First: I am biased and believe that "alternative" therapies rely upon the human predilection to confuse coincidence with causality. Adjunctive is a different story with accupunture etc, but some of the posts on this board cross that line IMO. To those reading the OCF board for guidance when well meaning friends and relatives tout web sites on miracle cures in Mexico or secret herbal remedies, here is an alternative that is as good or better than a Mexican clinic. Just an opinion, but I worry that even having links to delusional sites on this forum would add some patina of respectability.
Seriously, this "llama therapy" felt great to me. llama therapy
Bear in mind that I also used a toy ray gun with flashing colored lights to help visualization of killing the cancer cells. Since I am now cancer free, under the fringe web sites, it must be a cure. But trust me, it wasn't: the conventional radiation and chemo did the work.

My wife wants a LLama but then again she wants every non insect, non reptile pet in the world. She (we) have 8 cats, 1 rabbit, 1 BIG puppy and a seasonal mated pair of Florida Mallards.

David,


Get an Alpaca, they're smaller then ILama's, plus you can shave and sell the Alpaca hair--I saw it done on that show "Dirty Jobs"...Now we know what your wife did with the insurance money

David and Ray

You can also sell the llama hair - as mentioned in the article. The man in the picture showed us a very warm vest he made with a felting technique - no sewing - out of llama hair, boiling water, liquid soap and a hand sander (yes no typo - it agitates the fibers and turns it into felt).

To get back on point: OCF members note: while I have taken a very light hearted approach, this is a serious subject. It was very tempting to believe all the "cures" that co-workers, friends, and relatives sent me. Adjunctive therapy is great, provided you also do the surgery, radiation and chemo. Plus any reasonable adjunctive therapy is offered in the USA.
I've been rereading my journal from last year, so that's why I'm suddenly on my high horse about this.

Rather, on your high Llama.

So I didn't read the whole article but what is the LLama therapy anyway?

David, tell your wife that Long-Tailed Norwegian Hamsters make great pets and you can get the little ones at the pet stores from the snake food tanks for peanuts -- They are very intelligent and don't bite! The big drawback is that they only live about two and a half years, so there is some heartbreak involved, but their replacements only cost peanuts.

BTW, some people refer to them as norway rats...

I have a pet some think I am excentric... that would really love one of those rats....lol...I have a ball python...african grass snake...he is a wonderful masseusse...I used to do data imputting and when I got home put him around my neck and voila no more tense muscules...he is very tame even got loose a couple of times and my dogs and cat walked right by him and he did nothing didn't even move.. when he is hungry though I am afraid the rats wouldn't last too long

When I'm done with my traditional treatments I'm going to ride an Llama with a boa around my neck...I don't think Llama's are big enough to ride. I might have to get a camel. The adjudicative tx probably had nothing to do with riding..I'll go back and read the article. I hope leeches are not involved! Can you picture that...riding a camel with boa around neck covered in leeches...and Llama in tow. Doesn't sound right...Sorry for not taking it serious...I'm on the patch!!

Btw, there are two spas in Israel that have snake massages...they lay you down and cover one with snakes...you lay under a big apple tree...the apples are delicious. I was told not to eat the apples....but snuck one....What could happen?!?!

Ray, I love your sense of humor. There have been a few benefits of having cancer for me � got out of jury duty (federal court in Philly), overcame my fear of needles, and blaming a lot of things on the medications I taking! However, still don't like snakes or leeches.

Ray I don't think there is a patch big enough for some of your ideas and stories...lmao...but it works....take credit where credit is due a very humourous visionary

I've had a couple of Ball Pythons in my life. Gentle. beautiful and wonderful snakes. In the wild they curl up into a ball so tight when they are scared that it's rumored you can actually roll it on the ground. Never been bit by a Ball Python. I got nailed by a 10 ft Boa Constrictor though and it was months dealing with broken off teeth and infections in my right hand.

Now we have 2 Bichons Frises, a Maltese, a Canary and a bunch of fish. My Bichons were my therapy dogs going through treatment and they were the best. Adjunctive therapy at it's finest.

Okay: the Lighthearted award of the year goes to Ray. That apa joke about the snake and apple really tickled me. Not as much as Gary's python would. Okay, now instead of a link, here is a cut and paste from today's Washington Post about the dangers of Python therapy
VIRGINIA BEACH

Woman Is Found Strangled, Perhaps by Her Pet Python

Police believe a 25-year-old Virginia Beach woman was strangled by her pet python.

Amanda Ruth Black's husband came home about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and found her lying in a bedroom, police said. The snake's cage was open.

Black was pronounced dead at the scene. A preliminary medical examiner's report indicates she died of asphyxiation. Police say Black was trying to give medicine to the 13-foot tiger python when the incident happened.

Animal control officers found the snake in the bedroom and are holding it at their office.

Ray,

You need to adjust your meds. You may be taking to much. JM2C's

Listen my wife does not need ANY more ideas of new pets. Everytime she see's an attractive animal she says "I Want One" !!

My paternal grandmother and my mother-in-law were supposed to be expert with "bahnkes" (cups). These are thick glass cups about the size of an egg. A piece of cloth soaked in alcohol and wrapped around a stick is heated by fire, inserted into the cup to heat it and the hot cups are placed on the back. The skin is sucked up into the cup like a vaccuumm. The number and pattern of placement was according to the symptoms. They were used for respiratory aliments.
My mother-in-law's bahnkes were left behind when the family came to the States. I wonder if my husband who was then midteens and a frequent recipeint of this treatment was involved in this??

Malka,

Hi. What nationality are you and your family?

Ray,
Those cups were popular in Europe for centuries
FYI both families are Polish Jews. My father's family came over in the early 20th century. My in-laws left Europe in 1939, went to Argentina and came to the States in 1950. My m-i-l also used a lot of "Viva Peru" better known as Vicks Vapor Rub.
My magic cure all is chicken soup.

[quote=darkeyedlady0]I have a pet some think I am excentric... that would really love one of those rats....[/quote]
My best rats were the ones I chose from "feeder" tanks, rather than from Fancy Rat breeders, including the late, great Rattatouille who traveled from Florida to Newfoundland, back to Florida, then to Calif and up to Alaska where he's buried in a state park...

Interesting side note -- Reportedly, one can't keep snakes as pets in Australia, so all the rats there are sold as pets, not food. My local Petsmart carries frozen rats (not sure if they are supposed to be nuked in the microwave first, or not...).

My snakes name is buddy and I don't know about the frozen rats I don't think they would make good pets even if you warmed them up...lol...anyway my buddy catches the rats it is kinda like discovery channel live...some think its cruel but it really is nature...which I have had many a debates about cruel not cruel...all I know is when we got him he was live fed and tried to change it and he almost died didn't know what to do all he knew was the chase...so I wanted to keep him...it takes real team work my husband doesn't like getting him out of the tank and I can't feed him I can't watch bang bang shoot em up movies either.so we work together...

Speaking of snakes....local news article today:

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_1snakes.6642652oct24,0,6150019.story


We have had an iguana for a few years. Sons pet which I got stuck caring for. Finally found a good home, now have a Sulcada Tortoise which is a really nice dry land pet. Very cute and easy to care for. Will get pretty big, but my son can take him right along with him when he moves out. Then 2 dogs a little chihuahua mix and also a rottweiler. Took over a year but they are pals which is pretty funny to see. We also have 2 cats....its a ZOO! Love the pets, just not so fond of the wild ones who roam around at night here like skunks, possums, racoons and bears.

I suppose it wouldn't be a good day for all the rat and snake people get together and introduce their pets. Cats and dogs can tolerate each other but snakes, rats and big iguanas?...Somehow I think somebody would just be leaving full. My childhood dog, Chester, killed my sister's pet guinea pig. Boy did she cry!

My daughter was living in Albuquerque when her roomie's dog killed her Guinea Pig, so she froze him, wrapped him in a towel for insulation and shipped him to us in Florida for internment at the family home! He was still pretty solid and had no odor when he got there...

One animal I can't let the rats near are small terrier dogs -- Their reaction is instinctive, unlike larger dogs (I have photo of three Rat-ladies on a friend's dog's back) -- Even cats don't react because the rats, being very tame and unschooled in behavior, don't act like prey -- If a rat placed on floor in front of cat advances, the cat doesn't know what to do and usually departs...

I am going to have some rats in my life again if I can get local pet store to keep me on their rat-baby list -- They are really fun when young.

Pete,

My son & his family had a hairless rat. As adorable as they thought he was, I'm afraid I just couldn't see it, and I love almost all animals.

Lani

Ratharriet (so named because she wasn't Harry!) was so ugly she was almost cute -- Rat temps run about 104*, so she always felt very warm when you'd pick her up -- She actually had very fine hair, but not fur -- Poor thing was maybe inbred because her whiskers, normally long and straight and used for stuf like running along walls, were curled and useless -- Stupid naked rat would always try to attack spiky hedgehog I had in my little trailer.

I had a rat named Ratbertha and decided that since I was her adoptive parent, I should provide role models -- I cut little photos of Hillary out of the paper and glued them to small magnets to hang in her cage -- She would pull them down and put them in the p** corner of her cage -- Clearly a Conservative Rat!

Later on, I wanted to get a cage mate for her and wanted to have some political balance in the cage so I decided to get a Liberal Rat. But how would I find one? Walk into the pet stores and ask to see their selection of Liberal Rats? Tried that and got strange looks -- Finally one day, I walked in, looked down and realized there was a whole tank full of clearly Liberal Rats -- That's when I got Ratharriet, clearly Liberal because she refused to wear animal fur!!!

That's a true story!

Typical rats below:

[img:left]http://z.about.com/d/exoticpets/1/0/z/Y/dustyfuzzyP1010006.jpg[/img]

OK Pete, you got me. They are kinda cute.

I actually felt bad for the pretty little one that my 45 lb husky mix left dead on my deck for me the other day. There will be no rodents safe in my home or yard as long as he's living here. In the last couple of weeks we've had to pick up 7 possums, 4 moles, 3 snakes, and one rat. And this is in a yard surrounded by a 6' high fence. Thank goodness the gators can't get in here or he would probably go after them, too.

And all the while my 120 lb shepherd just says "HUH?".

Lani

Pete:

I am NOT a rodent lover, but gotta admit they are kinda cute.

I love your stories, very funny.

My rottweiler is a mouse killer. Darn two cats couldnt get the wild one that snuck in. In fact my older cat looked at it while it ran right in front and didnt even attempt to help me. The dog rears up like a horse and trampled the poor little thing. The rottweiler thankfully doesnt go after the other wild game thats outside. I love FL but not all those outdoor 'pets'.

My grandfather's pet parrot, Alla, who use to chase my brother and I around when we were small, died and my grandfather put him in the refrig until he took him to be stuffed. My grandmother wasn't too pleased but then Alla greeted everyone at the front door until they both died and we sold their home.

My neighbor has two talking parrots. I have to admit they are pretty cool. They sound like juvenile delinquents. When I would look at the one he would say, "Oh boy, we're in trouble now" it's pretty funny. They say things like; oh boy, hey you, look at me, oh oh, that's funny, trouble and some other stuff. My neighbors had them for years.

A client of mine had Patrick the parrot in the lobby of their hotel for years. A friend of theirs had a parrot who wouldn't talk, so they borrowed Patrick for a couple of weeks to see if he could get theirs talking some.

At the end of Patrick's visit, it was apparent that the friends were not living in quiet, peaceful bliss, but also obvious that they "made up" quite often. Between Patrick's new foul vocabulary and the making-up sound effects, it was no longer prudent to let him live in the lobby. He was promptly moved to my clients home.

Big difference between wild rats and pet/lab rats -- Friends and I used to shoot rats with .22 rifles at open dumps -- Don't feel bad about that at all, but I have cried (just a little, guys...) at the deaths of pet rats.

Kinda like the human race, some are to be loved and some are to be shot...

I was going to write an article about Ratbertha for the Rat and Mouse Gazette, but, sadly, it isn't published any more.

I have a lot of Sea Stories -- BTW, the difference between Fairytales and Sea Stories is that one begins "Once upon a time..." and the other begins "This is no sh**!"

Okay: Rat, python, rottweiller, guinea pig, and parrot therapy. Are they all better than a Mexican clinic? In the immortal words of one VP candidate: "You betcha".
Now that I know links are not always perused, here is a cut and paste about llama therapy:
Amazing success stories using llamas for Therapy.
We take our llamas to several venues to be used as therapy. One company has as many as 60 autistic and special needs clients take our llamas through our obstacle course twice a month. The progress of the clients toward social skills is amazing.
The full link to the complete webpage of West Wind Farm is
West Wind Farm The excerpt was from the button: What to do with llamas. Walking a 6 foot llama down to the river and then having him perform on the obstacle course was such a nice contrast to a year ago when I could barely stagger from the car to the radiation table.
LOVE all the pet stories. I know it got a little off topic, but they perhaps OCF posting should be listed as an adjunctive therapy.

Yes,
you are supposed to nuke the frozen rat and warm it up so the snakes heat sensors are stimulated. I only gave my snakes live rats (and small ones at that - but Ball Pythons rarely get over 3')). I had 3 iguanas for a long time as well. I no longer have reptiles anymore. Between battling "mouth rot" and vicious rats that almost ate the snake I had enough...

We had an iguana for about 4 years. They sure arent the easiest pets to care for. It was my son's pet which turned out to be mine. They need a special diet or only certain veggies and the temp must be regulated. Ours was pretty big, about 5' long. No more of those again.

We now have a sulcada tortoise which is much easier to care for. That is also my son's pet. This time around, I got smart and refused to learn anything about it so it doesnt become my pet like before.

I still like the cats and dogs the best.

I must have a snake on steroids cause my ball python is about 48-50" long and 3.5" round...

Christine I like dogs and cats too but it was my husband's uncle who got me on the snake. He had a pet store and we visited. I had my hands out and he just dropped it into my hands and well I never felt anything so neat. Instantly fell in love. Thought it was going to be slimy but it was silky.

I don't have a cat anymore but I think when I no longer have the dogs it might be something again. Although husband has said no more pets after the dogs. LOL like I listen...oh yeah I do but I can be very convincing...

Man you women are something. Dianne, you sound exactly like my wife, "LOL like I listen". Yes I do my man thing and tell her with conviction that WE WILL NOT do certain things, like get more pets but I know she only listens to get me to finish talking, then she just does what she was going to do before I shot my mouth off. After 20 years I've learned that's the way we communicate the best.

David,

I believe it goes something like this: "I'm the boss. I know I am because my wife says so." Or maybe it's "Because my wife I said could".

Lani

Ok didn't mean to start a war lmao...just stating that I want to do what makes me happy and we do discuss thing but in the end we kinda have a mutal agreement and nine times out of ten he really doesn't mean what he says anyway...I love him for this ....you guys are just easy!!!

I don't know about all of you people. My wife and I sit down and rationally discuss every issue, laying down any differences of opinion. We then compromise and do exactly what she wants . . . ;-)

Atta boy Jeff!!! That's what we like to see compromises...lol...

Jeff,
do you look like this guy too? (the man song??!!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Y0I91rubg


M

Not quite there yet, Markus . . .but getting closer! ;-)

All I need is the grey hair (leave out the flannel shirt though) and I'm there.