Talking To Your Vet About Your Dogs Cancer Treatment
If your dog has been diagnosed with cancer, its important to discuss your desire for holistic treatments with your vet. Your veterinarian will be able to give you expert advice on any lifestyle changes that need to be made, weight loss plans, or other therapies that can help ease discomfort and inflammation while you and your dog fight cancer.
A holistic approach is not foolproof, and many times, veterinary medicine or surgery will still be necessary for dog cancer treatment. However, chemotherapy can expose your pet to harmful chemicals, and radiation can mean cell death for healthy cells, so many pet parents have opted to avoid these methods. Many vets will support your election to use modalities that fight cancer in a way that supports the bodys immune response and natural healing ability.
What To Feed A Dog With Cancer Who Won’t Eat Or Has No Appetite
If your pet does not eat at least of its food, we recommend that you assist it and feed it by hand .
Make sure your pet stays well hydrated by stimulating its water intake.
Personally, my dog suffers from endocrine disease and its difficult to motivate him to eat. I add water to his food and heat it up in the microwave a bit, and usually that’s enough to tempt him to eat.
On the other hand, other dogs may respond better to food taken out of the refrigerator. This is because, if they are nauseous for example, the taste will be less pronounced.
Generally, canned food is more palatable than dry food.
In any case, we suggest you feed in small portions, frequently, to limit stress on the digestive system and increase the ability to absorb nutrients.
If your dog still refuses to eat after all these efforts, your vet can prescribe an appetite stimulant medication. Acupuncture and acupressure can also have an impact on appetite and can perhaps be of interest to an animal that refuses to eat.
How Can You Enhance The Therapeutic Benefits Of These Mushrooms
We strongly recommend using the mushrooms mentioned above in combination with our PIPTOPET product, itself made from another species of fungus, Piptoporus betulinus. Its use optimizes the efficiency of the mushrooms named above and supports your pets immune system .PIPTOPET, through its beneficial properties, will help your pet to maintain good health.
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What About The Role Of Carbohydrates And Cancer
A quick Google search on carbohydrates and cancer will give pages of websites claiming to prevent or cure cancer by avoiding carbohydrates, and especially carbohydrates that include GMOs and gluten . And there is big money in making these kinds of diet claims. Just look at the recent Belle Gibson story. Her fake cancer and food cure story garnered her hundreds of thousands of followers , spawned a book, an app, and stories in international magazines, until she was recently exposed as a fraud and a thief.
What do cat and dog owners need to know about carbohydrates and cancer risk: At this time there is no evidence that a diet with a low , moderate , or high carbohydrate content has any bearing on cancer development in dogs and cats. There may be other reasons to feed a reduced carbohydrate diet, like management of feline diabetes, and animals with insulin secreting tumors will often benefit from a reduction in overall carb intake, but like for all conditions the specific diet selected for your dog or cat should encompass their whole health needs.
Power Up With Protein
What to feed a dog with cancer, then? Now that you know what to avoid, take a moment to learn what will best boost your dogs flagging immune system during these difficult times. Adding additional animal protein to your dogs diet can be a very smart and effective tactic. Such proteins can include canned sardines, hamburger, ground turkey, chicken, cottage cheese, and eggs. Some veterinarians champion a raw diet, while others say the meat-based protein should be cooked first. Fish oil is also a strong source of cancer-fighting Omega 3, Omega 6, and Omega 9. These fatty acids have been proven to help reduce tumors and lower inflammation in dogs. If feeding your dog fish oil via capsules proves difficult or impossible, try cutting open the capsule and letting him sniff it first. Dogs tend to love the natural smell of fish.
Please note that it is best to consult with your veterinarian to make sure your dog is, in fact, still healthy enough for a high-fat, high-protein diet. This is particularly important if your dog has canine pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, or cancer in the kidneys.
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Avoid These Foods For Dogs With Cancer
If youre hosting a party, you provide food the guests will like so theyll stick around, right? Well, picture your dogs body as a party site being crashed by cancer cells. Catering to cancer in dogs is the last thing you want to do.
Cancer loves sugar, carbs, and processed proteins . Now is a fine time to eliminate all those items from Spots diet.
And please, no greasy drive-thru snacks especially not the fries! Avoid all fried foods if you want to beat cancer, including potato chips and corn chips. Now is also a good time to evict all chemical preservatives, especially the carcinogenic preservative Ethoxyquin, which is used to preserve many brands of dry and canned pet food. Please, no cookies, candy, or cupcakes for the canine, no matter how aerobically she begs. If you want to get really hardcore, avoid all sweet veggies too, such as corn, carrots, and peas, and super-sweet fruit such as bananas. To reward my dogs acts of valor at the vets office, I sometimes pan-sear a burger or steak in coconut oil.
Can Food Really Fight Cancer In Dogs
Before we look at what to feed a dog with cancer does what a dog with cancer eats really affect the disease? We are what we eat. And that also applies to our dogs. But are there verifiable cancer-combating foods for dogs? For now, the answer has to be maybe.
There are no proven general strategies to nutritionally improve outcomes in dogs with cancer, says Sean Delaney, DVM, DACVN, a board-certified veterinary nutritionist who operates the site Balance It, which offers food-grade products, menus and food-cooking videos. However, supporting known nutritional needs should be beneficial. Not consuming enough calories to maintain an ideal body condition would be a concern in a dog with cancer. With that said, the most effective and proven treatment for dogs with cancer is drug therapy and not nutritional or dietary therapy.
Still, making healthy choices about what foods and what supplements to give your dog dealing with cancer cant hurt. It can only help.
With cancer, the biggest issue is loss of muscle mass, says Ernie Ward, DVM, Americas Pet Advocate and founder of the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. You are trying to feed to save or preserve muscle mass. Lymphoma loves carbohydrates, so you should work with your veterinarian to try to reduce the carbohydrates in your dogs diet and boost his diet with more fats and proteins.
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Treat Dog Cancer Naturally With Nutrition
There are several foods that can be added to your dog’s diet to help fight cancer, such as tomatoes and sweet potatoes, which are high in antioxidants.
The priority when fighting cancer is to support the immune system, in order to help the body help itself. It is therefore important to provide your pet with a balanced diet, rich in different nutrients.
For more details on what foods to offer a dog with cancer, you can read our previous article written specifically on this topic.
What Nutritional Changes Should I Now Consider
Tumor cells love carbohydrates. Tumors use carbohydrates to promote cancer cell growth, so high levels of carbohydrates in a dog’s food will actually feed the tumor and starve the patient! Research suggests that dogs with cancer should eat a nutrient profile with no more than 25% carbohydrate on a dry matter basis. Unfortunately, the majority of canine adult maintenance formulations are far higher than that in carbohydrate content.
On the other hand, cancer cells have a difficult time using fat as an energy source, so foods that are relatively high in fat and low in carbohydrate may benefit dogs with cancer. In addition, higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids may exert an anti- tumor effect. While additional research is needed, it is recommended that canine cancer patients eat a ration with 25-40% DM fat and 5% DM or greater of dietary omega-3 fatty acids.
“On the other hand, cancer cells have a difficult time using fat as an energy source, so foods that are relatively high in fat and low in carbohydrate may benefit dogs with cancer.”
Cancer does cause imbalances in protein metabolism, but protein intake is critical to maintain lean body mass. Dietary protein levels for dogs with cancer should be higher than those in a normal adult maintenance formulation, but only if the liver and kidneys are functioning normally. The current recommendation for canine cancer patients is a protein level of 30-40% DM.
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Tips To Help Your Dog Eat
Whats a bit trickier here is to determine what to feed a dog with cancer and no appetite. Thankfully, there are a handful of tips you can try to get your sick dog to eat more than he may initially want to.
One thing you can try immediately is to avoiding mixing any medications with food or water. This may take some experimenting, and some medications may be required with food. If they are not required to be taken with food, dont mix the two, and try not to medicate immediately before or after a meal. The less your dog associates feeding time with time to take your medicine, the better.
You can also try increasing the freshness, moisture, and smell of your dogs food. Try switching from dry food to a canned food, then warming that canned food to body temperature. Also, try offering several small meals a day to assure the food stays fresh and your dog retains his appetite.
You can also help ease the eating process for your sick dog by making sure the food bowls are as easily accessible as possible maybe even placing several bowls around the house. Also, do your best to avoid feeding your dog when he appears nauseous. Signs of nausea include spitting out food, and turning away or drooling at the mere sight of food.
Feeding A Dog That Has Cancer
- Categorised News, Nutrition Tips, Resource
Dogs with cancer have special nutritional needs. In human patients with cancer, it has been shown that malnutrition can increase the risk of complications from therapy and decrease survival times. Improved quality of life and improved response to therapy are observed in those with good nutritional status. The same is thought to be true in dogs.
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What To Do If Your Dog Will Not Allow A Change Infood
If you cannot change food your dog eats, ask yourveterinarian aboutusing supplements along with the food to create a variation of theoptimalcanine cancer diet. Most will recommend theaddition of fish oil as a source of Omega-3 fatty acids such as theproduct OnlyNatural Salmon Oil for Dogs. If your dog refuses toeat fish oil, try and buy lemon scented or descented oil.Alternatives such as flax seed have not been fullyinvestigated as an alternative source of Omega-3 for dogs.
Dog Cancer Diet: Overview Of What To Feed Your Dog
1. Reduce the carbohydrates your dog eats. Carbs cause a net energy loss to the cancer patient, but are readily utilized by cancer cells.
2. Use fish oil supplements to reduce or eliminate some of cancers metabolic alterations.
3. Feed the most appetizing food you can find. Anorexia and weight loss will speed your dogs death.
Ask any dog owner about his biggest health fears for his pet, and his response is likely to include cancer. Its a leading cause of death in canines and can be indiscriminate, striking young and old dogs alike. According to a 1997 Morris Animal Foundation study, cancer claimed the lives of one of four dogs who participated in the study, while 45 percent of dogs who lived to be 10 or older died of cancer.
Many cancers are life-threatening. Although they can be addressed through conventional veterinary treatments, including surgical removal of tumors, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, they may not always be cured, so post-diagnosis regimens often focus on simply creating the best possible quality of life for the time the dog has left.
Over the past 10 years, compelling evidence has emerged that one of the keys to creating that better life can be found in a surprising place: the dogs food bowl. Experts acknowledge that one way to deal with cancer is to take charge of what the canine cancer patient eats.
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Fish But Be Sure To Choose The Right Kind
Fish and shellfish contain high quality protein and offer a variety of other nutritional benefits, including Omega 3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid , along with vitamins B2 and D, calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium and potassium. Adding fish to your dogs diet can have all kinds of benefits, supporting heart health, brain function and eye health, and helping with inflammation.
A word of advice though leave the raw fish to the experts, and instead serve it cooked or from a can. Some raw fish contain parasites for example, raw salmon poisoning is caused by a rickettsia that uses a parasite fluke on the salmon as a host.
Try cooked fresh fish or canned wild salmon, sardines and mackerel, packed in water. Remember to choose wild-caught fish over farmed wild fish tends to contain more Omega 3 essential fatty acids, and is less likely to be contaminated with harmful pollutants.
For fish safety, visit epa.gov/choose-fish-and-shellfish-wisely.
Homemade Food For Dogs With Cancer
Just know that cooking for your sick dog is much more complex than you might think. Ideally, for a dog with cancer, we want to achieve a specific ratio for each macronutrient.
Some professionals suggest aiming for a homemade dog cancer diet that is moderate in protein , low in carbohydrates and high in fat , with an intake of antioxidants .
Here is a suggested dog cancer diet recipe, which could be reviewed by your vet to see if its appropriate for your pet depending on their type of cancer. The amounts of ingredients are given as a proportion but should be adjusted according to your pet’s weight. A supplement of minerals and vitamins should also be added.
- 20g of rapeseed oil
Commercial diets are often high in carbohydrates. It is therefore often this aspect that we aim to improve with a home cooked diet, in addition to providing more appetizing foods. Some veterinary companies offer appropriate diets for animals with cancer, but if you want to venture into a home cooked diet, remember that you want to decrease carbohydrate intake, but also provide your pet with high quality protein, as well as good fats .
Fast-growing tumors will actually feed on carbohydrates, and that’s why we want to limit them. However, the recommendations will be different for a dog with a slow growing tumor .
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Homeopathy As A Natural Option For Dog Cancer
As always with a view to holistic dog cancer treatments, homeopathy has its role to play. It is also popular all over the world.
It is a form of alternative treatment that uses the principles of similarity and dilution to create completely safe and affordable natural remedies for cancer in dogs. This alternative medicine is concerned with the individual as a whole, that is to say, it aims to restore balance in the animal’s body, in addition to wanting to treat its symptoms.
At HomeoAnimal we offer you natural products to support your animals when they are suffering from various health problems, including certain types of cancer.
Thats all for our recommendations on supplementing classic canine cancer treatment with natural tools.
At HomeoAnimal, our products are based on the four forms of holistic medicines mentioned above, namely: homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, medicinal mushrooms, herbal products and more.
If you have any concerns about the health of your pet, please be aware that it is possible to contact us directly. It will be our pleasure to help you. You can also fill out our form for a FREE recommandation for your pet.
If you have read this article because you have a pet that has cancer, we are wholeheartedly with you and hope that these natural solutions give you some hope.
Are Pet Lovers Leading The Anti
However, owners who are desperate to do anything and everything for their beloved companions often do their own research, looking for more options.
Steve Drossner of Philadelphia became one such owner when his German Shepherd Dog/mix, Ginger, was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma, a cancer that affects blood vessels. A tumor on Gingers spleen ruptured, and caused her to collapse.
After the spleen were removed, Drossners veterinarian felt that chemotherapy should be the next treatment although the vet could make no promises regarding the treatment, since hemangio-sarcoma is such an aggressive, fast killer. After consulting with a holistic veterinarian, Drossner decided to skip the chemo, and instead, put Ginger on a home-prepared anticancer diet of cooked free-range chicken, brown rice, olive oil, organic vegetables, and supplements.
Although Drossner bemoans the expense, he doesnt begrudge his dog the menu, which has helped keep Ginger alive for more than two and a half years. Free-range chicken is $8.49 a pound, he says. It costs me $11 to $12 a day to feed her, but I really have no other options. I feel that if I made any changes to Gingers diet and she took a turn for the worse, Id never forgive myself.
The oncologist gave me a life expectancy of 30 to 90 days post-surgery, she said. He didnt give me any hope whatsoever. Diet was not mentioned.
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