The Foundation
As with anything, it’s imperative to start with a solid foundation, and in this case, that’s the proper canine diet. A dog’s body has the amazing ability to heal itself, even from many serious illnesses, but it first requires diet that promotes optimum health.
Once feeding the species specific diet, there are additional herbs and supplements that can be added to help create a powerful health promoting, cancer fighting treatment.
Unfortunately, there’s so much “bad” and outright wrong information that’s been circulated and adopted, that it’s important to address this area before we consider additional treatments.
Misconceptions
Since the advent of food labeled “Dog Food”, there’s been a profit motive to steer a dogs diet further and further away from it’s primal roots, and more towards an easily manageable and cost affective product. This is where a large amount of the ideas of a dogs dietary needs are derive from, not actually from a canines physiology.
All dogs derive from wolves and are classified as carnivores. Some mistakenly consider dogs to be omnivores because of their ability to eat certain types of plant based foods. It’s true that they have evolved to be opportunist, in the sense that they can eat a wide variety of foods in order to survive. However, dogs are scientifically classified as carnivores and they need a diet largely consisting of meat or protein in order to thrive and not just survive.
Canines don’t naturally graze on corn or grains in the wild. In fact, the majority of the prey they eat do not consume grains either. Their digestive tract is that of a carnivore, and does not have long intestines, nor do they produce the enzymes necessary to properly break down certain types of plant matter effectively.
The fact that dogs will and can eat certain foods, doesn’t necessarily mean these foods should be a consistent part of their diet. The canines ability to eat a wide variety of foods has been misunderstood and unfortunately been abused in recent decades and is now seen as the primary cause for many illnesses in canines.
Grains are used primarily by large profit minded dog food manufactures as a cheap filler. Some brands contain close to 50% grains with little regard to the fact that dogs can’t properly break down and absorb the nutrients.
Feeding grains to carnivores can lead to digestive track disorders and can ultimately lead to food allergies and a dysfunctional immune system over time.
There’s been a rise in dog cancer as well as other canine illnesses in recent decades, and many feel the processed diet that dogs have been subjected to is largely to blame.
It’s unfortunate, but even a large amount of Veterinarians promote processed diets of this type, which ultimately leads to confusion and this growing epidemic.
Doctors are not Nutritionalists
It’s important to understand that Doctors are not nutritionists and this includes veterinarians. They’re trained in medicine and very few of them actually study or practice canine nutrition. Even worst, what little formal education many of them receive in this area, is supplied and written by large dog food manufacturers.
Unfortunately, the curriculum of these profit minded corporations is rarely questioned within the conventional medical system. This is where there’s a stark difference conventional and holistic veterinarians and their approaches.
Holistic Veterinarians and Their Approaches
Unfortunately, at this time in the U.S., there are few Veterinarians that embrace holistic medicine and understand it’s wisdom. That being said, it can often be difficult to label a veterinarian strictly conventional or holistic.
Veterinarians that do practice holistically, approach illness and disease in a much broader capacity. They tend to look at the overall health and immune system of the patient as well as the underlying factors that have contributed to the disease.
The body, (dog or any other) has an incredible ability to heal itself if the immune system is functioning properly. The fact is… only the body can heal the body, everything else just aids in the process. Holistic practitioners recognize this and design their treatments with this understanding.
Currently, their are a few popular veterinarians that have been recognized for their deep understanding of health as well as medicine. One that I highly respect is Dr. Karen Becker. She works with Dr. Mercola and does an outstanding job of informing and educating the veterinarian community as well as everyday dog owners. Dr. Becker is a proactive and integrative wellness veterinarian and has been instrumental in clearing up many myths and misunderstandings regarding canine health and improper diets.
Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM is another doctor worth mentioning. He refers to his approach as “full spectrum treatments,” and embraces many alternative as well as conventional practices. He has a book titled, (The Dog Cancer Survival Guide) and goes into great detail regarding different types of canine cancer and the most common protocols.
Powerful Herbs & Supplements
There are a number of powerful herbs and supplements that can aid in restoring health and attaining remission. As with anything, they need to be assessed individually to determine if they are the right fit for the dogs unique circumstances. In the book I go over the herbs and supplements I used and why.
One thing that I recommend across the board is a blend of herbs called Essiac tea. 
I highly recommend a company called Starwest Botanicals which offers a wide variety of high quality products. In my experience, I’ve found them to be a good company with fast and reliable shipping.
