We Are The Cure Blog | Canine Cancer Information

Guest blogging for the National Canine Cancer Foundation is a real honor – and a great way for dog lovers to share stories and information. Thanks to the National Canine Cancer Foundation, work for a cure is supported. People who have lost beloved friends or whose dogs are living with cancer have a place to go to find hope and strength. But I want more.

I want all guest bloggers here to share their posts on the National Canine Cancer Foundation’s blog across the dog-blogosphere, so we can get the word about Canine Cancer where it badly needs to go – to people whose dogs are healthy. Let’s face it; people don’t want to hear about cancer if it’s not in their lives. It’s too frightening. But, if we are able to spread information that can help people take real action to promote wellness in their dogs, we can make the National Canine Cancer Foundation’s job a little bit easier.

I started thinking about canine cancer as my dogs got older, (they’ll be 7 and 9 this year) and as I heard about so many pets, both dogs and cats, who were dying from cancer. On one street not far from where I live, the cancer rate for both people and pets seems extraordinarily high. Is it because the planes landing at the airport empty their gas tanks over that area? (The tops of trees in the arboretum there are surely showing signs of damage.) Is the cancer rate due to poor diet? Heredity? Lawn chemicals? Coincidence? More frightening is the possibility that this street is not an anomaly.

When it comes to animal companions, pet owners turn to the experts for help. After all, everyone wants to be sure they’re doing the best they can to keep their pets healthy. What, then, has gone so terribly wrong? Well, sometimes, people choose the wrong experts to listen to, for instance, unscrupulous advertising agencies, who push foods that aren’t really very nutritious for animals, or more subversively, splash images of happy dogs in their ads and on the trucks of lawn care services, who use toxic chemicals.

People need to realize that they are capable of becoming the experts themselves, and more than that, they need to become the experts themselves to effectively advocate for the health and well being of their animal companions. To do this, they must read everything they can get their hands on and question, question, question – Is this food, vaccine, medication, procedure, training protocol, you fill in the blank, what’s right and healthy for my dog?- even if it means an uncomfortable conversation with the vet.

Many pet owners are not aware, for instance, of the danger vaccines pose to pets, including their contribution to incidences of immune disorders, elevated liver enzymes, kidney failure, seizures, hypothyroidism, and cancer, among others. Dr. Jean Dodds, an internationally recognized authority on thyroid issues in dogs and blood diseases in animals, has done extensive research on vaccines, and asserts “In veterinary medicine, evidence implicating vaccines in triggering immune-mediated and other chronic disorders (vaccinosis) is compelling.” She is currently working toward reducing the number of rabies vaccines dogs receive by extending the vaccination requirements to five, and then seven years.

In short, pet lovers need to read the about vaccination issues so that they can make an educated decision about which vaccines and how many their pet really needs, (within legal guidelines, of course) no matter what that postcard from the vet says.

People also need to be open to new ideas and to pay attention to evidence amassed from years of research when it comes to the health of their pets – especially when the results challenge their belief systems about medical care. People often fall into the mindset of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In the case of canine cancer, however, something in the healthcare system for animals is terribly broken, and both pet owners and the medical community need to look beyond what they’re doing now into new options with an emphasis on wellness, rather than fearing change, in order to remedy the situation.

Dr. Terry Shirvani, a Naturopathic physician and owner of cats, suggests that we can (and should!) take for the most part, concepts of holistic health for humans, which are based on wellness, and extend them to our animal friends. The holistic approach takes into account the health of the whole being, and as Terry emphasizes, animals are beings, just as much as humans are. Holism looks at each animal as an individual.

Just like people, all animals are unique in their health and emotional requirements. There is no one-size-fits-all food for dogs, and providing them with the best food we can may mean preparing their meals by hand, rather than picking up a bag of kibble at the supermarket. Sound ridiculous? Consider then, the health and lifespan of dogs before the introduction of kibble. Terry also points out how stress in owners’ lives can affect their pets who are extremely sensitive to what’s going on with their human guardians. By looking at ways to improve pets’ quality of life, their owners may be surprised to find ways in which it’s critical to improve their own.

The path to wellness is not difficult. The difficulty lies in people’s resistance to change. Looking up information on the Internet is not hard. Changing dog food is not hard. Vaccinating less is not hard (and saves money!) Trying a more natural approach to wellness instead of patching symptoms may require finding a different vet, but that’s not really so hard, either. Small changes can make a world of difference. Let’s make that world one that’s canine cancer free.

Contributed by Beth Lowell, Animal Reiki Practitioner, www.bethlowell.com

From Wikipedia: “Well into the 20th century, coal miners brought canaries into coal mines as an “early warning signal” for deadly, toxic gases. The birds, being more sensitive, would become sick before the miners, who would then have a chance to escape or put on protective respirators.”

Is it any wonder that with the “pre green” proliferation of chemical laden cleaning and laundry products, building supplies, and monthly flea poison treatments, that our pets are developing cancer at such an alarming rate? In addition to protecting one’s animal from constant exposure to a myriad of possible household carcinogens, our having to negotiate the constant recalls and dangers of an unregulated, processed pet food industry can be an overwhelming and depressing nightmare. But there’s also a deeper issue: when it comes to these everyday toxins that we have become so unconscious about or accepting of, have our cherished, innocent pets become our modern day canaries?

There are MANY things we can do to prevent our beloved companion animals from ever getting cancer. When my 8-year old dog, aka: my adopted daughter, Buttons, was diagnosed with deadly carcinoma and given 6 weeks to live, I launched a massive personal research campaign into the world of holistic medicine. I soon came to learn that “holistic” didn’t mean symptom treating with natural remedies or herbs in lieu of pharmaceutical drugs. Instead, it meant clearing my home environment of all possible toxins, cleansing Buttons’ entire system physically and emotionally, and then giving her the proper nutritional support so that Buttons’ body could do what an unburdened body does best: HEAL ITSELF. Buttons went on to thrive for another 11 years. Exactly 1 week before her 19th birthday, she died peacefully of old age in my loving arms.

Contributed by Nadine M. Rosin, author of The Healing Art of Pet Parenthood TheHealingArtOfPetParenthood.com

I happened to be the person who gets all the “Ask the Doctor” questions.  I then pass them onto our researchers and doctors to answer them.  I cannot tell you how heartbreaking it is to read some of those questions.   I can feel people’s heart ache and desperation of trying to find something that might save their dog that is dying of cancer.  Just from reading those emails I can see you holding your dog, loving them and crying hoping that something will save them.  I know this because I have done it so many times myself.

I find that with the past three dogs that Sara and I have lost in the past three years that there is that time when you look at them and they look at you and you know it is time.  And that is when you just break down in tears, you hug your dog for dear life and you just pray please God don’t take my beautiful dog.  Please help me find a way.

Just today I had someone call me about a memorial card they got and they were fine until they mentioned their dog’s name and they just cried.  Another time, I got a call from a person who had sent a question to me about their sick dog and later on he sent, not one but, a few donations in honor of his dog that was fighting cancer.  Then one day, I got a call from him.  He simply said “I wanted to call to let you know my dog passed away today”.   I was so touched that he took to time to call me and let me know.  We both cried.

I thought about sharing some of the questions ask, in this blog, but thought, no I don’t want to make everyone who reads this feel bad.  Instead I want to try and give you hope.   Hope that we will have new cures and treatments.  For example, if you get a chance to listen to our podcast interview with Dr. Michael Kent.  You will hear some very exciting news about Canine Lymphoma.  And if you get a chance to read the article on our site entitled “The Road from Hope to Despair” by Dr. Jamie Modiano you will see the things are truly moving forward in canine cancer research. There is also the hope that some dogs are living years with cancer and beating all odds.

I know that a lot of what you will hear and read will not help your dogs right now but in the next five years, I believe you will see more and more dogs being saved from cancer.  Sometimes, I say to myself, so what in five years, I want my Bailey, Ashby and Duncan back.  They were too young.  It is just not fair.

And it isn’t fair.  But it also isn’t fair for me to give up or any of us to give up.  It isn’t fair to all the dogs that will get cancer.

And that is why Sara and I and all of us at the National Canine Cancer Foundation continue to do what we do.  In memory of our dogs and all of your dogs who have lost the battle against cancer and for all the dogs that will get cancer.

Gary