Holistic cancer treatment for dogs

On my last post called Dog Cancer symptoms,I shared my experience with cancer, concerning two of our beloved dogs. Two dogs in a succession, had taken a large piece of our hearts with them, when they succumbed to their cancers. I told you how our Siberian Husky, Gus, just walked into our lives one day. This was soon to be repeated, with the next dog. I was soon going to receive life lessons in holistic cancer treatment for another dog.

Before the dawn of the Internet, I collected books on healing as it was a great interest of mine. I still have all of those books and it’s quite a collection. Advertisements would come through the mail, bringing my attention to books on healing with food, healing with herbs, and so on. I would buy as many as we could afford as they came to my attention. Google and the Internet, has made things so much easier now, but with it, a lot of misinformation too.

One has to be careful when deciding on a plan

of action that is based on information found on Google, whether it be through Social media or searches. I have recently turned to Cannabis research, regarding it’s healing qualities. I have been finding a lot of misinformation regarding Cannabis on line. I have been carefully gleaning through other cannabis focused websites to get to the truth.

I choose PDF files that come from research sources like Universities over some of the information on other websites when something does not add up.  I have developed an interest in Cannabis, both CBDs from Hemp and Marijuana for healing as well as relief from distressing symptoms of illness.

CBDs from Hemp are readily available now, and are being used for pets and humans both. More research is needed but there are a lot of testimonies for healing available when you do a search on Google. Here’s a link to a informational website on Hemp and Marijuana called Wholeecannabis.com.

Why do I mention this now? There is research now regarding cancer and cannabis, and there will be more research as it countries lift the bans on Marijuana in particular.  It is exciting to think that cures for cancer maybe be in a plant that has been so vilified for so many years, while legal prescribed drugs have been and still are destroying so many lives.

One other super hero is Flax, 

organic oils cold pressed from this plant. Flax seed oil health benefits are many, for both human and animal. Flax contains antioxidants that put out the fire of inflammation. Inflammation causes disease. Maybe some of you have heard about the Budwig Protocol?

In a nutshell, it’s following a restricted diet and supplemented with a mix of organic Flax oil and cottage cheese.  The protocol was designed for humans, not dogs or any animals for that matter. The diet states no animal fats and is high in vegetables. Obviously this is not something our dogs should be forced to live on.

Dogs have a high requirement for protein and their digestive systems are made to eat the flesh of other animals but also vegetables. Do you ever wonder why dogs are attracted to vomit and feces of other animals (sometimes their own)? Dogs crave the digestive enzymes that are in the vomit and feces (like horse and cow manure). Dogs do not digest raw vegetables very well at all, but do better with partially cooked vegetables. Vegetables have very little if any protein, so dogs need the bulk of their diet from meat, chicken and fish.

Getting back to our next dog that walked into our life….

about a year after Gus passed away, Bobo came into our life. At the time, we had a neighbour who had taken the position of Animal Control for our municipality. She and her husband, and menagerie of pets, lived about an 1/8 of mile from us. One day as we are heading home from a shopping trip in our nearby town, we saw a black dog running around on the road, opposite our neighbour (AC). The dog was young, maybe about 6 months of age, and appeared to be a cross between a Corgi and a Border Collie (and a touch of some other breed). This dog was running around in circles and was in danger of being run over.

We drove home but could not put the dog out of our mind. My youngest son urged us to go and see if the dog belonged to our neighbours or was a stray. To make this story shorter, it turned out someone had dumped the dog off at our neighbours, knowing this neighbour was Animal control. We decided to adopt the dog, and named him Bobo. We had another dog at home, a farmbred Rough Collie (Frisco)  living outside, so we were not dog less but we really missed having a dog living in our home since Gus died.

Bobo was easy to train over all,

a real breeze to house train in particular which was a relief. He was a happy energetic dog, that really loved to run around in circles! Our family was really enjoying his character, which was very different from Gus, our late Siberian Husky. About three years later, we adopted a Pomeranian X,  named Joey who needed a new home.

By this time we also had adopted another dog to live outside with our Rough Collie, a Belgian shepherd/sheepdog named Bellows or Belly. Having 4 dogs was great! Two outside enjoying farm life and two inside with us as more pampered pets. All of our dogs got along very well, Frisco and Bellows would greet their indoor ‘cousins’ every time Bobo and Joey were let outside.

The fear of Cancer had receded somewhat, but was always there on the fringes for me  Then one day, I noticed a lump along Bobo’s mammary gland area, underneath his chest. Oh no. Not again.Oh Lord not again. I did some reading up on cancer in those regions, and came to the conclusion that it was best to leave it for now. Apparently if surgery was not thorough, the cancer in that region would spread like a wildfire along the glands. The lump continued to grow larger but Bobo showed no other effects, I was determined to enjoy having him in our lives without the dreaded surgery.

However, by the time Bobo was 7 years of age, 

the tumour was really hanging low underneath his already low belly and was dripping noxious pus. I knew the time had come to gather the courage to subject Bobo to the surgical knife. Our Vet at the time was young but talented as a surgeon. We trusted her and the surgery went well. Our Vet told us that the tests showed Bobo had a malignant cancer that more than likely would spread. She did her best to clean out every suspect bit of tissue and Bobo came home with a very long incision. Bobo healed up well and time marched on. There were no more lumps appearing on his body for a couple of years except for a mole on his lower eyelid.

Our Vet told us to keep an eye on it, as she suspected cancer, but I did not want to hear this. A year later, Bobo began acting strangely too, which our family initially thought was funny. We have a U shaped kitchen, which was Bobo and Joey’s favorite place to be when there was food involved. Bobo would back out of the kitchen, instead of turning around and walking out as he usually did.

I knew this was bad. Remember our Chelsea (previous Post), who began with cancer underneath and towards the end, the cancer had reached her brain, causing siezures? My instinct told me that cancer was living in Bobo’s body and most likely had reached his brain.. A tumour on his brain? He already had a small growth that was growing on his eyelid. Most likely.

By this time, I had massed a fair bit of information

of alternative healing in the form of books, magazines and periodicals. Our dogs were on a good quality food but it obviously was not enough to prevent cancer. I switched Bobo and Joey to a Salmon based dog food, and began adding a plant called Graviola (Soursop) which was shown to cure many cancers. I had collected it in capsule form so I just added it to his diet. It seemed over time, that Bobo just was not doing well with the Graviola, he vomited more and just plain refused it.

I had a book on alternate healing for cancers (for humans), and one of the therapies there was the Budwig Protocol. I decided to give Bobo a mix of the cottage cheese and organic cold pressed Flax oil 2x per day. I believe  I used aprox. 1 tablespoon of the oil mixed with about 2 heaping tablespoons of cottage cheese (1% creamed). Bobo absolutely loved the cottage cheese mix, so I could put it into his salmon based dog food, knowing he would eat every bite. Slowly over time, the growth under Bobo’s eye shrunk and he stopped backing out of the kitchen. I understood that to mean that the suspected tumour on his brain had shrunk or disappeared.

I kept up the 2x daily cottage cheese/oil therapy for at least a year and then gradually tapered it off the following year to none. I continued to feed him salmon based top quality grain free foods, sometimes switching to other formulas inbetween as he tired of the same food before too long.

I am happy to report, despite the earlier dog cancer symptoms,   Bobo (and Joey)  lived until the ripe old age of 17 years. On June 16, 2016, that same Vet, came to our home to release them both from their earthly life.

One at at time, as I held them against me, snuggled in, their hearts came to a stop. Both of them had been struggling with old age related issues for awhile. Bobo had lost strength in his lower back and had  trouble walking, while Joey’s congenital problem with a collapsing windpipe was making his life a misery. We did not feel that either dog would do well without the other, so we chose to let them go together.

 For the future, I would not hesitate

to use another holistic cancer treatment for dogs or for my family. Hemp and Cannabis (marijuana) are showing great promise as treatments for Cancer. Conventional cancer treatments are destructive and often damage the organs like the heart and liver. I have witnessed 3 members of my husband’s family go through the chemo, radiation and surgeries, and one more who was too far gone for treatment, only to lose the battle. I tried to convince 2 of those members to try a holistic cancer treatment, gave them information and encouragement, but sadly, they refused. Would they still have died? God only knows.

Previous Post of Dog Cancer Symptoms (Part one)

page to No Leash Dog Parks