The Dog Cancer Survival Guide (125 page)

In this section you will find several helpful appendices.
Appendix A
contains all of the supplements Dr. Dressler recommends, in the general order of their importance.
Appendix B
describes supplements which are not included in Full Spectrum cancer care, for various reasons.
Appendix C
contains the resources Dr. Dressler recommends for purchasing supplements, finding out more information, or doing further research.
Appendix D
contains some advice for guardians curious about cancer prevention, and
Appendix E
lists the scientific and medical research citations used to write this book.

If you are working within a budget, or if your dog doesn’t love taking pills, you may have to select supplements carefully. This
appendix
answers the common question “Which supplement or supplements are most important for my dog?” I’ve listed each supplement I recommend below, in their order of priority.

Just because a supplement is lower on the hierarchy, doesn’t mean it is unimportant, however. To get my recommendation, supplements must have credible evidence for benefitting the majority of dogs with cancer. If you look at
Appendix B
, you’ll see many supplements, which were excluded from Full Spectrum cancer care, even some generally beneficial supplements, and some which may be helpful for a small number of dogs. I excluded these because I don’t like to overuse supplements, unnecessarily duplicate their actions and, most importantly, because most guardians just want to give the best, most helpful agents. Also, I excluded many supplements which are antioxidants with no or little evidence for direct anti-cancer benefits because they can interfere with more important prooxidant therapeutics, as discussed in
Chapter 8
.

The highest priority supplements in the Full Spectrum hierarchy are those which manage the common and expected side effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. If you are not using these treatments, or if your dog is not experiencing the named side effects, you can skip those supplements.

Carefully consider each of these supplements for interactions with other medications, conditions and cancer treatments, and, as always, I recommend checking with your veterinarian or oncologist to get her advice.

Here are the supplements I recommend, in order of importance.

Guardians can use these supplements to help manage the side effects from chemotherapy or radiation, which is priority number one. If your dog is not suffering these symptoms or is not receiving these treatments, skip to Full Spectrum Nutraceuticals.

Fresh ginger root,
useful for nausea and vomiting, see
page 144
for details and precautions

Cimetidine
, useful for nausea and vomiting, see
page 145
for details and precautions

Glutamine
, useful for healing after vomiting and diarrhea, also for weight loss due to cancer cachexia, see
page 146
for details and precautions

Cordyceps
, useful for protecting the kidneys and liver when using chemotherapy drugs known to adversely affect these organs, see
page 148
for details and precautions

Coenzyme Q10
, useful for protecting the heart when using chemotherapy drugs known to adversely affect this organ, see
page 149
for details and precautions

Here are the recommended nutraceuticals, listed in order of their importance.

Apocaps
, useful for most dogs, see
Chapter 12
for details and precautions

Artemisinin
, useful for some dogs, may be rotated with Apocaps, see
Chapter 12
for details and precautions

Neoplasene
, may be useful as a salvage technique, may be used along with Apocaps, see
Chapter 12
for details and precautions

Here are the other recommended supplements, listed in their order of importance.

Mushroom-derived polysaccharides
, useful for most dogs, especially when used with the product called Transfer Factor, see
page 181
for details and precautions

Krill oil and/or fish oil
, useful for most dogs, see
page 202
for details and precautions

Dietary enzymes
(used to pre-digest food), useful for most dogs, see
page 207
for details and precautions

Modified citrus pectin
, useful for most dogs, see
page 190
for details and precautions

General Multivitamin
, useful for most dogs (and strongly recommended if you are feeding a completely home-cooked diet), see
page 186
for details and precautions

Doxycycline
, useful for most dogs, see
page 192
for details and precautions

“Do not listen to the conventional wisdom of most vets. Open your eyes and your mind to alternatives that you and your dog are comfortable with. After all, this is your life and your dog’s life and we should all be free to choose our own paths. Most importantly never let your dog suffer. In the end the result is the same and we learn to deal with the loss. First a day at a time and then a week and then a month. Eventually you will look back and know that for all those years your dog was your faithful companion and best friend you were able to give back by helping your dog live life to the fullest to the very end.”

- Roxanna Davis, Apopka, Florida

Many dog lovers are willing to try just about anything when their dogs have cancer, and there are many supplements purported to be good for cancer that I have assessed but decided to exclude from this book.

To make my Full Spectrum recommendations, I’ve spent a lot of time getting past the hype, the marketing, and the often-passionate online discussions. My recommendations are for foods and supplements you can manage at home, which have the biggest impact on dogs with cancer, and which are helpful for most dogs and most dog cancers.

Even so, I know you may have heard about supplements that aren’t included in my recommendations. To keep you informed and let you know more about the way I think, here is a list of some of the major supplements I rejected for inclusion.

The reasons for rejection vary, and may include one or more of the following:

• Might interfere with more important therapies.
  As I stated in the sidebar on
  page 249
  , the first priority in Full Spectrum care is targeting cancer cells, followed by boosting the immune system. For example, supplements with strong antioxidant properties may interfere with important pro-oxidant therapies (such as chemotherapy, radiation, Apocaps and other apoptogens). If a supplement with antioxidant benefits does not have an anti-cancer effect, or if it has evidence for interfering with primary therapies that have known benefits, I rejected it.
  
• Unconvincing evidence.
  The supplement needs more than anecdotal evidence that it helps cancer. If it has only anecdotal evidence, it must have many reported successes. If not, the supplement was rejected.
  
• Not effective when given by mouth.
  Some supplements are effective when given by injection, but not by mouth. If the supplement cannot be given by mouth and be effective, it was rejected.
  
• Bioavailability issues when taken by mouth
  . If the supplement is not absorbed into the bloodstream, or if the intestines and/or the liver break down the active ingredient before it gets into the bloodstream, the supplement was rejected.
  
• Questionable safety.
  I will not recommend a supplement unless my extensive research has demonstrated its safety. If a supplement did not have a healthy margin of safety based on known data, I rejected it.
  
• Batch variability.
  The supplement must have a uniform amount of active ingredient in each batch. Some supplements are cut with fillers, or may not have uniform amounts of the active ingredient in each batch or pill due to seasonal or regional differences. Depending upon many factors, this variability could reduce efficacy or even create a danger to the dog. Such supplements were rejected.
  
• Unsafe with commonplace treatments.
  Some supplements can cause more serious problems, when combined with other medications or treatments. These were excluded.
  
• Impractical dosing requirements.
  If a supplement requires a mega-dose to be effective, most guardians will not be able to get their dogs to take the required amount by mouth. These were excluded.
  
• Unreasonable pricing.
  Every supplement has a price tag, but some supplements are priced so unreasonably high that they were excluded.
  
• Research not available in english.
  Many supplements from Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic Medicine, and aboriginal
  medicine systems were excluded because original research and medical textbooks are written in languages I cannot read. Because I can’t accurately assess their evidence, I did not include them in Full Spectrum care. My hope is that with accelerating global communications I’ll learn more in the future. I recommend consulting directly with practitioners from those systems if you are interested in their medicine, so you can get their expert advice.
  

The following list is not comprehensive; it contains the most popular supplements I rejected. As always, I reserve the right to change my mind and my recommendations as new data emerges.

Here are the most common supplements I considered for inclusion, and the reason(s) I rejected them:

This trendy palm berry has some anti-inflammatory effects, due to the presence of anthocyanins. It also has antioxidant benefits, but those do not outweigh the possibility of interfering with the pro-oxidant supplement Apocaps and pro-oxidant chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Because of this, and because its safety in dogs is not yet known, I do not recommend it.
Not recommended; may not be safe.

Blue-green algae has some evidence for use in detoxifying carcinogens, but not a huge amount. It is also high in omega-3 fatty acids, but not nearly as high as krill oil and high quality fish oils, which makes the dosing requirements impractical for use in dogs. If your dog does not tolerate fish or krill oil, you might consider using blue-green algae, but otherwise, this is a low-priority supplement.
Low priority supplement; impractical doses.