Round Two Down

Well, Logan had his second round of chemo today (Adriamycin). He received a pre-treatment injection this time, and we were also sent home with meds for his GI issues and lack of appetite. So far, he's just been sleeping off his day. He actually ate a pretty good dinner, but this is how he was the night of his first treatment too, so.....we'll see how tomorrow goes. Keeping our fingers crossed.

We met with the nutritionist (YES, the "doggie nutritionist") to talk about the way he's been eating since he refuses dog food, and his diet ongoing (we've researched the infamous "cancer diet", etc. and wanted feedback). For right now - Logan needs to eat whatever he'll eat, which is what we expected we'd hear. But once he gets back to eating more normally, we now have a good plan of attack as to what we're going to try to feed him. The downer is, we got to the bottom of some things and found out that the premium food we've been feeding him for 2 + years (Solid Gold dry) has most likely been causing him stomach and intestinal issues this whole time!! So, we need to switch him off of lamb-based food and also try to wean him away from beef. WHAT? Ground beef is just about the only main source of protein he will go near at this point! Tomorrow we're going to go back to ground pork, per suggestion from the nutritionist. So, I was feeling pretty bummed out today. I spent about 2 weeks researching all sorts of foods for Logan and Rudy years back, and we went with Solid Gold, thinking we were doing the best thing for them. UGH. Well, now we know! For those of you who are reading this from more of a "learning experience", Logan showed us signs that the Solid Gold was not working for him - we just didn't realize it.
Logan passed gas a LOT! But he always had for years, even when he lived with my dad, so....we didn't think it was the food necessarily. His stomach always made noises while vegging in the evenings, and this one's the strange one.....ever since Logan was a pup (from what I remember when visiting my father in PA) he would constantly, and I mean constantly lick the air!! No joke! Not licking himself, the carpet, the furniture, the other animals...nope...just lapping at the air! The noise drove us nuts! Vets have told us that it's behavioral (like an OCD issue) or that it was just "quirky". One vet mentioned that sometimes it's a sign of nausea. But we blew that off because he always ate. We figured if he was sick in his stomach - he wouldn't feel like eating, right? Wrong! Turns out - this licking was most likely a sign all along that poor Logan's tummy was completely rejecting his food! And what's worse is my dad was not all that concerned about what he fed Logan for 9 years! Anything from table scraps to whatever was on sale at the grocery store. No offense to anyone and their dog food choices, but...obviously this contributed to Logan's issues long term :(

Well, moving on...we also got some supplements and Chinese herbs to start him on that should help with his tendency for anorexia after chemo, his nausea, as well as with fighting return of cancer long term. These include mixtures of; devils claw, coryalis, panax ginseng, ashwaganda, Hue Xiang Zheng Qi and Bone Stasis. I'm still in the process of researching and asking lots of questions - so I really can't tell you much more detail about each of these at this point, aside from the fact that the things I'm reading and hearing thus far are very positive.

Wish luck to Logan, we'll keep you posted and thanks again for your interest. I truly hope all of this will help someone down the road!