ULTIMATE GUIDE TO REDUCE THE RISK OF CANCER IN YOUR DOG

Estimated 1:2 dogs and 1:3 cats will get cancer compared to 1:10 fifty years ago.

Our pet cats and dogs have been noted to suffer harmful health effects from chemical pollutants in the environment, often sooner than us humans. According to the National Academy of Science report, "Animals as Sentinels of Environmental Health Hazards," are the canary's in the coal mine. (National Research Council 1991).

That being said, in no specific order, here are steps to reducing the risk of cancer in your dog.

Step One: Exercise your dog

Take your dog for a walk!! This will decrease stress and it will help keep your pet at a healthy weight. Research showed a 20% reduction in cancer as a result of a leisure-time exercise in humans. In the dog aspect, this means to get out there with your dog and play, take him to the park or go for a walk.

Step Two: Avoid Stress

Avoiding stress isn't always possible as some dogs get stressed when left alone, by trips to the vet, car rides, severe weather conditions, or going to the groomers just to name a few. Even dog sporting events are fun but stressful for our pets. These are all short term stressors.

When our pets are in chronic stress it can affect the health by weakening the immune system and increased inflammation, both of which may lead to cancer. Typical signs of stress in your dog can range from digestive issues, lack of appetite, to subtle things like ears held back and low, persistent scratching (for no other obvious reason), dropped tail, drooling, yawning, and licking.

Stress depletes the healthy bacteria in the gut which in turn leads to a weaker immune system.

 Over 80% of the immune system is housed in the gut. To keep the gut strong with healthy bacteria it is important to offer a good quality probiotic/prebiotic designed for pets. Look for a probiotic with multiple strains, and high CFU (colony forming units).

 According to the RODNEY HABIB REPORT experiment,   Adored Beast Apothecary Probiotics is one of the top brands in North America.

Step Three: Watch Your Dog's Weight

Veterinary research has shown that there is a link between obesity and cancer in dogs particularly mammary and bladder. Feeding a healthy diet, avoiding grain-based treats, and replacing them with dehydrated treats and veggie/fruit snacks will aid in achieving your goals.

Step Four: Feed Fresh Species Appropriate Diet

Processing denatures the food by breaking the bonds between the food components as well as destroying the enzymes. To bring it up to AFFCO standards, synthetic nutrients must be added. When you feed real foods you don't need to worry about supplying nutrients as it is all there.

The body can survive on processed food but will THRIVE on a fresh species-appropriate diet. Cancer cannot form when the mitochondria of our cells are healthy.

The following are a few reasons to feed a Species Appropriate Diet to reduce the risk of cancer:

A recent study at the University of Helsinki by the DogRisk team discovered that the inflammation marker Homocysteine levels were 10 times higher in kibble fed dogs than raw fed dogs. Some doctors and veterinarians use homocysteine as a marker to show chronic disease.

Many brands of dry dog foods contain corn as a source of protein. Corn is a low-quality source of protein but that is not the worst of it; corn is also the source of cancer-causing Aflatoxin. The National Cancer Institute has listed aflatoxin as a known carcinogen.

Symptoms of aflatoxicosis in animals include severe, persistent vomiting, bloody diarrhea, lack of appetite, fever, sluggishness, discolored urine, and jaundice. especially around the whites of the eyes, gums, and belly. Dr. Karen Becker has a more in-depth article here.

Step Five: Avoid Toxic Preservatives and chemical additives in processed pet food

Ethoxyquin(EQ) is also a pesticide and a hardening agent for synthetic rubber but is added as a preservative. Pet food manufacturers do not have to list it on the bag if they are not the ones adding it to the food. In other words, if the preservative was added to a catch of fish to keep it fresh until it reaches the processing plant then it will NOT be shown on the bag of food.

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), Department of Health and human services states BHA is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” (cancer-causing agent).

Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) is suspected to be cancer-causing as well. BHT is banned in Australia, Sweden, Japan, and Romania.

Artificial food coloring may also be linked to cancer. Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 may contain contaminants that are known cancer-causing substances. Think of those dog foods that have colorful pieces of kibble to make them look more pleasing to our eyes.

Step Six: Avoid Over Vaccinating

There seems to be some debate whether there is a correlation between vaccines and cancer at the injection site. Ask about titer testing instead of vaccines.

PET MD (vet authored and vet-approved) had this to say; "Most types of injectable vaccine and non-vaccine products have rarely been associated with sarcoma development in dogs, but some dogs may develop a site-specific sarcoma following rabies vaccination. In fact, reports of a sarcoma (a cancerous mass arising from bone, cartilage, fat, or muscle) developing at the site of vaccine injection sites in some animals have led to the suspicion of a link between the vaccine and a disposition in some animals to this type of reaction." This is why titer testing is so important as PET MD had this to say; "Vaccination with the rabies vaccine appears the be the underlying cause of this type of sarcoma. Moreover, the risk of developing the tumors may increase with the frequency and number of vaccinations given."

Dr. Ron Schultz, a veterinary immunologist has spent 40 years studying the duration of immunity to canine vaccines.

The duration of immunity for rabies vaccine, canine distemper vaccine, canine parvovirus vaccine, feline panleukopenia vaccine, feline rhinotracheitis, and feline calicivirus have all been shown to last a minimum of 7 years by serology (measuring blood antibody levels) for rabies and challenge studies for all the rest.

• Distemper- 7 years by challenge/15 years by serology
• Parvovirus – 7 years by challenge/7 years by serology
• Adenovirus – 7 years by challenge/9 years by serology
• Canine rabies – 3 years by challenge/7 years by serology

Dr. Schultz explains… “It is important to understand that these are minimum DOI’s and longer studies have not been done with certain of the above products. It is possible that some or all of these products will provide lifelong immunity.“

Dr. Jean Dodds Blog resources on vaccines and infectious disease here

Do not over-vaccinate your dog. Only Rabies vaccines have laws that you must vaccinate every 3 years. Titer testing to establish the body's immune response is a great way to avoid over-vaccinating.

Dr. John Robb offers Titer testing here.

Some side effects of vaccines can be overcome with a homeopathic remedy by Adored Beast Anti-Vaccinosis can help remove these harmful vaccine side effects without removing vaccine benefits.

Step Eight: Spay/Neuter 

Wait at least until your pet is fully mature to spay or neuter, about 18 months is average.

When adopting a pet check before you purchase to see what their spay and neuter policy is. This gives you the opportunity to weigh the pros and cons to make a decision you are comfortable with.

Consider sterilization as an option. This way you maintain the hormones but remove the possibility of breeding.

A 2002 study on Rottweiler's showed that the risk of bone sarcoma was impacted by the age the dog was desexed. If a male or female was desexed before a year there was a 1 in 4 lifetime chance of bone cancer compared to intact dogs of the same breed.

A 1998 study published in the Veterinary Journal using data from the Veterinary Medical Database for the period 1980 through 1994 concluded that spayed or neutered dogs' risk of bone cancer doubled in large breed, purebred dogs.

A more recent study in 2014 that included 2,500 Vizslas showed that dogs neutered or spayed at any age were significantly at increased risk for developing mast cell cancer, lymphoma, all other cancers, and cancers combined, and fear of storms, compared with intact Vizslas.

Study shows that the younger the age of spay and neutering the younger the age of cancer diagnosis.

Step Nine: Avoid Environmental Carcinogens

Such as second-hand smoke, fluoride, yard chemicals, and chemical-based household cleaners.

• Second hand smoke is just as unsafe for pets as it is for our children. A study showed that long nosed dogs had a 250% higher chance of nasal tumors compared to short nose dogs; however, the short-nosed dogs had higher rates of lung cancers.

• Fluoride; is a class 2 environmental toxin. Research has shown that ingested fluoride can cause weakening of the bones, disease of the teeth, bone loss, bone cancer, osteosarcoma (dogs 10x that of humans), kidney disease, neurotoxicity, and hormonal disruption. Once ingested it accumulates in the bones.
  
  

Fluoride is unavoidable as it is in our water supply which waters our crops and livestock.

A dog food comparison study showed high levels of fluoride in 8 major dog food brands. These brands contained 1.6 to 2.5 times higher levels than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maximum legal dose in drinking water and higher than the levels found in the bone cancer study associated with young boys in 2006.

Most of the fluoride contamination in dog and cat foods comes from bone meal and meat by-products added to the food. In comparison, 2 dog food brands, one vegetarian ingredient and one made by a small manufacturer did not contain detectable levels of fluoride.

However, you can choose to offer your pets distilled water or put it in a Reverse Osmosis system, and offer an organic raw diet to reduce the ingestion of fluoride.

• Yard chemicals Insecticides increase the risk of bladder cancer in our dogs significantly according to a case study. Bladder cancer was found to increase by 3.5 when topical yard applications were used 2 or more per year. When both herbicide and insecticide were used a recent study showed a dramatic increase (7.2 times greater risk) of bladder carcinoma in dogs exposed to these yards.
  
  

Check out this link for natural options to deal with weeds.

• Household cleaners contain phthalates, and pets' paws absorb everything we put on the floor/ground. The National Center for Health Sciences says “ perhaps the most serious exposure is to modern household cleaners, which may contain a number of proven and suspect causes of cancer.”
  
  

Cleaning products with ingredients such as bleach, ammonia, chlorine, glycol ethers or formaldehyde can put pets at risk for cancer, anemia, liver and kidney damage.

Here is a link for great alternative options.

These tips offer you a few ways to reduce the environmental toxins in and around your home. However, the toxins you cannot control still remain. For this Julie Anne Lee, DCH, RCSHom, recommends doing a "spring and fall cleaning of your pet's system."  

Her suggested cleansing products are Adored Beast Liver Tonic, and Adored Beast Phyto-Synergy. 

Adored Beast Apothecary Liver tonic cleanses and supports our pets' organs. Adored Beast Phyto-synergy contains the "KING of the anti-oxidants" and "the molecule of life", Super Oxide Dismutase.

This powerful anti-oxidant will remove many of the body's toxins that have built up throughout the year. This single-cell whole food offers trace minerals, chlorophyll, essential amino acids, DHA, EPH, protein, carotenoids, antioxidants, and vitamins.

These suggestions along with a Species Appropriate Diet will reduce the risk of cancer in your pet. Together let's see if we can change these scary stats!

"Don't give disease the power of your thoughts, and you won't give it power to manifest in your body." Dr. Marty Goldstein DVM.