Posted on 3rd Aug 2010 @ 10:52 AM

Congratulations Bella! our 2010 Canine Cancer Survivor of the Month and winner of a $100 gift certificate.  Here is her story and some other great entries we got this month.  Enter your dog in next months Cancer Survivor of the Month.

Bella

Geez, where do you begin...When the vet tells you your best friend has bone cancer and about a month to live, a hundred things flash before you. All when you thought your dog had like a sprained wrist or jumped off the bed the wrong way because she was limping and there was a little swelling...WOW what a shock that was. Well, my family went into survival mode and we all searched the internet for some kind of an answer. We talked to holistic doctors, other vets for seceond third and fourth opinions, talked to people that were in similiar situations and although these things were helpful, we were still lost! All of us came across sites that had K9 critical care on it in some shape or form. It was try the pills, amputaion or chemo/radiation! I couldnt do the latter to her so I ordered the pills. At this point Bella was hardly eating, lithargic from the pain pills and my husband had to carry her down the stairs to do her business. We were loosing any hope we had, and fast! The pills came and I was sure by the size of them that she wouldnt eat them, but she did.....

Within 3 days....yes 3 days....Bella was back to her usual self! We thought we were crazy but as the days went on it seemed like she was feeling so much better! The first snow of the season came and when she felt it on her paws she started prancing and putting her head under the snow!(I ran out with my slippers on thinking she would hurt herself, but she had a ball.) Next Christmas....My Christmas present this year was watching her open her wrapped bones and toys! Two months ago, I thought she wouldnt be here! Now we are here in summer, and so is Bella! She is enjoying her days laying in the warm sun watching the birds, chasing bugs and barking at the mailman to get his attenion so she could get her daily milkbone! I'm so thankful for these products because I am the biggest skeptic and at the time of diagnosis, didnt think anything would help! It has given me almost an extra year to have Bella in our lives! It has given me time to appreciate every day through her eyes, and eventhough my precious best friend wont be here forever, I was given the time to process everything and make her remaining days as joyful as possible for both of us! She has taught me that life tomorrow may not be the same as today and how very fragile life really is.

Paige

Paige Marie is a beautiful husky shepherd. She was diagnosed with Lymphoma at the age of 7. The doctor gave her 3-6 months to live without treatment and maybe 2 years with chemo. Paige went through chemotherapy for almost a year until she went into remission. We were so thrilled that she had gone through the chemo, losing her whiskers and a lot of fur, but she was still with us. She had no energy at this point and we continued to push her. Paige fell out of remission, the cancer was back and again we were faced with another year of chemotherapy with remission time cut in half....so we thought. I went on line and read about BirkDale and some product that might help Paige to feel better during and after her chemo. This was at age 9. Paige has now been in remission with the cancer for over 2 years this time and although the treatment has damaged her heart, she is alert, happy and still with us at the young age of eleven. Paige will celbrate her birthday in February! I believe the K9 supplements have helped her through her cancer and she is a miracle.

Hershey

On July 29, 2009 while on vacation far from home, my daughter who was watching Hershey called to tell me she felt lumps in his neck. I told her to immediately take him to the vet. The vet called to inform me that Hershey had lymphoma. The vet further informed me of my options, one of which would be chemotheraphy for six months. There was no way I would let my precious Hershey (who was 9 at the time) live that quality of life. After sobbing for hours and hours, I decided that I wanted to be aggressive and not take this diagnosis as a death sentence. To become more educated on canine lymphoma, I googled it on the internet. That is when I found Birkdale Medicinals. I read a testimony on their site about a dog having been diagnosed with lymphoma four years ago and still alive today. This gave me much hope. I immediately ordered PetMix because I wanted grainfree food) and the K9 Critical Care Power Pack. Hershey loves the food and so do my two well dogs. Last July, especially because I was not choosing the chemo route, I was told that Hershey had 3-4 months to live and that I should take him home and just enjoy his last days. I am so thankful to say that it's been 12 months and he is alive and doing so well. The vet said he is in remission. Thank you Birkdale Medicinals for loving and caring about our pets and giving our dogs the chance to live a life after hearing that dreaded cancer word.

gSnickers

Our precious 5 year old yorkie was diagnosed with stage 4 mast cell cancer in his throat 2 years ago this January. ( 2009 ) The doctors removed his tumor and indicated that there was not much else they could do. It was attached to the lining in his throat and that we may have around 9 weeks - they simply sent him home and told us what to watch for - once he was too weak to continue we should bring him in to be put to sleep. Snickers is my best friend - he goes everywhere with me. I was crushed. I immediately started researching canine cancer and came upon Tom's name and phone number and info on Birkdale. He offered hope and some very sound advise. We spent more time with me on the phone, listening to me cry and share my heart ache about the possibility of loosing my precious angel. Upon his advice, snickers began the K9 Critical Cancer Care treatment. I have also placed him on an all natural dog food. You can see from his photo just how happy and healthy he is. He went back for his yearly check up and his vet could not believe that he was looking at the same dog. He simply smiled and said - you have a miracle in your arms and what ever you are doing just keep on doing it - he was amazed. No signs of any cancer or tumors can be found. We are going on two years now. Thanks Tom for saving my angel. I am and will continue to be a loyal fan and tell everyone about you.

Sidney

Sidney was diagnosed with K9 lymphoma in February and only given a week or 2 to live! the vet called and said we should consider putting him down, I got on line and researched the disease and found your site. I put him on K9 Critical Care right away,he went back to the vet in i week to get staples removed and the doctors was amazed that he was still alive. In one month he went back and the doctors was still more amazed and they recommended that we try the madison wisconsin treatment because he was doing so good. we started him on there method of treatment and they said Do NOT STOP THE K 9 CRITICAL CARE it is july 12 now and he is still with us playing like the old days. as soon as we started the k9 treatment we noticed how different his coat was and his nose was no longer dry and cracked.I am a believer in your product,this is a picture of when he got sick just before his surgery,thanks so much marvin

Peewee

Peewee, our 11 year old mini-schnauzer started with a limp, I thought it might be a sticker or hurt pad. Two weeks went by and he was still favoring his leg. Although he was still running, jumping and seemed happy, I took him to the vet. After examination it was determined by the vet that something else was wrong. He had an xray and then a bone biopsy. The biopsy confirmed it was bone cancer. Within a month he was scheduled for front leg and shoulder amputation. This was the worst day of our life. Having to make the determination to amputate his leg and shoulder and what kind of quality of life he would have afterwards. The alternative wasn't any better, without amputation his life expectancy was maybe six months.

One month after the amputation he was back up and running! He is now seven months post surgery and doing great. He still wants to do daily walks, runs and jumps, plays ball and is still our favorite napping buddy. We are so glad we decided to proceed with trying everything we could to save his life and hope to have him around for years to come.

Molly

Molly came to us after hurricane Katrina, found in St. Bernard Parish and taken to the Humane Society of Sonoma County with a horrible case of ringworm where she spent three months in isolation. She was a one year old Border Collie with tons of energy and no training whatsoever! When she came to our house we immediately began training her in both obedience and agility. She thrived with us and then, in May of 2008 we discovered a little blood in her stool. There was also a strange mark in her stool, as if she had a blockage. Within two weeks Dr. Bachman found a tumor in her lower colon which, upon biopsy, was declared to be high-grade malignant lymphoma. We took her in for surgery to have the tumor removed and, after cutting her pelvis in four places, the surgeon discovered that the tumor was so invasive that he couldn't remove it. The surgeon asked us if we wanted to just euthanize her on the table, we said no, we wanted to at least be able to say good bye to her. We took her home two days later knowing that we'd at least give chemotherapy a chance.

She was incredibly sick during chemo, and recovering from major surgery at the same time wasn't helping her any, but she soldiered on. Within weeks the tumor started showing signs of shrinking. It has now been over two years since she was diagnosed, one and a half years since she finished chemo, and her bi-monthly exams have shown no recurrence of the tumor!

We are back to running in agility, better than ever before, and honestly, Molly is the "joie de vivre-iest" dog I've ever met; she is always, always happy to start every day.

Daggit

I adopted Daggit as a 9-week old pup at a puppy rescue in Colorado. She's an Australian Shepherd/Lab mix (to the best of my knowledge). Even before I brought her home from the puppy rescue, I knew she was a very special girl. They always say “the dog chooses you” and this was no exception. Although she was still a little puppy, she showed me that she already knew how to play catch and even brought the ball back to me. That’s when I knew she was coming home with me. Not only was she as cute as can be … she was so smart!

Daggit is now almost 10-years-old. She’s a real sweetheart and an absolute momma’s girl. We’ve been through so much together, including moving across country. Such an intuitive and sensitive soul … and still so playful and fun-loving, even in her ‘older’ years. Daggit has been there for me as much as I’ve been there for her and I want to do everything I can for her to beat this cancer. I need to do everything I can for her. She’s a fighter and I know she won’t quit on me so I know I will not quit on her.

Daggit’s cancer story started in early August ’09. Until that point, she had never been to the vet for anything more than her annual check-up. I’ll start by saying Daggit’s case of osteosarcoma (OSA) is pretty rare according to her vet and oncologist. OSA is usually found in large limbs. Her oncologist, Dr. Courtney Zwahlen at Southern California Veterinary Specialty Hospital, said she’s only seen it in a toe one time. Daggit’s regular veterinarian was pretty shocked that it was OSA when she received the results from the lab. Little did I know at the time that osteosarcoma is considered a grave and highly metastic cancer.

Her story started with some swelling in her little toe. No biggie, right? I thought she stepped on a bee and got stung (it’s happened many times before). I followed my normal “bee sting” treatment and waited for the swelling to go down. It didn’t. Luckily, I didn’t wait too long to go to the vet - only 3 days. I took her to the vet on Aug. 5th, 2009 to have her paw checked out. Initially, the doc thought her nail was infected and recommended removing the nail. The doc checked it out and did an x-ray and said “there’s some growth in there but we’re not sure what it is without looking into it further.” At that time, she determined it wasn’t the nail. The only thing that was certain was that it was an infection. They wrapped her paw, prescribed antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory and scheduled us to come back in a week.

We returned on Aug. 12th for further evaluation. When the bandage was removed, unfortunately, the swelling was worse. Much worse. The doctor looked at me and I knew what she was going to say … “I recommend amputating the toe.” While that sounded drastic, considering I didn’t even know what was wrong, we did know that there was some sort of growth in there and it was not responding to medication. It had only got worse. I made a swift decision and we had the amputation done that day. She went home later that day and was acting normal about 2 hours after the grogginess wore off. The toe was non-weight bearing and they assured me that she wouldn’t even know it was gone (they were right … she’s been fine without it). Of course, the plan was to biopsy the tumor and the bone … and hope for the best.

Unfortunately, the news wasn’t so good. Daggit’s vet called on Aug. 18th with news that it was osteosarcoma in the toe that was removed. She was surprised that it was osteosarcoma because it usually doesn't show up in small bones. It's usually in leg bones or shoulder. She warned me that osteosarcoma is a highly metastatic cancer. It appears that they got it all in the toe and the surrounding margins in the soft tissue were clear and the surrounding joints were clear. They also did chest x-rays, which didn’t show any lesions or signs of metastasis.

Post-surgery and bandage removal, Daggit had to wear a sock (with a rubber band to hold it up) to keep her from licking the area. Since then, it has healed up nicely and you can baely notice her little toe is gone.

We are now almost 11 months post-diagnosis and Daggit is doing great! For the first 6 months, we met with Dr. Zwahlen once a month for additional blood work, x-rays and her medications. Daggit was on metronomic chemo treatments for 6 months. Metronomic chemo is a low-dose chemo protocol. Daggit received four different medications, including a chemo pill that she received every other day. She has been through many tests in the last few months ... so far, no sign of spreading!

In addition to her treatments, I consulted with a pet nutritionist to ensure she's on the right diet and supplements. My dogs were already on higher-protein kibble and I gave them fish oil every day. Since Daggit’s cancer diagnosis, she receives Nature’s Variety in the morning and a home cooked meal in the evening (protein and greens; low carbs, no sugar). To say the least, she’s eating very well and has actually gained a few pounds despite the chemo.

Daggit’s cancer journey has definitely served as a reminder, that no matter how trivial it may seem, please take your pups to the vet. And get pet insurance before it’s too late. I took Daggit in for what I thought was a bee sting in her paw and it turned out to be cancer. You can never be too careful. We hope that early detection and taking action to remove the toe has saved her.

Every dog deserves the chance to fight and to keep on living and loving. I’m so grateful that Daggit chose me at that puppy rescue over 9 years ago and I will do everything I can to see to it that she has many more years of playing ball and romping at the beach. Overall, I feel optimistic that Daggit will be with me for many more years!

Dolly

My Pit Bull Mix was diagnosed with stage 4 Vulgar Cancer(Mast Cell) after a tumor ruptured. She was operated on that day by our local Vet. and told her only chance of survival would be Chemo. treatment. We took her to the University of Florida Small Animal Clinic where she was evaluated. The operated again and she started Chemotherapy every other week. It was decided that radiation would not be used unless she did not react favorably to Chemo. due to the other organs that could be affected since it was in her vulva. She never missed a beat. She was excited for her one and a half hour trip to Gainesville and drug us into the Clinic for her treatments! Through the treatments and many Xrays and MRI's she never had to be sedated. The day I was worried most was the day after her second surgery, they wanted to keep her another night for observation but storms were forecast and I had to tell them that unless someone would be with her all night i needed to come get her. She has chewed through doors and even ran away for a night from her storm terror. Thy quickly agreed and it was smooth sailing through the treatments. I was told that there was a good chance that Cancer would return somewhere but after about 2 yrs she is doing great.

Diva

It was June 2008 when I took Diva for her annual checkup at her vet. Everything was normal or so I thought. When I got the results from her wellness exam, Diva's white blood cell count was 30,000. I was advised to take her to an Canine Oncologist immediately. I went for a second opinion the following week because I was in disbelief that my girl had cancer. After Diva's second blood test, her white cell count was 68,000. It had more than doubled in a week! So it was off to the Oncologist. At this point I was an emotional wreck and doing all kinds of research on canine cancer. I had stumbled across a holistic raw diet and Transfer Factor from Birkdale Medicinals. I wasnt ready to act because I wanted the Oncologists opinion. At the appt I was told that I had less than 24 hours to decide to start Diva on Chemo because of the severity of her cancer. I opted out and chose to start the holistic raw diet and the supplements from Tom at Birkdale Medicinals that included Transfer Factor. When I spoke to Tom he had told me about a dog down the street from him that had cancer and was doing well on the Transfer Factor and his supplements, so I ordered all that I could and waited patiently for my box to arrive. Diva has been on her raw diet and still takes her daily supplements from Birkdale Medicinals, its has been 2 years now and my girl is still with me! Her numbers are over 230,000 but she is now called a miracle dog at my vet's office. Thanks to all of you for keeping my girl with me for so much longer than I thought was possible. Mickie

Thank you to everyone who submitted a Cancer Survivor of the Month entry. Enter your dog in next months Cancer Survivor of the Month.