holistic?

It feels like I haven't posted in ages. This isn't a very "up" week for me.

Dave hasn't vomited or had diarrhea since Wednesday, and has transitioned back to his kibble. However, he now takes it a little warm broth. He is almost back to himself, but the hind paw problems haven't gone away. It's a sensitivity in his paws. He's using a normal range of motion, and not hesitating to run, jump and exert himself. But, as soon as he gets on the grass, he's lifting his paws up and trying to avoid contact for too long. Yesterday, Dave seems to have injured himself a bit on his left back paw. He has a cut, so we're doing our best to keep it clean, while keeping him happy by going outside.

We saw the holistic vet Thursday night. She was very nice, though Mike was a little surprised with how the appointment went. She is extensively trained in Eastern medicine, so she spoke a lot about energies, pulses, and some other concepts that are, well, completely foreign to us. Because of Dave's trial, he can't take any supplemental immune boosters. The vaccine is supposed to take care of that. We're taking a list of everything that she wants us to do, which is mostly diet changes, on Tuesday so they can look it over. She would like us to switch him to a high quality wet food; it's the same brand that he's on, Innova EVO, but the red meat formula, which he will gobble up, I'm sure. She said that dry food a "hot" food because of the way it's made: compressed, no moisture. Apparently cancer is a hot disease, and it's better for Dave to have the "cold" wet food. Dave's pulses (not pulse!) were excellent; she said that his were really strong for a dog with lymphoma on chemo.

I'll be honest, the unfamiliarity I have with this makes me a little hesistant to buy into the theories... However, in simple terms, it's diet changes. She also wants us to add dark, leafy greens, sweet potatoes, canned pumpkin, hard boiled eggs and blueberries to the food. Dave LOVES sweet potatoes, so that won't be a problem. She suggested adding kelp and turmeric as well. It's almost like cooking for him, but that would require organic grass-fed beef or venison, and it would be quite pricey. She gave us a higher quality fish oil, and recommended three supplements that are made up of herbs. She doesn't sell the supplements, they're available at Wegmans and Whole Foods, so she has no vested interest there (several people asked about that). We're going to be asking about all of this. I can't imagine that the foods would be a problem, but the supplements may be. She also wants us to give him at least 20-30 minutes of exercise a day, as people with cancer who are active generally do well and handle their treatments well. I need to do more reading on all of this, but I figure that it really can't hurt to change his diet to meat, fruits and vegetables.