Diet for Dogs With Mast Cell Tumors
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
Updated: December 6th, 2019
Friends,
Today’s post will likely be met with some skepticism from those immersed (and confined) to our Western medical approach. So if this is your framework, please keep an open mind. You will be pleased to know that the information here is taken from little known, but still Western, data banks.
I have recently been looking into some ways of decreasing some of the horrible effects of severe mast cell tumors in dogs. Lots of talk these days about Palladia, but there is more you can do!
As many of you are well aware, these cancers are able to release, on an intermittent basis, large amounts of chemical signals that produce nasty effects on the body. There are many different ones, and to avoid being utterly dull, here are just a few: histamine, substance P, and heparin.
The one which we have traditionally focused on is histamine. Histamine is the same stuff that our bodies, and those of our canine companions, release during an allergic reaction.
It does bad things like create swelling, redness, pain, blood pressure changes, vomiting, loss of appetite, acid stomach, and more.
Much of the sickness that dogs afflicted with mast cell tumors suffer from is caused by histamine excess.
Some focus has been placed on blocking the effects of histamine with various medications. However, very little has been placed on cutting off the body’s supply of histamine.
This is an intriguing and quite novel approach to dealing with histamine excess, and to my knowledge has not been tried in dogs. So here’s the info…give it a try, see if it helps the dog you love, and let our community know!
The basic story is you cut out foods that eventually end up increasing active histamine levels, by hook or by crook. Now, most of you know that carbohydrate restriction is important is helping with cancer generally. I discuss details of the dog cancer diet at length in the e-book, The Dog Cancer Survival Guide.
For more helpful tools and information, get a copy of the Dog Cancer Survival Guide
Here’s a new twist for those caring for a dog with a mast cell tumor diagnosis, especially the more aggressive ones (Grade 2 and 3).
Turns out there is some cutting edge new research going on in human medicine about ways to combat digestive upset, depression, anxiety, allergies, asthma, and more. Many cases of these syndromes involve excessive histamine effects in the body. There are very few diseases like mast cell tumors in people, but we humans do suffer from a close relative of mast cell tumors called systemic mastocytosis.
Anyway, those in the inner circle promote cutting off the wellspring of histamine in the body by simply not eating foods that promote histamine levels. Why not use a similar approach for dogs with mast cell tumors, another condition with histamine excess?
The biggies are those foods that are fermented as a part of processing. Dogs usually don’t eat or drink a lot of those (drinks with alcohol, the more “moldy” of the cheeses like blue, sauerkraut, and vinegar).
But…. there are some out there who feed their dogs tofu. Be careful! Practically speaking, tofu could be viewed as a histamine brick.
Another big no-no, if one were using this approach, is fish! Bacteria in the intestine of fish are quite busy making a lot of histamine, and levels rise after the fish passes away (but before the remains are gutted for food).
To learn more about Mast Cell Tumors, diet, and treatment options, get a copy of this seminar!
Dyes in food and the benzoates (BHT, BHA, sodium benzoate, benzoic acid) are also excluded from the diet. Read those labels!
Note that the items on the restricted list not only contain histamine, but also are more prone to causing mast cells to release their illness-causing histamine reserves. This only matters if there is a large mast cell burden (lots of tumor cells in the body) and we are wanting to lessen histamine release. In addition, this is all extrapolated from human information. The inappropriate human foods should be excluded from the dog diet even if the list says they are “ok”.
I hope this helps-
Best,
Dr D
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
Dear Dr. Dressler,
My Rusty (6 yo Beagle) has just been diagnosed with a mast cell tumor on his left year thigh muscle, inside the muscle belly. Amputation is recommended, followed by chemo (starting with vinblastine), but because of finances, we’re needing to postpone the surgery and will start with chemo to, hopefully, shrink the tumor first to give us a better chance of wide margins, as the tumor is close to the pelvic are at this point. I’ve downloaded the cancer diet from your site, but notice in the above article that fish should be avoided. Since krill oil and fish oil are mentioned for the cancer diet, should those ingredients, as well as all fish ingredients, be avoided when putting a mast cell cancer diet together?
Thanks!
Becki Bradford
Dear Becki,
I might lean towards krill as opposed to fish oil here, especially if the tumor is large. I would be talking with your vet about apocaps and maybe a low dose of oral neoplasene (with mirtazapine) as well…
I hope this helps
Dr D
thank you.
Hi Dr. Dressler,
I have two dogs with cancer, one (corgi) with mammery cancer and one (pointer) with Low end Grade Two Mast Cell. I bought your Cancer Survival Guide and implemented your cancer diet along with Apocaps and K9 Immunity capsules. The corgi is eating it right up and loving it, they are just 3 weeks out of their surgeries. The pointer however is very hard to get her to eat, we make all this wonderful food and she will sniff it and try to bury it with her nose or just walk away from it, it’s so sad. Sometimes she will eat it if I spoonfeed it to her and sometimes once she gets started she will eat it all up; but often times she simply won’t eat it. She’s only four years old (approximately she’s a rescue) She’s not vomiting at all she’s acting normal. She will eat what she’s not supposed to, i.e. feces, garbage, whatever she can score counter surfing. Why can’t I get her to eat this good food? Please help!
Regards,
Nancy
Also, I forgot to ask if you thought chicken was ok to feed a dog with mast cell. Thanks, Tracie
My dog has mast cell and I was wanting to start taking Apocaps but one of the ingredients in the Apocaps is Soy Lecithin ! This seems to be somewhat of a concern for me. I have read that Soy Lecithin can increase cancer growth and also cause cancer. I guess I don’t understand why this could be put in your product. Please give me your thoughts on this. I have your book and have been following your diet. Lots of great information in your book. Thanks, Tracie
The low-histimine diet says to avoid things like eggs, herring, cheese products, tomatoes, etc. In your response to one of the commenters who asked what brand of food to feed her dog, you replied “Good brands are Evo, Blue, Healthy Kitchen, Solid Gold, and others”
I checked, and the ingredients for Evo Red Meat food are Beef, Lamb Meal, Potatoes, EGGS, Sunflower Oil, Buffalo, Lamb, Venison, HERRING Oil, Natural Flavors, Apples, Carrots, TOMATOES, Alfalfa Sprouts, and COTTAGE CHEESE.
Is there perhaps a better food, or perhaps a different version of the Evo? I’ve been feeding my dog Evo Red Meat since we got her at around 6 months. She’s 11 now and has some mast cell tumors.
Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond.
Dear Kathy,
we need to widen back on the interpretation and look a bit deeper at the topic. Avoiding histaminergic foods is a high priority for patients with high histamine levels (a lot of mast cell tumor cells secreting a ton of histamine). This would be appropriate to consider after the use of antacids and benadryl are not effective any longer. Since the information is taken from human literature, the avoidance of these items is NOT a blanket recommendation for dogs with mast cell tumors, just those having large histamine excess as an option to try. I hope this clarifies
Dr D
Help!!!! I have a 10 year old Boston Terrier with mast cell tumors. She had surgery 2 years ago. Most of her tumors were grade 1 and 2 were low grade 2 . She is now starting to get more tumors. The oncologist suggest not to do surgery because more will pop up on her body. I feel like this is a death sentence. I have changed her diet. What else do i do? I feel pretty helpless. What else should I do for her? Also do you think she should get benadryl daily? Thanks, Tracie
Dear Tracie,
I would talk with your vet about starting apocaps due to the luteolin content. I would use the dog cancer diet discussed in the Guide and also the free download on this blog but take it easy on the fish. Use krill oil instead of fish oil. Use antacids and talk to your vet about using cimetidine for this due to its antimetastatic effects. I would certainly read the Guide so you can get more information. You could talk to you vet about possibly some oral chemo if the problem warrants it. Also don’t forget to double check your dog’s insides are okay (liver, spleen especially) with lab work and ultrasound. Meanwhile here are some posts for you:
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/mast-cell-tumors-in-dogs-some-advances-in-conventional-care/
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/diet-for-dogs-with-mast-cell-tumors/
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/mast-cells-and-luteolin-in-cancer-treatment-part-1/
Best
D
I read this with a lot of interest. Have there been any new studies on the connection between diet and mast cell cancer?
I am asking because, in a strange twist of fate, both my 11-year-old Lab and I have mast cell disorders. I have a form of mastocytosis, which you mentioned above. Over the past nine years, my Lab has had 16 mast cell tumors removed (all Grade 2; all in new locations on his body, so no re-growth at the same place after the tumors were removed with wide margins). So, once or twice a year he has gone in to have malignant tumors surgically removed.
The amazing thing is, after I switched him to a raw food diet about 12 months ago (based on my own experience and that of many other human mast cell patients– see below). I feed him a diet made by a dog food manufacturer that is raw meat with ground up vegetables and some vitamins. Since then, he has had NO mast cell tumors. He has had four small lumps develop, but they all came back as benign fatty tumors–something he has never had before. For the past year, his food is the only real external variable that has changed much in his life. This could just be a coincidence. Or not.
I have learned a lot from my own first-hand experience and research on human mast cell disorders. All the symptoms you mentioned dogs get from histamine, I get, as well. And yes, reducing histamine reduces my symptoms….somewhat.
The thing is, mast cells produce many chemicals (called “mediators”) like histamine. Each mediator is responsible for some action in the body. When a person’s (or, presumably, a dog’s) mast cells are especially sensitive and are triggered, the cells dump histamine–as well as many other mediators. Western medicine doctors–even specialists in mast cell disorders–admit that there is a lot about the effects of those mediators that they simply don’t understand yet. So, I’m not sure if giving up histamine-rich foods alone will do it.
For us human mast cell patients, we have certain “triggers” that cause our mast cells to degranulate in an abnormal way and cause a wide variety of allergic symptoms all at once. So, for instance, things as varied as a particular food, chemicals (like perfume or air fresheners), stress or heat can cause a severe allergic reaction. So, anaphylaxis along with terrible hives and nausea at the same time. Fun! But, not all people have the same triggers. Yet, what is clear to people familiar with mast cell disorders is that there are a few patterns.
Clearly, some of the most serious triggers are foods. Grains in particular. For me, gluten and corn are the worst! Soy is bad, too. Can these things in conventional dog food be causing certain dogs to react? And, instead of breaking out in a rash like humans do (because mast cells are dense in the skin), dogs’ misbehaving mast cells create tumors? When was the last time you saw a dog grazing on a stalk of corn or wheat? No wonder their immune systems would react – eating these grains in their conventional dog food that are not naturally a part of their diets doesn’t make much sense to me.
For 10 years I fed my Lab conventional dog food. I didn’t think too much of it. I’m not one of those people who is prone to try all kinds of alternative therapies and I generally trust Western medicine. Yet, since my mast cell disorder came on two years ago I have learned a lot firsthand and through research. I really believe there is a connection between diet and canine mast cell cancer.
I hope other veterinary researchers have or will look at this more closely and will draw from lessons learned on human mast cell disorders. (If you know of any, please post!)
In the mean time, I will keep my Lab on the raw food diet and keep my fingers crossed!
If you would like to read more about the experience of hundreds of humans with mast cell disorders, browse the forum on mastcelldisorders.wallack.us
(and apologies for the extra long post)
Dr Dressler,
What do you feed a dog with TCC/prostate/bladder cancer and chronic
renal failure?
The vets at the teaching hospital where Mell was diagnosed said to feed him
only the canned prescription diets with epatikin. He is also supposed to take
azodyl twice a day. Mirtazapine as an appetite stimulant.
He hates this food and doesn’t want to eat it.
He was acting better until they started this and it was due to his creat at 6.4
and BUN at 134 and elevated phosphorus.
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
He is also getting lactated ringers sub Q once a day.
Thanks,
Jane Hush, Mell schnauzer 24lbs/14yrs/TCC prostate,bladder,right anal sac(removed)
Dear Jane,
eating is better than not eating. First we have to meet caloric needs, and secondly we have the option to meet those needs with the best diet…but only after we have some eating going on.
Perhaps you should download the cancer diet on the top of this blog? You can cut the protein down by half and replace it with potato or more oats, just for the time being, to minimize the elevation in kidney markers. You might add ginger and glutamine as discussed in the Guide too. I might also add famotidine or cimetidine and also try Cerenia. Don’t forget to warm to food to increase aroma.
Please have all treatments supervised by your veterinarian.
I hope this helps,
D
Does this original topic mean to alter the Dressler Diet for Mast cell dogs? My Grade 3 Vinblastine pit mix is loving the diet and doing well, but I will change it if it’s hurting his chances. I’m confused—
Dear Lynda,
This is a great question, and the short answer is no. However, if one has a dog with a lot of histamine-related problems, one could avoid the items in the post and see whether that cuts the histamine load.
Best,
D