Our dog Ben, is 11 years old. He is getting old, and is overweight. He weighs 65 lbs.
He started coughing about a year ago, after we left him at a kennel for 3 days, while we were away. First thought was kennel cough. The vets discounted this, and said it may be his trachea, being crushed, from the fat around his neck.
He has been on pills the past year, to control this coughing.
He had xrays a year ago, and there was a dark area in his lungs. The vet explained this was due to old age, and not to worry about it. Just an area where the lung has "died", but he is fine. He has a very strong heart, and he is very strong.
This week, he was supposed to go in, and have the vet "scrape" his throat, to determine any problems with his coughing, and see what problems he had in his throat.
Yesterday, the vet was closed, so we took him to a previous vet, who was further away. This vet took an xray, and showed us a growth in his lung, about 1/3 of the size of his lung. Chances are this is malignant. Tests are being done now, without opening him up.
Our options, at this point, is to go full steam ahead for surgery, to remove the growth, or do everything possible to make him comfortable, and find medication to reduce, or stop the growth of this tumor.
We have not been given an estimate yet, of how long the vet thinks he has left.
There were times a year ago, when he was having problems, and we didn't think he would make it through Christmas 99. He made that fine, and has had a fairly good year.
I would not want to have surgery done, if the chances of making it through the surgery were not good, or if his recovery will be the length of time, estimated that he has left.
I would much rather give him the best time possible during his time with us, than make him suffer.
Ben has had a very good life. Always indoors, sleeps where he wants. Taken to the park twice a day. Eats chicken breast for dinner.
He has also been on Rimadyl and Prednisone, for portions of his life, for arthritis, and many allergy problems. I understand that Pred is suspect with tumors.
I am in search of any and all suggestions for alternative methods of making his time as easy as possible, here with us.
Homeopathy recommendations are welcome!
Is there anything to reduce, or stop the growth of this, and possible other tumors.
Thank you for your time.

RB

Hi,
Very sorry about your dog. I understand the difficulty you are having deciding what to do.

Some years ago, I took in a stray female dog whom we named Tofu. She arrived with a number of small tumors on her belly.
She was left untreated and maintained with the healthiest diet and environment we could provide. After several years, one of the tumors
erupted and began to discharge. I had just starting reading about homeopathy and treated her with several remedies. The
color of the discharge changed indicating to me there was progress. She felt and acted totally normal even though she had the
rather ugly discharging tumor. I used a disposable diaper over it to keep it clean. She was happy, eating great, running and
having a grand time.....but the tumor looked ugly. Pressure from others forced a vet visit. Xrays indicated a tumor the size of
an orange next to her lung. (Tofu was a small "Benji" type dog.) Vet said surgery was the only choice and would give her up to another year of life. Yielding to pressure, I OK'd the surgery. It took Tofu 2 days to even be able to stand up following the surgery. She could not breathe and had horrible coughing spells. I took her back to be euthanized within 7 days of the surgery because she was in such agony.

The day of the surgery and all the days before, with this horribly ugly, discharging mass on her belly, she was bouncing through
life. The surgery killed her and I firmly believe the vet, who claimed to be "holistic" knew it would. It cost over $900 to put her
through all this. I don't know what would have happened if I had just continued using homeopathy and not agreed to the surgery but I am positive she would have had a longer, more comfortable life.

This may not be the case for your dog. Perhaps surgery for this type of condition is more advanced now. I don't mean to dissuade you from choosing surgery. But.....knowing what I do now, I would choose homeopathic treatment over surgery.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do. Hope someone with experience responds to your questions.

You may want to do a search of past cases and read thread titled "Cocker Spaniel with lung cancer" posted by jfw 03 July 1999 in the Pets and Animals forum.

http://www.homeopathyhome.com/ultima...ML/000117.html

Hope this gets you to the correct thread....

Thank you gpm for your story, and help.
So sorry to hear about Tofu.
Our Ben, is a benji type too.
I forgot to put in my post why we took him into the other vets on Wed.
He was coughing pretty bad the previous week, and started coughing up pure white foamy liquid.

Received results from the vet yesterday.
Long story short......The vet advised to enjoy our time with him, rather than putting him through much more suffering, by going through surgery.

The vet could not determine whether the tumor is lung based, or heart based, which would determine how long of a period of time he has left with us.

For now, we are enjoying our time, and spoiling him, not that we didn't before, but making the best of things.

I will search today on the homeopathy meds, and get started on some of these. Better than putting him through unneeded agony with surgery, which may or may not improve anything. Actually, the vet said, chances were higher that he would never make it off the operating table.

Thank you again, for your help.
Will keep posting progress.

RB

Hi,
I made reference to the former case to give you an idea of what may be done in a similar situation but every condition is different and you may want to cut and paste your post to the new BB where someone with experience may be able to offer advice.

Homeopathy is a good choice but you should post all the particulars of Ben's condition so someone there may be able to guide you.

Homeopathy is wondrous. A friend was advised to have her cat euthanized about 10 years ago. Vet said kitty needed a kidney transplant, which in those days wasn't yet being done. She gave the kitty a few doses of Apis and kitty has been well and symptom free ever since!

I do wish you and Ben much joy together.

turboski....if you do choose to transfer this case to the other BB, please include all the details concerning the white foamy vomit such as if there was any matter preceeding or following and if there was any color other than white, if ropey or stringy and if this has happened before or since.

All data regarding any changes you may notice about Ben would be greatful. Advise if rattles or rales (mucus sounds) in lungs. Sleep and heat preferences. Bowel or unine changes. Changes in eating/drinking. Problems with anal gland. Expressions and attitude changes. Tell us his diet..any dairy/milk? Have you tried a raw diet such as Richard Pitcarin discusses in his book?

If cough persists, there is an acupressure point on the chest below the neck where you can almost feel a "V" that will sometimes relieve coughing spells if massaged gently. Homeopathy should be able to provide comfort for Ben.

(I had posted a much nicer message than this but lost it all with the "spell check" somehow, so this is a bit short, sorry!)

turboski,
Regarding the post to which gpm refers, our cocker spaniel is alive today due to the advice I received. I would suggest you seek GM's advice soon.

jfw,
Thanks so much for posting this information about your dog! I have wondered how it was going.......this is great news!