Supplements and Post Appetite Loss Update

Emily's appetite has returned to normal.  Now I just have to get her pill schedule back to normal.  Right now she's reversed, Prednisone in the AM and Prilosec (for her stomach) in the PM.  She had a huge breakfast with all her components, meat mix, veg mix and garlic turmeric mix, no problem.  Yesterday she got her supplements.  I've added a multivitamin, Centrum Forte, and 1000 mg of L-Arginine and 2 tsp of L-Glutamine in powder formula.  When she eats the ND diet she really only needs half of these but she's hit or miss on the ND diet so until I'm sure she's going to eat it I prefer to give her the full dose.  Thank god Santa brought me a mortar and pestle for Christmas.  The most use it gets is smashing up her pills to sprinkle on her meals. 

Aside from the Multivitamin, Arginine and Glutamine, Emily also get digestive enzymes with each meal, 1 glucosamine/chondroitin tablet per day, 10 wild salmon pills (yup, 10... plus she gets fatty fish during the day!) and 1 tsp of flax seed oil drizzled on either yogurt or cottage cheese.  Both yogurt and cottage cheese have active bacteria cultures which are not only excellent for digestive health but also general health overall, for both our dogs and us!  Watch for additional ingredients.  I like to see nothing else but milk and active bacteria cultures. 

There are a lot of options out there for supplements and you can make yourself crazy.  One important warning - You must be sure they don't interact negatively with the chemo or any other meds your dog is on.  Consult your vet.  But be aware, a lot of vets aren't well versed in supplements so do your homework if you aren't confident.  I have an entire vet office consulting and researching on Emily's case so I really like consulting them after I've done my research just to be sure I haven't missed something.  I'm sticking with the basics as recommended by Dr. Ogilvie years ago and still supported by conventional research.  Arginine, Glutamine and the Omega Fat pills in the form of Wild Fish Oils are the most important. 

Today Emily has had a raw from frozen, straight from the freezer beef marrow bone, 2 play session in the yard with her balls, a huge breakfast and is now enjoying a well deserved nap.  I need to get her in the tub but she's had such a rough week and is just now feeling like herself so I hate to torture her (or I might just be procrastinating...)  We'll see how the rest of the day goes.  Staying on top of her grooming while she is feeling okay really is the best idea.  She's just so damn peaceful and content at the very moment.