A Path With Paws

Lucy was a beautiful black cat, her full name being Lucy Furr. She wasn’t very old and had quite a bit of spunk. Most of her acupuncture treatment involved putting her in a small bathroom and trying my best to keep the needles in for at least 20 minutes as she bounced around. She didn’t mind the little pokes but she sure did mind me thinking she should stay still. I took over her care from my acupuncture teacher when she was about eight months out from having a fibrosarcoma removed from her shoulder. Her vets hadn’t hadn’t been able to get clean margins, which isn’t unusual for this type of cancer, so had told her human mom that 100% it would come back. Lucy wasn’t very old however and the recommendation of multiple radiation treatments did not sit well with her human mom so she had explored other options of trying to fight this cancer.

A little over a year later when Lucy reached the two year mark from her surgery, I said goodbye to her and her mom hoping I never had to see them again but with a promise to call me if anything did happen. The tumor had not returned and the likelihood it would at that point was very, very slim. Seven years later I have not heard from them.

As many of you may know, fibrosarcoma is a cancer we see mainly in cats and almost always it is induced by either a rabies or feline leukemia vaccination. These days most of these vaccinations are given down the leg, so if a tumor develops the whole leg can be removed which is most often curative although harsh. There was a recent study that looked at the idea of giving the vaccine in the end of the tail and if this comes into practice removing a tail is obviously better than a leg. Lucy had vaccinations before this practice was used by most vets so full removal of a limb was not an option. Fibrosarcomas are very locally aggressive and while they do not spread to other areas of the body quickly they do usually cause death if not addressed.

I should add that we do see fibrosarcoma in dogs and also in cats unrelated to vaccination.

So what are my recommendation for fibrosarcoma?

• If at all possible these tumors need to be removed. It is almost impossible to treat without bringing them down to a microscopic level. If they are at a microscopic level either herbal medicine or radiation becomes an option for treatment. If it is impossible to remove these tumors either because of health issues or because of location then herbal medicine can be used to slow down growth. At this point there is no way to have remission if the tumor is not surgically removed.
• Sanshedan Chuan Bei Ye seems to have a good result against these tumors – For Lucy we actually got this compounded into a transdermal that could be rubbed on her ear. In addition the apricot seed in SSD helps to enhance the effects of radiation if this treatments are used.
• Medical Mushrooms to include maitake, shiitake, reishi, turkey tail and/or cordyceps. – this is one place where strengthening the immune system really comes in, if you can make them part of the food all the better. I am able to add glycerin mushroom tincture to my homemade cat food, it generally tastes ok and cats tolerate it.
• Hoxsey like formula or Cancer Detox Formula can help to shrink down these tumors. This is an especially good formula if margins are not gotten from surgery or if surgery is not an option because of health or location. Hoxsey works especially well when tumors are very hot and inflamed.
• Artemisinin – can be used if there is no radiation treatments and can help to keep cancer from returned, slow down tumor growth and in some cases shrink the size of tumors.
• Acupuncture – this is a must to strengthen the immune system and is something cats tolerate well.
• Cancer Diet – yes, using food to fight cancer is very important and especially in cats who can get sick from too many supplements. See You are what you eat – a fighting cancer machine.



• Talk to an oncologist. This is one of those cancers that often occurs in young animals and because they have their whole life ahead of them I think it is very important to seek all the possible options. There are no machines for radiation treatments that combine a particle accelerator (what delivers the radiation) with a CAT scan machine. These machines are able to target radiation to the tumor disease much more accurately than our old machines could and are much safer to use. Radiation still requires anesthetic and often daily or multiple time a week treatments for between 2-4 weeks. The new machines are expensive but often you can get full remissions if most of the tumor can be removed first.

As with all articles on this site please check with your animal’s primary veterinarian before starting any supplements or herbs.

Back to Holistic and Integrative Approaches to Cancer

I recently attended the ACVIM veterinary conference for internal medicine specialists. This is by far my favorite mainstream medicine conference because there are always many lectures on the new cutting edge medicine being developed.

This conference I was able to attend lectures on using stem cells to regrow and repair damaged and failing kidneys, using modified viruses to target cancer, using proton pump inhibitors to help chemotherapy work in resistant patients, and some of the new cancer drugs that are safer to use and target cancer cells better without as many of the side effects of traditional chemotherapy. It is all very cool stuff and while more study and development needs to be done it is clear to me that medicine is going to be moving and changing in the next 10-20 years.

At any big conference there is always a large exhibition hall with vendors showing off their latest drugs and products, many of them I walk by as they are not things that I actively use in practice. However a new product called InteroSTOP caught my eye this year with its claim to help calm dogs and cats with a synthesized pig pheromone. I have long been a fan of Feliway and DAP that work in the same way but have found less success with DAP. The company that makes InteroSTOP happily gave me a free product to try.

My own dog Alli is very reactive to the UPS trucks that come to our house on a daily basis (both my husband and I have businesses from home). We have done quite a bit of behavior modification but unless we have treats in front of her the whole time the truck is parked she is jumping up and down and barking. I thought this is the perfect place to try this new product.

The InteroSTOP spray combines a loud sound with the pheromone. The sound interupts the behavior and the pheromone calms. The pheromone they use is something released during pig mating. The first time I used the spray Alli jumped a little but stopped barking, she then run to the window and woofed again but not as loud. I sprayed the InteroSTOP a second time and she stopped barking and sat watching the UPS truck calmly. She has never watched a UPS truck calmly. Wow! We have since repeated this and are hoping with time she will associate the UPS truck with the calm she feels from the pheromone.

While this product is synthesized and not completely natural I like that it is based on a natural pheromone and is not a drug. It seems like a wonderful aid in behavior training especially in dogs that can be reactive. The company also sells a collar called Nurturecalm for both dogs and cats which I have not tried but I imagine would also be helpful. I will definitely be recommending InteroSTOP to clients.

(Just in case you are wondering I haven’t gotten anything from the company beyond my one free sample, just am impressed with this product and think it could help others)

I have had so many questions about medical marijuana in animals lately, especially with it becoming legal in Washington state where I practice. This is probably one of the best articles out there about medical marijuana use in pets and the legal issues that come up with it. See Veterinary Marijuana in the recent JAVMA journal.

Marijuana may become something we reach for often in the future for chronic disease, cancer, and pain in both our dogs and cat. The largest issue now is that it is a federal crime for me to talk to clients about how to use it, because as veterinarians we are regulated by the federal government and the state protections that extend to MDs do not apply to use. However it is legal in Washington state for people to buy and use marijuana in their companion animals without our guidance. Go figure. I am hoping that the laws soon change so we can offer guidance and even prescribe it. Meanwhile if anyone has a good article or wants to write one on the proper use of marijuana in dogs and cats I would be happy to publish or share it here.

When I did shelter work years ago we hated pet stores, absolutely hated them. Pet stores sold animals, many from puppy mills and sometimes sick animals. They didn’t spay or neuter. They sold animals to people without any guidance, often these animals had worms or even worse broke with distemper or parvovirus when people would get them home. People would get these animals and not be able to deal with them and drop them at the shelter and we would kill them because there were too many. You can see why we hated them so much.

We talked about getting the legislator to ban the sale of animals in store, we tried to get people to boycott these stores and we told them how wrong and bad they were and nothing changed. People still bought animals from pet stores and we still killed them when they were brought to us.

But one day someone asked what if we figured out a way to partner with them and in doing so either increase their profits or at least not hurt them. We figured out that the best way to do that was by approaching them and talking to them, figuring out what they wanted and what we wanted and finding common ground. Instead of seeing them as evil we joined forces.

Today in Seattle there are very few pet stores that sell animals but many pet stores have cages that are used by local rescue groups and shelters to showcase animals up for adoption. People adopt animals in the pet stores but from the rescue groups and then buy their new pet supplies from the store. Who does want a new color and bowl for their new little love? The stores makes money, fewer animals die. Everyone wins.

On to herbs and animals –

In the veterinary community there is a huge concern about people treating their animals with supplements and herbs without the guidance of a practitioner. This is not because we do not want people’s animals to do well but for the exact opposite reason, that we fear that harm will be done that hurts these animals.

The truth is there are plenty of people giving out information that are not trained in herbal medicine or veterinary medicine. It makes me cringe to think of some of the things I have read online that are simply not true and even worse, harmful. If we as the veterinary community do not share information on the safe use of herbs and supplements someone else will and the chance of harm or the wrong supplements/herbs being used for the wrong conditions goes way up.

There are many places where there are simply no holistic vets. Do we insist that someone drive a sick animal 4-5 hours each way to see one? Move to a larger city? Not have access to something that could help their animal?

We need to realize that people self diagnosing and treating animals with herbs is not going to go away no matter how much we fight it. So let’s stop fighting.

What if we tried a different approach by making sure that people have access to safe herbs and good information about how to use them? What if we gave them, with that, references to vets in their area who worked with herbs and supplements?

There is a fear if we “give out free information” people will not come and see us, our business will die out. I view this as sharing not giving. When I have people contact me through my herb store with questions about using herbs I always recommend they find a holistic vet – if they don’t have one close I try to help as much as I can without crossing the line of treating without seeing an animal. But what I have found is that about 50% of those people I talk to go out and find a holistic vet to work with, even if they order herbs through my store. People want someone to trust, they want safe access to herbs, and they want someone to guide them. Just like with the shelters and pet stores, we are on the same side, we want people’s animals to do well, and people want their animals to do well. When we freely share information we are introducing more people to our holistic veterinary community and bringing in more business not turning it away. We share information and people share their animals with us.

Most of our best herbal mixtures are restricted to veterinary or practitioner use only, yet formulas that have the same herbs but are maybe contaminated with pesticides or have other purity issues are readily available. Why are we complaining about herbs not being safe let making it so the safest ones are not readily available to everyone? What would happen if we made access to herbs open to everyone (except very dangerous herbs like the aconites and ephreda)? What if we developed herb formulas that were similar to the formulas with potentially dangerous herbs that could be used without toxicity?

What if we became one group with one goal? What if we followed the lead of the shelters and opened up communication with the places selling herbs for pets? What if veterinarians, herbal companies and people with animals they love worked together, sharing information? What if we made it our mission to make sure our animal companions and their people had the best access possible to information and safe herbs? What if we shared what we know so that it can expand out beyond the few animals we can see, beyond our local community and out into the world?