UAB researchers say the resulting altered DNA may be the factor that activates the spread of living cancer cells to distant locations in the body – a deadly process called metastasis – through a specific molecular pathway.

Metastasis is the No. 1 cause of cancer recurrence and treatment failure.

The UAB study acknowledges that dead cancer cells from chemotherapy can cause the spreading of cancer and metastasis.

The research leader, Katri Selander, M.D., Ph.D., states that there is a possibility that “by killing cancer cells with chemotherapy we inadvertently induce DNA structures that make surviving cancers cells more invasive.” Therefore, this may be the factor that activates the spread of living cancer cells to distant locations in the body – a deadly process called metastasis – through a specific molecular pathway.

It is commonly acknowledged and understood by holistic practitioners that in the short term, conventional toxic treatments like chemotherapy are not effective in most cases. But even in those cases where it is, the cancer is likely to metastasize into a more devastating type of cancer that is resistant to any type of treatment. This research gives a scientific explanation as to why that is true.

This research is essentially important for people dealing with cancer in dogs. It explains why chemotherapy in dogs is only successful in less than 5 percent of the cases. Even if the tumor or cancer is in remission for a short period after this type of treatment, when it returns, there is nothing more that can be done. And this study suggests, that chemotherapy alters DNA to make the cancer return more rapidly by spreading the disease through the dead cancer cells that the chemotherapy, itself, has produced.

What this research means for you is that whether the chemotherapy you treat your dog with is Palladia, Carboplatin, Chlorambucil, Cisplatin, Dexamethasone, Doxorubicin, Vincristine, or any other chemotherapeutic agent, chances are that the toxicity of these drugs will promote rapid metastasis, and produce devastating consequences. This is, in fact, why most dogs die in a short amount of time on these drugs.

Scientific data for dogs receiving holistic and natural treatments for dog cancer show that they do not have these problems and survive much longer.

In Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer I explain the protocol that I used to extend my dog, Fergie’s life much longer than could have been done with chemotherapy. They’re scientifically proven holistic treatments that are less invasive, less expensive and don’t risk the chance of metastases that chemotherapeutic agents do.

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Many think that genetics have a lot to do with it, but that is not true. Experts generally agree that environmental factors are most responsible for a dog’s longevity. These include avoiding exposure to toxic chemicals such as those found in our homes, pesticides, air pollution, food and tap water to name a few.

I recently searched the internet to see if I could find a common denominator among dogs who had lived to extraordinarily old ages. Of course information about exposure to many environmental factors was not available, however, there was one common thing that all of their owners attributed to their dog’s longevity.

Let’s take a look at some of them.

• Chanel, a dachshund, lived to be 21 years old. Owned by Denice and Karl Shaugnessey in  Port Jefferson Station, New York, they said she is is kept inside her warm home and fed a diet of boiled chicken with whole-wheat pasta and the occasional soft treat.
• Lulu, a beagle, was 21 as of February, 2010. Her owner, Travis Buckley has credited the dog’s longevity to it’s diet of freshly cooked fillet steak, veal and sausages.
• Bramble, a Labrador owned by Anne Heritage from Wales, lived to be 27 years old. Ms. Heritage is a vegan and has brought up her pooch on the same diet regime she herself follows. “She has a big bowl of rice, lentils and organic vegetables every evening,” says Ms. Heritage.
• Jerry, an Australian cattle dog-bull terrier cross, lived to be 27. Jerry’s owner, Waddie Harris – an Aboriginal tribal leader in New South Wales state’s Wilcannia town, put Jerry’s longevity down to his high-protein diet of Outback wildlife. “Jerry has grown up on kangaroo, rabbit and emu as well as scraps off the table,” the newspaper quoted Harris as saying.
• Otto – a dachshund cross terrier from Shropshire, England lived just 31 days short of his 21st birthday. Owners Lynn and Peter Jones attribute his longevity to “good food and plenty of love and affection.”
• Daisey, a Tenterfield terrier from Queensland was 25 as of February, 2010. Her owner, Julie suspects Daisy’s longevity might be due in part to one of her favorite beverages. “She’s likes a cup of tea and that’s one of her treats she’s always had – apparently a lot of dogs in England drink tea and they think it could have to do with their long life,” Julie explains.
• Paco Sosa, a dachshund from New York City was 20 as of last year. He is fed a diet of organic fish and poultry, and walks in Central Park every day.

Do you see the common thread here? The one thing dogs who live to be the oldest have in common is that they don’t eat dog food from a bag or a can. They eat the same food we do. There are dogs on the list who ate vegetarian, steak, sausage, fish, kangaroo, and poultry. Some cooked, some raw. Whatever it was, it didn’t come from a dog food factory.

Of course, we know little from what was published about other factors, but I suspect their exposure to vaccinations and toxins like flea collars, spot treatments and lawn chemicals was also limited.

If your dog has cancer, right now would be a good time to only prepare food for them that you would eat yourself. Dogs with cancer have different nutritional needs than healthy dogs and I cover this with anti-dog cancer recipes in Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer.

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Last week (3/17/2010) the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will increase restrictions on tick-and-flea “spot-on” pesticides for pets because of a rise in adverse reactions in cats and dogs, including seizures and death.

“These are poisons,” Steve Owens, assistant administrator in the Environmental Protection Agency’s pesticides and toxic substances office, told reporters today on a conference call. “They are products designed to kill fleas and ticks.”

Smaller dogs are more at risk of experiencing these adverse reactions because the concentrations of the pesticides in their bodies are higher. Nevertheless, these products are poisonous to all dogs whether they have adverse reactions or not.

So what will these increased EPA restrictions be? Well, they are still deciding. To start, you’ll see some warning labels on these products in the next few months, and they will warn people not to give their pets too much. In my opinion, any amount of a poison is too much. There is no safe dosage.

So while the EPA is taking it’s good ole time deciding what they’re going to do about it, you don’t have to.

This is what’s important for you. Dogs with cancer are more susceptible to fleas and ticks than healthy dogs and the 2010 flea and tick season is starting now for many of you.

For those of you who have Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer, I have just updated the flea and tick treatment section of BDC with effective, non-toxic alternatives to use in your house and on your dog. Be sure to go there right now so you can take safe, preventive measures before you have a problem.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Here are some examples of denial:

• “I don’t believe it. My dog seems fine and there are no signs that anything is wrong.”
• “There’s nothing I can do about it.”
• “I’ll just wait until he/she dies and then get a new one.”

Whatever you are going through, it’s okay. These are all normal reactions.

When my dog, Fergie, was first diagnosed with cancer, my initial reaction was one of immense fear. It was difficult to bear the thought of losing her. At first I cried and then became somewhat numb. I thought, “What am I going to do? Is there anything I can do?” After a few days this turned into, “I’m going to do everything I can. We are going to beat this.”

No matter what your initial reaction is, you will still need to respond and take action. Here are some strategies that will help you focus on your dog’s needs:

1. Take Care of Yourself. In times of anxiety and stress, it’s common for us to ignore ourselves. Make sure that you eat properly, get plenty of sleep, pay attention to your appearance and maintain your normal routine. Also consider getting some natural anti-anxiety remedies such as Bach Rescue Remedy and making time for some deep relaxation, at least twice daily. If you don’t know how to meditate, you can easily find deep relaxation CD’s and MP3’s at places like Amazon.com.
2. Talk About Your Emotions. Share your feelings with friends, family members, clergymen and professional counselors. Be open to your emotions. Talking about them openly will help you to stay grounded and prevent clouding your judgment.
3. Take Notes. It may be hard to concentrate at first on remembering what the vet said or information you have found on the web or elsewhere. It may also be difficult to remember the new words and terms you have never heard before. Keep a notebook and write everything down.
4. Educate Yourself. I recommend you start by focusing on getting information from those who have had experience with treating cancer in dogs. Otherwise, you will likely be confused by the daunting amount of information that can be found on places such as the internet. You will initially want immediate guidance from knowledgeable sources. Pick just a couple to start with. You may want to get a second opinion from a holistic vet. Books are also a good resource and likely to contain information that you won’t find for free on the internet.

Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer was written with the purpose of providing you with information needed immediately to set your dog on the road to healing. You can download the first three chapters for free by clicking here.

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Since then more than $200 billion has been spent trying to find a cure. Oncologist Anthony Back states, “The funding people are interested in is the magic-bullet research because that’s what brings the dollars in.” Very little funding goes towards researching natural substances because they can’t be patented and sold for a profit. For example, if broccoli sprouts could stop or reverse a specific type of cancer, the millions of dollars required to prove this would never be spent. It wouldn’t be possible to recoup the investment for such research, because natural foods and supplements can’t be patented.

This is why when a doctor claims they only use treatments that have been scientifically proven, they are excluding most natural substances. Unfortunately, in our modern profit-driven society, scientific research has proven itself not to be the gold standard when it comes to finding effective remedies for treating human or canine cancer. With hundreds of billions of dollars and counting spent over the past 39 years, there are still no adequately effective drugs for most types of cancer.

At one time, a disease called scurvy, which we now know is caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, was common among sailors and others who spent long times on ships at sea. The fruits which could prevent this disease were perishable, and thus not provided in sailors’ diets on long voyages. James Lind, a Scottish surgeon in the British Royal Navy, first proved it could be treated with citrus fruit in 1753. He published his findings in his book, Treatise of the Scurvy.

Treatise of the Scurvy

Dr. Lind found that every sailor who consumed juice containing vitamin C, either from fruits or other natural sources, were cured of their scurvy. And it prevented scurvy in sailors who drank these juices every day. However, the cure for scurvy was not discovered by a scientific study that would be accepted in any modern day medical or veterinary journal. The standards for acceptable scientific research today must include a group who gets the treatment and one who does not, also known as a double blind study. The method Dr. Lind used for his findings was not a double blind study, but another method of proof called “clinical observation.” And it provided clinical proof that drinking fruit juices cures scurvy.

It’s sad to think that in today’s profit-driven scientific community, a cure for scurvy might never have been found. Fruits, fruit juices and vitamin C are natural foods and supplements which can’t be patented.  Many have been shown to be effective in treating diseases through clinical observation, the same way that Dr. Lind found the cure for scurvy. However, in today’s world, this type of proof is almost universally rejected by conventional medical doctors and veterinarians as they don’t consider it acceptable “scientific proof.”

Let’s say you were to walk into a conventional doctor’s office wearing a backpack with a parachute in it. The doctor says, “What’s that thing on your back?” You respond, “It’s called a parachute. I am planning on jumping out of an airplane tomorrow and I heard about this parachute. I was told that if I pull this ripcord before I reach the ground it will save my life.”  The doctor then says, “Well I’ve never heard of that, and there is no scientific research or evidence proving it works. I only recommend things that have been scientifically proven to my patients. Don’t jump out of the airplane or you’ll die.”

So you go home and tell your family that you are not going to jump out of the airplane tomorrow because the doctor told you you’ll die even if you do use the parachute.

You see, there is no scientific study proving that parachutes save people’s lives. We only know this by observing that people who  jump out of planes don’t die when they open their parachutes before reaching the ground.

This example may at first seem somewhat silly to you, yet millions of similar conversations happen in doctors’ offices everyday. And millions of people are scared away from using natural substances that could potentially save their lives everyday because their doctor has never heard of them or hasn’t seen enough proof (which doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist). And it happens every day with people who bring their dogs with cancer to veterinarians and dog cancer specialists. They simply don’t learn about parachutes in veterinary school, so when you mention it, they seem bothered and tell you to reject the idea.

I hope this helps you understand that limiting your treatment options for dog cancer only to those proven by scientific research could be harmful to your dog’s health.

In Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer, I discuss and document many natural remedies which actually have been proven by scientific research, yet most vets have never heard of them. Equally, most vets have not heard of the natural treatments proven through clinical observation. Please don’t let this scare you away from giving your dog vitamin c for scurvy, or in this case, a natural supplement for dog cancer. The fact is that thousands of dogs die every day from prescribed drugs. On the other hand, there is not one documented case of a natural supplement killing a dog when administered properly.

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To an unsuspecting patient or dog owner, this may seem quite reasonable. Upon closer investigation, however, this is an approach only recommended by conventional doctors who have not received thorough training in holistic medicine. That’s why you will find it difficult, if not impossible, to find this approach recommended by holistic practitioners who treat cancer in people. And of the small number of veterinarians who have proper training in holistic medicine, you will not find any that endorse this approach of combining toxic pharmaceutical treatments with holistic treatments. Here’s why.

Veterinarians who combine conventional and non-conventional treatments often refer to the non-conventional treatments as “complementary treatments.” In other words, they “complement” the toxic conventional treatments with alternative treatments. This exemplifies their misunderstanding of alternative treatments, as they place the alternatives as “complementary” or “secondary” treatments. Anyone with a comprehensive understanding of holistic medicine understands that holistic treatments are primary and not secondary.

For example, all chemotherapy is toxic and virtually destroys the immune system. To complement this treatment, a conventional veterinarian with limited knowledge of holistic treatments may recommend nutritional supplements as a way to enhance the immune system to counter the devastatingly destructive effects of conventional toxic treatments.

There are a number of problems with this approach. First, dogs with cancer already have a weakened immune system, which is the number one reason why they got cancer in the first place. Say your house is on fire (immune system). Now a firefighter (doctor) comes along with this “full spectrum” approach and wants to put both gasoline (the conventional treatment) and water (the complementary treatment) on the fire. He tells you the reason is because he doesn’t know what’s causing the fire, so it’s best to sufficiently accelerate the burn to address this mysterious cause and hopefully burn it out. But he will try to keep it under control by putting water on it in hopes it doesn’t get out of hand.  He also has limited studies that show it works in a certain percentage of the cases.

Then you find out that this approach only saves one in five houses, and if there is ever a fire again, nothing will put it out because the unburned gasoline is embedded in the walls. Not only that, but because the gasoline is embedded in the walls, the toxic fumes will cause more problems over the long term, like water damage from bursting pipes, electrical failures, destruction of the heating and air conditioning coil, and possibly more fires from the erosion of the electrical wiring.

Only one in five dogs who receives chemotherapy lives for up to two years, regardless of how many other holistic treatments they receive. And even if they do survive, when the cancer returns, the conventional treatments will not work again in most cases because the cancer has become resistant. If your dog is one of the very few that goes into remission for longer than this, you will likely be treating the long term effects of the toxic treatment. These can include permanent organ damage including heart, liver and kidney problems, nerve damage, blood in the urine, and even another cancer!

Now some of you may be saying, “But the doctor who wrote the book with this ‘integrated’ approach also has a section with natural remedies for people who don’t want chemotherapy.” As far as I know, I have read every book to date written for the general public about dog cancer. Except for one, every book I have reviewed, whether written by vets or others, demonstrates a gross deficiency of knowledge about holistic medicine. For the most part, they are not even aware of, nor do they include the most powerful and effective alternative treatments for dog cancer.

The one exception to this is a book written by Dr. Martin Goldstein, entitled, “The Nature of Animal Healing.” I wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone who wants a better understanding of holistic medicine for dogs and cats. There is a chapter about dog cancer in this book, but it was written over eleven years ago, and many of the treatments recommended in Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer were either not available, or discovered, that long ago. Nevertheless, it’s still a good read for understanding the principles of holistic medicine, and much of the information is still relevant today.

And finally, here are some quotes from well respected doctors and researchers about chemotherapy which you should be aware of.

“…as a chemist trained to interpret data, it is incomprehensible to me that physicians can ignore the clear evidence that chemotherapy does much, much more harm than good.” – Alan C Nixon, PhD, former president of the American Chemical Society.

Walter Last, writing in The Ecologist, reported recently: “After analysing cancer survival statistics for several decades, Dr Hardin Jones, Professor at the University of California, concluded “…patients are as well, or better off untreated.” Jones’ disturbing assessment has never been refuted.

Professor Charles Mathe declared: “If I contracted cancer, I would never go to a standard cancer treatment centre. Cancer victims who live far from such centres have a chance.”

“Many medical oncologists recommend chemotherapy for virtually any tumor, with a hopefulness undiscouraged by almost invariable failure,” Albert Braverman MD 1991 Lancet 1991 337 p901 “Medical Oncology in the 90s.

“Most cancer patients in this country die of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy does not eliminate breast, colon, or lung cancers. This fact has been documented for over a decade, yet doctors still use chemotherapy for these tumors,”  Allen Levin, MD UCSF The Healing of Cancer.

“Despite widespread use of chemotherapies, breast cancer mortality has not changed in the last 70 years,” Thomas Dao, MD NEJM Mar 1975 292 p 707.

Additionally, Irwin Bross, a biostatistician for the National Cancer Institute, discovered that many cancers that are benign (though thought to be malignant) and will not metastasize until they are hit with chemotherapy. In other words, he’s found that many people who’ve been diagnosed with metastatic cancer did not have metastatic cancer until they got their chemotherapy.

Of course, the final decision is yours. In my experience and study, dogs who receive treatments from professionals who have an adequate and thorough knowledge of holistic medicine, have far better outcomes, both in the short and long term, than dogs treated with a “full spectrum” or “integrative” approach. You simply need to find a practitioner who knows what they are doing. So please be careful about those who claim to understand holistic medicine, but in actuality, don’t. You will find everything you need to get started on the proper holistic path in Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer.

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I was absolutely shocked when I heard this. Not only is it widely accepted and proven by science that cancer is caused by a breakdown of the immune system, but repairing immune deficiencies is the current basis for most scientific cancer research. I explained to my reader that she needed to look into this further. I challenge anyone to find any credible authority who would question whether or not cancer is related to a weakened immune system. As I have warned in previous posts, there are vets out there who are highly misinformed, so be careful.

The immune system is extremely complex. There are complete textbooks written about this one subject. Here is a simplified explanation.

Everyone produces cancer cells each and everyday, all of the time. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the game Pac-Man where little creatures go around and gobble up little dots in the game. In a healthy body with a properly functioning immune system, immune cells act like little Pac-Men going around and gobbling up all of the bad cancer cells. They can tell which ones are the bad cancer cells that need to be gobbled up, and which ones are not.

When the immune system breaks down, many of these immune cells, or Pac-Men, become blind and can no longer differentiate between good cells and the bad cancer cells. Because of this blindness, they stop gobbling up the bad cancer cells, which are then allowed to proliferate and turn into a tumor or other form of cancer.

Now imagine if we could restore the vision to these blind Pac-Men. They would then be able to again see and resume gobbling up the bad cells. This is one of the approaches used as a basis for the holistic treatment of cancer in dogs. You can find out how to implement these natural treatments in Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer.

The basis of most conventional treatments, on the other hand, is to use toxins and poisons to destroy all Pac-Men (the immune system) that are left and also kill all other cells; the good ones, the bad ones and any in between. Imagine that the living room in your house is on fire. Would it make sense to burn the rest of the house down to put the fire out? This is essentially the approach taken by conventional medicine to treat canine cancer.

So looking back again at what the conventional vet told my reader, I suppose it’s not that shocking after all. Not if you agree with the logic that burning your whole house down makes sense when only part of it is on fire. It certainly is, after all, one way to address the problem, but not one that I can recommend.

More about that next time.

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Lymphoma in dogs is often first noticed as a swelling of the lymph nodes under the neck, armpits, stomach or back. In canine lymphoma these lumps are usually hard and round. Lymphoma is the most prevalent type of dog cancer.

Before jumping to the worst conclusions, realize that there are many possibilities as to what such lumps can be. First of all, any mass is considered a tumor, but many of them are not cancer or life threatening. These include lipomas (fatty tumors), hematomas (blood filled tumors),  abscesses or cysts (fluid filled tumors).

A condition called lymphoid reactive hyperplasia can also cause swollen lymph nodes. This is a normal immune response to some type of infection or inflammation due to some type of allergic response. It can be caused by bites from insects such as ticks, or other substances which set off an allergic reaction.

Lymphadenitis is another condition which causes swollen lymph nodes. This is most commonly caused by a bacterial or fungal infection, yet is not canine cancer.

The only way to know for sure is to take your dog to a veterinarian who will most likely want to diagnose the cause with blood work, needle aspiration and possibly a biopsy.

Aside from trauma, which can cause a hematoma, any lump on your dog’s skin should be taken as a sign that the immune system has been compromised. Even if it turns out not to be lymphoma or other type of canine cancer, it should be addressed with immune enhancing measures.

In Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer, you will find some of the most powerful immune enhancing natural supplements available, and other measures which can be taken to bolster immunity. These measures not only help dogs with cancer, but also, dogs without cancer who need a boost to their immune systems.

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These supplements rarely cause side effects when supervised properly. In fact, when administered as I suggest, they usually have the opposite effect. This was obviously an indication that something else was wrong, unrelated to the supplements.

Upon further investigation, I was informed that this dog had previously been on chemotherapy, which shed light on the cause of the problem.

Leaky gut syndrome is a condition whereby the mucosal lining of the intestine and stomach has been damaged. While it is often seen in colitis and other forms of irritable bowel syndromes and disease, it’s also common to see it in dogs who have had conventional treatments for canine cancer. When treated with conventional drugs, the cause of the condition will not be properly addressed, leading to further illness.

Properly functioning gastrointestinal systems have a mucosal lining which protects the body by only allowing proper nutrients and molecules to pass through to the bloodstream. This lining creates a differential barrier which prevents toxic molecules from entering the body. These larger toxic molecules are then eliminated by natural means.

In leaky gut syndrome, the mucosal lining is damaged allowing toxins and other harmful substances to “leak” through this barrier. Not only does it allow harmful substances to enter the body, but it also causes irritation and inflammation of the stomach and intestines.

There are many drugs which can damage this lining, including chemotherapy and antibiotics. It can also be damaged by corticosteroids (i.e. prednisone), antacids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, chronic stress, toxic food additives, environmental toxins, parasites, enzyme deficiencies and liver disease.

Symptoms of leaky gut syndrome can include flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, allergies, irritability, anxiety, skin rashes and vomiting. It also impairs immune function.

Left untreated, the patient becomes the victim of signs and symptoms of nutritional deficiency. Unless this underlying problem is attended to, the effects and benefits of any nutritional supplementation are significantly diminished.

Treatment of leaky gut syndrome is quite simple and consists of: 200 mg. of L-Glutamine per 20 lbs. of weight per day, probiotic yogurt (with no sugar), and a good quality probiotic supplement. Thirty days should do the trick, with symptoms improving after the first few days. It will need to be repeated if your dog is exposed again to any of the drugs described above.

If your dog with cancer experiences gastrointestinal discomfort after being exposed to any of the above-mentioned drugs or conditions, I suggest you implement this treatment for leaky gut syndrome.

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Many advocates of raw food diets for dogs will tell you that their pets have had dramatic improvements in energy level, allergies, skin conditions and overall health after being switched to a raw food diet. There is speculation as to why this is true, and no one knows for sure. Some say it’s because the enzymes and amino acids are not destroyed by the cooking process. Others will tell you it’s because of benefits from eating bones and connective tissue which is what dogs eat in the wild. The question many ask is, “If this diet is good for healthy dogs, then why not for sick ones?”

There are significant health benefits in switching from commercial dog food to any homemade diet, whether it be raw of cooked. You need to be aware however, that your dog with cancer has a compromised immune system. In my opinion, this makes the risks of feeding raw food to dogs with cancer outweigh any possible benefit. Here’s why.

Raw vegetables, and especially, meat and bones can contain bacteria such as salmonella, e. coli, or staphylococcus, which a healthy dog’s immune system may be able to handle in small amounts. A healthy pet may not be affected by this at all. This same small amount of bacteria in a dog with cancer however, could overwhelm their immune system causing serious illness, if not worse. Even if you have the highest trust in the source of the food, there is no guarantee that it won’t contain at least small amounts of this bacteria. It’s just not worth the risk.

I recommend that if you dog has cancer not to feed them anything you would not eat yourself. And even more so, it should be cooked to destroy any and all bacteria it may contain.

In Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer, I discuss what you should and should not feed your dog, extensively. I also make recommendations for nutritional supplementation which make up for those things which may be compromised in the cooking process. In addition, you will find recipes that contain the correct balance of carbohydrates, fats and proteins, which is different for a dog who has cancer than a healthy one.

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