Canine Cancer Information

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.” – Unknown

Canine Cancer Information

The incidence of canine cancer, like that of human cancer, is rising dramatically. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), 60% of all dogs over age six will be diagnosed with some type of cancer in their lifetime. About six million dogs are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States, says the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dogs have thirty-five times more skin cancer than do humans, four times more breast tumors, eight times more bone cancer, and twice the incidence of leukemia. Cancer is the number one killer of dogs over the age of two.

You have probably been drawn to this site because your dog has cancer. That realization can be devastating, yet when you attempt to get a hold of dependable information on what you can do, you enter a dizzying maze. There are so many competing opinions and options. You would, I’m sure, do almost anything to save your dog’s life – but how do you find the right path?

With millions of websites addressing cancer in dogs, the task of sifting through the vast amount of available information is daunting. In fact, were you to perform that task conscientiously, it could take years. But if your dog has cancer, you need answers this minute. And more specifically, you need reliable information about dog cancer treatments that are not going to undermine your dog’s health while supposedly “curing” his or her disease. You need the natural, holistic approaches that pass this test.

If a tumor has been found, your veterinarian may have recommended that it be surgically removed. This is sound advice, provided the location of the tumor does not make the surgery a high-risk intervention – and provided also that the cost is affordable to you. If these conditions are satisfied, I would recommend before anything else that you opt for removal.

However, surgery alone may give your dog only a few additional weeks or months of life. It must be followed up with vigorous treatment of the cancer cells that still remain in your dog’s body after the tumor has been removed.

With or without surgery, your veterinarian may recommend a course of radical treatment like radiation or chemotherapy. Before choosing these treatments you should know:

1. They are toxic and they destroy your dog’s immune system, the body’s primary defense against cancer.
2. Their effectiveness is very limited. If a dog undergoes one of these treatments and lives for another eight months, this is called a “cure” in vet speak, even if the  dog dies one month later!  In fact, only one in five dogs lives for at least two years after such treatment.
3. The side effects of radiation and chemotherapy can be devastating to a dog’s quality of life. Many vets claim that the effects are less severe in dogs than in humans, but there is no scientific data confirming this. A significant percentage of dogs are so weakened that they require hospitalization.
4. Costs may range between $6,000 and $10,000, sometimes more, in the first six months alone.

Now, how about the alternatives? You may already have done a Google search on dog cancer and been immobilized by the deluge of recommendations. Let me clarify the Web offerings by breaking them down into categories and explaining why 98% of them will not provide the answers you are seeking.

The first category is snake oil, by which I mean high-priced herbal concoctions that contain small amounts of one or two immunity-boosting agents along with up to a dozen other ingredients that have no record at all of impacting canine cancer. At first glance, the formula looks sophisticated enough to justify the stiff price, but there is less here than meets the eye. Products like these are in fact too feeble to deliver on their promises. Where testimonials are provided, be on your guard. Not only is it easy to fabricate praise, but even when testimonials are genuine, they may represent no more than a tiny percentage of users; you never hear from the dissatisfied majority.

The second category consists of dog cancer forums and discussion boards, where owners discuss their efforts to arrest the disease. What quickly becomes obvious is that most dog owners are pretty much in the dark about canine cancer; only a very small fraction, in my opinion, have sufficient knowledge to make a positive difference. Fragments of understanding flash here and there, but nothing that amounts to a comprehensive, reliable strategy for treating a dog’s cancer.

Many discussion group participants are treating their pets with a couple of products claimed by marketers or other advocates to be effective – a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Sadly, such formulas don’t account for individuality. Other owners are using more many substances, picked almost randomly from the vast array whose merits are touted online. Some of their attempts are accidentally successful, but what the discussion groups reflect above all is frustration, confusion and wishful thinking.

Finally, the Web brims with books, blogs and websites authored by veterinarians. The training of these professionals has superbly equipped them to treat acute problems like infections, heartworm and trauma.  However, there are no standard veterinary protocols for dog cancer. The only treatments taught in veterinary school are the toxic ones we have already discussed – despite the scientific evidence that they are not effective.

Although some veterinarians claim to combine conventional and alternative dog cancer treatments, it’s rare to find one who has a thorough understanding of the principles of holistic medicine and holistic treatments for cancer in dogs. An issue that’s consistently ignored is that the two approaches are often incompatible because the underlying assumptions are worlds apart. If a gardener said he would take care of your lawn with both pesticides and organic methods, I think you would wonder about his expertise, his intelligence and/or his honesty.

Perhaps most telling of all is that the bulk of the “holistic” recommendations from such veterinarians are for natural supplements to counter the toxic side effects of the conventional treatments they prescribe.

The scarcity of genuine holistic understanding among vets impelled holistic dog cancer specialist Dr. Steven Eisen to write his comprehensive, easy-to-follow guide to alternative cancer treatments, Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer. The book provides an immediate plan to set your dog on the road to natural healing.

To learn more about the Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer Click Here.