Wednesday 6 July 2011

Kia's story


Kia's Tale

I'm putting out this world wide plea, for help for Kia, in her fight against cancer.


Kia, joined our family ten years ago, tomorrow; 26.06.2001, she was six eeks old, and had just been rescued from a house that had fifteen adult dogs, all intact. Three of her siblings had already been drowned, and her day consisted of been the plaything of a group of unruly children. At the time of her rescue, both her and her brother were been rolled down the windscreen of the family car. Thankfully her new life started a few hours later. On another positive note her sister, that had not been discovered at the time. Was freed, a week later. For a fiver and ten cigs, teenagers today.



With ears, twice the size of her body, Kia was now home! With Sheba, our very maternal GSD as surrogate Mum, Kia soon found her way and blossomed adulthood. With stunning looks, she's DobermanXEnglish Bull TerrierXPharohhound possibly Boxer. She draws attention where ever we are. She's very timid, and both Emma, (sister who was rescued) and her have lots of funny quirks and habits. Mainly grabbing the first thing to hand, when anybody comes to the house; be it her baby, a ball of sock or a roll of kitchen roll. It becomes a treasured item, to show off!!! They also still have some scars, from their previous lives, but we don't dwell on them. Together their like a pair of bookends.



Things have gone on brilliantly, she had her first shots. Was spayed around six months and until two years ago, she'd never been to the vets. This was only because she strained the tendons after too much ball chasing. Forward to the present, March 2011, as my Mum was getting Milo, another reprobate we rescued, into the car. Kia was stalking the picnic tables. My Mum heard a slight shuffle and when she got Kia in the car, she realised that she had been bitten. Kia was bathed and sorted, with no apparent ill effects. But about a week later her right eye, became swollen, and her third eye lid came out. The vet diagnosed an infection, antibiotics and anti imflammatories were prescribed. Follow up, eye same, different meds given. This continued for five weeks. Then on the Royal wedding day, Kia's head, eye, nose. Swelled up enormously, off to the emergency vets, Not examined, but Vet mentioned could be a growth in the soft tissue. Swelling went down after two days, PDSA follow up said they would remove her eye, if necessary. We went to a private vet, who said, it wasn't acting like a tumour, but organised a biopsy, to get too the bottom of things.



Morning of biopsy, dropped Kia off, full of hope and just wanting an answer. three hours later, our lovely vet is telling me that he's sorry, but things aren't looking good, and we should prepare for the worse. Poor Kia, she looked like she'd done three rounds with Mike Tyson.From that phone call, I was accessing ColdWetNoseblog and checking out the list of vets that were prescribing cv-247, an appointment was made. We are fighting this head on.  A week later and the results were in: Carcinoma, Orbital mass. There was a Neoplastic mass, features of epithelial origin, most likely of lacrimal gland origin. A week later and Kia had her right eye removed, but unfortunately, they couldn't get all of the tumour, it was in the soft tissue above her eye.



this is where it gets complicated, The vets who we were going to get the cv-247, hadn't been able to get any for several months. So I got in touch with Richard Allports surgery, a lovely lady filled me in on what the problems had been, and what we needed to do to get the cv-247 from them. This is were the problems started. Our vet, as lovely as he is, doesn't know anything about cv-247 and he wasn't  happy dealing with Mr Allport. He put me in touch with another vet, who uses complimentary treatments. Luckily he had used cv-247, so he could give me some details IE regarding painkillers etc. He also explained how to obtain the drugs, without compromising prescribing laws. Back to our vet, to fill him in on what I'd been told. This time I was told he would only deal, with the original vet, I had contacted. As any of you know who is or has been in this situation. You don't want hold ups. We just wanted the prescription and the tablets and of course what to feed her. After yet another bank holiday, we were told that finally the vet had got the tablets, and knew the dose. So off we went to collect the prescription, along with some Metacam. Then on to pick up the cv-247. Whilst voicing my concerns about using Metacam. I enquired about John Carters diet and if they had any info sheets. What was said next, was to me so very sad. The vet, just looked at me and said." I don't know who John Carter is, " I told her he was the vet that had formulated this treatment, but that he also recommended a very precise diet. She said that she was American and that she only knew of the drug from the manufacturers that supplied them, but they could provide a generic diet sheet, suitable for dogs with cancer.



Now several years ago, I read one of the articles in DT; about John carter and his amazing treatment, the rigid diet, and some of the remarkable cases. Both animal and human. So I knew John's way was the only way to go. However I only know the basic principles; low salt, low sugar, no processed foods,  organic foods only, no grains other than oats and only bottled water (prefabley) glass. I know we need Tryplase capsules, along with other various vitamin and mineral supplements. This is where we need Your Help!!! I'm not very Internet savvy, so sourcing the right info, is proving to be an uphill struggle. I've poured over the cv-247 blogs, which are helpful, but there seem to be some discrepancies, regarding ingredients.

 

So anyone with suitable recipes, where we can get the supplements and any organic suppliers who can do wholesale would be a massive help. Also of course we'd love to hear from anyone who's going down the same route, to swap updates with. Kia is approx 221/2 - 23kgs. we are in Leeds and are waiting to hear from you. I'm not sure how this all works, so I'm giving all my contact details to Beverley.



Regards

Carolanne and Kia

4 comments:

  1. Dear Carolanne

    So very sorry to hear about Kia - (what a beautiful dog she is). The diet I was told by John Carter to give my dog Gunner (who had bone cancer) was very strict and was as follows:

    *home-made oat biscuits (made with just organic porridge oats and water then baked in the oven)or can be fed as porridge for variety

    *steamed organic vegetables (not mushrooms) - (good variety of different ones, like broccoli, courgettes, potato, parsnips, butternut squash, etc)

    *organic lamb's liver - ONLY 2 OUNCES PER DAY

    *raw organic carrot and apple juice to drink several times per day, more carrot than apple(home made best - you need to buy a juicer)

    *home-grown wheat and alfalfa sprouts added (either very finely minced and added to food or juiced and mixed with the other juice - may need a special juicer for those) - you can buy the seeds and a "sprouter" from good health food shops (try and get organic).

    *Bits of raw banana (or other organic fruit/veg - not cucumber or berries) to be given as treats in between meals.

    *Linus Vitamin C powder (pure Ascorbic Acid, can usually get from chemists)

    *Nicotinic acid tablets (a form of vitamin B6 - best to give with or just after food, even just a bit of banana, otherwise makes the dog have a temporary "hot flush"(bought from John)

    *Liquid potassium (unfortunately I cannot remember what form of potassium, as John sold this to us)

    *Vitamin B complex tablets (again, came from John)

    *Pancreatic enzymes (the Tryplase you mention)- had to be given in between meals, or they just digest the food in the stomach and the idea is for them to get into the blood stream

    *Vitamin B12 injections given by John every day (as such a low protien diet)

    *Bottled water to be checked for lowest possible sodium content (the label lists this)

    No salt, sugar or fat of any kind.

    I hope that helps. If I was having to do it again, I would definitely ask my vet for a referral to Richard Allport or other holistic vet like Chris Day who uses diet as a main part of the treatment - in my experience most conventional vets don't seem to like dealing with holistic ones, so you may have to insist - after all, it is your dog and your right. Because the problem with the diet above is its very restricted and I think needs to be done under veterinary supervision, but a vet who understands natural healing. Richard or Chris could also prescribe homoeopathic remedies to help any symptoms and indeed the cancer itself. Very, very best of luck. Kind regards, Mandy

    PS Waitrose do a good selection of organic vegetables and organic lamb's liver can be ordered from somewhere like Graig Farm Organics online: http://www.graigfarm.co.uk/ although you'd probably need to bulk out the order with meat for yourself to make it worth the delivery fee. I do remember John saying the Lamb could be non-organic as its usually reared outdoors and almost organic anyway.

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  2. Just had another thought since writing the above - although John stipulated no fats of any kind since then it is generally accepted that the one exception to that is organic cold pressed flax seed oil which is very good (find it in the fridge at good health food shops).

    Mandy

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  3. Dear Caroline

    Kia certainly had a terrible start in life, but it's very warming to hear that you're providing her with all the love and care she needs.

    We have two English Bull Terriers (Ellie and Logan, 12 and 10), so they have something in common with Kia's ancestry.

    To the point.....I have two, sealed, 300 ml bottles of CV247, which I got from Richard Allport some time ago, along with others. I no longer need them and you're very welcome to have them at nil cost. The expiry date is 09/06/11. However, I have been infd that they should be good for use for a couple of years after that, as date is more legal requirement than anything else (you could check with Richard to be 100% certain).
    My offerings for diet.....check out Orijen dog food (www.orijen.ca). Very expensive, but available in UK. Practically nil grain content which is good for dogs with cancer.

    Our two have been 'through the mill', inc mast cells tumours and Ellie had spleen and grapefruit size tumour removed at beginning of year. Still both going strong.

    In my opinion, Richard Allport is 1st class - he was recommended to us by our orphodox vet and we've been seeing him for many years. There are other complementary therapies (herbal and homeopathic) you could try - Richard will advise.

    Also, get a copy of Help Your Dog Fight Cancer by Laurie Kaplan (ISBN 097547946-6). I believe that there's a more up-to-date version, too.

    Please let me know if the bottles of CV247 are of any use to you.

    And of course, always check with your vet - goes without saying, I know, but feel I should say it anyway!

    Take care

    Garry Sheen

    garrysheen@btinternet.com

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  4. Hello,
    I have a question about your blog. Please email me!
    Thanks,
    David

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