Cancer has become the number one killer of domestic animals in the United States. A third of all dogs will get canine cancer during their life and nearly half of them will die because of it.
However, cancer is actually one of the more preventable diseases out there and you can help your dog avoid it completely. Even if your dog has already been diagnosed with cancer, there are steps you can take to help them fight the cancer which dont involve painful medical treatments.
Identifying what causes cancer in dogs is the first step toward understanding it. The causes can range widely, just as they do in humans, from poor diet to hazardous environment. A poor diet is easily fixed by removing your dog from those awful supermarket brands of dog food, which are a major contributing factor to poor health.
Wet dog foods are the worst offenders, offering almost no nutritional value to dogs. How would you feel if every meal you ever ate was factory processed slop in gravy? Your doctor would pull his hair out if you ate the way your dog is eating.
You must also be aware of how environmental factors contribute to your dogs health. Regardless of how clean you live, the air inside your house is probably still dirtier than the air outside, so make sure your dog isnt always stuck looking out the window and breathing in dust and other trapped allergens all day. You also have to understand that second-hand smoke affects dogs just as much as people and should certainly be avoided.
While a healthy lifestyle is not a complete guarantee that your dog will never get cancer, it is the important foundation to building a strong immune system. A healthy diet is the building block of this foundation and is where you should start.
First, dont fool yourself into thinking that dogs should only eat the food you find down the pet aisle. Your dog will love fresh vegetables, such as carrots, for a snack instead of processed dog treats.
Foods which are high in vitamins and antioxidants will help your dog avoid cancer. But there are some foods, regardless of how healthy they are for humans, which your dog must avoid such as raisin or grapes, onions, garlic and avocados, among others.
The second major step in keeping your dog healthy is to get them plenty of exercise. It cannot be said enough how important it is to a dog to have lots of physical activity in their life. A dog who is not getting enough activity is not just unhealthy, but may also become frustrated, leading to anger and destructive behavior.
But even the healthiest dogs can still end up having to endure cancer. When your dog is diagnosed with cancer, deciding what treatments to pursue can be a very difficult task.
Medical treatments are often prohibitively expensive and can be very difficult for the dog to handle. Surgery is usually the first step and is dangerous to older dogs because of the anesthesia alone. Chemotherapy is a method of poisoning the body to destroy the cancer cells and takes its toll on the rest of the body.
Radiation therapy is hardly any better as an entire area is exposed to radiation to kill the tumor. But if you cant afford the medical treatments or just dont want your dog to have to go through such invasive methods, there are alternative cancer treatments for canines.
Many holistic and homeopathic cancer treatments involve herbs which have been used to fight cancer for centuries. Echinacea and Astralagus are two of the most common immune-boosting herbs available. Others such as Cats Claw or Milk Thistle are widely used to prevent cancer in dogs.
If you are already giving your dog these treatments, you may still want to help them fight the pain of cancer with treatments such as acupuncture or static magnets. While these treatments may help your dog, you must remember that the key is prevention through a healthy diet and plenty of exercise because there really is no supplement for that.
