The Dog Cancer Survival Guide (62 page)

There’s a second place that germs can hide out and multiply: inside the flesh of chicken, pork and fish. Salmonella and trichinella, as well as other parasites, can be found within the flesh of these foods (interestingly, beef carries very few microbes within it).

As you probably know, if these microbes are not killed during cooking, they can make dogs very sick. In healthy dogs, the immune system might be able to fend off the microbes; infections are more likely in dogs with cancer. This is why I recommend cooking your dog’s food long enough to destroy microbes and minimize carcinogens.

We can minimize carcinogens by cooking with low temperatures, and only long enough to kill the microbes. It’s been shown that when food is boiled (which happens at 212° Fahrenheit at sea level), almost no carcinogens are created. Raise the temperature above 390° Fahrenheit or so and we see the production of carcinogenic heterocyclic amines.

(There are many probable sources of carcinogens in your dog’s life – so avoiding them when you can is reasonable. Avoiding carcinogens produced while cooking is one of the few things guardians can really control – which is why I include so much information about it in this book.)

To avoid even moderate levels of carcinogens, you can simmer food. This is the simplest way to guarantee that the temperature is not too high. Another benefit to simmering is that food becomes very tender and evenly cooked.

If you love to sauté food in a pan, you can do that, of course, keeping the temperature low. Because every stovetop is different, as is every pan, it is difficult for me to tell you “how low” on your particular stovetop. A food thermometer will tell you how hot your food has become.

Poultry, pork, fish and organ meats like liver must be cooked all the way through to kill microbes both inside and on the surface of the meat. Ground red meat of any kind must also be cooked all the way through, since the surface microbes are mixed into the interior of the meat in the grinding process.

A cut of red meat – like a beefsteak, for example – is a different matter. Since red meat rarely has microbes on the interior, you only need to cook the outer shell of the meat. Cooking the outer 1/8th inch leaves the interior still very pink or red (nearly raw, like it would be in the wild) but kills the surface microbes.

In the wild, vegetables have already been broken down inside the prey animal’s digestive system before the wolf eats them. The internal organs are loaded with the nutrients, vitamins and minerals derived from the vegetables, in a form that the wolf can easily absorb into his body.

If you’ve ever fed your dog carrots or corn, you’ve likely noticed they “come out the other end,” looking nearly intact. This is because the dog’s gut doesn’t break down intact vegetables easily. So, when you feed your dog completely raw veggies, he may not be extracting as much nutrition as he could be.

Cooking vegetables helps break down the plant matter and “pre-digest” it, so that your dog is better able to absorb all those essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Cook vegetables until they are very soft, and then chop or process them in a food processor into very small pieces.

If you want to feed raw vegetables instead, you can process them through a food processor or blender until they are a mushy puree, which can then be mixed into the rest of the meal. This way, the blender “pre-digests” the veggies by breaking them down.

I’m probably no different from most dog lovers when it comes to the temptation to feed table scraps to my dog, Björn, or give him extra food as a special treat. The problem is, when we feed by hand, we may feed too much without realizing it.

Overfeeding is not healthy for our dogs, because it shortens life expectancy. In one study, fortyeight Labrador Retrievers from four different litters were followed. Half of the dogs were fed a lot of food – as much as they could eat with no restriction – and the other half were fed 25% less.

The lifespan of the dogs on the restricted diet was significantly longer than that of the ones who ate at will. The dogs in the restricted group lived an average of two years longer than the excessively fed dogs, which is a long time in dog years.

Another study found that half of the dogs who were fed a restricted diet lived to the age of thirteen, while only five percent of dogs who ate as much as they wanted did. That’s a tenfold increase in the number of dogs who lived to thirteen!

A large excess of body fat, or obesity, is also linked to cancer in dogs (mammary tumors and transitional cell carcinoma). The precise link is not yet completely defined; new research has shown that fat cells secrete a chemical called adiponectin, which may block the development of cancer cells. You may think that more fat cells produce
more
adiponectin, but the opposite is true. According to studies in rodents and humans, fat cells secrete much
less
adiponectin when the body has excess fat in storage, while secreting more adiponectin when the fat cells are being burned for fuel (which happens in leaner bodies). This means that a lean body has more adiponectin than an obese body, so a lean body may be more able to resist cancer.

Many guardians comfort their dogs with food. Others get very concerned about their dogs’ cancer weight loss, and end up overcompensating with extra food. While I certainly understand the impulse, it is best to consult with your vet or oncologist about how much to feed your dog given all of the factors in her case.

How much should you feed your dog? That’s a complicated question, and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Dogs with cancer vary so widely in their age, metabolism and stage that there is no chart or system we can turn to for feeding guidelines. If your dog has another disease or problem in addition to cancer, that may also affect how much to feed him. I offer general guidelines in the Dog Cancer Recipe section, which will give you an approximation of how much to feed your dog. If you have further questions, I recommend consulting with your vet to get an answer tailored to your dog’s unique health situation.

Essential fatty acids, or EFAs, are molecular building blocks of fats and oils. The two main types are omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids. In addition to their being fuel for the body, the balance between these two fatty acids affects body functions such as inflammation, mood, behavior and intracellular communication.

According to researchers, the ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids is four to one. Our modern diets typically have ratios of ten to one, and some have ratios as high as sixteen to one.

The health consequences of this imbalance can be severe. Excessive omega-6 fatty acids have been associated with cardiovascular problems, arthritis, osteoporosis, depression, obesity and cancer, in humans. Excessive omega-6 fatty acids may result in immune suppression, and can activate several genes (up to a dozen) that create inflammation, which plays a significant role in cancer.

“I now make food for both of my beautiful Black Labs. Once I got “in sync” with making the food, it is really quite simple. I make it in bulk, portion it out into containers and freeze it. I also make all of my girls’ treats. I bought a $30 dehydrator and I dehydrate boneless, skinless chicken breast strips and brown rice mixed with all natural peanut butter. Feeding my pets in this fashion in something I will always do...it makes sense for all dogs!!”