The word ‘cancer’ strikes fear in many, and when it comes to our furry family members, the fear is magnified. The diagnosis of cancer in dogs often leads to a difficult journey, known as the Oncology Roller Coaster. Once diagnosed, dogs are typically referred to an oncologist, and the owner’s decision-making ability seems to be taken away. The dog embarks on a medical journey that can be horrifying, with treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy causing immense suffering.
It’s crucial to question the validity of these treatments, especially for metastatic cancer. Many well-meaning pet owners have inadvertently hastened their dog’s death through trust in oncologists’ recommended therapies. Despite the first treatments causing severe side effects, some continue with further treatments, hoping to save their dog, only to witness a terrible decline into inevitable death. Before committing to the standard of care recommended by veterinary oncologists, it’s vital to question the oncologist about the treatment. No matter how qualified, they do not have all the answers. Here are essential questions to ask: – Will the proposed treatment lengthen my dog’s life? – Is complete remission likely with this treatment? – What side effects will the treatment cause, and how long will they last? – How dangerous is the treatment, and could it shorten my dog’s life or even kill my dog? – What will my dog’s quality of life be during and after treatment? – If my dog survives and goes into remission, what is the likelihood of permanent damage? – What would happen if we do nothing? In most cases, oncologists are not the best source for nutritional advice. Nutrition plays a critical role in a dog’s fight against cancer, and it’s an area where owners must take the initiative.The answer to questions about canine cancer treatment is often ill-informed and not in your dog’s best interest. Oncologists typically have little training regarding the link between nutrition and cancer, and their understanding is that nutrition plays no role in causing cancer or its progression.
Their primary focus in terms of nutrition is to manage and prevent cancer cachexia, a wasting syndrome common in metastatic cancer patients. Oncologists are trained to recommend a nutrition program based on soluble carbohydrates, essentially sugar, which can encourage cancer growth and metastasis, hastening the disease’s progression and death. Most oncologists also believe that antioxidant and Omega-3 fatty acid supplements can interfere with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, leading to a negative response towards nutritional advice that can do more harm than good. My strongest recommendation is to be aware of the likely outcome before allowing any chemotherapy or radiotherapy on your dog, especially without lifestyle and nutritional improvements such as fasting, calorie restriction, or the ketogenic diet. Ask whether the chemotherapy is likely to result in a full cure, destroying every diagnosed cancer cell in your dog’s body. If the answer is no, understand that the most likely outcome will not be good. In all likelihood, cancer will return in a more aggressive form. When cancer returns, it often does so within months, more malignant, aggressive, and less responsive to chemotherapy. It will have spread throughout the body, leading to the patient’s death, generally sooner rather than later. The patient’s quality of life will be at an all-time low, and oncologists accept this as the expected outcome.Unfortunately, this information is rarely – if ever – disclosed to the dog’s owner or caregiver.
An Important Study: Our oncologists also need to be aware of and disclose to pet owners the results of a study released in 2004. Although this study is now 16 years old and related to humans, it is as relevant today for both animals and humans as it was when first published. This study revealed that chemotherapy produced no significant benefit in the vast majority of cancers that oncologists for humans deal with on a daily basis. The study reported on the five-year survival benefit attributed solely to the use of cytotoxic drugs (chemotherapy). It looked at 22 major adult human malignancies. The authors found that the use of chemotherapeutic drugs made a contribution to the 5-year survival rate of just 2.3% for Australian adults. In the USA, the survival rate was even less at 2.1%. The authors concluded that there is an urgent need for a rigorous evaluation of chemotherapy in terms of its cost-effectiveness and its impact on the patient’s quality of life. Of course, no such evaluation has ever been undertaken. Avoiding The Truth: How many oncologists would dare speak this truth while looking in the face of someone with a dog suffering with cancer? And as I mentioned earlier, will the oncologist explain that the side effects of these poisons are almost always worse than the disease itself? Will they explain that this makes the drug worse than useless? Finally, it should also be noted that these drugs are generally HUGELY expensive. It’s vital that you take these likelihoods into account when making decisions about your dog’s cancer treatment. Remember this information when you’re faced with treatment regimes proposed by veterinarians or veterinary oncologists. What’s The Alternative?: So, now the question arises, what about the alternatives? Do valid alternative treatments exist, and if they do, what are they and how useful are they? The good news is, there is now a huge body of research confirming that cancer is not a purely genetic disease with purely genetic origins. It is in fact a disease with metabolic origins. And it’s a disease where cancer cells have metabolic vulnerabilities. These metabolic vulnerabilities give rise to valid and powerful treatments that will literally starve and kill cancer cells while enhancing the patient’s health and quality of life. And the even better news is that these treatments may be used in conjunction with the current standard of care. In the popular vernacular, we can “have a bet each way.” We can use treatments such as calorie restriction, fasting, and the ketogenic diet in conjunction with chemo and radiotherapy. What we now know is that these therapies are actually protective against both chemo and radiotherapy. There is evidence that ketones in particular almost certainly enhance the cancer killing power of these two modalities. Supplements: What about supplements such as selenium, fish oil, turmeric and so on? How valid are these? Based on my experience – and on theoretical grounds, together with a number of studies that have been performed, to stop these when performing radio- and chemotherapy is not only unnecessary, it may in fact do more harm than good.The only case where supplements like fish oil and turmeric for ‘blood thinning’ must be stopped is when surgery is used. At that time, the importance of healthy blood clotting is of utmost importance.
We need a balanced understanding of the virtues (not excessive) and drawbacks (huge and frightening) of the current standard of care. Also, we need to understand the value we should place on metabolic (starving) therapies. Too Many Unknowns. The biggest problem we face is that for many forms of cancer, we don’t have enough information to make definite recommendations. It’s still a big guessing game. However, in the end, it’s crucial that you understand this. No matter what, the decision about the choice of modalities for your dog must be yours. And you’ll make that decision based on the best advice available. To help with decision-making, especially regarding whether to use metabolic therapies, a good place to start is my book Pointing The Bone At Cancer.
