Your Comments, Please
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: October 25th, 2019
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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.
PLEASE remember to remove rice (arsenic) and corn (GMOs) as ingredients in dog food recipes. Also, list them as DO NOT BUY in dry dog foods. Thank you.
what i meant to say was “cause future treatments to be Ineffective.” thank you
My dog has had the first two treatments on the WI protocol One last thursday and one yesterday. He hasn’t responded yet, and still is not eating. The oncologist wants to try pred short term but i am afraid it will cause the rest of his treatment to be effective – if it indeed might work. What are your thoughts?
I am hoping you might be able to elaborate on the precautions against some supplements based on liver and kidney conditions.
I keep hitting a wall in researching how to address my dog’s hepatocellular carcinoma. Two weeks ago, my just-about-to-turn-11-years-old female Siberian Husky, Kai, had a five and a half pound massive intermediate grade HCC removed–in effect, a left liver lobectomy was done. The surgeon also found a smaller mass at the confluence of the bile ducts, but did not address it as it is not yet blocking the flow of bile, and Kai had already been in surgery for some time. One small mass was found in her chest radiographs. Neither of these additional masses has been biopsies. Clean margins were not achieved in removing the primary tumor. (Her right liver lobe is in tact, functioning, and without any apparent metastases.)
In spite of all of this, Kai is symptom free, exceptionally bright and alert and happy, still feeling great, spirited, active, and joyful. We have had to hold her back– post-surgically–on activity, because she feels so great and is definitely raring to go.
For all of this, I am exceptionally grateful. Not only is she doing well for a dog that has all of these medical concerns, she is doing great in general–very youthful to say the least.
I am at a loss, however, with how to address her post-surgical management because, it seems, there are no conventional protocols that are considered particularly effective on HCC, and many of the supplements addressed in the Cancer Survival Guide (which I am currently reading, cover to cover) have precautions relating to dogs with liver and kidney issues. I am not sure if this means issues other than the cancer itself. Because she has a functioning right liver lobe, I am wondering if the precautions you advise are relevant to her or not.
I am well underway with feeding a healthy supportive diet–all organic–boiled skinless chicken breast, boiled fresh veggies, all filtered water etc, and she is eating very well…I would have her on omegas, but had not wanted to give them again until after she is safely healed from her surgery.
I am curious about where the veterinary community–conventional and/or alternative–is in regard to hepatocellular carcinoma. What other ways might we support Kai? I have a collection of supplements that I would like to add to her regimen, but I am not sure if they are a good idea, given her particular situation. We want to fight, and we are ready to take it on. We just need some guidance!
Thank you, so much!!
Jessica
My golden retriver is 12 years old and I found a lump on his R) leg and we saw our vet last night and he is sure it is lymphoma. I found your website through team Wyla . All his other glands felt normal and he is booked for a biopsy next week! He is eating well, has not lost weight and nil other obvious signs of illness. Over the past few weeks he has not been as active on his walks and more tired. My question is What would you suggest re: management. I have researched around chemotherapy and due to his age I do not feel it would be best option for him- as he has been through alot in his 12 years and has battling arthritis for years and was diagnosed with OCD as a pup. He also had Parvo as a pulpy and suffers from a very sensitive stomach- I have looked at your diet and think I would like to try this, however do not any to cause him gastric upsets. He is currently on daily carprofen 125 mg, glucosamine 1500 mg daily, fish oil 1500 mg bd and currently is have cartrophen inj 1.3 weekly for 4 weeks. He is on a restricted diet – 2 cups was eukanubra weight Mx ( now changed to Advance weight Mx ) and home made chicken breasts ground rice meatballs with zucchini, carrot broccoli, coconut, sun flour oil , parsley added in – however only limited to 3-4 a day, dry biscuits x2 and pedigree dentastix daily ( he has had weight issues in past and this seems to maintain his weight! I am very strict on treats. I am interested in information about supplements that would benefit him and advice on slowly changing his diet – as mentioned very sensitive stomach. I live in Australia and have a great vet, however i feel I need to be ready to discuss options with him and am hoping with all my heart that you will be able to provide me with some guidance around this! Thanks so much in advance from.brodee and myself.
Should I give our 10 3/4 year old shepherd mix Maxie her monthly heartworm preventive? Our vet and orthopedic specialist have both said it’s our call. She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma on 9/11/12. Chemo, amputation and radiation are not an option. I don’t want to give her any more meds than necessary right now. She only goes outside to potty. It presented in her carpas and she’s on tramadol and gabapentin as needed for pain and prednisone for anti-inflammatory properties. She also has colitis so NSAIDS are not an option for her. Thanks for any advice/personal experience. Right now she’s happy and we’re cherishing every moment we have with her. Our last experience with osteosarcoma was awful. Our last rottie only made it 7 weeks after her diagnosis. I just felt helpless. Is there anything I can do to lessen her pain and give her more time? I used a diet for one of our dogs with bladder cancer that involved cottage cheese (not made with rennet) blended with fresh flax seed oil. We believe it gave him an extra 10 months. Thank you for any advice. She is our oldest canine child. Most of our rotties were lost to cancer. I want to know everything possible to make her happy and keep her from fracturing the affected joint. Thank you sincerely for this site! We’ve suffered through lymphosarcoma, osteosarcoma and bladder cancer with our dogs and lost the battle with each one. I believe in our vet but always wonder if I could have done more. I want to learn as much as possible to fight this awful disease.
Penni
my take on this is if heartworm disease is not common in your area, just stop the preventative at this point.
I would also have you read these posts:
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/dog-cancer-pain-control/
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/more-ideas-for-bone-cancer-pain-pamidronate/
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/bone-cancer-pain-new-ideas/
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/pain-in-dog-cancer-and-life-quality/
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/dog-cancer-pain-acupuncture/
Dr D
Dr. Dressler,
Thank you very much for your comments! I know my comments contained quite a bit of info and I greatly appreciate your time:).
I’ve read you book now and am heeding your great advice. I’m making time to cook for Vega on the weekends because I think it is better than the commercial foods.
We decided to see on oncologist for an expert opinion. One reason was our vet decided to treat with injectable neoplasene instead of oral. I was very concerned with all the tissue Vega was going to loose and his quality of life during this time. The oncologist said she would never treat mast cell like ours with neoplasene. She said that it could cause degranulation in a case like this and actually kill Vega. Too risky, too much pain and too many side effects. I’m glad we decided to go and see an expert!
The oncologist said his case was and “easy case” and she has a lot of success with pallidia/kinavet. We have begun him on Pallidia, with prednisone (just for a short while) and pepcid, plus I’m following your diet and we are boosting his immunity by adding turmeric (vet’s suggestion), mushrooms, krill (staring with a lower dose until his belly get’s used to the palladia), L-glutamine (her suggestion). I can’t do the apocaps until he isn’t on the prednisone.
So far Vega is doing very well and the vet thinks he will be fine and we that we can kick this. It’s been four days and his tumors are already very negligible.
I’m very thankful that the medical industry has made great strides in the past few years for some of the dog cancer sufferers.
I just wanted to give you an update and thank you again!!
Hi Dr. Dressler !
I have come across your work while conducting research for a NZ-based dietary supplement company working with supercritically-extracted (CO2) artemisinin.
We are currently conducting a clinical trial of a canine version of our artemisinin-based arthritis treatment, ‘arthRem’ and would love to have a conversation about any known veterinary drug interactions etc that you may be aware of, from your research to date in other disease conditions.
Would it be possible to arrange a telephone consultation, perhaps ?
Best regards,
Amanda Clark
Dr. Dressler,
First off, thank you for your informative site and book. Cancer is a horrible disease and I appreciate that there are individuals such as yourself whom have devoted extensive time and energy working to help dogs with this disease.
I have just purchased your book and apocaps and plan to begin them as soon as they arrive.
Please review below and I look forward to your thoughts.
ISSUE: I have a Weimariner (Vega) who is 8 1/2 that has recently been diagnosed with Grade 2 Mast cell. He has been lumpy all his life and has had benign tumors removed and/or tested many times. We have always supplemented his with fish oil, and sometime barley grass, turmeric, milk thistle and astragulus. Unfortunately his bumps were getting more prevalent so I took him to a holistic vet and we decided to have 7 of the lumps removed and 4 sent off for biopsy. 2 came back benign, 1 (on his trunk) a grade 2 clean margins and the other they weren’t able to tell so are going to do some further research. I will be meeting with our vet for a consult about next steps and when I do this I will find out what the score of the mast cell is according to your recommendation (1-10).
He still has about 13 lumps that I think we are going to have removed. Most are the size of a pea or smaller, 2 are nickel size. He has had these ongoing for about 1 1/2 years and they come and go. Some are newer, but all similar in appearance. We had several aspirated 1 1/2 yrs ago and they proved benign.
Unfortunately we are not new to the mast cell sufferers. We lost our sharpei 5 years ago to a grade 3 tumor that popped up and got nasty quickly. He was given three weeks to live. We went to a cancer specialist and he made it 9 great months with chemo and I supplemented him with medicinal mushrooms from new chapter. With our cancer vet we also tried cryo freezing and he had open wounds that we had to treat 2 x a day. We know the dedication it takes for sick animal and are willing to put forth the effort to make Vega better.
I hate cancer and do not want to loose another pet to it, so I am taking the time to do this properly and would greatly appreciate your help and input.
CURRENT DIET: I put or dogs on the raw diet and used to supplement with Honest Kitchens new chapter, but haven’t done that in several years. I hate this disease and specifically feed our dogs human grade ground beef and supplement because I never wanted to have another dog with cancer.. In the meantime I am giving CAS options from genesis resources, astragulus, turmeric, medicinal mushrooms, and spirugreen (superfood for pets from Dr. Mercola).
PLAN OF ACTION: I’m ordering your book today and will read it and take into account your advice. I have done extensive research over the past few weeks on dog cancer and I have a protocol that I think we would like to try with Vega and would greatly appreciate your comments-
PROPOSED DIET: I will follow your dog cancer diet, but would like to do raw (ground beef) and supplement with either Embark, honest Kitchen (or similar).We are very busy so I want to feed him great, but don’t have a lot of time to prepare foods. Are you familiar with these? If not, what do you recommend? I understand chicken may not be the best for mast cell. How do you feel about ground beef?
PROPOSED PLAN:
The vet wanted to originally treat with oral and injectable neoplasne, but since many of the tumors seem to be benign and they are clumped throughout his torso and hips she thinks just oral may be the way to go. She has worked with Buck mountain before and as of last night was going to call them to see what they recommend. I will be having a consult with her in the coming days to discuss further.
– Apocaps based on your directions
– Neoplasene Oral
– Budwig diet- I understand cottage cheese and dairy may not be appropriate food for dogs with mast cell, but have faith in this protocol and wanted to know what you recommend instead of cottage cheese? Or is cottage cheese acceptable?
– Benadryl- I’ve read that long term use of benadryl can damage the organs. What are your thoughts?
-Medicinal mushroom blend from New Chapter. I’m aware that with yours and Buck mountain’s protocols it is best to not supplement with many antioxidants because it can be counter productive. Will these mushrooms counteract the pro-oxodiants?
-Spirugreen. This is a supplement that contains spirulina and astaxanthin from Dr mercola.
-Probiotics
-Dog digestive enzymes from dr. mercola
– Other mast cell drugs- I have read about some of these and want to know what you think about these?
-Chemo. I would prefer not to go this route unless absolutely necessary. It is very costly and Vega hates the vet so I don’t want to subject him to this more than I have to.
-Anything I am missing?
Vega is very happy and healthy currently and I want to do whatever we can to keep him this way as long as we can and hopefully even eliminate his cancer. I have faith in a lot of the natural alternatives and hope we will be successful.
Thank you so very much for you help and what you are doing for our beloved animals.
-L
Dear Laura
sorry to hear all of this. see below:
r. Dressler,
First off, thank you for your informative site and book. Cancer is a horrible disease and I appreciate that there are individuals such as yourself whom have devoted extensive time and energy working to help dogs with this disease.
welcome
I have just purchased your book and apocaps and plan to begin them as soon as they arrive.
good
Please review below and I look forward to your thoughts.
ISSUE: I have a Weimariner (Vega) who is 8 1/2 that has recently been diagnosed with Grade 2 Mast cell. He has been lumpy all his life and has had benign tumors removed and/or tested many times. We have always supplemented his with fish oil, and sometime barley grass, turmeric, milk thistle and astragulus. Unfortunately his bumps were getting more prevalent so I took him to a holistic vet and we decided to have 7 of the lumps removed and 4 sent off for biopsy. 2 came back benign, 1 (on his trunk) a grade 2 clean margins and the other they weren’t able to tell so are going to do some further research. I will be meeting with our vet for a consult about next steps and when I do this I will find out what the score of the mast cell is according to your recommendation (1-10).
grade
He still has about 13 lumps that I think we are going to have removed. Most are the size of a pea or smaller, 2 are nickel size. He has had these ongoing for about 1 1/2 years and they come and go. Some are newer, but all similar in appearance. We had several aspirated 1 1/2 yrs ago and they proved benign.
Unfortunately we are not new to the mast cell sufferers. We lost our sharpei 5 years ago to a grade 3 tumor that popped up and got nasty quickly. He was given three weeks to live. We went to a cancer specialist and he made it 9 great months with chemo and I supplemented him with medicinal mushrooms from new chapter. With our cancer vet we also tried cryo freezing and he had open wounds that we had to treat 2 x a day. We know the dedication it takes for sick animal and are willing to put forth the effort to make Vega better.
I hate cancer and do not want to loose another pet to it, so I am taking the time to do this properly and would greatly appreciate your help and input.
CURRENT DIET: I put or dogs on the raw diet and used to supplement with Honest Kitchens new chapter, but haven’t done that in several years. I hate this disease and specifically feed our dogs human grade ground beef and supplement because I never wanted to have another dog with cancer.. In the meantime I am giving CAS options from genesis resources, astragulus, turmeric, medicinal mushrooms, and spirugreen (superfood for pets from Dr. Mercola).
PLAN OF ACTION: I’m ordering your book today and will read it and take into account your advice. I have done extensive research over the past few weeks on dog cancer and I have a protocol that I think we would like to try with Vega and would greatly appreciate your comments-
PROPOSED DIET: I will follow your dog cancer diet, but would like to do raw (ground beef) and supplement with either Embark, honest Kitchen (or similar).We are very busy so I want to feed him great, but don’t have a lot of time to prepare foods. Are you familiar with these? If not, what do you recommend? I understand chicken may not be the best for mast cell. How do you feel about ground beef?
not raw ground beef
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/more-raw-ideas-on-dog-cancer/
those commercial diets are ok- usually do half home made dog cancer diet under these circumstances
PROPOSED PLAN:
The vet wanted to originally treat with oral and injectable neoplasne, but since many of the tumors seem to be benign and they are clumped throughout his torso and hips she thinks just oral may be the way to go. She has worked with Buck mountain before and as of last night was going to call them to see what they recommend. I will be having a consult with her in the coming days to discuss further.
ok
– Apocaps based on your directions
might try apocaps before oral neoplasine for 1-2 weeks. measure tumor diameter/take photos so you know what is going on over time
– Neoplasene Oral
ok
– Budwig diet- I understand cottage cheese and dairy may not be appropriate food for dogs with mast cell, but have faith in this protocol and wanted to know what you recommend instead of cottage cheese? Or is cottage cheese acceptable?
dog cancer diet is better
– Benadryl- I’ve read that long term use of benadryl can damage the organs. What are your thoughts?
not true usually. ok to use if too much histamine.
-Medicinal mushroom blend from New Chapter. I’m aware that with yours and Buck mountain’s protocols it is best to not supplement with many antioxidants because it can be counter productive. Will these mushrooms counteract the pro-oxodiants?
yes. but youll read i use these compounds (with their antiox effects) because the beneficial effects outweigh the interfering effects
-Spirugreen. This is a supplement that contains spirulina and astaxanthin from Dr mercola.
low priority…antioxidant…not now..ok for remission phase if you can get it
-Probiotics
fine
-Dog digestive enzymes from dr. mercola
fine
– Other mast cell drugs- I have read about some of these and want to know what you think about these?
tallk to oncologist, id consider them with this much mast cell tumor. i lean toward kinavet over palladia personally if we are talking oral protocols
not sure which drugs we are discussing..
-Chemo. I would prefer not to go this route unless absolutely necessary. It is very costly and Vega hates the vet so I don’t want to subject him to this more than I have to.
ok..but consider carefully..
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blo/what-is-treatment-plan-analysis/
-Anything I am missing?
krill oil
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/help-overcome-dog-food-dangers-krill-oil-versus-fish-oil/
Vega is very happy and healthy currently and I want to do whatever we can to keep him this way as long as we can and hopefully even eliminate his cancer. I have faith in a lot of the natural alternatives and hope we will be successful.
maybe wobenzyme instead of mercolas
mind body which you will read about
also sleep which you will read about
also timing of treatments (difficult to get all the data we need as we just don’t know but anyway):
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/the-right-time-for-chemotherapy-drugs-for-dog-cancer/
Thank you so very much for you help and what you are doing for our beloved animals.
yep
-L
Hi Drs. Dressler,
I have been reading about the benefits of goat milk and goat cheese and just wondered if goat by-products are contraindicated for dogs with cancer or whether it is okay for me to give my dog some. I am trying to find ways to help him gain and maintain his weight.
Thanks,
Melissa
Hi Melissa,
I’m wondering about the need for goat’s milk products in your dog…can you send the links and I would be happy to check it out.
D