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Featuring Demian Dressler, DVM and Sue Ettinger, DVM, Dip. ACVIM (Oncology), authors of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide

Articles by Demian Dressler, DVM

Heterocyclic Amines in the News

I’m happy to report a news article highlighting one of the subjects, carcinogenic heterocyclic amines, discussed in the Guide. The Mercola article discussed a publication about finding this substance, PhIP, in dog fur (as an aside, not all dogs have fur, as some have hair, but that is a different story!).  PhIP is in a…

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Vaccination and Dog Cancer

A reader recently posed a question about vaccinations and links with cancer in dogs. I discussed this in more detail in the Guide, along with many other factors that may (or may not) have links to cancer.  But, since it came up, I thought it might make a good post. If reader is looking for…

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Is There A Reason For All This Dog Cancer, part 2

In my last post, we looked at some of the connections between the environment, diet, and cancer development. We also examined how similar cancer is to the body’s reaction to an injury, as if it were healing a damaged or wounded organ in a deranged way. Today, I’ll continue some of my thoughts about why…

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Is There A Reason for All This Dog Cancer?

“Why did my dog get cancer? This is a tough question to answer, but I’d like to provide a bit of information about how I think about cancer to help answer this question. First, a bit about the disease itself, and what we know right now.  Cancer cells look and behave like young body cells. …

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Low Dose Chemotherapy Better for Canine Hemangiosarcoma?

Chemotherapy in dogs is normally given at doses that are as high as possible without causing too many side effects.  This is to try to rid the body of as many cancer cells as we can, although some dogs will have occasional side effects related to the use of conventional chemotherapy. For this reason, there…

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Clinical Trials for Dog Cancer: Pros and Cons

Dog lovers coping with canine cancer often are looking for solutions.  When hearing the news that a loved dog has cancer, and the statistics and costs related to chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, many times a guardian will start looking for something else to try, a solution that seems better than what is available. Often the…

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DNA Discoverer Watson Echoes Our Dog Cancer Approach

Its all over the news wires. James Watson, the Nobel Prize winner for his work in helping discover DNA’s double helix, is repeating what we have been been advocating for years in The Dog Cancer Survival Guide and this blog. One of the best ways to help deal with cancer is by targeting a mechanism…

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Soil Depletion and Nutrients in Your Dog

Trace minerals and elements have not gotten the attention they deserve for our pets’ health. For example, zinc, selenium and magnesium are all critically important for dogs fighting cancer for many reasons, among them immunity and resistance to drug reactions. One of the reasons this may be problematic is that many ill dogs have low…

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On Blame

For those coping with dog cancer, there is usually a very large amount of pain. First is the shock of the diagnosis, which is common. After this comes a flood of emotions of various kinds. For some it is confusion, trying to make sense of what it actually means to have a dog with cancer.…

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Cancer Blood Testing in Future for Pets?

A new test is being developed in human medicine which allows for breast and a type of lung cancer testing with a blood sample. This exciting development may be a sentinel for testing in pets that is so needed.  Dog cancer is now the number one killer of dogs in the US, and early intervention…

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Beta Glucan-containing mushrooms in the news again!

Beta glucans are back in the media, this time is the form of a new mushroom extract. This of course will not be surprising to our regular readers or anyone who has read The Dog Cancer Survival Guide, since the use of these compounds are part of the full-spectrum approach to canine cancer.  This approach…

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Immune System Fuel

Dogs with cancer, especially widespread cancer, have a lot of different health issues that need special attention.  The cancer has a way of overtaking and affecting many different body systems.  In order for us to beat the odds in any consistent way, we need to tend to each of these different cancer effects.  As readers…

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Reflections Four Days After Departure

This post will be a little different. I put my own dear Ginsu down four nights ago due to cancer.  Ginsu was a loved cat, not the usual subject of the Dog Cancer Blog. Yet loss is loss, and as a provider of information that sometimes involves coping with loss, I would like to give…

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Attitude Adjustment in Coping With Canine Cancer

One of the most shocking discoveries for some guardians starting their dog cancer journey is there seem to be few options. These guardians go to the vet or oncologist, and many times return from the visit with a very heavy burden that seems to have little relief. And strangely, it happens to those who ask…

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Mourning for Dogs and Their People

Whether or not a loved dog has cancer, time is limited. And one of the easiest things to forget is this fact of being a Guardian…we usually outlive our four legged family members.  But we are not the only ones who mourn for the loss of loved ones. A recent article in Health Day described…

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