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| - Last year when my dog was diagnosed with lymphoma I sought out a holistic vet to help with some alternative therapies as a compliment to chemo. Based on the good reviews, I took her to see Dr. Brandt at the Natural Care Institute. Prior to making the appointment I called and inquired as to weather they had experience working with cancer patients and they said that they did. I made it clear that I wanted therapies as a compliment to her chemo and that I wanted to work in tandem with her oncologist. We were able to get an appointment about a week out. While I felt that the doctor spent a good amount of time with us there were a few things that made it so that I would not go back to this office.
First, although the vet did spend an appropriate amount of time with us, the appointment ended abruptly without us having the chance to ask questions or go over the treatment plan with the doctor citing that she had a phone consult to get to. She sent a nurse in to go over what supplements they were "prescribing". I was never once asked by the vet if I wanted these supplements or told how much they would cost. More about that later....
Then, upon checking out I realized that I had been charged something like $50 for a chiropractic adjustment. I was never asked if I wanted her to give an adjustment (which for an extra $50 I should have been asked), nor do I think that she even received said adjustment. During the entire visit, I held my dog. There was not a minute during the visit that I did not have my hands on my dog. I never physically felt, or had any indication that she was being adjusted. When I mentioned something about it, they insisted she was adjusted. I thought okay, I've never seen a dog get a chiropractic adjustment so maybe it was not as obvious as when a human gets adjusted. When I went home, I pulled up some YouTube videos that depicted chiropractic adjustments in dogs. In every single instance, it was obvious that there was something being done. There is no way that she could have done an adjustment in my presence without me knowing.
Lastly, and perhaps most upsetting, I left there with 5 different supplements. Included were a probiotic, a digestive enzyme, and a liver supplement- all items of which I could have purchased online and all items that were not specific to her diagnosis of lymphoma. They were given due to the fact that the chemo was causing her digestive upset. There were 2 other supplements which were supposed to be specific to her cancer which were a lymph "cleansing" liquid and a powder also for some sort of "detoxification". I gave all of the supplements to her oncologist for review before administering them. As I mentioned, the first 3 supplements were things I could have bought online and he said they were fine to give (duh, of course probiotics and digestive enzymes would be okay) BUT the last 2 I was told not to give. The detox powder contained antioxidants, and even I, as a layperson with minimal cancer knowledge knew that it was not a good idea to give antioxidants during chemo (I had no idea that this was an antioxidant formula as it was taken from a larger container and put in a large prescription bottle with a prescription label that only said the name of the supplement and not the ingredients). The other supplement, the one for lymph cleansing was not recommended for use by her oncologist and with a simple Google search I found the following information:
"As a general rule, patients undergoing active chemotherapy should not be put on Lymphomyosot, because the concentration of chemotherapy drugs needs to be maintained for as long as possible for full effectiveness. Unless they are in true long-term remission, patients with soft tumors such as lymphoma and leukemia should not undergo drainage with Lymphomyosot at all. Increased lymph drainage may spread the tumor."
This information seriously enraged me. Not only was this supplement something that she couldn't take and that we wasted money on, but it was something that could actually HARM her by SPREADING the cancer!
At the end of the day the visit cost me $500+ and I did not get any more useful information about her cancer than I could have found on the internet. I got some probiotics and digestive enzymes that I could have gotten anywhere (for FAR less than $500) and I got 2 other supplement that were inappropriate for her disease, one of which could have been dangerous to her condition. Maybe this vet is good for everyday conditions or nutrition consults but NOT for something as serious as cancer. Don't claim to know about a condition, when you clearly do not- especially in a life or death situation like cancer.
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