The Dog Cancer Survival Guide (18 page)

Whichever perspective feels most comfortable for you, the chances that your dog is going to expire as you are reading this are low. You have time.

You may know a woman who had breast cancer, one of the most common human cancers. Perhaps she had no idea that she was sick until a doctor found a spot on her mammogram. Her body appeared healthy, and indeed most of her cells were normal. She didn’t actually feel sick; she had time to get treatment and live a good life. Maybe she even beat the cancer into remission.

This could be the case for your dog, as well. It is possible that your dog could beat cancer. I cannot guarantee it. I cannot assess your dog’s condition through the pages of this book, and I cannot directly treat your dog, however ...

I have seen some recoveries that can only be described as miraculous, and I take nothing for granted when it comes to a dog’s ability to heal.

There is no way for you to know, right now, that your dog will definitely die of cancer, any time soon. Each dog, each case, is different. That’s why I am so glad that you are taking the time to educate yourself, so you can make decisions that will lead to the best outcome.

As you’ll learn, your dog’s body is already hard at work, fighting the cancer cells. Remember, cancer is not an immediate death sentence. Cancer is a living process that happens in a
living
body.

And your dog’s body might be better equipped than most to handle the challenges of cancer, just because she is a dog.

C
anis familiaris
is one of the most incredible species on the planet. My guess is that every human who has lived with a dog has noticed that dogs are capable of unconditional love. You’ll learn later that love is a healing attitude and the foundation of good health. Your sense of shared love with your dog can be the driving force behind his healing.

Sealy, the mattress manufacturer, conducted a survey that reported 67% of Americans sleep with their pets. This intimate habit has been around since we domesticated dogs at least 15,000 years ago (which some say happened even earlier — 30,000 years ago). During those centuries of living together, dogs have developed into wonderful companions.

Dogs display sensitivity to our gestures and speech that other species seem to lack. For example, dogs tend to automatically follow the most subtle gestures and body language. They have an uncanny sense of when we’ll return home. They seem to offer us comfort when we’re in pain. And some guardians admit that their dogs seem to listen more closely to their troubles than any human companion does.

Despite our close contact with our dogs, we are often completely in the dark about what our dogs’ life is like or what their true capabilities are.

Did you know that ...

... the lining of a dog’s nose is twenty to forty times more sensitive to smell than the lining of a human’s nose?

... dogs can hear ultrasonic frequencies that are five times higher than those that humans can?

... dogs can smell their owner’s scent from a mile away?

... dogs can detect cancer by smell alone? In a recent study, trained dogs correctly detected lung cancer samples 99% of the time. They correctly detected 88% of breast cancer samples.

... dogs can sense where someone has been, even days after he has left the area? This is why police often use hounds to find missing people.

... dogs seem to be able to tell if someone wants to harm you? Remember that time when your dog stood between you and someone else and growled at them for “no reason”?

... dogs and other animals seem to know when an earthquake or other natural disaster is coming?

... some dogs can detect pending epileptic seizures in people before they begin and can warn them to prepare?

Dogs are, in one word, remarkable. Keep their “super powers” in mind as you read this book. One of the most important things I have learned from dogs is that they can do almost anything – especially when they have the love of a calm, balanced human to sustain them.

In this Part, we’ll look at dog cancer from a bird’s eye view, starting with defining some common cancer terms, and then briefly going over how cancer begins and how it spreads in the body. We’ll see how veterinarians diagnose cancer, what tests they use, and why they’re important. We will learn about a very important and basic body process called apoptosis. We’ll also look at the possible causes of dog cancers, including carcinogens, genetic factors, and vaccinations. This background material will help you to understand Full Spectrum cancer care and, later, make decisions about how to treat your dog’s cancer.

T
his chapter defines some common terms you may hear from your vet, oncologist, or other practitioner. I’ve expanded most of the traditional definitions to include information

Reading through these definitions now will give you a birds-eye-view of cancer. Later, you can use this chapter as a glossary, referring back as needed.

Acupuncture
: The use of needles to stimulate certain points on the body. The model used in this system involves regulating the energy flow (“chi” or “ki”) in sites or pathways in the body (“meridians”). Acupuncture is a branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a complex medical system with thousands of years of history. Some conventional and many
alternative
veterinarians use acupuncture for cancer treatments, pain relief, reducing nausea, and its many other benefits. TCM is very different from western medicine, so I recommend finding a veterinarian who has been licensed to perform acupuncture if you want to explore this system’s benefits.

Alternative Medicine
: Any treatment that is not within the bounds of conventional veterinary medicine is labeled “alternative.” Some vets embrace this label for themselves and may even reject many conventional treatments. In this way, an alternative veterinarian can be just as dogmatic in her thinking as a conventional veterinarian. In addition, as treatments once labeled alternative – supplements, for example – become more popular, they themselves become conventional treatments.

Angiogenesis
: Angiogenesis means “creating new blood vessels.” Cancer tumors form new blood vessels out of existing vessels, so they can access nutrients and oxygen in the bloodstream. These new blood vessels shunt nutrition to the tumor at the expense of healthy body parts. They also serve as transportation routes for cancer cells to metastasize to other parts of the body.

Apoptogens
: Agents that induce
apoptosis
in cells (the supplements discussed in
Chapter 12
are apoptogens.) Inducing apoptosis in cancer cells is a way to get the cancer to actively kill itself.

Apoptosis
: Apoptosis is the completely natural body process that causes cells to destroy themselves at the end of their natural lifespan. Also known as “programmed cell death” or “cell suicide,” apoptosis can also be triggered when a cell sustains irreparable damage, becomes infected, or starts dividing uncontrollably. In an average healthy human adult, somewhere around fifty to seventy billion cells die each day due to apoptosis and then quietly exit the body to make room for new, healthy cells. In most types of cancer, apoptosis genes “turn off,” which leads to lower apoptosis levels. When this happens, cancer cells do not die naturally. Diminished apoptosis is a hallmark of most types of cancer, and is one of the major ways for a tumor to expand. Forcing cancer cells to commit suicide, via apoptosis, is one of the central goals in
Full Spectrum
cancer care. Although many people pronounce this word “ay-POP-toe-sis,” the most correct pronunciation features a silent second p: “ay-po-TOE-sis.” Substances that turn on apoptosis are called
apoptogens
.

Benign
: A tumor with a very low potential to spread to other areas is generally not dangerous and is called benign. Even benign tumors can cause problems, however, if they press on an internal organ, interfere with normal movement, are prone to injury, or if they burst open to cause bleeding or infection.

Bioavailability
: The relative amount of a drug or agent that reaches the circulation (and therefore has a better chance to reach the cancer cells). Theoretically, an agent that is given through injection has higher bioavailability because it is 100% intact when it first enters the blood (although it may later be broken down or otherwise cleared by the body). Supplements, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals administered by mouth, on the other hand, may break down in the digestive system so much that they enter the blood stream at only a fraction of their original intensity. The more intact an agent is when it reaches its target, the better it works
in vivo
.

Biopsy
: A surgery that removes a tumor, or a sample of a tumor, for the purpose of cancer diagnosis. The specimen is submitted to a
pathologist
, where special processing and examination of the tissue yields a classification of the cancer (or lack thereof). Because of the time it takes to properly prepare and examine biopsies, the results are usually not available for at least five days, and often not for as long as ten days.

Cancer
: Cancer is an uncontrolled growth of cells in the body. Cancer can form tumors, invade surrounding healthy tissues (called
local invasion
), and slip into the circulation to start new growths in distant sites (
metastasis
). Cancers are usually named for the body part or type of cell in which they arise. Cancer that has spread is sometimes called
systemic cancer
.