There is an overwhelming amount of details relating to cancer remedies, online and elsewhere. Even so, you will locate small guidance on how to assess or integrate all this material, considerably of which is of questionable origin. You could devote hundreds of hours to analysis and nevertheless have no clear thought about how finest to proceed.
If your dog has cancer, you will have to make some essential decisions over the next couple of days or weeks. You can’t afford to lose precious time on a Google marathon that could lead you up scores of blind alleys. Your need is for a reliable technique appropriate now. Solid information is each difficult to find and bewildering when identified.
If you have currently done some investigation on alternative approaches to canine cancer, you might have come across the following arguments supporting recommended remedies:
“Based on scientific research.” Scientific investigation can give us info that is valuable however, again, it does not address the individual differences of distinct dogs. There is really tiny scientific investigation on non-conventional treatments for dogs with cancer. In addition, as you will see in the following pages, many scientific studies are seriously flawed, and can be manipulated to create false results.
“Confirmed by impressive testimonials.” Making treatment alternatives based on testimonials is hazardous. Even a therapy with a measly 5% success rate may draw some enthusiastic testimonials. You would by no means know from reading them that the therapy failed in 95% of the situations! Additional, due to the fact of the individuality of each and every dog, the successes of 1 group of owners are not necessarily related to one more owner. There is no universal magic bullet. Therapy must be individualized.
“It worked for a buddy.” The identical objection about individuality applies here, but with even higher force. What can be learned from a sample of one particular?
Let’s take a closer look at the scientific investigation that has been carried out on cancer in dogs.
A search of veterinary journals listed in the National Library of Medicine yields quite little data about the causes of canine cancer, although there are numerous articles about conventional remedies such as chemotherapy and radiation.
A single of the handful of studies that addresses causes is “Prevalence of obese dogs in a population of dogs with cancer,” in the American Journal of Veterinary Investigation. It shows that dogs that had a history of corticosteroid use (corticosteroid drugs include prednisone, hydrocortisone, and triamcinolone) had larger rates of cancer, and those dogs were fatter from the steroid use. When the corticosteroid dogs were separated out, the remaining dogs with cancer had a lower incidence of excess weight.
Other findings had been that the prevalence of cancer was larger in neutered dogs, both male and female, and that specific breeds were far more at danger than other individuals.
Surprisingly, the study found that larger body fat could be protective against particular varieties of cancer. (Mast cell tumors had been an exception to this pattern.)
What does all this tell us? Initial, it tells us that we should shun corticosteroids for our dogs at all expenses there are far more natural alternatives. It also tells us that neutering increases the threat of cancer. Neither this study nor other scientific studies, however, shed light on how obesity is connected, or not, to cancer in dogs.
Scientific research is not often the gold regular of reliability. Probably you remember that scientific studies of the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx had been manipulated to show that it was secure and successful. The researchers wanted to suppress the fact that the drug brought on heart attacks in some subjects. Their resolution was easy: any person who died wasn’t counted! There are a lot of, many research that are just as deceptive.
You may seek guidance from “prevalent information” and clinical evidence. It really is common information, for instance, that if a dog drinks antifreeze it will die. There is no scientific study on that, nor would it be humane to conduct one. Rather, the truth is established from clinical observation.
Of course, you could turn to your veterinarian. Most veterinarians are caring experts who do the best they can with the resources readily available to them. But it really is hardly reassuring that there are no published protocols or standards of care for canine cancer. In other words, each and every vet has to improvise his or her approach to a case. Your vet may recommend that you consult a veterinary oncologist, who will almost certainly favor chemotherapy and/or radiation – costly and, in my opinion, ineffective measures.
Some veterinarians describe themselves as “holistic.” These practitioners will be supportive of non-toxic types of treatment. You can find such a vet by consulting a database maintained by the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association.
Possibly the most reliable data comes from certain testing of the individual dog. When a blood test shows low sodium levels, for instance, the situation can be treated with dietary salt. In Dog Cancer: The Holistic Answer, I describe a practical strategy of carrying out person particular testing on your pet.
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