Onward and Upward

Mosby has had a good couple of weeks. He is a happy boy, enjoying his new house, trips to the barn, and daycare.

On Thursday he had his 3 week checkup following the end of his carbo treatment. His bloodwork is good and there is nothing visible on his chest x-rays. We were given the choice of metronomic treatment. I’m somewhat ambivalent on this. There are no studies that show it makes a difference in the prognosis; it seems to be more of a “well, it can’t hurt,” treatment, provided that your dog doesn’t react poorly to it. Other than stomach issues, the main side effect that it can have is that long term, it can impact blood marrow. It will require more frequent bloodwork and checkups.

Chris and I decided that we will at least try it, and if it impacts Mosby’s quality of life in any way, we will stop it. We certainly want to give him every chance at a longer life, but only if he has a great quality of life. He’s such a happy and bright boy right now, so if that changes at all, we’ll stop the chemo.

Haven’t taken too many pictures lately. Mosby had a good trip to the barn last Sunday. His brother Arlo pulled his shoe that morning – in his stall, which takes some talent – so I couldn’t ride, so I groomed him and we hung out.

Hanging out in the tall grass.
Mosby’s brother Arlo is not sure what he thinks about the dog lurking in the tall grass … but he sure looks awfully cute here!

7 thoughts on “Onward and Upward”

  1. It’s great to hear the he’s been doing so well! Keep us updated on how the metronomic is going please!! And I would have done the same. Try everything, you can always discontinue.
    All the best to the lovely Colonel and his gorgeous brother Arlo (what breed is he? Oldenburg?) and you, of course!
    tuna & Manni

    1. He’s a registered Canadian Warmblood, because he was bred there, but he’s 1/2 Selle Francais, 1/4 Swiss Warmblood and 1/4 American Thoroughbred. So, kind of a mutt. 🙂 He has a lot of the Selle Francais characteristics of being very personable and interested in everyone and everything. He’s a nice horse, but pretty spoiled, go figure. 🙂

      1. I had a Lusitaine (Portuguese Andalucian basically) for 12 years with the same characteristics and he was also a clown and spoiled rotten… go figure…😊

  2. You know, it is funny: have not seen The Colonel in awhile and the very first thing that struck me is how HEALTHY and HAPPY he looks. That picture! He truly looks as if all is WELL in his world! (Arlo, you gotta keep up with the handsome Mosby. Maybe you wanted to pull a show in honor of TriPawdness…?) Big kisses to The Colonel!

    1. Haha! TriHoof doesn’t quite have the same ring, does it? Yes, Mosby has definitely reached a point where he seems happy, bright and interested in everything. So grateful right now.

  3. Glad to hear Mosby is doing well! We also opted to do metronomic therapy for the reason you mentioned – it can’t hurt, and may help. What drug are you using? We used cytoxan, and along with it, piroxicam (an anti-inflammatory). Nitro was on it for about 10 months before he developed cystitis – one of the side effects; I work at a hospital lab, so was able to do frequent urinalysis’s on him and caught it early. Once this happened, he had to stop the drug. One thing: Nitro developed incontinence about this time….we may never be able to prove it was due to the chemo, but there are studies that support this. Throw into the mix that he was an 11 yr old Dobe, and it’s hard to know if this was something that was bound to happen anyway. Just want you to have all the facts as you move forward. Good luck! And congrats on things going well.

    Paula and Nitro

  4. It’s so nice to see the Colonel hanging out and having fun with Arlo!

    About metronomics: we tried it with Jerry and felt that it, along with mushroom therapy (K9 Immunity) gave him an excellent quality of life and prevented his existing mets from growing faster. We’ve also seen quite a few members’ dogs go on to beat the odds while they were on metronomics. Although we can’t prove that is the reason they beat the odds, it sure seems to point to the treatment.

    If you don’t like it you can always stop as you know, so why not give it a whirl? Let us know how it goes OK?

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