Boots has oral melanoma

Thanks, good points.

I am going to wait until we get the staining results back to discuss with vet and give him a list comparing AFCO Standard vs a detailed breakdown of my custom diet.
Calories, %Protein, %Fat, vitamin/minerals, vegetable (fiber/probiotics)
I am confident that the vitamins and minerals I can source are going to be almost completely plant-based and much better quality and bio-available/directly useable compared to the generic synthetics or mined ore/rocks baked in at a factory.
I don't believe this is going to make much of a difference in the final outcome.
I do think though that if a mass/tumor/growth was recently removed, relatively small, and potentially not metastisizing, getting an adequate amount of quality protein, fat and real vitamins and minerals easier to digest and utilize has to be a net benefit over meat/fat/carbs industrially stewed and sprinkled with cheapest vit/min. before being dried and bagged.
Some of the anti-cancer benefits of low carb which would be putting serious strain on hopefully a smaller number of remaining cancer cells potentially limiting their ability to grow/reproduce would also seem beneficial.

I wish Dr. Quahogg(?) were around to comment, as I really think I am being level-headed and logical vs grasping at straws.


Here is an interesting study that shows some benefit of low carb if done properly and for most/not all cancers.
https://www.cshl.edu/the-latest-weapon-against-cancer-is-a-keto-diet/
"Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is world-renowned for the excellence of its faculty, an international group of scientists with many different perspectives on education and research in the biological sciences."

I really do appreciate everyone's comments and efforts.
 
I totally agree with Sharon about most vets vs. nutritional knowledge. Unless you're talking to a dedicated nutritionist, sometimes we are our own best advocates with reliable research.

My only suggestion if you want to maintain the more-meat protocol might be to consider a fresh food diet...either one you make yourself (it's easier than you'd think) or one of the services that mail you food based on your dog's needs. If you opt for making it yourself, talk to the people at Natures Farmacy who have nutritionists on staff who will guide you in choosing what you need, supplements and ratios. There's no charge and they were invaluable when I was cooking for Flurry's allergy issues and just did it all in a slow cooker.
 
Sharon and Ann, thank you very much.

I will be making this myself vs the retail raw, and will be using the exact same meats and vegetables we eat ourselves.
Once I get the AFCO RDA, I will then start looking for food-derived vitamins/minerals to meet requirements vs trying to get 15-20 different vegetables.
Thanks for the Natures Farmacy tip, I will definitely try not to make a pest of myself...

Just spoke with my sister who's been an RN at the regional cancer center for 20 years and she really sort of talked me out of what seemed like a pit.
According to her, 4-5 weeks before even getting in for a consult is common in humans and does not seem to have much impact on mortality rates. There are unique exceptions, but not as often as one might think.

She also said if the mass/tumor removed was relatively small as it was, there is a chance that it was all removed, or any even smaller fragments would be seen when consult imaging is done and might be addressable with standard care because they are so small vs larger ones being less conducive to rad/chemo.

I thought I'd add that in the event someone else in the future comes across this post looking for information and is ready to lose it because they have x weeks before getting in to see an actual expert.

I am prepared for the worst, as I've been through this before with my Dad who passed from a glioblastoma.
Then 5-6 years ago my Mom went in for stomach cancer and she was out a few days later and was fine without chemo/radiation, to this day at 87.

The proper English word for this craziness is ineffable.

Thanks again for your kind assistance, and I'll update as I learn more.
 
Very sorry to hear this unhappy news. This is a hard time at the beginning and to no know what the actual outcome will be and know that many of us understand how those words from the vet - in one form or another- change our lives. We give them the best life we can and they return the favor to us and always that time is too short. I always find it odd to remember how quickly 13 or even 15 yrs goes by, best of luck to you and your fur buddy.
 
Sharon,
I take 200mg in the AM and 200 PM. This week I've been taking it occasionally mid-day as well because

Here is a snip-it from Memorial Sloan Kettering:
https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/l-theanine#msk_consumer

L-theanine is used to:

  • Improve sleep quality
  • Reduce anxiety
  • Prevent cancer
  • Lower your risk of getting a stroke (when there is no blood flow to your brain)
High-Dose Theanine is usually considered 4000-6500mg/day, and so far from all the reading I've done from official and non-official sources there has never been any sort of incident. Some people do complain of a headache, however even that seems rather rare.
Theanine is water soluble like Vitamin C, and it appears to be as non-over doseable.
200mg seems to be the standard dose, and again its about as subtle as taking a baby aspirin.
Some people take it for a couple weeks and stop because they report not getting anything out of it.
Many others take it and while they can't definitively describe its effect, they report just a slight reduction in perceived stress/anxiety which matches exactly to what the research has found. I guess similar to supplementing GABA.

This was a good description of it I found on Quora, if not overly scientific.
What is the "magic" behind L-Theanine's ability to make your brain feel so calm and clear without you feeling anything of its presence or residual effect?

The reason you don’t feel anything of its presence or residual effect is because the L-Theanine in green tea is a known substance in the body, i.e., its used 100% for the body’s functioning. It’s FOOD for the body. It is not a medicine or drug foreign to the body’s many metabolic processes, it’s suppose to be there so the body’s intelligence doesn’t treat it as a foreign or toxic or useless substance and try to get rid of it. It’s part of what makes you feel healthy, It’s not a burden or stress on the body.

When I was initially looking into this years ago, I saw the max dose 4-6K and worked my way up to that to see if 'more is always better, right!", and after I got up to a heaping teaspoon it became apparent that no, more doesn't seem to increase its effect, which makes sense as L-Theanine is USED in the body already and not some sort of drug that forces this or that process to work faster or differently.
So I just add it to my AM/PM meals like the rest of my vitamins/minerals/supplements and only notice its slight moderating effect when I run out of it.

Woof, appreciate your words.
I understand a lot of folks here have been through this, and multiple times at that.
While I am not really expecting some small hope to materialize in reality, just from reading this thread and talking to some people I've come to learn that 13 years is more, sometime a lot more than a many, many people have had. So, the emotions are still there however I'm a little happier/accepting reality believing that he didn't get the proverbial raw deal.

Margi, thanks for the tip. That and Natures Farmacy are queued up.
 
Missed the forum edit time-out, but I mentioned a couple of studies/briefs on Taurine and T-Cells.
I usually read the intro and results and skim the rest as its Masters/Phd level above me.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38565142/
Sorry, I can't ATM find the full study which is much, much longer and equally as dense but also gives a broader overview and explanation in-between.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10991389/
This is the full study, and aside from the intro, you can also skip down to the Results and following sections.

https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/ijo.2020.5100
"Taurine functions as a redox-directed agent to specifically target tumor cells, raising the possibilities to achieve drug selectivity without off-target toxicity. Several cases have proved that taurine displays strong growth-inhibitory effect on multiple cancer types including colon cancer (42,43), lung cancer (44), hepatocarcinoma (30), pancreatic cancer (45), glioma (46), melanoma (47) breast cancer (48-51), nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) (52), prostate cancer (53,54) and ovarian cancer (55,56)."

If someone is or knows someone with cancer, or had a pet with it, it would be a good idea to mention Taurine, even these cites to the Oncologist. A LOT of Dr's even specialist are not able to keep up with the research and end up waiting until something has been researched, gone through committees, evaluated by FDA-like beaurocracies, etc, etc. You never know, you might surprise your Dr, pique their interest and have the chance to get someone just another small % chance of winning.
Boots has been on Taurine for probably almost 2 months when we started as well.
In a way, its almost like a natural chemo-like treatment.
I doubt it did very much, but at least I'm pretty sure his T-Cell count is probably nice and high.

I try to stop the continual posts, we had a pretty good day.
 
I'm glad I finally got to reading your posts here. I'm going to look into these supplements....I'm currently in treatment for breast cancer. Surgery was a month ago and I'm about to start daily radiation today. I'm a firm believer in the power of good supplements, many of which I've learned about doing research for my dogs, and your info on Taurine and l-Theanine are something I want to explore, along with the mandatory bunch of meds the oncologists are insisting I take. Thanks for all this information!
 
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