Holistic Diet Treatment VS Chemo and Radiation Therapy

So it’s been 10 years since your best friend came into your life,

remembering the day you brought your dog home when it was just a small puppy. All those feelings rush back into you when you walk out of the vet’s office with a dog cancer prognosis. Your aging dog has just been hit with the number one killer of dogs – Cancer

What to do now?

The veterinarian recommends conventional treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy. These are the go to procedures when dealing with dog cancer, sometimes they are effective, sometimes they are not. However, one thing we can all agree on is these conventional procedures are very stressful for your dog. Veterinarians who are trained in their discipline usually showed no interest in any holistic approach for treating dogs with cancer, but sometimes dog owners take a big leap of faith and really try the holistic approach. Conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy can get very costly and maybe unaffordable for some.

Holistic - Slow or stop the aggressive tumor with a diet change

Processed dog food were first introduced for convenience to dog owners, but as we all know, processed food can contain a lot of byproducts that are actually not very healthy for you or your dog. There is usually no cure for cancer in dogs, but a healthy lifestyle and diet change can be quite effective and improve the prognosis and lengthen quality of life for your pet. Even if the diagnosis is late stage III.

this is also a great first line of defense against your fight with dog cancer, food is ingested every day and a happy dog is always more than welcomed to open their mouth and get their grub on. We have personally experienced the bad news of a dog with a tumor. We only support what we have personally discovered to be effective and has real published scientific research behind it. Research that has been done with other mammals.

Rule of thumb – More protein and less carbs.

Dogs in nature are mainly carnivores, their system were never designed to process grains. You will never see a dog hanging out the fields grazing on grass or grains. Dogs in nature would get some of their vegetable nutrients from their kill.  Grains offer exactly 0% nutritional value for dogs and often even causing an allergic response. Cancer occurrences in dogs have actually risen substantially due to the commercialization of dog food. Grains are cheap and readily available so dog food manufacturers have easily turned to this as an option for fillers in processed dog food.  

For a holistic diet, we will first start off with the filler. Please, please look for decent grain free dog food that has a majority ingredient as meat. What is even more recommended is that the dog food contains several sources of meat. A good ratio would be at least 2:1 crude protein to carbohydrates. Here are a few we recommend and have had good recommendations from dog owners who have implemented a holistic diet change approach in treating dog tumors.

EVO -TURKEY AND CHICKEN - CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON 

EVO - RED MEAT - CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON

PINNACLE - SALMON GRAIN FREE - CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON

the EVO dog food would top our list as the best recommendation due to the fact that it has a even higher than the 2:1 ratio of crude protein to carbs. Our raw diet is usually not recommended for a dog that is fighting a tumor, as any intrusive pathogens in the actual meat may cause inflammation, infection and or activation of mast cell tumor growth. Cooked food or freeze-dried products would be a more ideal choice. However, if you stick with the 2:1 ratio of protein and carbs, it may be the key to extending the time that you and your pet will share.

Lysine - Get it naturally from cottage cheese

One of the main components found in cottage cheese is lysine. Ricotta cheese is also high in lysine and both will work well as a component in a holistic diet. Research has shown that lysine buffers the acid found in cancer cells as they grow and metabolize. We have found the best results occur when the cottage or ricotta cheese are mixed together with fish oil. (We will talk about this in the next part) This can be done by piercing a small hole in a fish oil capsule and mixing the 2 together. Any enzyme that slow or cease metastasis in cancer cells should be used and embraced.

Lysine has also been shown in research to neutralize the acid produced from cancer cells that enable them to proliferate and metastasize. This antitumor amino acid is essential to stopping the cells grow and its aggressiveness.

Omega-3 fatty acids - fish oil for your dog

A lot of processed commercial dog foods may be a factor to causing dog cancer, this is due to the excess of omega 6 fatty acid. This is the unhealthy group of fats that are mainly found in large amounts for lard, vegetable oils and corn-based products. Dogs are carnivores and eat lean meat in the wild. If a dog consumes a herbivore in the wilderness, they will also consume digested plants from the intestines of their prey. A lot of commercial dog food is for the sake of convenience and is actually not very healthy for dogs.

When consuming omega 6 fatty acid in bulk for all their lives, it is the prequel for cancer development. The body’s cancer fighting functions also decrease as cancer cell growth are encouraged. This sounds very gloomy but wait, there is a solution. A dogs body can decrease the risk and harm of omega 6 at excess with another kind of healthy fatty acid - the omega-3.

Omega-3 fatty acid are found in very high concentration in fish oils. If you are reading this, it is most likely that your dog has a ready been diagnosed with cancer. After you implement the grain free diet, you will need to pump your dog up with as much omega-3 as possible. To avoid any stomach upsets, slowly introduce the omega-3 and wiggle your way up to a bigger amount over the next few weeks, and remember to add it with food. If there are any signs of upset stomachs, you will need to decrease the amount and slowly work your way back up.

Here are a few fish oils that are well known in the holistic dog care field

PURE WILD ALASKAN SALMON OIL - CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON

GRIZZLY SALMON - CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON

NORDIC NATURAL OMEGA 3 GELS - CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON

Fish oils are also important because they can make the lysine from cottage cheese much more effective when taken together. Both ingredients act as a strong buffer that have shown to kill cancer cells.

Raising pH levels

Cancer cells thrive in a highly acidic environment, therefore normalizing pH levels can be very helpful in the battle against it. Survival for cancer cells in a regular alkaline environment is much more difficult. Cancer cells are also known to produce lactic acid which in turn makes your dog’s body even more acidic.

Balancing out the pH level in your dog’s body before cancer could be the first defense. Even after your dog has been diagnosed, one of the basic strategies in the fight against cancer cells is alkalizing the body. Foods that are alkaline promoting are usually the natural good stuff - a majority of fruits and vegetables, soybean-based products such as tofu and some nuts are all very beneficial in balancing out the acidity in your dog’s body.

However, your dog may not find a lot of these alkaline promoting foods as yummy as they should be. We have had luck in using alkaline promotion supplements such as Alka balance

ALKA BALANCE - CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON

Balancing out alkaline levels is also another paramount part of the holistic diet for your dog, we feel that every single ingredient can help and when done right. The combination can work wonders.

Don’t lose hope – A diet change can be beneficial in your dog’s battle

With the proper diet, dogs have been known to live an additional 12-24+ months after the diagnosis with no new tumors appearing. This is truly good news as most veterinarians predict only 3 to 4 months after conventional treatments such as chemo and radiation. The holistic approach can actually turn your lethargic dog from a sick cancer patient to a high energy dog that used to be him or her.

We wish you luck, adhering to a diet change can be your first and most important step in the fight with your friend.