage for dogs here - Aspirin For Dogs: What You Need to Know

Here's another site Aspirin Dosage for Dogs | LoveToKnow Pets

a 10 kg dog = 22 pounds, so the dosage would be 110 mg. If you wanted to buffer it for him, you could dissolve 1 350 mg tablet in a little water, with a 1/4 tsp of baking soda mixed in, then divide that solution into thirds and give him 1/3 of the solution each day. That would actually be a little bit higher than the recommended dosage, which is probably ok given the extremity of his situation, but if you wanted to play it safe, you could divide it into fourths.

I like the Gericare aspirin, as it only has aspirin and cornstarch, so no coatings or any other chemicals the dog might react to.

You can get Cyproheptadine in liquid for (for research of course) from Cyproheptadine - Liquid Serotonin Antagonist For Lab/R&D Haidut's site, and apply topically.

Thanks for sharing that information, I'll look into that. I'm not sure if I need to do another thread as he's no been diagnosed with Perianal Fistulae’s/Furunculosis which is also a severe auto immune disease not entirely sure what's going on with him and why this is all happening at once.

 

[TranceWax]

UPDATE - I'm not sure I need to make a seperate post to this one but he was at the vets today after I noticed he was licking the skin around his bum a lot over the weekend. The vets have now confirmed he also has an auto immune disease called Perianal Fistulae’s/Furunculosis. The vet basically said an immune-mediated pathogenesis is suspected. The disease responds to various immunosuppressive drugs, such as prednisone, azathioprine, cyclosporine, and tacrolimus. In German shepherd dogs (most common breed to get this disease), there may be a link between colitis and perianal fistulas similar to the development of perianal fistulas in people with Crohn's Disease. Additionally, high levels of expression of selected cytokine mRNA in perianal fistula lesions and the disease’s responsiveness to cyclosporine supports a T cell-mediated inflammatory response.

Feels like it has just gone from bad to worse, I'm not even sure if both TCC and this auto immune disease are related

 

[LucyL]

Please look closely at his calcium phosphorus ratio. Run all his food through cronometer or a site like that. From my own experience with an autoimmune condition, getting the calcium phosphorus ratio slightly greater than 1:1 significantly helped.

Edited to add, I like to wash areas like hotspots or significant wounds with chlorhexidine gluconate (Hibiclins in the brand name) and then you can make a 5% solution of lidocaine powder (so like dissolve 5 grams of lidocaine powder in 100ml of water) and apply topically. The lidocaine solution really helps to relieve the topical discomfort.

 

[TranceWax]

Please look closely at his calcium phosphorus ratio. Run all his food through cronometer or a site like that. From my own experience with an autoimmune condition, getting the calcium phosphorus ratio slightly greater than 1:1 significantly helped.

Thanks for sharing that, are you aware of any link between the two conditions? So basically make sure he's getting more calcium than phosphorus? The whole thing is just so strange, the vet said he's never seen both of these conditions side by side in a dog.

 

[LucyL]

Thanks for sharing that, are you aware of any link between the two conditions? So basically make sure he's getting more calcium than phosphorus? The whole thing is just so strange, the vet said he's never seen both of these conditions side by side in a dog.

The ample calcium to phosphorus ratio keeps parathyroid hormone circulation down, and parathyroid hormone drives a lot degenerative conditions.

"A diet that provides enough calcium to limit activity of the parathyroid glands, and that is low in phosphate and polyunsaturated fats, with sugar rather than starch as the main carbohydrate, possibly supplemented by niacinamide and aspirin, should help to avoid some of the degenerative processes associated with high phosphate: fatigue, heart failure, movement discoordination, hypogonadism, infertility, vascular calcification, emphysema, cancer, osteoporosis, and atrophy of skin, skeletal muscle, intestine, thymus, and spleen (Ohnishi and Razzaque, 2010; Shiraki-Iida, et al., 2000; Kuro-o, et al., 1997; Osuka and Razzaque, 2012)." Phosphate, activation, and aging.

 

[LucyL]

UPDATE - I'm not sure I need to make a seperate post to this one but he was at the vets today after I noticed he was licking the skin around his bum a lot over the weekend. The vets have now confirmed he also has an auto immune disease called Perianal Fistulae’s/Furunculosis. The vet basically said an immune-mediated pathogenesis is suspected. The disease responds to various immunosuppressive drugs, such as prednisone, azathioprine, cyclosporine, and tacrolimus. In German shepherd dogs (most common breed to get this disease), there may be a link between colitis and perianal fistulas similar to the development of perianal fistulas in people with Crohn's Disease. Additionally, high levels of expression of selected cytokine mRNA in perianal fistula lesions and the disease’s responsiveness to cyclosporine supports a T cell-mediated inflammatory response.

Feels like it has just gone from bad to worse, I'm not even sure if both TCC and this auto immune disease are related

One of the great things about Ray Peat was his picture of the holistic physiology, and how many degenerative conditions share common drivers, and similarly, shifting to a healthy metabolism shares many common supportive substances and approaches.

It's not surprising at all that multiple degenerative conditions may express at one time, any more than it's surprising that veterinarians are FOA (no disrespect to the ones on this board).
I just nursed a cat through something the vet assured me was cancer, but which for all the world acted like plague. Maybe the cat has cancer too, and indeed she has some troubling symptoms I'm still trying to address, but the swelling around her neck that developed into an abscess that burst open after which (with a week of full doxycycline therapy - no thanks to the vet) she regained weight and healed up was not typical of cancer.

All that to say don't get to caught up in specific wordy diagnosis, they are mostly useful for focusing your attention on the supportive therapies that overlap multiple conditions.

 

[Izzybelle]

Sorry about your pup. I agree with the importance of high calcium. I give my dog milk and cheese, although my dog won't drink milk unless it's mixed with some meat flavor. So I pour some milk over whatever I've fixed her for dinner so that it's kind of a milk-broth, if that makes any sense. Just a quick way to add calcium, FWIW.

Also, have they checked his thyroid function? It is often overlooked in humans, and Dr. Peat has written a lot about how hypothryoidism can predispose one to the degenerative conditions.

 

[Fred]

In addition to the above, eliminate exposure to wireless.

 

[TranceWax]

In addition to the above, eliminate exposure to wireless.

Wireless, as if Wi-Fi? Not sure if that's possible unless I move to the hills, every house around me has Wi-Fi.

 

[Goldenboi]

There is a veterinary asprin based cancer treatment called CV247. Worth reading about it and also looking at the ingredients . Sodium Salicylate, Copper Gluconate, Manganese Gluconate and Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) Developed by the late Dr John Carter MRCVS MB AcA

 

[Fred]

Wireless, as if Wi-Fi? Not sure if that's possible unless I move to the hills, every house around me has Wi-Fi.

Yes, Wifi. Do what you can to minimize it in you own living quarters. The inverse-square law applies to all EMFs, so eliminating the closest sources will have an outsized impact.

 

[TranceWax]

Update - Niacinamide and Cyproheptadine currently on order and should be here within the next 24/48 hours, so hopefully they will help. It does seem like he's slowing down and his appetite comes and goes, not sure if it's too late or if we still have a chance in fighting back against the cancer, TCC is known to be generally quite aggressive.

He's on meloxicam too, so I'm going to look at getting some pepcid too which I believe will help with any stomach acid issues and also help with the cancer form what I've read on here. Fingers crossed.

 

[Dave Clark]

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[TranceWax]

Thanks for all the messages - We decided to put him to sleep, he lost all interest in eating, wanting to go for walks and playing etc he was showing signs of pain and discomfort and I think the cancer had made it's way into the bones/joints as he slowed right down and was very hesitant to jump around which is something he's had no problem doing for the last 12 years.

They wanted £1500+ just for a CT scan to confirm it had spread but given that he had a few things wrong with him and we could visibly see he was struggling we decided it was best to help him cross over. I really do think there's something to these medications and diet changes would have had an impact as the original tumor had shown no signs of growth but I think ideally if I had the knowledge I had now, I'd of put it him them instantly in December last year when it was suspected cancer so if anyone comes across these messages in the future, don't let our outcome put you off.

I'll carry the knowledge learnt here with me forever, and hopefully I can use it again in the future to help others, but for now it's time to grieve.

Take care guys.