Vitamin C for Canine Cancer Patients? Part 2
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 17th, 2018
Well, it’s been 2 days since the lead-in entry on Vitamin C….which may (or may not) be a long time to wait 🙂 Anyway, here you go:
As I had indicated, it turns out that if one were to take vitamin C, at huge doses by mouth, the blood levels you get are puny. When you, or your dog, takes a pill, some gets absorbed into the body, but some passes out in the waste.
People who took 18 grams of the stuff (which equals gagging down 9-18 of those “horse pill” tablets) per day, only ended up with 220 micromol/L in their blood. That means a huge amount Vitamin C ends up literally going down the toilet.
Those studies showing that cancer cells die when exposed to vitamin C needed more than 1,000 micromol/L. Since 220 is much less than 1000, the cancer cells were not dying.
This is probably why the two clinical trials where people had to down 10 grams of vitamin C daily showed no benefit in surviving their cancers.
So the message seems clear…don’t bother with strait oral vitamin C (ascorbic acid) when you are trying to help your dog kill cancer cells. In my opinion, bases on the evidence, you can’t get the levels you want for cancer cell death.
But there are other ways to get the stuff in the body. What about injections?? Does that help?
Well, I could not find solid reports on the effects of intravenous vitamin C given to canine cancer patients. Recall I want good, solid, science-based information…however, I did find some in the human literature.
A paper came out in 2006 that showed 3 human patients with tumors that would have been expected to have led to their demise opted for IV vitamin C at whopping doses. Read the abstract here.
Get a copy of the Dog Cancer Survival Guide for more helpful information and tools
One had a form of lymphoma (lymphosarcoma), one a kidney tumor, and other was transitional cell cancer of the bladder. All had signs of either local spread (into the surrounding areas) or distant spread (metastasis). Bad, bad stuff.
The amazing thing is that in each of these three, the tumors went away. Gone. Nada. Zippo. And that, my friends, is pretty astounding. Granted, the lady with the kidney tumor (a chronic smoker) developed lung cancer 4 years later…but the information is pretty impressive regardless.
Does this mean everyone with a dog should go out and schedule IV vitamin C injections for their dogs? No. Especially not dogs with urinary stones like calcium oxalates, which likely can be worsened or theoretically even caused by the injections.
But, it does mean that in certain circumstances, it should be considered. Vitamin C IV injections appear fairly safe overall, and people are starting to pay attention to Vitamin C IV injections in cancer therapy…check it out. For the vets out there, the protocols are here too.
Note that it is, at this point, probably unwise to give these doses of IV vitamin C in conjunction with chemotherapy until the issue of whether it helps or hinders chemo is clarified. I would also avoid IV vit C at these doses if your dog is receiving radiation therapy.
Best to all,
Dr Dressler
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,
I am in Australia,and have a lifetime of involvement with animals commercially-breeding /growing/nutrition etc.Now -in retirement I spend my time with my favourite animal and breed Malamutes.I have always had a dogged determination to get to the bottom line-the cause-of any puzzling problem,and with the numbers and will at my disposal,and with some veterinary help-knowledge has been acquired,There is no substitute for ‘on the ground’ experience as you will know.
I am always amazed and disappointed why there is not more research or study of cancer in dogs.Not so much the cures ,but more the why is it so?
After all ,dogs do not smoke-they are always covered when exposed to sunlight-not exposed to excessive pollution or vehicle emmisions etc.
Leaves only food-and what ingredients are in the food.
I am searching for statistics on cancer deaths in dogs -comparing say Australia and Europe-perhaps you may be able to help?
I stronly suspect that the growth hormones used in the Aussie cattle industry are the culprit-I don’t know the situation in the US,but this practice is banned in the EU.
Certainly in the case of cancer in humans-I believe there has been a huge increase over the last 30 years-coinciding with the practice of lot feeding or finishing nearly all cattle.When cattle arrive at feedlots they are treated for parasites etc. and also get a HGP implant.It’s all about money and profit like so many things today!
Re the Vit C discussion-It is available anywhere in OZ-very cheap as previous writers have said.I use it in cases of snake bites and paralysis ticks.It is amazing how effective it can be-but the quicker it can be started -the better,before the toxins do significant damage.
Regards.
Peter
Dear Dr. Dressler,
I have a boston terrier with chronic leukemia. The oncologist vetinary doctor said it is rare and that it is a people form of cancer. She is only 2 years old. Yesterday, he told me she only has 2 weeks to live. She still has energy and we take 40 minute walks every day. I would like to try the vitamin C therapy. I just need to know where I can get it and how much I need to give. I live in Ocala, Florida. Please respond!!
Connie
Dear Connie,
oral vitamin C is not very effective at all as you cannot get the proper doses. The doses are all taken from human literature and depend on the weight of the dog. I would guess for a Boston about 3 grams IV twice weekly, but you will find variability. There are many more steps that should be done beyond IV vitamin C as this treatment is not always reliable in helping dogs with cancer. If things are that bad, you should consider also chemo, as well as the Dog Cancer Diet, apoptogens, immune support, and the rest of Full Spectrum Treatment discussed in the Guide.
I hope this helps, and have your veterinarian supervise the treatment,
Best
Dr D
I personally know three individuals, for whom high dose vitamin C, both through IV method and lypo C drinks, have worked wonders. Two were cancer patients, and the third was plagued with chronic pulmonary fibrosis (which the doctors had been unable to treat in the 10+ years he was afflicted) , type II diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. The cancer patients went into remission, and the third case no longer has pulmonary fibrosis, and all his numbers are normal. Their doctors are blown away by this. I also have two friends whose dogs have cancer, so I am advocating vitamin C treatments as an alternative to high cost chemotherapy (with its own host of debilitating side effects) that destroys good cells as well as bad, and that compromises the natural immune system that’s supposed to fight off diseases in the first place.
Dr. D
My dog was diagnosed with ectopic thyroid carcinoma 9/2010 he under went surgery, radiation and chemo (doxorubican) and has been cancer free well over a year now. I was reading your article concerning Vitamin C injection via IV. I know that my dog is “cured” but I was wondering if giving him Vit C injections could be beneficial regardless ?? Can the dosage be given via an injection rather then IV and have the same effect and what what the correct dosage would be for a 12 lbs Papillion and how often. Any assistance you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Cory
Dear Cory,
I need a bit of clarification. An IV injection is an injection, just in the vein. Can you help?
D
Dear All,
I have been using injectable vit c(sodium ascorbate) for my dog. Not for cancer but to help her prepare for a big surgery to remove a lipoma. Now I have a cancer scare. The vit c I use is from Troy Laboratories in Australia. I’m from Australia so I can get it easily.I’m sure you can find somewhere that will ship it to where you live. It’s reasonably, cheap 100mls for 11-15 dollars. The bottle says 500mg/ml. I’m surprised some of you can’t get this easily. It’s used widely in the horse racing and greyhound racing community. Please follow your vets advice . I had my vets ok to use it subcutaneously of course. It does cause discomfort sometimes and after one painful injection my dog gets scared of the next one. It’s not a nice thing to put a already sick animal through. Please just talk to your vet and get the ok. Even if he or she dosn’t think it will work. You just want to have their word that it wont do harm 🙂 We have enough stress worrying about the cancer spreading.
I hope this is some help to someone.
Sasha
Dear Dr. Dressler!
Almost 3 month ago my dog Toto, a 12-year-old toy poodle, was diagnosed with an aggressive oral melanoma with an extremely poor prognosis. His lymph nodes in the neck on the side of a tumor were noticeable and x-rays of the lungs did not give a clear answer. Toto went through immediate surgery and vaccination with a new “break through” DNA based vaccine against cancer-associated protein tyrosinase that claimed to extend dogs life from 6 month to a year. Browsing the web for unconventional cancer treatments I came across your website with a report of high dose vitamin C IV injections curing three patients. Thinking that it might be difficult to perform I concentrated on the pills, lots of pills, day and night. Three weeks later just overnight his lymph nodes in the neck enlarged to the size of my fist! I understood that nothing was working. There was no time to loose and to my luck the veterinarian had vit C injectable. We started with 1g/4ml injections (Toto is 17 lb) just under the skin because I tried to avoid IV. After the first injection the tumor loosened up and after the third (every day) it shrunk back to the size it was three weeks ago (1.5cm). WOW! Since then Toto was getting under skin injections, 1g, every day. My pharmacy gave me twice more concentrated vit C so the volume was reduced to 2ml. The injections were painful but other than that no side effects!!! Unfortunately after a month of injections his lymph nodes started to enlarge again and I did not have any choice but to accept IV injections, the dose was doubled (2g, 4ml plus veterinarian added 10ml of 0.45 saline solution) and IV was given every other day or so. To my surprise Toto takes IV injections extremely well: he is not shivering any more at the vets office, very joyful, playful, has good appetite. No side effects!!! Just yesterday I found out that one doctor at Thomas Jefferson Hospital (Philadelphia) was organizing clinical trials to cure lymphoma with high dose of vit C injections!!! That gave me more hope!
I have spoken to my local vet, she had never heard of it. I went to the only specialists in town, they aren’t interested in trying and said it might damage my dog’s liver? Recommendations?
Dear Dr. Dressler,
Further to my comment on depression/cancer in dogs, i am curious if ester c or c ester, as i believe it is known in your country, may be of help to dogs with cancer. As vitamin c is water soluble and ester c is non acidic and fat soluble i believe ester c can penetrate the thin membrane encasing a cell thus concentrating in the cell plasma Whether this would be of value to dogs with cancer i don’t know. However on a slightly different subject i know large dose have been proven to affect a disappearance of symptoms of hip dysplasia. I have also read that alpha lipoic acid is 400 times sronger as an anti-oxidant than vits c and e, and raises the levels of these vits in the body, in humans. I don’t know if you can give alpha lipoic acid to dogs and if so would it offer any help to dogs with cancer.Would value any info you may have on this.Julie (England)
I was looking for info for my mother’s dog but thought I would post a great sight for getting high doses of vitamin c in a new oral method. I am a cancer patient and I use this stuff daily and I feel like a new person.
Hi Dr. Dressler
Interesting read. We as humans know the benefits of vitamin C. So what does one do? Should the regular vet already know the benefits of vitamin C, and have the education on the dosage and frequency or is this something that we can/need to get from you? Is the dosage in regards to pounds of weight of the dog? For example, our Taz is pretty close to 100 pounds and 11 years of age.
Thanks
Talk to your vet. It is easy to get, cheap, and simple to do! Print out the blog page and print out the papers linked to so you can educate if needed. Also please read as much of this blog as you can (previous entries)
D
where can I get IV vit C shots for my dog in Los Angeles? This sounds so wonderful; it gives me hope. My dog has a cancerous bone tumor in one of her femurs. It has just been diagnosed after she developed a limp. Thank you for any advice you can give. Richard Grain.