Anouch is a spirit dog I found at a dog pound - SPCA in Canada when he was just 9 months old, 12 1/2 yrs ago. He was so beautiful and soft, and the look in his eyes was so kind, I had to take him home that same day, not even having the time to take him for a walk.

I have found him to be my kindred spirit; just looking at one another, I feel there is a bound that unites us forever.

We lived in Canada for the most part, living in the country, close to a ski resort, so we went for long walks on a daily basis, loved swimming in pristine lake waters, and in winter we would go for long strolls in the snow and on the frozen lake. He has been my best walking companion, and he has kept me warm many cold winter nights, cuddling up on the couch or bed.

At 12.5 years today, he is still a pup at heart, still running after his tail & loving a good play, and when a walk is close to being over, he pulls on the leash to take us home.

The 3rd member of our pack is my partner, who has been with Anouch & me for 11 years. When my australian partner wanted to moved back to Aus a couple of years ago, I let him go and set up, find a job, house,...and when all was good in Canada, Anouch and I took the plane to join him on the australian continent. That was 10 months ago now.

After arriving in Australia, Anouch had to go through quarantine for a month. After putting him on that plane in Canada, this was the hardest thing I ever had to do. He was in a small kennel, with concrete on the floor, and I had to pay someone to take him for walks every couple of days. For a whole week, I visited him daily, but visits were 20-45 minutes short, to my dismay. It tortured me to leave him there.

After quarantine, we came up to central Queensland where we live, and slowly adapted to the heat, and harsh country. He loves the beach and sea water though, and we enjoy our two daily walks in a neighbourhood filled with colorful flowers, beautiful eucalyptus & exotic birds.

About 3 1/2 weeks ago, Anouch had severe diarrhea for a couple of days, so we brought him to the vet for a check-up. He was given antiobiotics, and we put him on rice & a bit of vegemite. The vet had told us that there was a large lump by his spleen, that he would need to check out after he recovered from his diarrhea. He later recommended to open up and see what the tumor looked like and most likely would remove the spleen, after doing some blood tests.

So two weeks ago yesterday, Anouch had his spleen removed, and the cricket-size tumor that was adjacent to it. The vet also found a tumor on his liver, we found out after the operation, and it was malignant. When he told us he thought Anouch had 6 months to live, I burst out in tears and tremours. The vet also recommended we put Anouch on monthly cortisone shots to slow the tumor growth. He did not recommend a biopsy, nor did he recommend chemotherapy or radiation and he said he thought it was lymphoma cancer.

The last two weeks have been a roller-coster of emotions, the first 4 days being dedicated to researching on the internet, and also getting opinions from other vets in Australia & Canada.

We changed Anouch's diet on the day after we got the news of cancer, giving him meat and veggies. After a few days and more research, we started giving him olive oil, ground flax seeds, yoghurt, cottage cheese, flax seed oil, eggs, sardines, salmon, chicken necks, and ordering vitamin C&E and colloidal silver. The other supplements and chinese herbs were recommended to us at a later date (by a naturopathic vet), when Anouch would be well recovered from his surgery.

Well two weeks after his surgery, Anouch has had diarrhea for 2 days now, and vomited on the kitchen floor yesterday. He is back to rice and chicken for the moment, and I have stopped all the extra cool stuff, that he just didn't seem to like since several days. Is it the heat of the past couple of days, somehing he ate, the cancer progressing, we don't know.

Next step is waiting for a reply from an oncologist vet in Brisbane (6 hrs drive from us), whom we hear is one that has developed varied treatments in cancer. We need a second (or third rather) opinion, as we don't think Anouch has lymphoma cancer, and we want to know what the newest treatments & options out there are...

We just want the best for our dear friend... we certainly don't want him to suffer, and we want to increase his chances of beating this if it is at all possible. After all, he is a magical dog.........

Get rid of the commercial-made food, VERY PROGRESSIVELY.
Add new ingredients, vitamins, supplemts in small amounts first, and one at a time. Going too quickly into a new diet can cause damage to the digestive system. We found out the hard way.