I
found your page when researching my 16 yr olds recently diagnosed DM.
I have had him on a RAW diet for 5 years now and I am sure that
that has helped him tremendously. He has begun to become
‘sloppy’ and lack endurance. (hey, he’s 16!). However, his spirits
are excellent and he is in excellent heath otherwise.
As it
turns out, I have been doing most things for him anyway. I did, however,
add creatine, DHEA, an antioxdent cocktail, milk thistle, garlic and
amino acids to his current regime of health.
He gets
:
salmon
oil-1000mg
Fresh
ground organic flax. –2 tblspns
Glucosamine
–1000mg
MSM –1
tsp
B complex-50
mg
Ester
C –1600 mg
Vit 5
800mg
And I
have eliminated carbs in the form of grains for at least 4 years.
I juice for him every
day and re-introduce the juice to the vegetables in order to protect
as much live enzyme content as possible.
I have to say that I can’t imagine looking
after a quadriplegic who can’t urinate. That must be all consuming!
My hat’s
off to you. Since my guy is already 16 yrs old, I have decided that
once he cannot get out to go to the bathroom. IOW when he becomes incapacitated,
I will have a vet come to euthanize him. In the mean time, I am trying
to slow or stop the progression any further for as long as possible.
He lives
with 4 cats, another GSD and 2 rabbits who he still barks at and chases
when he can! (more power to him, I say. They aren’t afraid of him and
he gets such a kick out of it!
He only
appears to be in pain when he has ‘over done’ it and needs to rest.
Mostly he is weak and uncoordinated. Often he requires help getting
on the couch, chair and/or bed but not always. When he fails,
he simply crumples, but I try to get there and help him before that
happens because he is proud.
Given
that your dog is much more progressed than mine I was hoping you could
give me some measures I can take to slow the process. Since he is still
ambulatory, regular, low stress exercise.
I have
LONG SINCE stopped all flea, heartworm and vaccinations on ALL my animals…
I give
them nothing I wouldn’t take myself… except meat since I am a vegetarian!
Have you
ever used traumeel—a homeopathic treatment for trauma of all kinds.
I find it invaluable and I was wondering if it wouldn’t help him during
times when he has over stressed himself.. (the heart is willing and
sometimes pushes him past his comfort zone!)
Thanks
for your informative page. Can you be more specific regarding what essential
oils you use and what anioxidant regime you use.. I use oregon grape,
ester C, Vit E, fresh ground flax.
The ‘cocktail’
I refer to includes a tincture mixture of Oregon Grape, milk thistle,
yucca.
Some things
I do help rebuild or maintain cartlidge, some support immune response,
some are anti-inflammatories.
I am on
an *extremely* limited
budget. I tried acupuncture and it worked fantastically for a while
but did not last. Plus, I would have to have a ‘home visit’ as he does
not travel well. So any benefits derived from it would be obliterated
by the stress during transport.
You find
massaging works well. Others have claimed aerobic therapy. I know
he loves to have the stiffened muscles rubbed vigorously to the point
of warming them. It must relieve the tension. Pressure massage, I think
would cause him pain since the muscles in his hind quarters (what’s
left of them) are rather rigid. So I simply rub them.
Any
other suggestions you could offer would be great.
I am most
interested in how you manually express urine because our elevator broke
down and I *could not*
get him to urinate out on the deck (too proud) It would have been extremely
helpful to know how to do this to relieve him rather than drag him up
and down 4 flights of stairs just to pee!
Thanks,
in advance,
Anne
