Hemangiosarcoma, Mammary Cancers and Plastic Link?
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Many of you will remember a media stir over BPA, that stuff found in plastic baby bottles that could be hazardous.
BPA is Bishenol A. It is found in many different types of plastic. The most common is the clear, hard plastic called polycarbonate.
BPA is also found in plastic food and beverage containers, “carbonless” receipt paper, canned food lining, white dental fillings and more.
It is also likely found in some of the plastics in the dish that your dog may be eating and drinking out of. It may be in the lining of the canned food you are feeding your dog.
It has been shown that BPA leaks out of the plastic, into the food or water over time. If your dog is chewing plastic objects, my guess is this accelerates the process. Old plastic is the worst.
The story with BPA, at least as far as we are concerned, is that the chemical may increase the proliferation of some mammary cancers and hemangiosarcoma.
How is this possible?
BPA has been shown to have effects in the body like the natural hormone estrogen.
If excessive estrogen effects are seen in the body, it stimulates certain cells to divide.
The cells that are stimulated to divide have little receptors in the outside of the cell. A receptor is like a lock for a key. Here, the key is estrogen.
When an estrogen molecule floats along, it can attach to the estrogen receptor. This binding tells those cells that have the estrogen key in the receptor lock to start multiplying.
Some mammary tumors and hemangiosarcomas have been shown to have estrogen receptors.
Therefore, if BPA can attach to the receptor just like estrogen can, it may stimulate the growth of these cancers.
The pundit gallery will argue that the levels of BPA allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the FDA are safe.
Sadly, there are now many, many publications by independent scientists showing lower levels than those allowed by the EPA and FDA have estrogenic effects.
Here is just one example for you to check out for yourself.
Legislators hear testimony from associations such as the Polycarbonate Business Unit of the American Plastics Council along with those of independent scientists.
Since our elected officials have no way of judging the science on either side, legislation is stymied.
For the time being, I feel it is time to stop using plastic bowls, dishes and toys for our dogs, especially those afflicted with hemangiosarcoma or mammary tumors.
Canned food is in question as well. If you are not feeding your dog a canned cancer diet like ND or others, I would consider switching to home-made stews. There are recipes and tips in The Dog Cancer Survival Guide.
The plastics recognized as being prime BPA-leakers have the numbers 03 and 07 in the small triangle stamp on the bottom.
Best to all,
Dr D
About the Author
Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM is known as the "dog cancer vet" and is author of Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Beyond Surgery, Chemotherapy & Radiation. Visit his blog and sign up free to get the latest information about canine cancer. Go to http://DogCancerBlog.com.
Where Do I Begin?
By · Comments“I am overwhelmed with all the information I am reading to help my dog with cancer.” Does this sound familiar to anyone out there?
Most of the readers of this blog are searching for information.
Once a true malignancy has developed, the realities can feel utterly unacceptable.
This leads to information gathering. Whenever we are faced with situations that appear unsolvable, many will search for solutions. And here you are.
The problem is that there is too much data out there, and you might lack a road map.
This was the motivation behind the Dog Cancer Survival Guide: sift through all the data, pick only the best, and provide a framework yielding improved outcomes.
I thought it would be useful to provide you with an outline here that you can start filling in with your data, if you do not have the Guide.
Fist: put on your oxygen mask. This means that you need to deal with whatever emotions come up for you so you can think clearly to help your dog. The Dog Cancer Coping Guide is one option. Others include counselors, support groups, old friends and so on.
Next, if appropriate, perform a Life Quality Analysis. This involves widening back, considering how much risk and side effects you are willing to risk given your dog’s expected lifespan. Then the expected positives are weighed against the negatives.
A part of Life Quality Analysis is to define what your personal ideas are about treatment and take a stand. At this point it is critical to have the courage to be your dog’s primary health care advocate.
Now choose what you will utilize in conventional veterinary care for your dog. Options are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Clinical trials may be available in your area.
Consider also more rarely used but promising options like IV Vitamin C and neoplasine, which require your vet’s involvement.
Discuss with your vet and oncologist the pros and cons, side effects and expected outcomes. Take notes.
After noting side effects, consider what you will use to lessen them. Many are discussed in the Guide and in this blog.
Minimize pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bone marrow suppression, heart damage, kidney injury, liver harm and other toxicities related to treatments.
Get your dog on a cancer diet. One blanket recommendation is carbohydrate restriction. Sugars and starches turned into sugars are cancer food, so avoid if possible. There are recipes in the Guide as well.
Do what you can to stimulate your dog’s immune system. I discussed many approaches like cancer vaccines, medicinal mushrooms, astralagus, Beres Drops, Avemar, AHCC and others. Many are in this blog.
Rotation between supplements helps get an average. Some may help and some may not, but if you rotate you will likely get some wins.
Choose among the supplements that have solid in vivo (in living bodies) evidence for shrinking tumors, slowing growth, and decreasing metastasis.
Some of these include Artemisinin, curcumin, luteolin, EGCG, flax lignans, melatonin, and more. Rotation details are in the Guide.
Do what you can to maximize life quality and happiness by boosting your dog’s self esteem, social activity, stimulation, exercise if possible, and minimizing stress.
This is a basic framework you can use like an outline. I use it to organize my thoughts when starting on a treatment plan for Full Spectrum Cancer care.
Best to all,
Dr D
About the Author
Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM is known as the "dog cancer vet" and is author of Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Beyond Surgery, Chemotherapy & Radiation. Visit his blog and sign up free to get the latest information about canine cancer. Go to http://DogCancerBlog.com.
How Did This Happen?
By · CommentsI came across an article today that caught my attention.
In Edinburgh, a 9 year old Rottweiler was found abandoned by it’s owner. He was quite ill, very thin, painful and weak. This Rott had been tied with a leash and left.
As if this were not enough, the dog had end-stage cancer. The cancer was found in a lung, which had collapsed. His paws were also riddled with tumors.
He was taken to a vet, who proclaimed it was the worst case of animal neglect he had seen.
To make matters even more difficult to comprehend, no-cost veterinary care is available in the United Kingdom. There is a charitable organization, the PDSA, that sees tens of thousands of sick animals in each of its several locations.
These are hospitals are quite nice, as the PDSA is one of the most well-funded charities in the UK.
Then again, perhaps the owner of the dog would not have qualified for PDSA care, due to a healthy income. On the leash was the word “Harrah’s”. Harrah’s is a casino.
This particular constellation of events is mind-numbing when seen from a compassionate viewpoint.
My first reaction was to pray that the person who did this suffers an immediate and painful death.
My second reaction was to pray that he or she gets cancer and then is abandoned to starve and dehydrate in the street.
Some time passed. I recalled Martin Luther King, Jr. saying, “An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.” I cooled down.
I started thinking about the way we treat animals after I could think again.
How could this utterly incomprehensible event have ever happened? None of us would ever do something like that. Ever.
Right?
I wondered….would some practices I accept as normal elicit the rage in another like this dog’s treatment did in me?
One of my regular readers is Anu, one of my clients. Hello Anu. Anu is from India.
Most of us have heard of the cows that roam the streets in India, and the belief that the cow is sacred. Pretty different, pretty weird.
Here in the US, many of us happily recall, “Beef…it is what’s for dinner.” Yes, of course beef cattle are for food.
However, citizens of an entire country would be horrified to consume an animal that they consider sacred. They would never, ever eat a cow. It would be horrific.
But many of us have no problem with it.
Perhaps the “guardian” of that poor Rottweiler, the person who I still feel should be shot for walking away, also had no problem with it.
Maybe that’s how that incomprehensible, gut-wrenching event in Scotland transpired.
Let us, and I include myself in this, be careful in our anger.
Sending each of you my best,
Dr D
About the Author
Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM is known as the "dog cancer vet" and is author of Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Beyond Surgery, Chemotherapy & Radiation. Visit his blog and sign up free to get the latest information about canine cancer. Go to http://DogCancerBlog.com.
A New Look Chemotherapy
By · CommentsThe usual way we have used chemotherapy, in both human patients and dogs, brings about toxicity risks that can be frightening for many.
This fear is a rational one.
The reason that the bad effects of chemotherapy are seen is a bit complex, but stems from what I believe are two main areas.
First, the usual strategy in using chemotherapy drugs has been to give the MTD, or the Maximum Tolerated Dose. This translates into the idea that you give as much drug as you can up to, but not reaching, the point where it could cause heavy-duty side effects.
So when we give MTD’s, due to the fact that not all patients are the same, a fraction of them will experience the serious and sometimes even life-threatening consequences. These are the sensitive ones.
We should screen for the sensitivity. We can take advantage of the test for the MDR mutation to assess for chemo sensitivity (see previous post and my e-book), before the chemo is started.
The second reason contributing to chemotherapy toxicity is because very little effort has been given, in particular in veterinary medicine, to actively decreasing side effects during chemo.
In human medicine there have been some pharmaceutical advances, but very few veterinary oncologists are actively promoting things like coenzyme Q, carnitine, cordyceps, IP3, glutamine, or ginger during chemo.
I have am trying to make these more mainstream with this blog and The Dog Cancer Survival Guide, hoping that more veterinarians will promote decreasing chemotherapy toxicity.
Toxicity management is so important because we could use higher doses of our drugs (higher MTD’s) and improve our outcomes with less side effects.
In response to this need, a new facet has emerged from conventional medicine called metronomic chemotherapy.
Metronomic chemotherapy involves a very frequent, but low, dose of chemotherapy, especially with the use of the drug cyclophosphamide.
Metronomic chemo is different from traditional MTD chemo. In traditional chemo we use high doses for short periods, and the time off between treatments lets the body rebound.
In metronomic chemo, the lower doses lessen the toxicity risks.
The guess behind the way metronomic chemo works is that it may prevent the new blood vessel cells that feed the tumor from working properly. The cells lining the blood vessels may be dying off.
Metronomic chemo is being looked at for use in children, and the veterinary community has recently started getting interested too.
Does it work? It is really too early to say, as even the human trial data is sparse. But there is some promise and it could be worth a try.
I think the best candidates would be for those dogs with low grade (but real), or slowly growing cancers that are difficult to cure with surgery.
If the cancers are growing too rapidly, the slower effects of metronomic chemo would not be practical.
This is another option that should be considered for dogs.
Best to all,
Dr Dressler
About the Author
Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM is known as the "dog cancer vet" and is author of Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Beyond Surgery, Chemotherapy & Radiation. Visit his blog and sign up free to get the latest information about canine cancer. Go to http://DogCancerBlog.com.
Help For Diarrhea In Canine Cancer Patients
By · CommentsI was recently asked by a client about what over the counter product could be used for diarrhea in veterinary patients.
There are a number of different items that can be used. Some have interactions with other meds, or possibly side effects that would not be desirable. I told her about one that you might want to know about too.
I would like to share with y0u one of the old time options that can help significantly-
This is one of those that I have learned from experience, as opposed to scientific literature. There is very little “scientific” literature on safety and efficacy of slippery elm used for dogs with cancer (Pubmed does discuss its use in cats with digestive issues, however).
So, for those who are interested in knowledge passed down from empirical evidence and the old days, read on. Since data can be obtained from various sources in full-spectrum veterinary care, I am offering this to you here.
Slippery elm is actually a tree, and the active ingredient is harvested from the inner surface of the bark.
Slippery elm contains mucilage, some fiber, a little glucose, some tannins, and may contain antioxidants. The one we are most interested in is mucilage.
Mucilage is a substance that adheres to irritated spots on the lining of the stomach or the intestine. It binds together, forming a coat or a patch.
In clinical medicine, we use a drugs like Pepto Bismol or Carafate for similar purposes.
The coat or patch has the effect of sealing the defect in the stomach or intestinal lining, which lessens the fluid accumulation within the stool. It also promotes more rapid healing of these structures.
Herbologists will also use slippery elm for cough due to an irritated windpipe ( like tracheobronchitis), or for conditions causing irritation of the bladder lining (for example, urinary infections).
Since both diarrhea as well as hemorrhagic cystitis (with bladder lining irritation) are conditions frequently seen in patients receiving chemotherapy, slippery elm is a nice option.
It is recognized as very safe by those who use the herb frequently.
It may reduce the absorption of certain drugs taken by mouth, so it should not be given within 6 hours of critical oral medications.
I do not recommend its use for more than about 3-5 days at a time in dog cancer patients due to the glucose content (sugar is bad for cancer patients). Similarly, depending on the chemo drug being used, there may be a (slight) theoretical concern of lowered chemo efficacy due to the possible antioxidants in slipppery elm.
So don’t use in on an ongoing basis, but it usually is fine for short term use as needed, in my opinion.
The dose for dogs is about 1 teaspoon full per 60 lbs body weight, given 1 to 2 times daily, for 3-5 days in cancer patients.
This dose can be mixed in food, or dissolved in warm water with some low sodium broth added for flavor. This liquid can be administered with a turkey baster or using a plastic oral dosing syringe from your veterinarian.
Discuss the use of slippery elm with your veterinarian before using in your dog.
All my best
Dr D
About the Author
Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM is known as the "dog cancer vet" and is author of Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Beyond Surgery, Chemotherapy & Radiation. Visit his blog and sign up free to get the latest information about canine cancer. Go to http://DogCancerBlog.com.
