Natural Pet Health

If the reason behind cancer was known then it would have helped a great deal in finding a definite cure for the deadly disease. But apart from the fact that there are certain carcinogens that cause cancer, very little is known about what causes cancer. In the recent years there has been a significant increase in the incidence of cancer in dogs and feline cancer causing lot of concern to pet owners.

It has been proven that there is a high probability of some cancer cells present in a body. A perfectly conditioned and healthy body does not let cancer take roots. It is the immune system of the body that inhibits these cancer causing cells from multiplying.

When the body is unhealthy, the immune system triggers off certain changes in the body to fight back. When cancer takes root, the immune system causes certain symptoms to appear in the body. These symptoms are basically the body’s mechanism to fight back in order to self-heal.

As the cancer progresses, the self healing process can go awry. The body cannot handle the constant ‘war’ situation. With changing priorities of the body system, the normal growth processes are compromised. A diet that can strike a balance in priorities of attending to the cancer and the routine growth processes can be of great help in prolonging the life of a dog.

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Fatty acids, especially oils from coldwater fish, have been recommended in people for lowering triglycerides, reducing secondary cardiovascular disease (and probably primary disease,) decreasing heart arrhythmias, decreasing blood pressure, and improving rheumatoid arthritis.

They are also possibly helpful in preventing stroke and treating cancer, allergies, and mild depression. Since fish oil taken for many months can lower vitamin E, most products contain added vitamin E.

In pets, fish oil may be beneficial for heart disease, cancer, allergies, arthritis,kidney disease, and autoimmune diseases. I use high doses (2-4 times the label dose) in my patients and most can have their conventional medications lowered.

Side effects of fatty acid supplementation are rare. Fish oil may decrease platelet aggregation and prolong bleeding time. Contamination of fish meat (not oil) with methylmercury can occur. The human literature reports that fish oil may slightly increase LDL (bad) cholesterol although this does not seem to be common or of any significance in most cases.

The human literature also reports multiple cases of bleeding (in the brain) when high dose doses is combined with ginkgo. I have not seen any side effects in my patients except the very rare case in a few dogs that smelled fishy.

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Echinacea is among the best known supplements and has been touted in people for helping in the recovery from a variety of illnesses, especially the cold and the flu. Echinacea is usually prescribed as an immune-boosting supplement for pets.

I use it for a number of disorders, especially bacterial, fungal, and viral infections, and chronic diseases of any organ. It’s also one of my favorite supplements for pets with demodectic mange.

Echinacea is generally considered safe when used under supervision. In the older literature, there is a warning not to use this herb for certain immune disorders (autoimmune diseases, diabetes) and disorders with diminished immune systems with low white blood cell counts (feline leukemia and immunodeficiency diseases.)

However, echinacea has been used in these instances without obvious harm. Generally, echinacea is not meant for long term use and most doctors limit its use to a few months at a time.

Garlic is a favorite herb used by many pet owners to control fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, and other insects. While many of my clients swear by the ability of garlic to control fleas, and while I have no problem recommending its use, controlled studies have shown garlic to be ineffective as an insecticide. Garlic also has show antimicrobial and anti-cancer properties.

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For those that feed the raw diet to your pets and claim that they do not need vegetables and fruits in their diets, I beg to differ. Let’s examine the actual “diet” of the wild canines and felines.

They do, indeed, hunt their meat “on the hoof,” as it were, but they do not, I suspect, empty the stomach contents of their prey, nor the bowels of their prey, before consuming it. At least, not entirely.

That is one of their sources of vegetable matter. You think they don’t need it? Have your dogs ever eaten the feces of other animals? Why do you suppose that might be? Because they crave the vegetable matter, perhaps?

Many years ago, we had a beagle-terrier mix that ran loose. She was free to eat the kibble dog food we provided, or hunt. We know that she hunted rabbits, squirrels and other wild prey. But, I was amazed to see her, one day, laying in the field in front of our house eating something.

I got closer and she was eating a windfall apple. This was in a time before mankind was filling all our foods with hormones and preservatives; when wild and domestic meats were more ‘organic.’

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Anyone who has ever owned a dog will know that they are not particularly fussy eaters, to put it mildly! Anything and everything that can be consumed will pass through pooch’s digestive system at some point, and by no means will all of it be food as we know it!

Your dog also has a very well developed sense of smell, so that what he or she considers to be ‘foodstuffs’ (yesterdays chicken bones in the kitchen trash can, for example), stuff that you may believe is hidden (i.e. out of sight) is as evident to your dog as the nose his face. Rest assured that your dog will find anything that can be eaten, wherever it is!

Ninety-nine percent of the time, this will not be a major problem. An inconvenience maybe when tonight’s dinner that was cooling in the kitchen miraculously disappears, but not a major drama.

The problem is that dogs (obviously) have little or no knowledge of whether what they eat is good or bad for them, nor do they care. Reverting to the previous example, every human probably knows that, whilst beef or lamb bones are a delectable treat for Fido, chicken bones are a definite no-go, owing to their tendency to splinter and stick in the dogs throat.

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Dog meals and snacks don’t have to hard to make or take a lot of time. Many snacks can be grabbed straight out of your refrigerator and are much healthier than baked goods.

However, there are a few things that I have noticed regarding many homemade dog food recipes that you should avoid doing.

1. Don’t microwave your dog’s food. Microwaving kills vitamins, minerals and nutrients. The radiation also alters the cell structure of the food. Scientific studies have shown that humans that eat microwaved foods have significant and disturbing changes in their blood cells. Microwaving has many serious side-effects, including altering the minerals in vegetables into cancerous free radicals. It’s bad enough that we humans continue to use microwaves to cook our food… let’s not subject our animals to it as well.

2. Many recipes that I’ve seen promote using beef/chicken bouillon cubes and/or canned beef/chicken broth. These products have very high and unhealthy sodium levels. Either use sodium reduced broths or better yet make your own.

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Vegetables in your dog’s diet, and minor amounts in your cat’s diet, can enhance their health and provide a rich and diverse supply of nutrients, enzymes, healthy fibre and antioxidants. In the wild, dogs and cats would have acquired plant foods through the semi-digested remnants in the stomachs of their prey; vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds.

Canines possess a greater ability to break down plant matter and synthesize relevant nutrients therein. Because of this, although classified as carnivores, they are in fact omnivorous and are not solely reliant on animal meat for sustenance. Wolves can be observed eating fallen fruit and berries, and first consume the stomach and intestines of their prey where plant foods can be found.

Felines on the other hand are obligate carnivores and are unable to manufacture essential nutrients from plant matter. These include the amino acids taurine and arginine, and the fatty acid arachidonic acid. Unlike omnivores cats also cannot convert vitamin A from beta-carotene in plants and need animal-derived sources of vitamin A such as liver. Accept for smaller prey which cats eat whole, in the wild the stomach and intestines tend to be avoided, yet organs such as heart, liver and lungs are enjoyed.

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Despite the best efforts of public health agencies, some dog owners continue to believe that raw meats are safe and beneficial for their dogs.

Many people even believe the old wives tale that cooked foods are more difficult to digest than raw food. It’s true there is some structural change from the cooking process, but it works just as much in favor of digestibility, for example, by partially breaking down the protein structure.

As to feeding your dog raw meats which consist mainly of beef, chicken and lamb, your dog can get Salmonella or E. coli. and other food poisoning just as you can.

In June of this year, major manufacturer of dog food treats, T.W. Enterprises Inc. of Ferndale, WA. and Aron Pet Food of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, recalled a number of products due to Salmonella contamination.

There have recently been three human illnesses caused by Salmonella bacteria in Canada linked to natural pet treats. This is one of several incidents where natural pet treats have been linked to salmonellosis in humans over the past six years, including previous Salmonella outbreaks in 1999 and 2002.

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Whenever you use eggs, save shells. Wash shells out right after using the eggs and save them up for about a week or so until you have a “batch” worth processing.

Bake shells at 350F for about 8-10 minutes to remove the mineral oil coating and make them brittle enough to grind. Grind to a fine powder in a food processor, blender or coffee grinder (I use a coffee grinder). Make sure there are no sharp, gritty pieces.

1 tsp. of powder supplies about 1800mg - 2000mg of calcium.

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Excerpted from Dr. Kidd’s Guide to Herbal Dog Care, by Randy Kidd, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Rufus (my aging dog), my wife, and I all take our antiaging herbs on a daily basis, and I am firmly convinced that they are helpful. Judging by the comments from my many human clients who are using the herbs I’ve recommended for their older dogs, herbs are truly one of the very best treatments available for an aging body - whether you are a human or a dog!

The following herbs are beneficial for both humans and dogs.

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)
Ginkgo is our primary antiaging herb. It acts on two major systems of the body: the nervous system and the cardiovascular system. Ginkgo has proved effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and senile dementia. (In animals, senile dementia associated with Alzheimer’s-like symptoms is referred to as cognitive dysfunction or dimming mind syndrome.) Ginkgo enhances both long-term and short-term memory in puppies and old critters alike. This popular herb improves circulation and has good antioxidant activity. Studies also indicate that ginkgo is often effective as a treatment for age-related hearing and vision loss, dizziness and vertigo, and tinnitus (ringing in the ear).

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