Everything is OK

We're into week three of Indiana's Poly-MVA treatments, and all is well.  She is handling the supplement well (we expected a period of detox but didn't really see anything), and also importantly, she is actually taking  the supplement.  It can be a struggle to get to her eat sometimes, so we're really happy that she's been cooperating where the Poly is concerned.  She gets it three times a day, and a day's worth of medicine costs about $20, so we certainly don't want to waste even a precious drop of this stuff!  Luckily, it looks, smells (and kind of tastes, according to our vet) like soy sauce--i.e. super salty, and apparently Indy likes that.  Good times.

I haven't noticed a difference in her tumor yet; it seems to be the same size as before.  The consultant for Poly-MVA told me it takes up to two months to see an improvement (and sometimes there just isn't one), so we're still early into this whole thing.  I have, however, noticed an improvement in her movement, which is, in my opinion, even more important.  Indy doesn't know she has cancer, but she does know that she has arthritis. 

Another good thing--she has started eating raw again!  Yay!  She stopped eating raw about a year ago (her choice--trust me, she definitely calls the shots around here) but we were curious to offer it again and see if she'd change her mind.  The thing is, dogs with kidney disease get aversions to certain foods--usually because they have felt ill while eating it at some point, and so now they associate the ill feeling with the food--and once they're off a food, they're off for good.  Indy has eaten just about every raw food out there, but we found one company--Oma's Pride--that Indiana had never tried before.  The owners, whom we met at the dog show, were kind enough to give us several free samples, which we fed--successfully!--to Indiana.  As much as we'd like to give it to her for every meal every day, we know that Indiana gets tired of foods pretty quickly, so we have to pace ourselves and remember to give her a variety. 

Indiana has a lot of rules when it comes to eating, but for now, we're following her rules, and she isn't changing them.  As long as we are respectful of her wants and needs, she will cooperate.  And I love her enough to do that.