Jet on Prednisone

A dog with good taste!

Jet is back from the dead for the second time in about 16 months.  In 2013 he was diagnosed with a kidney mass by x-ray and ultra sound.  Primary tumor neoplasia of dogs are usually highly metastatic with surgery being the only possibility of increasing survival times.

There are a variety of different types of renal cancer.  There is also a rare kidney hemangiosarcoma.  For all of the different types of renal cancer, survival times didn't differ significantly by diagnoses.  Average survival time was 16 months for carcinomas, 9 months for sarcomas and 6 months for nephroblastomas.  Looking at this study, Jet is doing relatively well as far as survival time.

We don't know exactly what type of renal tumor he has, but we do know that he bled into his peritoneum this time.  Some steroids and a watchful eye and diligent care brought him back to life. 

At the moment i have him only on 2 1/2 mg. of Prednisone a day.  At least this is keeping him hungry and thirsty.  He lost 4 lbs. in 2 weeks.  That's a huge loss.   I am now trying to feed him three small meals throughout the day.  Sometimes he will eat them all, sometimes not.

I'm not a huge herbal pusher, but I really have nothing to lose.  I know that the next big bleed will probably kill him.  A distant friend of mine has a Golden with a hemangiosarcoma that they are treating her with a Chinese herb.  It was recommended by two of the Vet oncologists.  I am going to give it a try with Jet.  I will put the link here.  It's an interesting read.

http://www.modernherbshop.com/Yunnan_Baiyao_Stops_Bleeding_p/yunnanbaiyaocapsules.htm?gclid=CPaX2ue78cACFQiTjgodKXkANQ&Click=6542

Sorry, I don't know how to make that a link with my iMac :0(  

                                            Yunnan Baiyao Capsules‎

You can google it.  I will be doing some traveling this month meaning Jet will have to come with me.  I hope I can keep him comfortable.  I carry an ER doggy kit with me.  My Vet in Sequim is now on the same page with me.  That was a huge issue at first.  Now I can relax a bit more and enjoy our time together.  If he goes down quickly at home, my Vet will come to the house.  Since we aren't sure exactly what we are dealing with other than I'm pretty darn sure it is cancer with mets, we will take it one day at a time.