A Path With Paws

Here is a little protocol I used for cancer when I first started out doing acupuncture. It is something my first acupuncture teacher used often and with good results.

I combine this with acupuncture and used to use it in every animal I treated with cancer regardless of type.

There is sometimes some great power in a simple little recipe like this one! This one is still very dear to my heart. It has extended the quality of life and the longevity of many of the animals I work with.

Richard’s Mini Cancer Protocol to support the immune system and fight cancer

1. Coenzyme Q10 200mg a day for dogs, 50mg a day for cats and small dogs
2. IP6 800-1600mg twice a day for dogs and 400mg twice a day for cats and small dogs
3. Medical mushrooms – to include Shiitake, Maitake, Reishi, and/or Cordyceps at 300mg per 50lb. I like the Host Defense product My Community
4. Artemisinin – see article
5. Sanshedan ChuanBeiye – see article

I have found these days that I can get better results with some of the Chinese formulas I use to target specific cancers in specific animals however this is still a good protocol. I still use it or parts of it in my treatments.

So why would I use this protocol instead of the ones I talk about for specific cancers?

• These are all extremely easy supplements to find with the exception of sanshedan
• Sometimes oncologists absolutely will not allow the use of Chinese herbs when they are giving an animal chemotherapy. They may be more open to this protocol or parts of it.
• You don’t need to know what type of cancer your animal has to use this.
• If you have an animal who is very sensitive to Chinese herbs this protocol is unlikely to cause side effects because Coenzyme Q10 and IP6 are naturally in the body already and the other supplements are quite mild on the body.
• You don’t have a holistic vet to work with and you are unsure what to use this may be a good protocol to consider and talk to your vet about.
• This protocol can be used with other herbal protocols when the immune system needs additional support

Coenzyme Q10 is an enzyme made by the body and found in the membranes of many tissues. CoQ10 has effects in stimulating the immune system and works as a strong antioxidant. In animals and people with cancer it has been shown that levels of CoQ10 are lower then in normal individuals. There is some evidence that CoQ10 can increase cancer survival times.

Reduced levels of CoQ10 have been found in animals and people with heart issues. CoQ10 can help to protect the heart, lower blood pressure and help with repair to the heart.

CoQ10 has been shown to reduce cardiotoxicity (toxicity to the heart) in people on the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (adriamycin).

I dose CoEnzyme Q10 at 200mg per day for dogs and 50mg per day for cats.

Here are some additional articles on CoQ10

Coenzyme Q10 pharmacological and biological treatment

Cancer Topics – Coenzyme Q10

Inositol Hexaphosphate also known as IP6 is important in stimulating the immune system’s natural killer cells to destroy cancer tissue. It is an antioxidant and has effects in inhibiting cancer cell growth and division. Not much research has been done in humans with this supplement but a lot of cancer studies have been done in animals.

I dose cats at 400mg two times a day and dogs 800-1600mg twice a day when I use this supplement.

Here are some articles on IP6

Treatments and side effects IP6

The holistic vet on IP6

IP6 cancer research

Medical mushrooms are very good for our animals in so many ways. I will later have a whole article up on medical mushrooms but what you need to know now is –

• Mushrooms are amazing in their abilities to help the body fight cancer and stimulate the immune system, the Chinese have been using these for years.
• Mushrooms also help with giving animals added nutrition when they need it, such as when they have cancer or are going through chemo.

The best mushrooms to use for an animal with cancer are maitake, shiitake, reishi and cordyceps. A combination can be used or focus on one.

I recommend at least 300mg of mushrooms be given daily for every 50lb of cat or dog. More in fine.

One of the best ways to dose mushrooms is by adding them to your dog’s food (doesn’t work quite as well in cats). My favorite company for dried mushrooms is Fungusamongus. They have a good price on dried bulk mushrooms.

Where can you buy any of these products?

Follow the links above to buy off of Amazon.com For Artemisinin and Sanshedan follow the links to articles with information on where to buy these herbals.

Also many of these products can be bought at your local drug store, health supplement store or grocery store (with the exception of Sanshedan. And don’t forget about Fungusamongus for mushrooms.

As with all of my articles please check with your animal’s veterinarian before using any supplements, herbals or products discussed her.

Back to cancer care and cancer book table of contents

It’s been a wonderful year.

Thank you all so much for visiting and helping to make this site great!

I’m taking a break for the holidays with my human and animal family. I look forward to the seeing you in the new year. Have a wonderful holiday!

Christmas lilies are extremely beautiful but also deadly to cats. Every year cats die from nibbling on lilies and once they become sick it is too late. Just a couple bites of lily will destroy the kidneys of a cat and send them into renal failure. Usually they die within 24 to 72 hours.

All lilies, not just the Christmas type are poisonous to cats, this also includes lucky bamboo which is actually a lily.

Please do not bring lilies into your home if you have cats even if you think they will not eat them. It is heartbreaking to have to tell a cat’s person that there is nothing you can do. If your cat does eat a lily call your veterinary clinic or emergency hospital immediately and get instructions to induce vomiting.

Just when I think I’m starting to understand the way the world works, I seem to get a lesson in listening and being open to what is offered and by whom. While I have had animals I have worked with teach me all kinds of important lessons over the years, I have never had one offer me lessons in acupuncture itself. That is, until last Friday.

My last patient of the day was a little Pomeranian I have been treating for a number of years named Kuma. I always look forward to seeing Kuma. He is one of the most expressive dogs I know and he brings both a great open energy and a calmness to his sessions. Often he is my last appointment of the week and his energy always takes me into the weekend feeling good. Kuma is very serious about his acupuncture and is completely in tune with what the needles do to his body. In fact I don’t think I have ever met anyone, either human or animal more in tune.

In the past we have had some amazing sessions.

Kuma has back issues that occasionally flare up and one time he came in with his back really bothering him. After I placed the needles he immediately settled down and relaxed.

While his mom and I watched in amazement, the needles in Kuma’s body started shaking and I don’t mean just a little movement — those needles were dancing and everything that was stuck in his body was moving out through them. Now I have had dogs and cats that have some movement to their needles during treatment, but this was something much more impressive. It looked like there was a current attached to those needles, yet Kuma was completely relaxed and laying flat on his pillow. At first they moved quite fast, but as he went through his treatment they started to slow and towards the end we watched one after another finally stop. The moment the last needle stopped moving he jumped up, insisting that I take them out. And boy did he feel good, he went bouncing around the room like a new dog.

In his session Friday, Kuma had a little inflammation in his back again but it wasn’t as bad as it sometimes is. I put his needles in like I normally do and we waited for him to settle down like he normally does. But this time he didn’t. He was antsy, he would sit down for a moment and then stand up, he shook some needles out, he moved around, he just would not settle.

Occasionally Kuma will have a needle that is hurting him and most of the time he will look back at it and then look at me when that happens. He wasn’t doing that this time but still I moved a couple needles to make sure.

However this time he was acting differently then normal. He was coming towards me and grabbing my hand with his paw and bringing it towards him. At first I thought he just wanted me to scratch a certain spot or to move my hand closer so he could lick it. But it became clear, he was clearly trying to tell me something. But what?

At the same time all these was happening, I kept on having this thought in my head that I should have treated his back differently. I was actually starting to feel quite insecure about the whole thing, like I didn’t know what I was doing. While I tried to push that thought away it kept on coming back. Finally it was too overwhelming to ignore especially with Kuma clearly feeling like something was wrong.

I placed a couple extra needles in his back, following the pictures that kept on coming into my head and immediately he settled down, within seconds. He was relaxed, he put his head down, he looks like he was asleep except his eyes were open a little.

His mom and I just sat there and looked at each other and back to him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a dog teach me acupuncture before,” I said.

In this world our teachers come in all sorts of packages and with all sorts of lessons to offer. Yes, Kuma did teach me acupuncture, he knew even better than I did what he needed, but he also taught me to trust what I am feeling more than my knowledge and to listen even when the voices I hear do not come in the form of the human voices I am used to hearing.

The number one question I receive from people visiting this blog is “how to I find a good holistic vet to work with?” It is a good question!

Here are some suggestions and resources to do this

• Ask your animal’s veterinarian From my experience there is not as large a divide between western medicine and holistic veterinary medicine in this country as there is in the human medical community. Part of the reason for this is that we are all veterinarians. I had a full western veterinary education and practiced it for six years before I learned acupuncture. I still use my western training daily. Because of this the mainstream vets trust us, they are less worried that we will do something that harms an animal or makes their treatments not work. I receive about half my patients through vet referrals. The vets that refer to me, know me, trust me and give me full access to their records and that makes it easier to coordinate treatments with them.
• Take a visit to your local pet food store. I’m not talking the big box stores like Petco and Petsmart but your local independent stores or small chains. In Seattle these include Next to Nature, Mud Bay, All the Best, Pet Elements, and many more. Hopefully you have one in your area. These stores are very good at educating their staff on nutrition and options for people’s animals with disease conditions. They also hear stories from people all day long about their animals. They know the local practitioners and who is good. Ask them! They are always happy to share.
• Ask people at the dog park or you meet walking dogs.The best referral is word of mouth. People love to share stories about their dogs and I think we just naturally want to recommend practitioners who have helped our animals.
• Search holistic veterinarian or veterinary acupuncturist “your city” online. The internet got you here, it should help you with this also.
• Use one of the tools from the various holistic veterinary societies.
  • International Veterinary Acupuncture Society Find a Veterinary Acupuncturist (right side of screen)
  • Veterinary Botanical Medical Association Find a Vet in the US
  • Veterinary Botanical Medical Association Find a Vet International
  • Animal Essentials Find a Holistic Vet

Do all holistic veterinarians know acupuncture and other kinds of natural medicine? What is the best type of holistic veterinarian for my animal?

Most of us do not practice all holistic modalities, and even those with a wide area of systems they work with, usually have a few they are very good at and some that they just do a little of.

I consider myself a very good acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist. I am a TCM or Traditional Chinese Medical practitioner. In addition I do some western herbal medicine, know something about supplements and vitamins, occasionally dip into homeopathy and flower essences and am pretty good at nutrition. I can not do chiropractics, do not know aryuvedic herbal medicine, and can not do classic homeopathy.

Because of this if you came to see me with your animal I would most likely recommend acupuncture and Chinese herbs because those are the two modalities that work best in my hands. If you went to someone who specialized in aryuvedic herbal medicine and homeopathy they would probably recommend a therapy that included those modalities.

Ever holistic vet is going to be a little different in their knowledge.

What is the difference between all these methods of treatment?

I am going to use mostly links to websites since there are so many good explanations already out there and then adds my own thoughts so please click on the links for more info.

• Naturopathic medicine – I think of most naturopaths as using a combination of dietary therapy, supplements, vitamins and western herbals to cure disease and bring about balance in the body. In Washington state human Naturopaths are on the same level as MDs and can prescribe most drugs, do blood tests and do small surgical procedure. Of course veterinary naturopaths will be western veterinary doctors already.
• Traditional Chinese Medicine – This is the type of medicine I practice. It includes acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine used together in synergy. TCM also uses it’s own system of diagnosis that is very different than western medicine. Through TCM I am often able to fit many symptoms and diseases an animal is suffering from into one Chinese diagnosis and I find it easier to treat hard to diagnose and chronic conditions that western medicine has trouble with
• Acupuncture There are many practitioners who practice acupuncture alone under the TCM system or practice acupuncture under a more western system. From my experience the best practitioners use TCM to diagnose and treat.
• Botanical or Herbal Medicine There are many types of Botanical Medicine. The most common are
  • Ayurvedic Herbal Medicine – This is an Indian system of treating disease and dysfunction that also includes diet.
  • Western Herbal Medicine includes European, American, and Native American plant medicine.
  • Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine – see TCM above. Most Chinese herbal medicine uses herbal in combinations that work together so that the formula is not the sum of the herbals used but how the herbs react with either other. This makes it possible to use herbals that would be toxic alone by combining them with others which reduce their toxicity and also makes it possible to target herbs to a certain area of the body, among other things.
• Homeopathy – Classic homeopathy is a very complex system and takes many years to learn. Many of us use more of a “cookbook form” of homeopathy.
• Chiropractors – focus mainly on adjustments to the spine

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