Cancer in dogs – Why it becomes more and moreCancer in dogs unfortunately occurs more and more frequently. Food, stress, and all kinds of environmental toxins cause so much trouble for your pet's immune system every day that cancer cells can spread almost unhindered. And unfortunately, the holder often plays his or her part in the possible development of this disease.
We thank our guest author Mareen Knorr from the Tierheilpraxis Berlin
Many dog owners are increasingly noticing it: The disease "Cancer" takes its course and no longer stops at many furry noses. But why is it so? Why the ugly feeling creeps in that the number of dogs with cancer was vanishingly small 50-100 years ago?
Certainly, in the first place the new modern form of veterinary diagnostics plays a big role. Technology makes it possible to detect tumors and even the smallest ulcers at an early stage. Only 50 years ago, dogs died of cancer without us humans knowing what the four-legged friend actually had.
But we humans play a much bigger role in the development of cancer. Yes exactly, we, who love our animals so much, bear a very large part of the blame for all this. Because all the things made by man, even if they are wonderful, can kill us at the same time.
Certainly, the genetics of the individual dog is not uninteresting, but much more significant are the things that we, as humans, add to the dog's life. You have to imagine the body as follows.
The healthy defense system of every dog eliminates every day IN EVERYONE about 400-4000 cancer cells …Day by day. If this defense system is disturbed or even hardly present, the cancer cells have the possibility to spread unhindered.
So where do we find these sources of interference of the defense system?
Let's start with deworming and spot-ons. Chemical means, made by man, which serve to eliminate parasites and insects. We often forget that these nerve poisons are not only a great burden for parasites and insects, but also for our dogs. Now I know how important people think it is to own a hygienic dog (this also explains the many baths and showers of dogs that have once rolled in the sand), yet it should be remembered that there is no way to prophylactically deworm. Where there is no worm – none can be killed.
Here it makes sense to look first of all whether worms are present at all in the excrement. Against ticks and fleas, by the way, a dog owner can wonderfully use the nature to prevent. Likewise, nature with its flora and fauna is also optimal for creating a worm-resistant climate in the intestine. No chemistry is needed for this.
Feed
As a further point I would like to address the nutrition of the dogs. Here, as in so many other things, opinions differ. Nevertheless, dog owners should consider how they want to feed their dog. If you want to make feeding as natural as possible, you can switch to feeding raw meat with fresh fruits and vegetables. This has the advantage that every dog owner can decide quite freely what exactly he gives his dog to eat. When he holds a kilo of beef heart in his hand, there is usually only 1 kilo of beef heart in it and not waste products, growth promoters, preservatives and thickeners. However, for whom raw feeding is out of the question, one should at least keep an eye on the ready-made food.
A recent study has shown that in 15 types of food (especially in puppy food) a concentration of the plasticizer diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) was detected, which was also found in the testicles of many male dogs.
Some feed suppliers have made the effort to do without sugar, grain and preservatives. Further should be respected terms such as soy, peel bran, pectins, Carragene, autolysate and much more. A recent study showed that concentrations of the plasticizer diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) were detected in 15 types of food (especially puppy food), which was also found in the testicles of many male dogs. Researchers tried to find out why the sperm count of male dogs decreases by 2.5% annually over the last 15 years. The cause for all tested dogs was the industrial food with the substance that has been banned for more than 15 years. The info can be found in the study by Richard Lea from the University of Nottingham.
Another problem for the immune system: stress
The dog has to know 47 different signals, has to listen perfectly to his recall, gets a new "command" every 5 minutes, has to let the owner take away his food, just so he can practice his "dominance" and cannot move freely as a dog in any other way.
But what is stress? I often hear "my dog has no stress"….but then see hypothyroidism, musculoskeletal pain or a dog that gets an "off", "no", "yikes" or "don't do that" every minute for everything. In addition, he is still used by small children as a permanent toy, has to keep his bladder 12 hours in check, because his mistress is 10 hours out of the house and in addition, that hardly a walk runs relaxed, because permanently free-running dogs with inconsiderate owners drive the dog on the leash crazy.
It starts at puppy age when the dog's barking is reinforced because mistress wants to quiet him down by petting or yelling at him> Stress for the dog. Or the puppy, which is not allowed to do anything at home except lie down – so it should not nibble on things or behave like a toddler. It continues in the young dog age, when the dogs are quickly castrated and then they often have to deal with regulation disorders in the hormone balance for a lifetime.
Now many surely say: My dog always had stress with bitches in heat, that's why we castrated him. -> I believe this on the word, but also here nature can perform miracles and bring the dog in its naturalness back into balance. By the way, the dog is also stressed when his master throws a ball for 30 minutes (mostly out of convenience). No, the dog is no longer having fun when his tongue is already hanging out on the floor – he's stressed and probably just broken and overexcited. This is certainly no way to give the dog a relaxed workout Loneliness and boredom also cause stress, as do constant changes of owner, freezing cold or excruciating heat, noise, hunger and thirst. A probably very stressful matter for the dog is often the high demand of the dog owner on his four-legged friend. The dog must know 47 different signals, listen perfectly to his recall, gets a new "command" every 5 minutes, has to have his food taken away by the owner just so that he can practice his "dominance" and cannot move freely as a dog in other ways either. Permanent measures are stress!