If You Can Spare A Good Thought For Nube.it's Osteo.xrays

[KF_in_Georgia]

Kim, after Nubie's previous set of x-rays, you had every reason not to rush into more films on him.

[GreytHurleyDawg]

Kim,

I see you have been posting more stuff here than at GPA...I posted a response there but found my questions are answered here. Although it is a jumble since i read through the pages out of order.

 

Firstly, some things people wrote online during Hurley's diagnosis were negative or cautious but I had nothing as bad as the criticism that you have gotten here. Each decision in this disease is meant to prolong life, the quality life. Some treatments cause discomfort first for a lasting effect. All owners go through that. No one is there with Nubes but you at that point. But I want to stress that you have to develop a thick skin against that sort of questioning: they just don't get it. I can't hide my anger though because those comments came across as confrontational and hostile. Oh well, it happens all the time with human medical care too.....

 

Those pictures of Nubes warmed my heart!!!! He knows right where he belongs which is in his family's arms and hearts!! And post an update when you get a chance....I understand that actually getting here is healing: we are here for any venting, any worries, anytime, anyplace and just plain anyhow. And we all know how to pray for miracles and not just curl up and give up!

 

I'm glad to hear of any improvement, no matter how small. It's exactly what YOU need to keep going!

[Cully]

Good Morning mt freind Nube.....

Havok & his mommy

[nancy14]

Continuing good thoughts for you guys and Nube.

[Guest cashie]

Thinking of Nube and hoping he is having a pain-free, fun-filled day!

[racindog]

Good AM Nuber from your friends in KY. We LUBS you buddy.

[Charlies_Dad]

Hope Nube is doing okay today!

[MP_the4pack]

Thinking of Nubers today......Mornin' luv.

[carronstar]

How is Nube doing this Monday morning?

[MachosMom]

Checkin in on you and Nube! Hope all is well.

[RaineysMom]

hi guys

 

thanks again for checking in and keeping my Nubers in your thoughts!

 

I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday but the last 2 days have been crazy -- spent the afternoon and a good part of the night cooking a crapload of meat, then the past 4 hours pulverizing veggies and putting the homemade food together. It's not hard but it sure is time consuming! I'll have to figure out a way to streamline it (and not get my kitchen so messy -- ugh!).

 

Nube was doing MUCH better Saturday and even better Sunday yesterday, his limp was ALMOST gone. He seemed to be so much better, we brought him to a small M&G in Elmhurst yesterday -- he lay down almost the entire ride and while at the M&G -- he only stood maybe 4 minutes total. He really seemed to enjoy getting out and seeing his greyhound buddies! But today, the limp is back (not as bad as it was but definitely worse than yesterday ) so now I feel terrible, we must have overdid it I hope it's back to being better tomorrow. He's been very restless again this morning but thankfully is now sleeping (gave him his pills a 1/2 hour early )

 

hopefully he'll be a little better tomorrow....

 

thanks again!

[carronstar]

Nube must have loved seeing "his" type. I know Aquitaine does. Kisses to the handsome one.

[Guest cashie]

Yay for good days!!

[Cully]

hi guys

 

thanks again for checking in and keeping my Nubers in your thoughts!

 

I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday but the last 2 days have been crazy -- spent the afternoon and a good part of the night cooking a crapload of meat, then the past 4 hours pulverizing veggies and putting the homemade food together. It's not hard but it sure is time consuming! I'll have to figure out a way to streamline it (and not get my kitchen so messy -- ugh!).

 

 

 

Kim I make my home made food in a big electric roaster in the garage. That way in don't heat up the kitchen and I can make a large amount at one time. I the put it in ziplock bags in the freezer.

 

Kisses to nube

[Guest K9_Lady]

Miss Amy is sending smooches to Nubers. I am glad that he was able to get out for a little while and able to enjoy his hound friends.

[Batmom]

Hoping Nube is holding his own this evening!

 

Kim, I make my food in batches also. If I'm making just a week's worth, I can get it all in one bit stock pot. I simmer any vegs/fruits for a bit, then add the meat, then eggs towards the end of cooking. If I'm using rice or similar for carbs, it goes in the rice cooker. BIG NONSTICK stockpot and rice cooker. I can do 2-3 weeks' worth of meals, cooked, cooled, portioned out and in the fridge/freezer, in @ 2 hours. During which time I can also do laundry, scrub dog bowls, etc. Easy peasy.

[Xan]

Just catching up and sending positive thoughts for you and Nube.

[RaineysMom]

Hoping Nube is holding his own this evening!

 

Kim, I make my food in batches also. If I'm making just a week's worth, I can get it all in one bit stock pot. I simmer any vegs/fruits for a bit, then add the meat, then eggs towards the end of cooking. If I'm using rice or similar for carbs, it goes in the rice cooker. BIG NONSTICK stockpot and rice cooker. I can do 2-3 weeks' worth of meals, cooked, cooled, portioned out and in the fridge/freezer, in @ 2 hours. During which time I can also do laundry, scrub dog bowls, etc. Easy peasy.

 

he was better yesterday and seems ok today (not as restless, but limping again) -- I'm SO not looking forward to Thursday, after his treatment....

 

what kind of veggies and meat are you guys using? the only easy meat I've found is ground beef, since the other stuff has to be chopped either before or after cooking and that takes time (ground chicken/turkey/pork is WAY expensive!) -- and the veggies I use (broccoli, kale, cabbage, tomatoes and sometimes celery or cauliflower) are served raw so they all have to be chopped some then pulverized in the food processor, which also takes some time. And I cook up eggs (with shells) to go in too, and usually a block of tofu (which I forgot this last batch). Then mixing it in batches (3 cups meat to 1 cup veggie and add some flax) gets added to the time too. Monday's session took longer to do the veggies and the mixing because Nube was very restless again and kept wanting to go out and sit in the sun (which of course whatever my prince wants, he gets ) so that added to the overall time.

 

this last batch had 3 lbs of salmon, 10 lbs of chicken (b/s breasts), 2.5 lbs of boneless pork chops and 13 lbs of 77% ground beef, so it took quite a while to cook all of this (did all roasted in the oven this time) -- and I only ended up with about 15 containers (deli quart containers, packed full). And Nube eats one container a day (with Larry getting a bit too, but he's still on mostly kibble until we use it all up) so that's only 15 days worth (and cost about $69!). Right now I think I have about 21 containers in the freezer so I won't have to cook for a week or so, maybe even longer if I get some more tofu and stretch it with that (or hardboiled eggs). I put about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of cottage cheese in their afternoon meal and the same of yogurt in the evening.

 

one book I've used as a reference has both raw and cooked for cancer diets in there, and for both it says 1.5-2 lbs per day, split into 2 meals. 2 lbs of cooked meat is more (in volume) than 2 lbs of raw meat, since you lose weight from cooking, so I would think it should be less. Then, the sample diets that they have says like "12 oz ground beef (1 1/2 cup)" -- but they have it by weight first (1.5 - 2 lbs per day) then by measure (1.5 cups) in the diet, and that's apples and oranges....1.5 cups of ground beef may or may not weigh out to be 12 ounces. Then, another reference I have has a recipe using 3 lbs meat and 1 lb veggies, along with 1/4 lb tofu and 2 tomatoes, and 3 eggs...all that would come out to about 5 lbs total and she said it should be enough for a 75 lb dog for ONE WEEK....? he seems to be holding his weight good so I'm sticking with what I've been giving (the 1 quart deli container per day) but hopefully that's not too much.

 

How much do you guys feed per day? (keep in mind Nube can't have any carbs so it's mostly protein).

Edited August 7, 2012 by RaineysMom

[MP_the4pack]

Hi Kim, I didn't do the special diet with my cancer kids (I didn't even have the time to think about it for 4 of them).

 

But I just wanted to give you and Nubers a cyberhug.

[Charlies_Dad]

We don't cook our veges or the protein for the pups. DW places the veges in a food processor and grinds them up for about a week's worth. We then add cooked lentils and/or pasta for Shelby as we can't keep weight on her unless we do the latter. Then the protein is either raw ground turkey, canned salmon, canned mackeral, eggs from chickens either boiled or scrambled and occasionally filets of salmon with a bit of lemon.

[RaineysMom]

We don't cook our veges or the protein for the pups. DW places the veges in a food processor and grinds them up for about a week's worth. We then add cooked lentils and/or pasta for Shelby as we can't keep weight on her unless we do the latter. Then the protein is either raw ground turkey, canned salmon, canned mackeral, eggs from chickens either boiled or scrambled and occasionally filets of salmon with a bit of lemon.

 

Nube's has to be cooked since cancer affects the immune system....otherwise I would be doing raw most likely. It would be somewhat easier, with not having to cook all the proteins.

[Batmom]

Food: I don't follow the raw-vegs or no-carbs practices so can't help there.

 

Batman ate mostly meat, egg, and dairy (yogurt, cottage cheese, ice cream) when he was ill because that was what he preferred. His food had to be pureed. I found it easier to puree AFTER cooking -- cool it a bit, then whack anything like a chicken breast into rough chunks and run it through the Osterizer. This did take a bit longer than cooking simple meals.

 

Zema ate mostly beef for a few years as that is what worked for her. She was @ 55 lbs. and maintained on @ 1.2 lbs (raw weight) cooked beef per day, plus a large handful of commercial treats. If she'd been younger or more active, I'd guess she'd've needed more like 1.6-1.7 lbs. ..... She got a multivitamin/mineral supplement and a calcium supplement. For her initial elimination diet, I used eggshells for calcium; later I found it easier to buy calcium carbonate tablets and use those.

 

My current homecooking eater gets @ the same number of calories as when fed a kibble-based diet. I used the kibble manufacturers' data and the USDA nutrient database as starting points to compare what I was feeding, then adjusted a little. I use mostly medium-fatty ground beef and egg for protein. If I weren't feeding any carbs, I'd use a less-fatty beef for my current dog but that really depends on the individual. I've never fed much chicken or fish -- just not enough calories to be useful IMHO.

[juliemac]

Kim -

 

Aldi's carries 1# tubes of ground turkey in the frozen meat section (near frozen hamburgers) ... $1.50/lb. If your Aldi doesn't carry them, please ping me and I'll meet you somewhere with a supply. They carry frozen chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) for $2.00/lb as well. <neither of these are sale prices). I can also get chicken livers in the $1.50/lb range (less if they're on sale).

 

I also use Stella/Chewy dehydrated food (either cat or dog) as their treats (I buy their FOOD, not their TREATS -- its cheaper, and my dogs like it better than most treats). Their mostly meat products with little filler, and they're like soft shredded wheat patties, so they break easily for smaller pieces if you need it. The cat food is higher protein and comes in small thumb-sized pieces.

 

Your original question was about quantity though. I'd target ~ 1.5# of prepared food per day, and adjust it based upon your treats & exercise (just watch how they're weight is doing). Mine get a bit less food than that per day, but they get more treats (PLUS mine can afford to lose some weight).

[carronstar]

Checking in on Nube today.

[RaineysMom]

well, we're back from his 3rd and final radiation treatment...unfortunately, he's limping more now than he was even before the treatment. Hopefully we'll see an improvement by the weekend.

 

his white blood count was ok enough for him to start chemo, so they gave us 8 Cytoxan pills (every other day dosage) -- this stuff is SCARY. You have to wear gloves to handle it, and his poop, urine and vomit are all considered toxic as well, you have to put the poop in a plastic bag and seal it up??? I don't know what the heck to do with the urine....and if he vomits (common side effect) you have to wear gloves to clean it up, and any towels used have to be sealed in 2 plastic bags before putting in the trash

 

bloody urine is a possible side effect so they recommend having him drink more water and taking him out more often....problem is, he is NOT drinking any extra water, all he's getting is what I put with his food. A few times he drank water that I added broth too, but not every time. I don't know how to make him drink more....he just snubs the water bowl when I offer it to him.

 

we're not starting the chemo until Saturday, because he's always so bad after these treatments and is already bad now. Plus Bruce will be home so if he has to go out more frequently there will be 2 of us here with him. I sure hope it helps and doesn't affect him too badly

 

has anyone used this Cytoxan? how was your dog on it ? I'm going to start a new thread asking as well.

 

thanks again for checking in!