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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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Diarrhea

A Useful Discussion for Dogs With Cancer

I received a question recently that involves a common situation for guardians coping with a dog cancer diagnosis. So, to benefit everyone, I am including my answers here, in the hopes that you can apply the information to how you manage your dog with cancer. This case is Almond, who is a 10 year female…

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Cerenia. Dog with toy laying under covers on bed.

Cerenia: An Option for Dogs with Vomiting

Cerenia can really help with dogs who are vomiting or getting nauseous. Ask your vet!

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Signs of Dog Cancer and Decompensation

People are often stunned to find out their dog has cancer. Why? Because cancer seems to hit out of the blue. I often hear “but he’s been fine until the last couple days!” In this article, I’m going to take just a minute to explain why “cancer” seems to happen overnight. (Hint: it’s because of…

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Pau D’Arco for Dogs With Cancer: Be Careful Says Dr. Dressler

In the last post, I focused on really looking at the source of the information you are receiving about your dog’s cancer.  Let’s get into some specific examples of questionable “intelligence” you may have received. Some, claiming authority in the area of supplements for dog cancer, are pushing Pau D’Arco.  Be careful, everyone! Let’s look…

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Why use stomach medication for mast cell tumors?

Many dog lovers are coping with a diagnosis of canine mast cell tumor.  Just yesterday afternoon I was removing a very large one from the body wall of Big, a 10 year old, 105 pound, much-loved mixed breed. The day before his surgery, Big started to throw up.  He became quite sick, and would not…

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Important Issues in Chemotherapy

The problem with chemotherapy, at least traditional drugs, is that it does not always target just the cancer cells.  What I mean by that is the chemo drug may not care if it shuts down a dividing body cell or a dividing cancer cell. Chemotherapy drugs tend, with some exceptions, to go after cells that…

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Chemo side effects: What should I do?

Chemotherapy does have side effects that need to be considered.  About 5% of these will require your pet to be hospitalized, on the average, and there is a 1% chance of fatal reactions overall with chemotherapy. Although I have not seen any published data, unpublished estimates on overall risks of any side effect are roughly…

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Where Do I Begin?

“I am overwhelmed with all the information I am reading to help my dog with cancer.” Does this sound familiar to anyone out there? Most of the readers of this blog are searching for information. Once a true malignancy has developed, the realities can feel utterly unacceptable. This leads to information gathering.  Whenever we are…

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Help For Diarrhea In Canine Cancer Patients

I was recently asked by a client about what over the counter product could be used for diarrhea in veterinary patients. There are a number of different items that can be used.  Some have interactions with other meds, or possibly side effects that would not be desirable. I told her about one that you might…

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Do Numbers Matter?

A lover of a dog with cancer needs to come up with an plan that makes sense. The first step in any plan is arming oneself with answers, or data that relates to the situation. There are two basic areas that we need to focus on. The first is what can we do to maintain…

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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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Things You Need To Know About Radiation for Dog Cancer

This is a continuation of the previous blog topic, radiation therapy in dog cancer. We looked at some benefits of radiation previously, both in terms of life quality and lifespan. This time, I would like to look at some of the downsides.  I am not interested in painting a darker picture than is necessary.  This…

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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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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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Signs of Cancer in Dogs

Many people ask me what to look for to tell if their dogs have cancer. I thought I should give you a little summary of some of the biggies.

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