Thursday 10 February 2011

Remembering Chilli and fingers crossed for Lily Twinkle



Hi Beverley

I have been meaning to email you for ages to advise that Chilli Pepper left us on 26 May 2010.  We had no regrets and her last 15mths were the healthiest she had ever been and the cv247 was the reason for that.  The cancer was very aggressive and although the cv247 kept it at bay for an extra nine months it took over most of her colon and digestive tract to the point where the food was finding it hard to go through from her tummy.

Up to that day in may she had been out for her normal walks but was a bit distressed with the pooing thing and she had a urine infection also so that didn't help.  Up til then she had been pretty healthy and happy.  I felt her tummy during the day as she hadn't eaten much in the morning and it was full and I could tell she was uncomfortable so by 9pm she wasn't any better so called my vet (who is luckily 24 hrs) Chris and I took her up.  He put his head in his hands trying to think of something else we could do but I told him it was time.

I still cry every day about Chilli Pepper and I miss her so much as she was my friend more than my dog.  I got a puppy...Blue Roan and Sable Cocker Spaniel in December and she is great...although I still miss Chilli, Dilly Dumpling has made my life a little happier.

That being said I noticed my Rottie Lily Twinkle's lymph nodes were swollen last week so up to the vet and although I knew it was lymphoma, we did the antibiotics thing for a week.  No change so a biopsy was done and the results came back yesterday as expected.

Here we go again..I haven't got over Chilli Pepper yet and my lovely kind Rottweiller now has cancer too at the same young age of 7 1/2...although now I am more positive and know the path I will follow. Chemo was considered as Lily loves the vets as long as she gets a biscuit and has Xrays done without sedation.  She is a gem of a dog who for the last 2 years was a blood donor for the Dick Vet in Edinburgh (20 minutes of blood taken from the jugular without sedation) and they think she is a fab dog too as do my vets and everyone that knows her.

Thank god for the blog Beverley, it is still going strong and another rottie on the site too. Glad to see Heidi is still ok so am going to follow her diet with the Budwig cottage cheese and flaxseed oil thang too.  Lily Twinkle cant seem to tolerate raw carrots or cooked ones that are in chunks..she always brings them up so cooked and blitzed carrots for her!  With Chilli we did the vintage JC diet but I found a holistic site that  gives a recommended diet which is mostly cooked like Heidis diet.  I thought it was all raw but it appears to be working well with Heidi so will give it a try.  I am so optimistic as Lymphoma has a pretty bad prognosis but Cv247 helped Chilli be healthy and Happy so I want the same for Lily for as long as we have.  It is great to see the other lymphoma cases of the spaniels and they seem to have around 18 mths at least so it may be quite effective for this type of cancer.  Web advice of vets was prognosis around 6 to 8 weeks without chemo and 8 mths with.

I didnt do the glass bottle mineral water with Chilli but will do it with Lily..as you have said numerous times JC did say it had to be glass not plastic bottles, and he knew best.

Please add this to the Blog Beverley and I will be back in touch regularly with Lily's blog.  My vets are totally behind me as all think that it was a success for Chilli Pepper's quality and quantity of life after diagnosis. Lily is on Prednisolone for two wks to blast the multicentric lymphoma to reduce the lymph nodes and in that time I will give her all the vitamins and herbs etc and introduce the diet gradually.  After that I will bring in the big guns aka cv247!

Love Nikki and Lily Twinkle x