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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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Dr. Demian Dressler has been writing articles for DogCancerBlog.com since 2008. If you’re looking for excellent advice and insight into your dog’s cancer, this site has hundreds of articles to use. You can search using the box above or choose a topic from the navigation menu. And you can always ask us for help!

Everything is overwhelming…

Many dog lovers, especially those of you who just received the news that your dog has cancer, feel very overwhelmed.  This is very common and completely natural. So many questions arise.  How did this happen?  Where did the cancer come from? Why wasn’t this picked up before?  Is it the food? Vaccines? Chemicals? What do…

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But my vet has not heard of this….

Dear dog lovers, I have been deluged with comments that some vets out there, maybe even most, have not heard of many of the approaches to dealing with cancer that are beyond surgery, chemo and radiation. As a consequence, there seems to be a large “black box” as to what to do, how to arrive…

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Neoplasene as a Dog Cancer Treatment

I received a question recently asking if I had heard of Neoplasene, so I thought I should post about it. Neoplasene is derived from bloodroot, an old herb used by native Americans.  The stuff works but can be a bit much for an average dog lover to deal with.  Read on. It is delivered to…

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Chronic Morphine May Worsen Dog Cancer

Well, in this post I want to give the readers some cutting edge new developments in dog cancer pain control. For decades, morphine has been a good old standard in pain control, both in dog and human medicine.  Many oncologists and veterinarians involved in treating dogs afflicted with cancer use morphine to help these patients.…

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Dog Tumor Surgery and Anesthetics

In the last post we looked at why surgery ends up often being a good option for malignant dog tumors. Of course, this is a simple answer, but it may not be all that simple in reality. Why? Well, aside from the cost-benefit considerations, surgery itself varies from vet to vet. I have worked with…

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Dog Tumor Surgery: It Matters

Many dogs afflicted with cancer face a surgery.  In spite of how far we have come in medical science, our most reliable way of getting rid of canine cancer is still a bit old fashioned: cut it out. Indeed, most of the time surgical removal is the treatment of choice for tumor cure in the…

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Is it for me or for my dog?

Decision making when loving a dog with a cancer diagnosis can be tough. Many times we will experience some degree of confusion in decision making.  There are many options that are presented.  Should I allow chemotherapy? Amputation?  Is radiation really worth it? I think that a lot of the difficulty may not actually relate to…

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Oncology and Beyond

I have been getting some questions lately about whether or not I am a board-certified oncologist.  Nope, and I do not try to be either.  Here’s why: Oncology is our word for the field of cancer medicine.  Oncologists spend a good amount of time doing chemo, and have broader interests usually  within the additional areas…

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Problem Solving while having a Dog With Cancer

Lymphosarcoma. Hemangiosarcoma.  Osteosarcoma. Mast Cell Tumor. Nasal Tumor. Melanoma. Mammary Cancer. All these words, so harsh, so foreign and scientific. And also, so horrible. Do you love a dog with cancer?  How are you dealing with this fact? Upon reflection, some may not even allow the reality to sink in.  You are telling me my…

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More on Curcumin and Dog Cancer

In the last post, I introduced curcumin, a useful tool against cancer found in turmeric. In this post we will look at some of the effects and practicalities in the use of this remarkable substance. Safety should always be questioned. Curcumin is exceptionally safe when given by mouth.  Read more here. One of the complaints…

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Spice of Life: Curcumin and Dog Cancer

In researching topics for expanded treatments of dog cancer, I have discovered surprises aplenty. Because of the desire for options beyond surgery, chemo and radiation for dog cancer, I chose to look in areas that I would have ignored just a few years back. One of the hottest topics in cancer research right now is…

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Vitamin D and Dog Cancer

Dog lovers will do anything they can to help their dog with a cancer.  And you should! This can be one of the hardest times anyone will face. Many times the effort helps, and other times it may not. This, of course, is not due to any ill intention on the part of the dog’s…

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Apoptosis and Dog Cancer

Apoptosis and Cancer … what’s the connection? Every cancer shares six characteristics — and a LACK of apoptosis is one of those characteristics. Every cancer suppresses apoptosis, which is why boosting apoptosis in cancer cells can help.

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Cancer spread, Flax and Dog Cancer

Flax is one of the oldest crops known to man.  Even the ancient Egyptians cultivated it extensively. These days, we don’t see it around much, except in health food stores or the supplement shelves in grocery stores. So why am I writing  about this stuff?  Well, flax has some handy properties that someone  who loves…

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Laser Surgery For Oral Cancer in Dogs

When a dog lover is contemplating a surgery to remove a canine cancer, we should remember there are different ways to do surgeries. Depending on the way the surgery is done, certain things can be improved upon that would otherwise make recovery harder. Some of these are: pain blood loss swelling One of the challenges…

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Lymphosarcoma and Simpler Chemo Options for Dogs

Lymphosarcoma is a cancer of the white blood cells called lymphocytes.  It is one of the most common cancers in dogs. The worst kind of cancer is the kind you have to deal with in your dog.  I heard that from a lady I saw on a video online a while back and I thought…

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New Antioxidant Info For Managing Dog Cancer

Got some new stuff for everyone into vitamins and antioxidants in cancer treatment for their loved dogs. Recall we are talking about cancer treatment, not cancer prevention. These are two different categories gang, with different considerations. You may recall also that the big deal is that there has been concern with free radical scavenging, which…

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Nasal Cancer, in memory of Max the Police Dog

A friend told me about this story. I have not been in the habit of writing about media news in this blog, but this story caught my attention and could be used to expound on nasal tumors in dogs. Max, a Springer spaniel, passed away in Britain due to nasal cancer. He spent his days…

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What I Do in my Veterinary Hospital

Some have wondered what does this guy do, this Dr Dressler? Why does he do this blog anyway? Well, there is a shorter version of the long truth. Since this is a blog post, and I’m told mine are too long anyway, I’ll give you the short version. I spend many hours working as a…

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Bladder and Prostate Cancer: Neutering Male Dogs Increases Risk

Oh man. This is going to make a lot of people in my field angry.  Apologies to classmates and veterinarian friends! I came upon a study from the August, 2007 journal Prostate.  Probably not what a lot of us would be reading in our spare time, but I am busy with upcoming info products for…

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Dog Cancer and the Malaria Drug Artemisinin

Artemisinin for dogs with cancer? Yup. This herb can help make chemo more effective, and may also target cancer directly.

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Lipoma and liposarcoma: Fatty tumors in dogs. Black dog laying on floor.

Lipoma and Liposarcoma in the Dog: Fatty Tumors

Is that soft squishy lump on your dog something to worry about? It depends.

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Luteolin and Dog Cancer, Continued

A look at the cutting edge, new bioflavoniod luteolin, its application in cancer treatment, and a source.

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Mast Cells and Luteolin in Cancer Treatment, Part 1

Here’s a post I have been promising for a while now.  Let’s look at Luteolin, a practically anonymous, food-derived agent with numerous possible uses in cancer treatment. Nobody has heard of Luteolin.  That is because the research being done in its potential anti-cancer application is really new. What is it anyway? Luteolin is a bioflavonoid…

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An Antibiotic for Dog Cancer

Antibiotics are normally used to treat infections, but not many know that there are anti-tumor antibiotics. One of the cheapest, safest, and most easily obtained through a vet? Doxycycline.  Now, doxycycline is not a dream antibiotic.  It actually has fairly limited use as an antibiotic.  Some use it for dental infections, but it is most…

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Is The Cause of Cancer Really Not Known?

Conventional vets (and I count myself among this group) suggest that the cause of cancer is not known. Well, this statement rests on a faulty premise, because there is no single cause of cancer.  Cancer is the product of many separate steps that all must occur before the disease happens. So of course the cause…

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Chemotherapy toxicity in dog cancer: Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALC)

Chemotherapy agents are used to help slow the growth of tumors, improve life quality, and decrease tumor spread in dogs.  Although the doses used are less than in humans, toxicity of chemo drugs is still a concern. The big problem is that things that decrease toxicity of the chemo drugs often will decrease the effectiveness…

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The Toxicity of Potent Dog Chemo Drug Doxorubicin

Is your dog on doxorubicin? Here’s what you need to know about this potent, common chemotherapy agent.

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New treatment for Dogs with Melanoma

Chalk up a win for the Animal Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering.  These two medical facilities have teamed up with Merial, one of the major companies producing drugs for dogs. They came up with a winner: a vaccination for dogs that have malignant melanoma, a type of cancer of the skin or mouth. This…

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Dog Cancer Words You Should Know: Grade and Stage

I think it is important to clear up some words about dog cancer, and cancer in general.  It helps to define what you are talking about with the vet or oncologist so you can get the best info to make your decisions. As your dog’s primary health advocate, you will be called upon to make…

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