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Wt Loss In A Dog

by CorinneC - November 4, 2024 View Case Report

Stella is my own dog, she’s almost 12yo FS shepherd x collie and the love of my life.

She was having a raspy gag for about a month, but she had fallen hard on her chest on slippery logs so I thought it was due to that. Cough/ gag became progressively worse so I sedated to check her throat (hoping for grass caught in tonsillar crypts but no) and only found a small amount of serosanguinous fluid at her laryngeal area. Xrayed and found a large dense lung mass in Rt lung lobe. Confirmed with ultrasound friend to most likely be bronchogenic carcinoma without biopsy.

Looking back Stella had slimmed down over the last year but I convinced myself it was her aging. Stella was a rescue and spayed at 2 myh of age as well. Up until a month ago Stella never missed a meal and now she only eats half her breakfast but eats dinner no problem. I am giving her Halscion (for the cancer, ShaoYang disharmony, Yang rising), Lumbrex (has been on this since Spring for a slowly reducing hind end muscle mass and subtle weakness, although she can still jump in and out of our truck), Lions mane, Vit D3, CBD, EFAs. Most of this is put in her breakfast so this may be hampering her appetite. Dr Royal also suggests SID feeding for cancer especially so I haven’t been too worried but…

Stella’s tongue is pink-lavender, thin, moist. Her pulses are pretty narrow, less toned than I’d like. She’s always had pretty taut narrow pulses. I’ve had her on XFZYT and BGT over the years because she is a jumpy nervous girl. Moreso with sound now. She barely gags now unless she overdoes it. She seems happy enough, keeping up on walks but not as adventurous for sure.

I just feel like I’m missing something.

Thank you in advance,
Corinne

by naturevet

November 6, 2024

Hi Corinne! Too bad I didn't have a chance to check your dog for you when we were out there!

In the CIVT cancer lecture I did recently, I discussed one case (Nikki) who had this diagnosis. She went into remission on Modified Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang, Xiao Chai Hu Tang and Liu Jun Zi Tang. The latter combats cachexia and of course supports appetite. You're already doing well, but I would bet the above protocol would go down well and might support her even better. Otherwise, at least add in the mXFZYT and the LJZT, one at a time so you know what to attribute changes to.

Hopefully this helps. What luck for a dog who gets cancer to be owned by one of Canada's top holistic vets!

Steve

by CorinneC

November 7, 2024

Oh Steve! You are so kind :) I wish I was half the Vet you and Karen are! One day!! And I would never ask you to look at my dog while you’re on vacation. Not cool. Anyways, I’m so very grateful for your help. Stella means the world to me. And I’m kicking myself for not looking over those cancer notes! I read them this aft between appointments and there “Nikki” was! Perfect! I will start this protocol tomorrow morning (brought it all home). Likely start the XCHT and modXFZYT first and see how she does with that first. Then add in LJZT in a couple days. Her appetite has been a little better this week as I stopped the mushrooms to give her a bit of a break. Her breakfast was essentially powder and meat! Blech!!

Again, thank you for all you do!!!
Corinne

by naturevet

November 7, 2024

My pleasure! Let us know how things go! Hopefully your dog is another Nikki!

S

by CorinneC

November 8, 2024

Fingers, toes, and eyeballs crossed!!

C

by CorinneC

February 22, 2025

Stella is very much still with us! She has been on modXFZYT, LJZT, and XCHT since your recommended. I also added mushrooms, one a mix with Turkey Tail, and then Lions Mane on its own as well as ApoCaps. She stopped eating with all of this added, even if I mixed in peanut butter or just plain butter. I panicked and stopped it all for a week in January as she wasn't eating, but then she went rapidly downhill with lots of coughing, weakness, atrophy. So then I started mixing it all in bone broth and I have been syringing the mix in once daily in the morning so her food is "untainted". We both hate the syringing, but then she eats, plays, and seems very content. She is still going for daily walks, happily canters along beside her buddy Gary the rat terrier X Chihuahua. Her tongue is still lavender purple with some pink, relatively moist, normal size. Pulses are fairly narrow, wiry. But her vitality is back! I am so glad to have her here and feeling well. Much gratitude Steve!

by CorinneC

June 1, 2025

Stella is SO remarkable! She is still on her daily XCHT, modXFZYT, LJZT, mushrooms, ApoCaps, Fenbendazole, mixed in bone broth and syringed in. O/wise she lives a pretty normal life. Still goes for daily adventures on the beach or forest with her gang. Still very active and a good BID appetite. I am so grateful for TCM!! We are at the 8mth mark fro diagnosis.

by CorinneC

November 2, 2025

Stella is definitely declining this Fall. She has had a wonderful summer but by September I really started to see the muscle atrophy and hindend weakness begin. She was just barely getting into the truck and cannot jump up on our bed anymore which breaks my heart. Out of desperation, I added Lumbrex to her long list of herbs and supplements. It has provided no improvement in the hindend, and I think her condition has worsened. I am not sure it is the Lumbrex so much as the time fo year and the duration of her disease. She is now drinking more water, tends to really tank up, especially after a walk or at night. Still very continent though. But her muscle loss is making her generally weak. In the morning, she will get up and sometimes collapse with what I assume is poor peripheral blood flow and numbness from lying on one side all night.

Her appetite in the morning is poor, and she will often wait until later in the am or early afternoon to eat but always eats her dinner well. I switched her to home cooked this Fall with the poor appetite and it helped somewhat but she still skips breakfast. I wonder if it has to do with her syringeful of goop every morning too? Stools are typically WNL, but occasionally loose or mucoid. She shows no obvious signs of nausea, no lip-licking, V+, regurg, etc. She sleeps well through the night. Panted a bit at night in the summer but seems better regulated with the cooler Fall weather.

She is still very game to go for our daily walks and hikes, we are just more cautious with lifting her in and out of the truck and not going nearly as far.

She moans/groans a lot now, just lying on her bed. Varies in timing. Tried pain relief but makes no difference. I have a few other senior patients who people say their dogs do the same. She is not in distress. Sometimes I even wonder if she does it for attention as one of us (or all) tend to fawn over her unless its the middle of the night? She coughs rarely, mostly a throaty raspy clearing that sometimes ends with a gag, non-productive.

I wonder about adding something in like YGJ or increasing her LJZT? I stopped Lumbrex for now just in case I'd messed things up.

by CorinneC

January 17, 2026

Stella was on cooked food for most of the Fall as she started to decline and her appetite was low. She decided just after Christmas, though, that she wants raw again and has been happily eating raw Carnivora beef/goat/pork on the regular. My most recent concern is her "throaty gurgle". She can be lying beside me on the cough and she often gags now, but I hear fluid in her throat gurgling? Her heart and lungs sound clear and WNL. I expect this is due to the mass in her lungs causing reduced bloodflow/circulation and fluid building up in her trachea? Is there anything you can think of holistically that would help?

She is presently on: modXFZYT, XCHT, LJZT, turkey tail, lions mane, and Apo-Caps daily in a slurry.

Thank you!
Corinne

by naturevet

January 25, 2026

Hi Corinne,

I'm not sure I wasn't getting notifications about Stella. Earlier this fall, I would have called her Hot and Deficient and been tempted to try Yi Guan Jian.

You could still try that, I guess, but another idea I had was Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang. It can help the dispersing formulas you're using work better and we commonly find it peps up elderly dogs, including cancer cases. It's an easy thing to try.

There are other ideas I have: Wu Mei Wan or Zhen Wu Tang, but they are less tried and true. Maybe start with the BZYQT?

S

by CorinneC

January 30, 2026

Ok great! Can you explain why BZYQT would help here? I was also thinking of WMW but chickened out!
Corinne

by naturevet

February 4, 2026

BZYQT can help 'moving' and mobilizing herbs work better.

Dispersal always starts from the Lungs, whether you are expelling a Wind pathogen or just trying to decongest the Lungs. This is why all acupuncture channel circulation begins at LU 1.

Fluids always move under the influence of Qi. To have maximum 'oomph' behind your blood and fluid dispersal, you need maximum Qi in the upper burner. Since BZYQT lifts stagnant Qi from the lower burner to the upper burner, if provides that oomph that is needed to power that desired fluid movement. So, I would try BZYQT first.

Now that I've waxed on about it, it probably won't work, but give it a try anyway

Steve

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