Fighting Cancer with Friskie

This post is a long time overdue. It's been 4 months since I've written, and this topic was next on my list but was still too painful to tackle.

It Begins

One day, I came home to find Friskie under our bed. She'd thrown up and seemed off. She wouldn't come out from under the bed. I took her in my arms. All of a sudden, she howled and threw up again. She did not drink or eat for twelve hours; huge red flag. X-rays revealed developing stages of pneumonia, most likely due to aspirating vomit, which might have not happened had I not moved her from the bed to the floor when she started to throw up. NEVER move a cat when he/she is throwing up. Though in this case…it saved her life. 

We hospitalized her for three days, put her on antibiotics and every night for two weeks we would take her into our bathroom to let her breathe in the foggy after-shower air, patting her on the back to help clear her lungs. 

The x-ray … had also revealed an "abnormality" in her lower intestines. They referred me to oncology.

The Diagnosis

On February 2, 2013, my 9 year old Friskie was diagnosed with GI Lymphoma at the VCA West LA Animal Hospital. It easily goes down as one of the saddest days of my life. She had two months to live if we kept her just on prednisone (a steroid)…or 4 months with chemo. We proceeded with the first round of chemo on the spot, not knowing exactly what we were doing yet. The car ride home was like being stuck in a nightmare. 


What To Do?

I went home and researched and read EVERYTHING there was to read about Lymphoma down to the cellular level. What more could I do other than fully educate myself? I'm no vet, but I have intuition, so I began turning the wheels on how to potentially reverse the process. It has to be out there, I thought. The Livestrong website was a big resource for me, particularly when it came to diet.

Many wonder if it is humane to administer chemo to a cat or dog. First, I will preface with saying that my boyfriend and I made the decision to take our cues from Friskie. This would ALL be for her, and the second Friskie stopped being Friskie, we would talk. We never intended to prolong her life but rather maintain her quality of life. The dose of chemo administered to cats and dogs is much lower than a human dose proportionally and is sadly not meant to cure. There are rarely any visible side effects. In Friskie's case, it took maybe a year before she starting losing a couple of patches of fur on the side of her belly. Just recently, the VCA began performing its very first bone marrow transplants on dogs with a great survival rate, but it is still a new procedure and currently not an option for cats.

You might be wondering why we couldn't just "extract" the cancer. Well, lymphoma is not a definitive mass. In Friskie's case, she had a 1 cm clump of enlarged tissue in her ileum and multiple large lymph nodes surrounding it. 

Holistic Care

I read about holistic remedies as well, and I truly believe that it was because of her holistic care that she lived Three times longer than the average cat lives with GI Lymphoma. In fact, they told us at the VCA that she had been the longest living cat with Lymphoma that they'd had!

First, I changed her diet. I changed Sweetie's diet too, as two weeks after Friskie's diagnosis, Sweetie was diagnosed with Stage 3 Renal Failure and Hyperthyroidism. FML, right? This decision came after reading that one of the main causes of cancer in our pets is believed to be caused by poor diet. Overvaccination and environmental factors are two other factors. 

What defines a poor diet? Well, pretty much a diet that is not in line with what their bodies and digestive systems are meant to thrive on, which in a cat's case, is pure, raw protein (and some fruits and veggies!). I've talked about raw food in other posts, so all I'll say here is that I began feeding my girls Bioethics Petfood. They loved it. 

Then, I took Friskie to Dr. Palmquist at Centinela Animal Hospital, hands down one of the best vets I've been lucky enough to meet. He performed a muscle test on Friskie and measured her body's response to various supplements, of which he picked the ones her body needed. We gave her Standard Process Cardiac Support as well as Hepatic Support, and Kidney and Heart Glandular Support.

The idea behind holistic support is that we'd be treating her entire body and supporting her organ strength through the chemo process.

I also found a shamanic healer, Olivia Olkowski, who made her a necklace out of pink rhodocrosite and yellow citrine, both meant to aid emotional healing. Hey, when it comes to cancer, there's no harm in trying EVERYTHING.

Chemo

Her oncologists wanted to begin an "aggressive" protocol, so for the first four months, we took her in to get chemo once a week, every Saturday morning, following a normal white blood count. Our oncologist, Trina Hazzah, and her assistant Alma Fosados, are two of the most wonderful human beings on the planet. They fell in love with Friskie…a Calico who would actually fall asleep with the drip in? Unheard of! They are both loving, compassionate women. They talked to us like a friend would. That made ALL the difference.

The chemo Friskie received was cycled every three weeks. One week, she would get Vincristine, the second, Cytoxan, and the third Doxorubicin. The idea behind the various types is that were she on one alone, her body would eventually grow resistant to the one drug very quickly. Additionally, every single night, I would administer 1 mg of chicken flavored Prednisone. I need to mention that had it not been for PetPlan pet insurance, we would've been in the biggest debt of our lives! Each chemo appointment was costing us between $250 and $450. 

White Blood Count

The challenge we sometimes experienced with the chemo is that Friskie's white blood count would drop dramatically and we would have to forgo chemo, which was worrying, because cancer cells multiply exponentially. This happened maybe 4 times the first few months. We realized that this was expected, since animals who develop cancer are usually immune deficient, and Friskie had always been lethargic. Plus, chemo does not just target the cancer. It targets everything, even the good cells.

So of course I went home and read about how to boost white blood counts in cats. For an entire year, Chuck and I went to the Hollywood Farmers market just to get organic ingredients for a soup I fashioned out of reishi, maitake and shiitake mushrooms, with some kale and spinach. I would add a teaspoon or so into her food. Olivia also recommended a wonderful company based out of Australia. McDowell's Herbal Treatments makes these wonderful tonics for dogs, cats, horses and humans. After a lengthy exchange with one of the owners, she recommended Maritime Pine Bark, a strong antioxidant that would help clear free radicals, and CBQ, for supporting bone marrow and red blood cell production. She would get 5 drops of each in her food twice a day. We would have to time her antioxidants and supplements so she wouldn't get them 2-3 days before and 2-3 days after chemo, because it is believed (and I still don't know that this is true or verified) that antioxidants could potentially "kill" the chemo. So it became a balancing act of sorts. Soon enough, her white blood count stayed consistently normal for the duration of her illness. I also added a daily chlorella tablet, which she loved, and plenty of kitty grass!


After the first 4 months, we started going to chemo every 2 weeks, then once every 3 weeks thereafter. She did wonderfully, and she even looked forward to the car rides! She had energy, she loved her food, and she loved sunning outdoors.

When Chemo Stops Working 

In February 2014, I took her in for an ultrasound check-up, and they detected the abnormality once more. She was coming out of remission. We were presented with two different chemo options. One would likely make her very sick, and the second, maybe not so much. We opted with the least aggressive, CeeNu, a bi-weekly pill. However, this pill would cause her white blood to drop dramatically for an extended period of time.  And I could never seem to get it back up. I tried Essiac tea, spirulina... We had to forgo chemo several times. In May, she began to lose her appetite. She lost weight. She started sleeping most of the day. I even resorted to feeding her canned gravy foods, of which she'd eat minimal portions. On May 16th, an ultrasound showed that her mass had now grown to 5 cm. We were beginning to lose the battle. Right then, I decided we would let her go the following day. By the way, I know I sound like I'm just stating facts, but it would take entirely a different entry to describe how incredibly hard and beautiful this entire emotional ride was. And I already write really long entries, so please use your imagination.


Saying Goodbye 

I had an emergency conversation with our animal communicator, Christine Sang, a wonderful, gifted woman, who helped me get to know my little soul mates earlier that year. Friskie was already leaving, and she was happy and ready to do so, and she wanted to be at home with her family. So we released her at 2:30 pm on Saturday, May 17th from our bedroom balcony. Christine couldn't have been more accurate. When I placed Friskie on her blanket, surrounded by a few special things, she very willingly laid down, even with the two vets around. 

I will not end on a sad note, because that is not what Friskie's about. I will share an innocently (now funny) thing that happened during her release. The vets gave Friskie and injection and asked us if we wanted a moment alone with her we said yes. We laid with her and spoke to her and stroked her. She was so very calmly asleep. Two minutes later, I looked at Chuck and said, "Um...She's still breathing." Chuck so very optimistically responds, "Just like Friskie…living longer than expected." But then it got to be a little too long, and Chuck went outside and told the vets that Friskie was still breathing. The vets informed us that they had only administered a tranquilizer. Doh! After they administered the euthanasia, in 10 seconds, she was very gently gone. Friskie lived one year and 5 months post-diagnosis.

I cannot explain how much Friskie did for this family. She was my true soulmate. Chuck and I cried, we laughed, we fought, but most of all, we learned and we grew stronger because of her. Christine had told us, shortly after she was diagnosed, that Friskie was the cogs and wheels of our home. Which she was.  She would always make sure everyone was taken care of before she was. She was a Mary Poppins of sorts, she said, coming into the lives of those who needed her the most. And we did. And now I can see why. She was a true embodiment of the purest love and I will forever be grateful for her finding me. 

Back to the Basics; Feeding your Pet Raw Food - Interview with Susan Hua

In August of 2013, I was scrambling to find an animal nutritionist who could advise me on a natural raw diet for Sweetie, who was diagnosed with kidney disease in February 2013. She was initially was prescribed Royal Canin (similar family as Science Diet), which I started giving her against my intuition. It made her lose weight and gave her yellow diarrhea. Awesome. I later learned that this was most likely due to the fact that the first ingredient was corn.

If I was treating Friskie holistically for her lymphoma, why should I treat Sweetie any differently? So I went on a search. I found a few different animal nutritionists, but they seemed overcomplicated (and expensive!!!). I decided to go to Susan Hua, owner of Bioethics Petfood, whose tent I had recently visited on Sundays at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market.

She knew more about nutrition than any vet I’ve spoken to. She said that if anything, vets have ONE hour of nutrition training in their entire careers! I researched and found that this is because many of these “high end” food companies PAY for vet schooling, and many veterinary offices get incentives, according to a Wall Street Journal article. "Money talks and vets listen! Science Diet has a huge kick-back program for vets," says Susan.

Hippocrates said that medicine IS the FOOD we eat. Why don’t more doctors treat us with food? Why are we so overmedicated?? Why are our pets? Because it is a business. And because humans have the tendency to seek complicated answers. 

Always do check with your vet to make sure your pet doesn’t have any food allergies or other medical conditions that certain ingredients in their food might exacerbate. I will ALWAYS recommend a holistic vet over a traditional vet for this purpose.

I conducted an interview with Susan, where she answers many of my questions (and yours!) about raw food. If you find this interview helpful and would like to transition your pet to raw, please visit the Bioethics Pet Food website, or drop by their tent!

How did you start your business?

Susan: I started making my own food many years ago, because I could not find anything that would meet my basic standards. I constantly studied up on pet nutrition because my pets’ health and wellbeing were in my hands. I took full responsibility, so I had to make sure that I learned everything. I want to pass my knowledge along, because I want to save lives! I want our pets to live long, happy and healthy. It might sound extreme, but my love for animals is so profound that it seems wrong to just absent mindedly feed them what others purposely deem bad/inferior. 

How important is nutrition for our pets?

Susan: Good nutrition accounts for 70% of our health and wellbeing. I deducted that this must be true for pets as well. As you well know, the pet food industry is shameful! When Brian [co-owner of Bioethics Pet Food] and I did our business plan, we came up with our company’s name (“ethic” being the key part) because we said that we would be a pet food company that is love driven, not profit driven. We both have MBAs, so we know and respect profit, but we love animals first and foremost. We were shocked that there’s a whole industry that would feed our pets junk simply because they do not have a voice to protest. It drives me absolutely insane that people often feed ONE type of (terrible) dry food the entire life of their pet(s). Could you imagine? That’s like eating only Big Macs and French fries from McDonald’s everyday of your life. How could that be healthy? 

Why don't we get more nutrition advice from our vets?

Susan: The average vet program only spends an hour on nutrition; the average vet knows nothing about nutrition! I have had quite a few vets, and not one ever discussed nutrition with me until the onset of a disease. Companies such as Science Diet (misnomer) spend tons of money wooing vets. As you mentioned one time, the same brands that got our pets sick in the first place are then packed with drugs in a prescriptive diet to “cure”.  How convenient! Even holistic vets do not put much emphasis on lifelong nutrition. It appears that very few people see the connection between good nutrition and good health for their pets. My hope is that as people are eating healthier, they look over at what their pets are fed and make the ethical (see, it’s that word again!) choice of doing what is right. Yes, it would require more work and can be more expensive. Are our pets worth it? Do we owe it to them to do the right thing? Yes! Yes!

Do you use grains in your recipes?

Susan: I do not include grains in my cat food recipes.  In addition, I do not use pea nor beet protein. Lots of commercial brands, especially the more premium brands, use pea/beet protein to boost their protein count. Pea, especially is high in protein relative to other veggies, so it’s a cheap way to get extra protein without spending money on meat protein. Cats do not do well on veggie-based protein. As for rice, cats do not need grains in their diet. It was not part of their ancestral diet. Grains are cheap fillers in cat food.

Where does your meat come from and what are some of the standards you have for its quality?

Susan: My raw food is made up of 100% human grade food (just as my traditionally cooked). I truly believe that there’s more accountability in food prepared for human consumption than if not. USDA inspection is very strict because of the huge price of liability. I do not regard my pets as second rate creatures, so I do not feed them as such.  This is the same belief carried over to my food for pets whose pet-parents do not treat them as just animals.

Our meat purveyor is a company that supplies mainly to some of the top restaurants in the L.A. area. We feel that restaurants are held to a much higher standard due to the premium price consumers pay for the food/meat. Should there be a salmonella or mad cow disease outbreak, a higher and quicker alert would go out to the consumers if the restaurants want to minimize the damage. There just seems to be more at stake from such a reputable purveyor.  

We also require that all the meats are holistic, no hormones or antibiotics used.  The purveyor is smaller and their pricing is higher. I am a huge believer that you get what you pay for. We are not after the cheaper meats out there. We want quality that befits the company we want to be. I want our niche to be premium and quality. I don’t want to be just another cheap, poorly made, damage causing pet food. You would agree that there are already plenty of those types of pet food companies out there. It is not about how we can compete by low-balling everything. It is all about consciously making something of value for the customers we respect (because they want better for their pets) and the animals we love.

What does a raw diet consist of?

Susan: My argument for a raw diet is that you have to use fresh, local ingredients.  Everything shows through more apparently in the meals you prepare when working with raw ingredients. I can see, smell and feel the texture of everything that goes into the food I prepare. I do this with my own food and I translate this to the pet food I make. I do this because there’s a need for such quality food. I, of course, cannot ever promise that the meats are 100% free of anything bad.  However, I am hedging against meat purveyors who have to answer to the toughest critics: high paying customers, not to mention the usual health and safety governmental agencies. Everyone involved is there to protect the consumers (people) and to do everything they can to not damage their credibility and reputation. Some pet food companies purposely buy their meats “not fit for human consumption” to save money (the operative word is of course ‘human’). There is a difference. 

Why is a raw diet simply better for our pets?

Susan: The raw diet, which is quite similar to what many are calling the "ancestral

diet", is beneficial in many ways. Raw ingredients are much more straight forward. What you see is what you get. This translates to better ingredients, resulting in better nutrition offered. Also, raw food lends itself well to limited ingredients, another increasingly popular idea in pet food. Limited ingredients basically means that only the necessary and beneficial ingredients are used in preparing the food. There is no need for  additives, artificial flavors or stand-in ingredients such as pea protein to take the place of real animal protein. This is all due to the fact that raw offers superior nutrition, flavor and

digestibility. Even though our pets have long been domesticated, they remain ill equipped to thrive on a diet of processed food such as canned food and kibbles, especially when those foods are made of ingredients we deem inferior. Ultimately, raw food is more honest food.

Is there ever a risk in feeding raw?

Susan: There’s always a risk in everything: raw or otherwise. People often bestow their own prejudice, fear and righteousness onto their “charge” (pets, children). While most people have learned not to interfere with others’ method of rearing their children, those same people have no qualms about being judemental on how pet parents care for their cats or dogs. Did you know that a number of customers actually said to me that they do not tell their friends/family about our food for fear of being chastised for spending such money on their beloved pets?

People who feed raw, I believe, feel the benefits outweigh the risks. The big tainted pet food scare a few years back was due to melamine in kibbles. It’s tougher to hide bad/cheap ingredients in raw food. Also, there are strict standards in the meat industry in THIS country. For the most parts, raw ingredients are not imported.

So, it’s a matter of choice. People should really research into something before letting their own fear/prejudice make uninformed decisions.

What are the downfalls of processed pet food?

Susan: Canned, processed food can hide a myriad of less than best ingredients. What’s really in the food? We simply do not know. To me, this risk is much greater than feeding raw. Also, cooked meats contain ash, which is very hard on the digestive system. Ash overtime does a lot of damage to the body. 

How do you recommend transitioning pets to raw?

Susan:  Research and be convinced that raw is best for your pet(s). Otherwise, you will abandon the practice at the first sign of anything different (purging of waste, coat, breath, etc.) even if the raw diet is not at all the culprit. A recent customer transitioned her two dogs nicely to our raw food for almost two months. One dog started throwing up sporadically perhaps because she picked up something on her walks. The other dog was fine. The customer stopped feeding raw to both dogs, convinced that the raw food was making the one dog sick. They are on our food still (cooked version), but not raw. I can’t help but think that the raw food was falsely blamed because the second dog was fine.

Patience. Start by a small amount of raw added to the regular food. Gradually increase raw while decreasing the old food, keeping portion the same as before. Eventually complete transitioning to raw. Keep a close eye on the reaction to the raw food. It is very possible that an animal will not take to raw, especially when it’s been forever fed the traditional canned or worse, kibbles and ultimately worst, ONE kind of food (the SAME kind of one food year after year for years!).

As with any diet, variety is important. You cannot get the spectrum of nutrients needed by just eating one food and popping vitamins. This applies to our pets as well. Go with a raw diet that incorporates various kinds of high quality protein. For instance, pork is very high in the B vitamins. Rotating various meats will cover a wider variety of vitamins/nutrients.

And how do you approach a pet store about carrying raw food?

Susan: Approach a pet store to carry what you want by asking.  A store is a business, and if enough requests come in, management will respond accordingly. This might take some time, so seek out stores that are smaller, more responsive to their customers and/or have a certain value in place.  Some stores do shun the Science Diet, Purina types of commercial food. Check to see if they are open minded to the quality of the food.  If they are, they will usually see the value in carrying raw.

Finally, what do you think about the larger companies now starting to carry raw food?

Susan: Personally, I am weary of larger companies in preparing pet food. When it’s just a business and machines are employed to make food, I tend to think that something is compromised. How long has the raw food been frozen? Both flavor and nutrients dissipate over time. Where is the raw food made? Why does the food have to travel from let’s say Kansas City, Missouri when we have perfectly good, raw meat here? For certain, the food was not made this week or at most last week. Food, such as Nature’s Variety Instinct, is not cheap. Again, what am I paying for exactly? The expense in shipping? The slick advertising? The freezer the food is placed in? I would want all, if not most of the money to go into the quality of the food. With that said, I am aware that sometimes Nature’s Variety is the best option available. If that’s the case, just make sure that you have exhausted other options and deem that NV, for example, is the best value for the money. Try to look for companies that have a face, not just a corporation. Study up on the people in the company. Do they love animals? How do they love animals? Are they involved in rescue work or other related animal issues? 

Bottom line: do they manipulate your love of your pets to make money or do they provide a (much lacked) service that would enable you to love your pets properly?

Your Kitty Litter Troubles Are Over!

I've tried just about every brand of cat litter out there, but only two have stuck around our house, and I am rating them the best cat litter everrrr!

The first is Trader Joe's Premium Pine Cat Litter. The small $3.49 bag contains a 4 week supply (maybe a couple if you have more than one cat)! If you've never tried pine cat litter, it works in reverse. It starts out in pellets, and as the pellets absorb moisture, they dissolve. You basically turn it over with your scooper every couple of days to bring the intact pellets at the bottom up to the surface, with no need to empty it until the entire thing is dissolved. The only thing you can dispose of as it happens is the poop. Funny enough, none of my three cats use this kitty litter for #2. They only use it for peeing! The cherry on top… emptying it sends a refreshing wave of pine aromatherapy up your nostrils!

Before

After

The other cat litter I love is Swheat Scoop. This one costs more than your conventional cat litter but it's completely natural. The wheat clumps extremely well, absorbs odors, has no chemicals, is non-toxic, is biodegradable and is certified flushable! 

And of course, you cannot clean a kitty litter box quickly, efficiently and neatly without the proper kitty litter box! I considered an automated kitty litter box for a while. With three kitties, you pretty much have to clean the kitty litter everyday! The problem with automatic cat litters is they are extremely expensive and they also tend to be very small, and of course, they're not full-proof. They can break or get jammed. But I found the next best thing! The Omega Paw Roll'n Clean self-cleaning litter box. Is is AMAZING. It has a sifter inside, so you roll it to the right, the litter sifts into a separate compartment, you keep rolling until it's a little over a 90 degree angle from it's natural upright position, and the clumps all fall into the pullout tray. Oh my goodness. It's been a lifesaver! And at around $30, you can't beat the price!