The Dog Cancer Survival Guide (66 page)

Bone meal has a lot of calcium, but, there is evidence that the bones ground into meal have accumulated fluoride, which, as you’ll remember, is something we may want to avoid in a body that is fighting cancer (based on the human studies of osteosarcoma). Additionally, I advise avoiding oyster shell calcium, which may have high lead levels (a carcinogen).

Most grains, like corn and wheat, are not good for your dog with cancer because they provide too much sugar. However, brown rice and oatmeal are both healthy and filling, and there are advantages to adding small amounts to your dog’s diet. The poly-saccharides found in the bran in these grains may help to fight cancer. They are also much lower on the glycemic index, which means that they release lower levels of the simple sugars that cancer loves into the bloodstream.

Choose steel-cut or rolled oats over instant oats. Cook oats and brown rice according to the package instructions, until soft. Add these cooked grains individually or in combination in the recipe that follows.

“I was scared that she would get a sore tummy and have diarrhea to try differently. I tried your suggestions. Pre-packing then freezing it made it easy to heat and serve. It looked so good; I had to label the packages so my human family wouldn’t eat it by mistake. Kristi never lost her appetite while on this diet and her stool would be a little softer but still formed.”

–
Lois Boesing, Ewa Beach, Hawaii

“Sadie has allergies so at first I was worried about adapting it, but the book is so easy to understand and I got ideas I’d never thought of. Sadie is looking and acting so much better and loves her new diet. She had pretty much stopped eating her premium dog food (grain free fish and sweet potato) and even showed little interest in the homemade stuff I had been making, but the combination of foods in the cancer diet has her eating like a horse and I think she might even be regaining some weight.”

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Ellen Slater, Redmond, Oregon

Even though this home-cooked diet provides well-rounded nutrition, it’s a good idea to be safe and make sure that all of your dog’s dietary vitamin and mineral needs are met. For this reason, I recommend giving a general multivitamin along with completely home-cooked meals. An added bonus for dogs dealing with cancer is that, based on human studies, a multivitamin may help with
chemotherapy side effects and speed recovery posttreatment.

As I’ve made clear elsewhere, I do not recommend mega-doses of any vitamin or mineral. A general multivitamin you can get from your vet or oncologist will do just fine, and you can give it as directed.

These ingredients add flavor to your dog’s meal, but they also pack it with cancer-fighting, immune-boosting properties.

You can add: fresh garlic cloves (peeled and minced); fresh ginger root (peeled and minced); fresh minced leafy herbs like parsley, basil and oregano; virgin coconut oil; sardines packed in oil (minced); goji (wolf) berries; fresh blueberries; fresh raspberries and fresh blackberries.

I strongly suggest using digestive enzymes in your dog’s food. Dogs in the wild get their plant matter “pre-digested” for them by their prey. Adding digestive enzymes to your dog’s food to predigest both mimics a wild diet and helps cancer patients in general. There are several good enzyme preparations available. Brands I particularly recommend include Dr. Goodpet and Wobenzym N, a popular European brand. Both can be found online and at
www.DogCancerShop.com
.

Precautions:
Digestive enzymes may have “blood-thinning” effects. Stop giving digestive enzymes ten days before any surgery and wait until ten days after surgery or after sutures are removed or dissolved before giving it again.

The dosing instructions on enzyme labels assume that you will use enzymes between meals. Using digestive enzymes to pre-digest food like we are doing requires many more enzymes than a regular dose. If you are using Dr. Goodpet, I recommend using three times the label’s dose per meal. If you are using Wobenzym N, I recommend using two times the label’s dose per meal. Dr. Goodpet comes in a powder form and Wobenzym N comes in tablets. Please grind tablets into powder before mixing into food, so that the enzymes can contact the entire mixture. If you don’t have a little mortar and pestle or a pill grinder, you can use two spoons to mash the tablets.

Note: Some guardians ask about giving their dog digestive enzymes in between meals. There is fair evidence that enzymes used between meals have an anti-inflammatory effect, but the evidence that they have anti-cancer actions is not there. For this reason, using enzymes between meals is not a priority in Full Spectrum care.

“I feed Orijen, some can food (Wellness and BC) I add in the diet supplement in Dr. Dressler’s book along with added (Birkdale) omega-3 fatty acids. The home cooked meals in Dr. Dressler’s book accounts for ½ of each meal. All combined I know that it has helped greatly, my boxers look great and I know they feel great.”

– Jon Marshall, Norman, Oklahoma

“I think that Dr. Dressler’s dog diet with his home cooked foods, plus the Omega-3 oils increased Thor’s wellbeing and also most definitely increased his lifespan.”

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Connie Almy, San Antonio de Belen, Costa Rica