The Dog Cancer Survival Guide (47 page)

There’s an odd circular nature to cancer research that I’m leveraging to help your dog.

Typically, cancer treatments for umans are developed by doing ten to fifteen years and millions of dollars’ worth of research. A rough sketch of the process is as follows:

1. Test the treatment on cancer cells in a petri dish or in a test tube (in vitro). If the results show that the treatment works (shows efficacy) ...
   
2. Test the treatment for efficacy and safety in live animals in laboratories. The typical test animals are mice, rats, primates and dogs. If the results are promising, then...
   
3. Start clinical trials in human patients. If the results are promising...
   
4. Apply for FDA approval, which takes years to get. After reviewing the data, if the FDA feels the treatment is both safe and effective, it gives approval. Once that happens...
   
5. The treatment can be finalized and developed for commercial application. The FDA continues to monitor the new drug; after approval, any doctor can prescribe the treatment.
   

Once the treatment has gone through this entire process, vets prescribe the FDA-approved treatment for species other than humans.

(There are now two chemotherapy drugs approved specifically for use in canine cancer. Palladia is one, and Kinavet CA-1 is the other. I have personally had good successes with Kinavet CA-1 when I used it as part of the FDA’s compassionate use program prior to U.S. approval. You can read more about both of these drugs in
chapter 41
.)

Ironically, even though a treatment may be tested on dogs during the research process, it may be years before we actually start to use the treatment in veterinary clinics.

An example of what I’m talking about is included in the chapter on melanoma, where you can read about Dr. Ettinger’s experience with the clinical trials in dogs for the melanoma vaccine.

Here’s what Dr. George Demetri, director of the Ludwig Center at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center in Boston, said about the vaccine, in an article entitled,
From Pets, Clues to Human Cancer,
which was published in the
Los AngelesTimes,
“Now we know it’s really possible. If we can do it in dogs, just give us time, and we can do it in people.”

By taking human cancer research into apoptogens and using these agents in dogs, now, today, rather than waiting several more years, we’re simply applying treatments to animals earlier than we normally would in veterinary medicine. That is why I recommend them for your consideration.

As you’ll remember from our vocabulary chapter, a nutraceutical is any purified substance from a natural, usually dietary, source that can yield health benefits. Nutraceuticals are almost always a more concentrated and potent form of the active agent than is found in nature. In general, they are not as strong as a pharmaceutical drug and not as weak as a supplement. For example, it is assumed that a pharmaceutical will act fast once it is in the body, but nutraceuticals may need a little time (a full week or more) to build up in the system and produce their full effect.

Some nutraceuticals (including some in this chapter) are potent in vitro, or in test tubes, but diminish in potency after they enter the body and are broken down and eliminated by the liver, kidneys and digestive system (those organs are pretty good at breaking down agents, which are close to – or actually are – dietary substances).

This reduction in potency in vivo (in life or in the body) is a real problem, because if the nutraceutical is not absorbed well, is broken down, or is passed out as bodily waste before it gets to the cancer cells, it may not work as well, or at all. The challenge is to get the nutraceuticals to work in vivo as well as or nearly as well as, they work in vitro.

In the first edition of this book, the long and detailed explanations of how to prepare and administer these nutraceuticals so that they remained bioavailable daunted some readers, including guardians in my practice.

I am the first to admit that following my advice – from doing the “oxygen mask exercises” in
Chapter 2
, to consulting with your vet, to administering nutraceuticals, to cooking for your dog – takes time and commitment.

“Our lab mix Buddy was diagnosed about three years ago with cancer of the spleen and liver. Dr. Dressler personally did the surgery to remove his spleen, but couldn’t get all of the cancer, which had spread to his liver. We chose not to have any chemo treatment, because we didn’t want to put Buddy through it. At that time, Dr. D recommended a high-protein diet of lean ground beef and chicken, mixed with vegetables, and told us he was researching cancer in dogs and was working on an all-natural treatment. He also recommended krill oil and K-9 Immunity. He asked us if we wanted to participate in helping test his new product (Apocaps). Feeling we had nothing to lose, we agreed. At that time, Dr. D told us that most dogs with Buddy’s type of cancer live about three months after surgery with no chemo and about six months with chemo. March 10th of this year made three years since his surgery and he is doing great! He’s been on Apocaps since his surgery and we strongly feel that Apocaps, along with Dr. D’s other recommendations, have helped Buddy to live this long. He’s slowed down a little since his surgery, but he still gets up every morning and plays with us and our other dogs. Apocaps is an amazing product that has allowed us to enjoy Buddy’s company for a lot longer than we expected. We would like to personally thank Dr. D for his dedication and hard work in making Apocaps a reality. It really works. Our Buddy is living proof.”

– Cheryl Molina, 5-star review on Amazon. com posted April 15, 2010

It’s expensive and, frankly, unrealistic, to assume that everyone who reads this book can afford dozens of bottles of supplements per month, any more than they can afford thousands of dollars for radiation treatments.

Those guardians who committed the time and money to follow my method liked their results, but I was nagged by the idea that others read this book and feel they are out of reach. Eventually, in response to the obvious need for an apoptogen formula, I developed my own: a nutraceutical that combines as many of these agents as possible into a single pill, that is easier and cheaper to give to the dog. We will discuss my patent-pending pill, Apocaps, as well as the other nutraceuticals artemisinin and Neoplasene, in this chapter.

It’s impossible for me to write this chapter without sounding like I’m promoting Apocaps. Even so, I expect you to evaluate it the same way you would evaluate any other recommendation I make. If you think it might help your dog, add it to your Full Spectrum cancer care plan and then ask your vet or oncologist for her supervision.