Homeopathy for Dog Cancer?
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: August 19th, 2019
Using homeopathy for dog cancer is a mixed bag in terms of the literature, but it may be useful for certain cancers.
What Exactly Is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy is a system of medicine based on the administration of very diluted amounts of substances that mimic the symptoms of the disease being treated. The underlying idea is that “like cures like.” For example, a homeopathic dose of coffee cruda helps lower anxiety, even though coffee in full dose can cause anxiety. It’s counterintuitive, right? But there are many people who swear by it.
The substances used in homeopathy are diluted so much that there is very little “active” ingredient in the final preparations. Some homeopaths make their own dilutions, and give them to you in droppers. Sometimes you can take the sugar-pill versions found in health food stores, or those preserved in tinctures. In any case, a homeopath has been fully trained in the system, and should be consulted for your dog’s health if you are considering using homeopathic remedies.
Does It Work?
Western medicine usually assumes that a stronger dose of an active ingredient will have a larger effect on the body — but homeopathy says the exact opposite. So when a conventional veterinarian looks at these remedies they often debate their use, arguing there is not enough active ingredient to even do anything.
But it seems there is some evidence that there might be something here, after all.
Homeopathy for Brain Tumors
The most interesting use of homeopathy in cancer medicine is for brain cancer, by far. In a real clinical study at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Treatment Center in Houston, a number of human brain cancer patients were treated with a homeopathic remedy called Ruta 6. One type of brain cancer, gliomas, appeared very sensitive to the effects of the homeopathic remedy.
(Remember, humans and dogs are close when it comes to cancer. In fact, dogs are the preferred test subjects in cancer trials for human medicines.)
The Ruta 6 was combined with another agent ( Ca3(PO4)2 ) and used to treat these glioma patients. Out of 7 patients treated, 6 of them had complete regression. This is quite an achievement.
Brain cancer, in particular in veterinary medicine, is extremely difficult to treat. Very, very few have access to the facilities needed to diagnose and treat brain tumors in the dog.
Ruta 6 is made from the common rue, otherwise known as the “herb of grace”. This is a shrub that is used both in medicine and also as a cooking herb. However, please remember that using the plant itself is not the same as using the homeopathic remedy, and potent extracts can cause some potent effects including causing abortions. Read more here.
Remember, homeopathic remedies should only be administered to your dog by a licensed vet familiar with their use.
More Studies on Homeopathy
Some in vitro (literally, “in glass”, or in test tubes, as opposed to living bodies) studies showed that homeopathic remedies were able to cause cancer cells to commit suicide. Hey, apoptosis is a good thing!
In this study, homeopathy was found to slow the rate of growth of prostate cancer cells that were implanted in lab rats. There were no effects on cancer cells that were exposed to any of the five homeopathic remedies. It seems that the remedies were able to alter the rats’ physiology enough to increase their bodies’ ability to fight the tumors a bit.
However, the evidence for using homeopathy across the board for cancer does not exist. Take a look at these tidbits.
Another study, which was a systematic review of a lot of other studies, found no real evidence for the remedies helping cancer patients. Yet another showed no benefit of Ruta 6 in extending the life of lab animals with solid tumors.
Should You Use Homeopathy for Dog Cancer?
What is the bottom line? If your dog is suspected of having a brain tumor, contact a vet with knowledge of homeopathy and consider Ruta 6. Also, if your dog has prostate cancer, you may be well served to get homeopathic intervention. Since options are usually limited in these cases and side effects pretty limited, homeopathy is one possibility that could (maybe) make a difference.
For other cancers, I wouldn’t hesitate to use homeopathy, as long as you are consulting a vet familiar with its use. As long as their reasoning for using remedies is sound, they can’t hurt and may help.
For more on dog cancer treatments that you may have not heard of before, see The Dog Cancer Survival Guide.
Best to all,
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.
Just wondering why you suggest only allowing homeopathy to be used by a licensed vet.
That’s the wonderful thing about the modality– if it isn’t the right remedy, it simply does nothing.
I’ve used alternative practices on my animals and my human family for over 30 years and have found homeopathy to be among the best. It’s not hard to research the remedies, knowing yourself or your dog and the symptoms, and then to pay the 6-8 bucks for a remedy. It can’t hurt the patient if it’s the wrong remedy and might do amazing things if it’s the correct one– without the side effects of traditional medicine.
So, just wondering…. Since the vast majority of veterinarians and human doctors scoff at homeopathy (in North America), why shouldn’t people who do not have access to the few who will consider it, let alone have any training in it, do the research and give it a try themselves?
Dear Diane,
I appreciate what you are saying. However, there is a 2-3% adverse reaction rate in homeopathic remedy treatment.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16226201
Many read this blog and the Guide (thousands of dog lovers). If 1000 dogs are treated with homoepathy, this means 20-30 of them will experience an adverse reaction. In my opinion, someone with the expertise to deal with adverse effects should be at least monitoring these patients. My two cents only…
D
My dog was diagnosed with “malignant sarcoma” after a needle biopsy from a lump over the shoulder that appeared overnight. Treated her with natural supplements. 3.5 months later, the lump doubled in size and got hard, again overnight. Had lump surgically removed – surgeon said it was nicely encapsulated that the staff all thought it looked like a lipoma and not cancer. Thank you supplements and Dr. Dressler for your research. Here is the confusing part. The biopsy came back and it showed: Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor” (MPNST) -aka “Malignant schwannoma,” “Neurofibrosarcoma,” and “Neurosarcoma. Was the first biopsy wrong? Are there two types of cancer in her? Is this second type to be treated differently due to being in the nerve sheath? I can’t wrap my head around it. Lastly, does anyone know if there any specific homeopathic treatments for this type of cancer and where I would find them?
Thank you x infinity!
Dear Laureli,
the diagnosis of malignant sarcoma is a more general description of the tumors you describe, all of which fit into that larger category. Hopefully that clears up the confusion. Are you giving the supplements, providing the dog cancer diet, and so on?
Just checking…
Best,
D
Hello, a very interesting article. The Neurologist we just went to for our eight year old Aussie had prescribed 20mg prednisone for ten days and 1 for the balance til we see him about 20 days after. After 2-1/2 days he was consuming bowls of water and hungry all the time and urinating excessively inside and out. We stopped the pills and I’ve left a message. The first thing he wanted to do was an MRI and we do not want our dog to go thru that. He’s pacing in circles and we think it was a stroke, but it could be a tumor. We just want to now make him comfortable and not worse with medicine or invasive treatments and he just seemed H…* bent on an MRI. and possibly brain surgery. If you have some comments or suggestions I’d sure appreciate it. Thank you.
is obviously Neurological which I already figured out as did our Vet when he recommended us.
[…] Other approaches I discuss with my clients in the Guide include diet, supplements like Apocaps, life quality enhancement, touch therapies, and considering homeopathy. A closer look at homeopathy in brain tumors, in particular gliomas, can be found here. […]
In May of 2009 our Veternarian diagnosed our boxer with bone cancer in his right front leg. He got to where he could barely walk and was taking pain medication so that he could deal with the pain. The Veternarian said this disease would act very quickly and we would soon have to put him to sleep.
I contacted a homeopathy doctor that treats my wife for Brain Cancer and he prescribed our dog with a medicine that seems to be working great. He stopped limping on his front leg within a month and acts almost like a new puppy jumpimg around playing. It has been over a year now and he is a nine year old boxer.
Great work Michael!
Do you remember the name of the remedy?
Best,
DR D
Dear Phillip,
I am sorry you feel this way. You have indeed shared your viewpoint on previous comments, along with the link, and I have kept your post active for those interested.
here is the still-active link in the blog if you would like to check it out for yourself:
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/apoptosis-and-dog-cancer/
Scroll down to the comments section to see your comment about your resveratrol-containing product, Canine Resvantage.
Unfortunately, I am trying to avoid advertising in the comment section of the blog, including your product Canine Resvantage.
Indeed, the continued onslaught of advertisements for your product, masquerading as information dissemination, has been intercepted. Additionally, I find the evidence for resveratrol use in existing canine cancer patients to be rather flimsy at this time. Perhaps this will change as new data emerge. It is actually funny as I just blogged on it, and then found your comment, so please read the blog post.
I would entertain all your comments there, and would welcome any new information that is truly relevant to the blog post, and that reveal any areas where my commentary appears lacking or ill-informed.
You will find that I have investigated it, although I am not condemning it. More precisely, I am suggesting that there are problems in whole-heartedly supporting resveratrol’s use for dogs with existing cancers. I have used the site mostly for people coping with a current canine cancer diagnosis, not so much as a cancer prevention blog.
There is a difference, one that deserves your attention, between existing cancer treatment, and cancer prevention. There is also a difference between cancer therapy concentrations in a petri dish and cancer therapy concentrations in the bloodstream or in a real life tumor. These differences highlight my lack of unbridled enthusiasm currently.
I am sorry if this is not in line with sales of your Resvantage Canine, but this is the story as I see it at this time. This viewpoint, as usual, is subject to change with the influx of new data.
I wish you well in your business endeavor and hope Resvantage Canine is profitable for you. Be well and I look forward to your input in the resveratrol comment section 🙂 !
Best,
Dr D
I hope several of you readers get to see this before Dr. D’s henchmen take it down. Apparently anything useful to fight canine cancer other than what you are told on this site is not worth much in spite of the accredation of the National Institute of Health and the National Cancer Institute. The supplement is resveratrol and it has be shown in animal studies to reduce tumor incidence.
Here is a link to the article so that you can see it for yourself.
After reading it you can contact Dr. D and ask why this beneficial information is repeatedly deleted from the blog in spite of my trying to share this information with the readership who are only here to seek help and ideas for therapies.
And Dr. D says “you can learn from your patients and you should listen to them with an open mind and not pooh pooh alternative strategies”. Resveratrol for dogs is a great way to help prevent and treat cancer. The lack of recognition of this on this site and the removal of my earlier comments trying to share this It’s known as ‘condimnation
without investigation’ and yes Dr. D is guilty as charged. The leading
hypocrite wishing for you to know only what he tells you. Like most
Vets, out for the serious buck and wanting to control you using your heartstrings; i.e the love of your dog.
This is the worst kind of censorship.
I was not fortunate enough to have access to a homeopathy vet in the treatment of my dog’s MCT. She lost her lengthy battle with it Dec 24/09. I know I would have lost her much sooner had it not been for me discovering Dr Dressler and purchasing his book. The information I learned from it and his regular blogs have been invaluable. I used the book in her treatment and in my preparing myself for letting her go. I can only say thank you to him for sharing his knowledge in his book and regularly here with those of us who found his website. I do know if his guidance and information is used the cancer can be held in check, more importantly I believe the quality of the dog’s life is greatly improved. My dog remained active and happy until the very last couple days of her life. I attribute that my use of the information I learned and more importantly practiced from the time I received Dr Dressler’s book. He states in it, it is not cheap nor from my experience without commitment on the part of the doggy’s caretaker however it is invaluable if we want to give our furry friend’s the best we can. Thank you Dr Dressler from the bottom of my heart, you are a very special doctor to those of us who have dogs that are suffering from cancer. I guide people here to you site when I hear they have a dog who is dealing with cancer.
🙂
Thank you dear Millie
Dr D
I am treating my Standard Poodle with Carcinosis and Thuja alternet weeks prescribed by my homeopathic vet. I am also giving him K9 Immunity and K9 Transferre factor daily. He is on a organic raw meaty
bone and veg diet and following surgery for an agressive giant cell sarcoma which evidence showed was re growing this tumour on his treatment regime has shrunk in front of our eyes. Its a miracle, he is 10 years old but believes he is two, SO full of fun and bounce. Thank goodness for alternet meassures. Lisbeth Gjetnes
After my dog developed a mast cell tumor (actually 5 clumped together) from a wasp sting, I did have her treated by our homeopathic vet. The vet said that there is actually a protocol for such a tumor.
I think these things are difficult to measure, but I know that homeopathy has been a lifesaver in this household on several occasions.
As for my girl, it’s been 2 1/2 years since the tumors were removed, and she is doing well. It was stage 2, with low mitotic figures, and I treated with surgery, supplements, and homeopathy.