Case Report for “Bailey” Allin

Bailey is an 8.5 yr old M/N Golden Retriever who came down with generalised lymphadenopathy (prescapular LN 7 cm x 4 cm in size), and was diagnosed with multicentric lymphoma by FNA and pathology. At the onset of his cancer he was 78lbs and a body condition of 3/5 (ideal). He had no other illness at that time, except underlying atopy (which was controlled with serum allergy injections for previous 2 yrs.) and gastric hypomotility (controlled with Metoclopramide 5 mg q12h). He was borderline anaemic, but otherwise non-clinical for lymphoma.

He started on the Madison-Wisconsin chemotherapy protocol November 11, 2009, under the guidance of Dr. Kevin Finora. Over the next 2 weeks he developed cancer cachexia, lost about 8 lbs and went to a body condition score of 1.5-2/5. He looked like a skeleton in Golden Retriever fur. He usually maintained on 2.75 cups/day of “Bailey Hills Prescription Diet j/d. I had increased him to 6 cups daily, plus 2 eggs and Hills Prescription Diet n/d canned. He still lost 4lbs per week. He had no energy, was not playful and seemed depressed. His lymphadenopathy responded within one week of treatment and his lymph nodes returned to normal. At this point, he became anorexic and was fading away.

I started cooking a custom home-made recipe by Hilary Watson on November 28th, 2009 (see recipe on next page) and, although transitioning slowly, Bailey had more energy within 3 days of starting the new diet. Over the next 4 weeks this dog put all his former weight back on and an extra 5 lbs. His temporal muscles filled back out to normal, and he returned to a happy, active, spunky golden retriever with a coat that has never been this shiny and smooth.

Dr. Finora could not believe that the initially progressive anaemia of chronic disease was no longer progressive and has even improved to the point where it is almost back to normal not even a month into the diet. He says that normally cancer dogs on chemotherapy do not regenerate until the chemotherapy is completed.

I truly feel that Bailey would have been euthanised due to quality of life and wasting away towards the end of November had he not had this nutrition change and dramatic response. I owe Hilary a lot for helping my dog get back to his normal active, happy self.

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