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

Full Spectrum Cancer Care is the approach taken by the authors of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide. In Full Spectrum cancer care, we embrace any method that has been shown to help dogs with cancer, regardless of its source.

Vitamin C for Canine Cancer Patients?

Many have heard of the Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling.  After winning the prize in chemistry in 1954, he went off on this tangent and decided to be the major proponent of vitamin C for health. Lots of people became pretty excited, and decided to see if Vitamin C did anything to cancer cells in…

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What about Ozone Therapy and Dog Cancer?

Ozone therapy is one of those things that people ask about sometimes.  Kind of an odd bird, ozone. What’s the deal with ozone therapy and dog cancer? First of all, what is ozone anyway? Ozone is a gas that can be administered after it is dissolved in liquid, most commonly either IV or as an…

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Dog Cancer Surgery: They Didn’t Get It All Out

Sound familiar? Did this happen to anyone out there? Removal of all the cancer cells from the body during surgery is pretty important.  How can we tell? The most important thing to do is get that biopsy report.  Some don’t want the extra cost.  “Just get it out” is a line I have heard from…

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Dog Cancer and Food…what’s the Carbo Problem?

Everybody loves sugar. Late night snacks, movies, late afternoon….kids and grown-ups alike….and dogs like their carbs in dog food and in dog treats, which of course are changed in the body to sugars… Cancer in dogs loves sugar too.  Especially sugar.  Cancers tend to gobble sugar way more than fat or protein.  Cancer definitely has…

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But I want CLA for my dog with cancer!

Dear friends and fellow dog lovers, Here is the follow up on the CLA post… Just for the record, I don’t care for the stuff.  The forms of CLA are all mixed together usually.  At some point they will separate the forms of CLA in the mixture,  and then we can re-assess. At this time…

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Can melatonin be used with lymphosarcoma in dogs?

Before we go back to linoleic acid, the last blog topic, this question has been festering in my mind and needs to be addressed. Should be be using melatonin in dogs with lymphosarcoma? This is an interesting question, especially because as I am about to disagree with what is all over the internet….”don’t use melatonin”…

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Conjugated Linoleic Acid and Dog Cancer

I received a question about the use of safflower oil for a type of lyphosarcoma (lymphoma) in dogs.  The group of active ingredients in safflower oil is called the Conjugated Linoleic Acids (CLA). There are other things in safflower oil too that have effects, but this is a biggy. So should we be giving this…

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Fantastic fungus and dog cancer..medicinal mushrooms!?

Yes, you read that right.  Certain kinds of mushrooms have immune boosting and anti-cancer effects. Some examples of these mushrooms include Shitake (yes, the same one we eat in Chinese restaurants), Maitake, Reishi, Cordyceps, Coriolus, Agaricus and Cordyceps. The good folks over at Aloha Medicinals have known about this forever.  I spoke with Dr. John…

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EGCG and dog cancer: beyond chemo, radiation and surgery

So you feel that there is more than chemotherapy, radiation and surgery for dogs with cancer? So do I, and we are correct! Here’s just one example: EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate). This is a naturally occurring substance found in green tea.   EGCG has several anticancer effects that are very real.  This substance is in trials at…

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Predicting Chemotherapy Reactions in Dogs: MDR 1

Hi everyone! What about chemo safety in dogs, anyway? How do we know whether a given dog with cancer will tolerate chemotherapy? Well, for some drugs, there is a test that can give us info.  The test is for mutations in a gene called MDR 1, or ABCB delta 1. This gene make a protein…

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Ginger to help dogs with cancer. Raw piece of ginger root.

Ginger to Help Dogs with Cancer

Ginger to help dogs with cancer? YES! This inexpensive, great-smelling, pungent root is great for your dog. Learn why and how to use it.

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Help overcome dog food dangers: which oils for cancer??

Rochelle Lesser, who created and manages a great site for Golden Retrievers (and dogs in general), asked about krill oil on a recent post.  Here’s the skinny on why I like its cancer-fighting benefits (krill are those tiny shrimp that whales eat). First,  krill oil helps offset the omega 6 fatty acid excess I wrote about…

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Dog food and cancer: help fight this problem!

In the last post I wrote about one of the issues in most commercial dog foods contributing to dog cancer: omega 6 fatty acid excess. This is a group of fats that are found in large quantities in corn products, vegetable oils, and meat products like tallow and lard, to name a few sources. Dogs…

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Food and dog cancer: omega 6 fatty acids

Many people ask me if dog food has something to do with the development of cancer in their pet.  Before I devoted my time to studying the topic, I never gave it much thought.  Nah, I would say.  Dog cancer is mostly genetic, viral, a few carcinogens…who knows?  “There is no real cause of cancer”,…

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Life Quality in Dog Cancer: Dr Dressler’s Joys of Life Scale

When we are dealing with cancer in our loved dog, especially the bad cases, we immediately enter into a new way of thinking.  We start to have thoughts about life quality assessment.  We are put in a position where we are in control of  life and death (euthanasia) decisions.  Sometimes in a very sudden way,…

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Pain in Dog Cancer and Life Quality, Part 2

Many times people talk about life quality in pets and pain.  “Is my dog in any pain?” is a common question I get at my hospital.  To be sure, pain is an important consideration in life quality. Of all the factors that contribute to a bad life, pain may be the most potent.  BUT…it is…

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Pain in Dog Cancer and Life Quality

Many have concerns their dog may be in pain.  And rightfully so, since pain is a definite negative.  Pain control is a massive topic all by itself, and it is by no means strait forward. There are different kinds of pain. Sometimes  dull, throbbing pain happens in cancers like osteosarcoma (bone cancer).  Severe pain in…

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Fight Dog Cancer and Depression with Self-Esteem

Learn how to fight dog cancer and depression using esteem-building exercises. They will benefit your dog’s mood AND help fight cancer!

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Depression, Stress and Dog Cancer: Let’s Think About It

Are depression stress and dog cancer linked? Let’s take a look.

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Immunity and Dog Cancer

Cancer is the ultimate foe in veterinary medicine. It has so many ways of surviving and eluding. One of cancer’s clever survival tricks is avoiding destruction by the body.  A dog’s body has many ways of protecting itself.  A biggy is the immune system. A dog’s immune system is able to tell what is supposed to…

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