Pawrents, the word of the week is: Apoptosis.
Apoptosis is the term used to describe the body’s process of genetically programmed, healthy cell death. It’s simple; all normal cells are programmed to die, and for good reason. The death of old, used up cells make way for new cells to keep our bodies (and our dogs’) healthy and strong.
But sometimes an event occurs that triggers normal cells to go haywire and start dividing too fast. These mutant cells then refuse to die, and begin multiplying out of control. They do not go through apoptosis and instead crowd out, absorb and kill normal cells. Guess what this process is called?
The importance of keeping apoptosis going is discussed in Dr. Demian Dressler’s pawesome e-book, the “Dog Cancer Survival Guide.” In the book Dr. Dressler explains how natural plant-based substances such as Luteolin, Curcumin and Apigenin have been shown to induce apoptosis the body. He also discusses how you can help your dog battle cancer by using substances like these in your Tripawd’s diet.
Apoptosis-inducing substances such as curcumin also create the basis of Apocaps CX Apoptogen Formula for Dogs, a new supplement that Dr. Dressler has designed especially for dogs with cancer. Stay tuned for the next Tripawds Nutrition Post, when we share details about this new quality-of-life enhancing supplement from the Dog Cancer Vet.
This product I’ve been waiting for! Dr. Dressler said it was in the works! 🙂
Tracy, Maggie’s Mom
Yeay! We love Dr. D too!
Stay tuned, we’ll be writing about it some more.
Hey guys,
Maggie hurt her back earlier this week and I wanted to give her some Deramaxx but after reading the bottle of Apocaps that she has been on, it is warned NOT to give NSAIDs in combo. with Apocaps(wait 3 days)!!! So, I couldn’t give her any pain relief and massaged her and she was a little better after that. I have stopped the Apocaps cause I need to be able to give her an NSAID when she needs it!
So, this seems to be a concern of giving Apocaps?
Any feedback on this?
Tracy
Interesting feedback about the NSAIDs indeed. Thanks for bringing that up, we’ll look into it.
Thanks guys!! Cause I am SURE there are many cancer dogs that are actually on some sort of NSAID regularly! Maggie isn’t but I sure as heck want to be able to give the NSAID to her when she needs it and I was too parnoid to give it to her after I read the insert on the Apocaps.
Tracy
Tracy, how’s Maggie doing?
And in case you missed it on the Amazon blog, here’s what we said:
“Meanwhile, Tracy, thanks for the feedback about Apocaps and NSAIDs. Although the Apocaps website says “Concurrent use of drugs having anti inflammatory effects should be avoided or used only with caution at reduced doses,” we want to find out exactly why. We’ve put an email out to Dr. Dressler hoping that he or one of his staff members will get back to us. “
Thanks for asking guys! She’s good now…no more spasms in her back…yay! I don’t know what she did but her whole lower back both sides hurt pretty badly…and am not a real fan of NSAID’s BUT I want to be able to use it when she needs it! And she really did need it a couple nights ago. I massaged her quite a bit and got the spasms gone…today she looks back to herself again 🙂 I COULD give her one NOW that it’s been three days since she’s had Apocaps but now she doesn’t need it.
Just seems odd to me that Dr. Dressler would make such a product and it not be safe with use of NSAID’s cause it seems it is pretty normal for Tripawds/Cancer patients to be on NSAID’s?
Tracy
Hi everyone,
Thought I should chime in here. Apocaps has some NSAID effects in the natural compounds used in the supplement. For this reason, I thought it would be safest to advise dog lovers to decrease the dose of either the drug NSAID or the natural source NSAID’s in Apocaps if they were to be used together.
I wanted to avoid having a situation like if a person took both full doses of aspirin and Tylenol, mainly to avoid digestive upset. This was more of a precaution than anything else, since there are now dogs using Apocaps literally around the world and I wanted to be very , very safe in my instructions.
I usually drop the dose down to 1/4 or 1/2 of the full dose. If the drug NSAID helps a lot with quality of life, you may drop the Apocaps dose.
However, keep in mind that the majority of dogs feel better after 2-4 weeks of Apocaps with their orthopedic discomfort. So, unlike a drug, there is a bit of a ramp-up over time.
I have had a number of patients able to go off drug NSAIDS totally after a couple of weeks of tapering the drug, while upping the dose of Apocaps to the recommended dose.
I hope this clarifies any confusion.
Another topic I should address is the big dog pill number issue. We are lining up to make a larger strength capsule in the pipeline for all the large dogs out there. Meanwhile, we have been experimenting with bulk discounts to see what the interest is.
Wishing everyone the very best, and a cheer of encouragement to all the courageous and wonderful Tripawds out there.
Best,
Dr D
Thanks for the update Doc!
I just wanted to jot this down in this blog – I had been giving Maggie Apocaps for quite some time…about the same time I also started Missing Link with glucosamine in it. So I never knew which supplement was really helping her mobility – it seems now, after running out of the Apocaps and not reordering yet, it is indeed the Apocaps that give her some pain relief if she’s overworked herself!
So, as you can assume, I just placed another order and will NOT run out again for Miss Maggie! 🙂
Tracy, Maggie’s Mom
Hey that is GREAT to hear Tracy, thank you for the feedback!
I am a HUGE fan of Dr. D
Max has been taking the Apocaps since December as well as the Cancer diet. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Max this happy!
That’s terrific! So hoppy to hear this news. Hugs to Max!
hi Dr.
my malamute is 108 pound and 8yrs old and has been dianosed with ostesarcoma in her right front leg
will Apocaps work for her ? will it reduce the tumor or just prolong the inevitable. Im lost on what to do here. i just started her on Artemix, What is your opinion
can you help
Thanks for commenting pawsha, please consider posting in the forums or check out Dr Dressler’s book. We doubt he’ll see your comment here.
Hi, My seven year old lab just had surgery for insulinoma (cancerous tumor on the pancreas). They removed the tumor and part of the pancreas, but it has metastasized to the liver. Will Apocaps help him? Please, I’m desperate.
Thank you,
Lynne Thoennes
Lynne, I’m sorry to hear about your Lab and hope he has a speedy recovery. Apocaps does work by helping to kill off bad cells and making room for good ones in order to boost the immune system and ward off cancer, so technically yes it could help, but you want to be sure that it won’t interfere with any medications your pup is currently on, so please check with your vet to be sure. We’ll have our paws crossed that this disease behaves itself and your pup will have many happy years ahead.
My Dog is a 10 years old bulldog. Has just been diagnosed with stage 2 Mast Cell Cancer. We did surgery and 2 wks after it seemed to explode. His belly has blown up like he’s pregnant. Took him back in and they said it has spread to his liver. On top of that 6 wks before this started he has his first heartworm treatment and the tumors popped up so we could not complete the heartworm treatment. The vet basically told me that there are no options that even if I had 10,000 to use he wouldn’t suggest it that there’s no hope according to what he saw on the ultrasound. Any thoughts? How would heartworms affect the apocaps or vice versa and is the ascites a sign that it’s to late??
Sorry to hear about your pup Amy, Great question! Please contact Drs. Demina Dressler and Sue Ettinger, the expert vets behind Apocaps.
My dog has lynphoma and has been treated with most of the chemotherpy drugs.She goes in and out of remission. I do not want to leave any stones unturned what else is availble.
Please help
Thanks and God bless
Hi Frank,
I don’t know a lot about lymphoma but I’d recommend checking out the Dog Cancer Vet’s new podcast collection for more ways you can help her stay strong:
http://downloads.tripawds.com/2015/10/12/dog-cancer-guides/
Best wishes to you both. May she have a long, healthy life ahead.
Sharing our experience…
Our 6 year old tri-pawd Charlie was diagnosed almost 18 months ago with Oral Melanoma. We started him on Apocaps (94 lb. dog), and each 90 capsule bottle would last 10 days.
At the same time he started the melanoma vaccine along with metronomic treatments of Piroxicam and Palladia. After about a year the mass in is mouth looked as though it might detach on its own. This was most likely attributed to the Apocaps.
He has tolerated the regimen very well, but a few months ago he started to experience digestive upset, and we narrowed it down to the Apocaps. Also, the 9 capsules a day got to be a lot to “hide” in his goodies. Therefore he no longer takes them. He’s still doing very well. All activities are normal.
It’s a shame we cannot continue with them, but he seems to be enjoying the treats that have been purchase in their place. It’s all good.
Tracy, we are soooo glad that Charlie is still doing well! Yay! Thanks for sharing.
Anyone use Apocaps with Galliprant my girl has osteosarcoma it’s already bigger after one week
Allyson, neither one of those are able to control the pain of osteosarcoma tumors. Please work with your vet as quickly as possible to reach a decision and help your girl feel better OK? And join our Forums so we can help you during this journey. We will support you no matter what you decide.