Roscoe the Bassett Hound fought prostate cancer for 21 months, and his mom is sharing everything she learned that helped him thrive.
Dog prostate cancer can be missed because early symptoms look like simple UTIs, but when Renée Michael felt something was wrong with her beloved Roscoe, she didn’t wait. A full veterinary workup at Louisiana State University revealed prostate cancer.
Over the next 21 months, Renée learned a ton about the treatment options from prostate cancer, the value of having both an oncologist and a holistic vet on the care team, and how she could support Roscoe’s wellbeing at home with diet and supplements.
In this episode Renée shares some of her insights into anti-inflammatory foods and immune support supplements that she feels Roscoe, as well as recipes for some of his favorite treats. She also talks about the work that she has done to promote dog prostate cancer awareness and help other dog lovers get an early diagnosis and support their dogs throughout treatment.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Show:
- Dogs with Prostate Cancer support group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1522248491239039/?ref=share_group_link
- Roscoe’s 21 Month Cancer Journey ebook with recipes: https://www.dogcancer.com/roscoe/
Related Links:
- Roscoe the Basset Hound Bouncing Back After Cancer; Owner Advocates Early Detection - https://www.lsu.edu/vetmed/_archives/stories/roscoe.php
- Super Aggressive Dog Prostate Cancer podcast episode - https://www.dogcancer.com/podcast/types-of-dog-cancer/super-aggressive-dog-prostate-cancer-dr-demian-dressler-qa/
- Medicinal Mushrooms for Dog Cancer Part 1 podcast episode - https://www.dogcancer.com/podcast/supplements/medicinal-mushrooms-for-dog-cancer-part-1-dr-robert-silver/
About Today’s Guest, Renée Michael:
Renée is a Retired Basset Hound Mom. Her Sweet Roscoe adopted her on Mother’s Day 2011 when he was approximately 3 years old. He was her goofy clown when things were good and her rock when her life fell apart.
At the end of Feb 2020 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer so Renée started researching everything she could. They did SRT radiation but she’s against chemo so foods and supplements were her main focus. She worked closely with the awesome TCVM vet at LSU who taught her a lot, and said Renée even taught her some things. Roscoe gave her 21 months before looking into her eyes on November 12, 2021 and saying “Mom I can’t go on any more.”
Some people encouraged Renée to write a treat book (being a Basset Hound Roscoe LOVED his treats and she was inspired by her late husband Mike when she came up with Roscoe’s treats). The treat book morphed into Roscoe’s Cancer Journey, a free pdf, that is now hopefully helping many many pups and their parents.
0:00 Start
1:48 Intuition and Diagnosis
4:03 Treatment During COVID
8:05 Diet
11:11 Prostate Cancer and UTIs
14:11 No Raw Meat
18:39 Piroxicam Side Effects
22:26 Cognitive Decline
24:54 Poor Appetite
28:42 Multimodal Integrative Treatment
34:27 Canine Prostate Cancer Awareness and Support
37:38 Early Diagnosis
43:00 Renee’s Top Advice
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For episode notes, resources, guest bios and a transcript, please visit https://dogcanceranswers.com/
Have an inspiring True Tail about your own dog’s cancer journey you think would help other dog lovers? Share your true tail with our producers - https://dogcanceranswers.com/share-your-true-tail/
Helpful Resources: To join the private Facebook group for readers of Dr. Dressler’s book “The Dog Cancer Survival Guide” go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/dogcancersupport/
Dog Cancer News is a free newsletter that contains useful information designed to help your dog with cancer. To sign up, please visit http://bit.ly/dcn_yt
