Saturday, August 6, 2011

Learning About Lymphoma

During the past few days, I’ve learned a lot about the lymphatic system. Knowing that poor Ozzie’s is under siege, I’ve set out to see what I can do to ease his plight.

Apparently, the vets have already given up on him – or someone would have bothered to tell me that his homecooked food, which has always been healthy – suddenly has some serious problems for a dog with cancer. It’s not like they don’t know what he eats; they ask each and every time I take him in!

On my onw, I have learned that dairy products (like the cottage cheese he eats) are bad. Luckily, because he has been severely congesteed this week, I had already started backing him off of the cottage cheese. Then I learned that “sweet fruits,” with bananas and pineapple being the primary culprits, “fuel swollen lymph glands.” Oh, great.

I found out that beets are a better alternative as are the “leafy greens.” Watermelon is good, and grapefruit is, too. All of these have been added to Ozzie’s diet. I found out that supplements like fish oil, echinachea and zinc are good, too.
They may have given up. Fine. Let them.

But we haven’t.

2 comments:

Jayne said...

What a lucky little dog Ozzie is to have someone who loves him enough to make his food for him, and to make sure that food is healthy. :)

Anonymous said...

So sorry to read about Ozzie's diagnosis. We lost our Newfoundland Oslo last September - she was sick for months, and while she could not be specifically diagnosed (the vet thought it would be too intrusive at her age and size to put her under for a scan to confirm it), he believed it was likely Lymphoma. But she lived a long and good life.

We had started feeding her homemade "Spots Stew" - which is basically a chicken stew filled with veggies and barley. She loved it. I'd make a pot at the beginning of the week and freeze batches of it. You can google Spots Homemade stew if you're interested.

Thinking of Ozzie! Don't let the vet give up - if they do, then switch vets.