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The
general rule of thumb in a
cancer-fighting diet is: Low carbs and High Omega-3 fatty acids.
Cancer
cells thrive on carbohydrates, so we do not include them in the diet -
carbs are our enemies. Fatty acids nourish the dog rather than the
cancer -
they are our friends.
There are many new dog foods
available:
processed foods, raw foods, organic foods, frozen foods... some may
benefit a dog with cancer and others may not. We are researching the
contents of these new foods and will post recommendations after
comparing them. In
general, if you feed your cancer dog store-bought food, look for one
that is low in carbohydrates and moderate in protein content. You can
add the fatty acids to meals before feeding in the form of fish oil,
flax seed oil and many other oils found in most health food stores.
The only
commercially produced
dog food that
has been scientifically studied for its effect on dogs with cancer is
Hill's Prescription Diet Canine n/d. This dog food was found to
appreciably
prolong the lives of dogs with lymphoma. It was not tested on dogs with
other types of cancer but it may be presumed that it
benefits dogs with all types of cancer.
Bullet ate a home made diet. Before he was diagnosed with
cancer, he ate about 30% meat, 30% vegetables and 30% grain, plus eggs
and supplements. After Bullet was diagnosed, his diet was 75% meat and
25% vegetables, plus eggs and supplements. He ate zero percent
carbohydrates, aside from the small amount of carbohydrates in the
vegetables and 2-3 dog biscuits every night. No rice, no potato, no
pasta, no bread. No food containing sugar or starch.
You may
choose to
feed
your
dog cooked or raw food. There is controversy about the wisdom
of feeding dogs a raw diet. Proponents of the raw diet say
that dogs should eat what
they (i.e., wolves) would
eat in the wild - that their physiology is such that they
can (and should) eat raw meat. One well known and widely used home made
canine diet is the
BARF diet, including Bones And Raw Food. Those
against "feeding raw"
maintain that our domesticated pooches
are not wolves and that they have, during the evolution from wolf to
pet dog, lost the ability to process raw food safely. One veterinary
oncologist
who I consulted flat out refuses to provide cancer
treatment to a dog who is eating a raw diet. In general, holistic
practitioners are
in favor of feeding dogs raw diets and traditional practitioners are
against it.
I prepared Bullet's
food once a month. After combining 12 pounds of beef with the
vegetables and other ingredients, I filled freezer containers (or
zippered plastic bags), each with about 3 days worth of food. These
went into the freezer, in order to kill any bacterium that might be
present in the meat.
Once you decide where you stand on this controversy, it will
then be up to your dog to decide. If you
feed him raw food and he doesn't like it or has a negative
gastrointestinal reaction, trust this as an indication that it
simply doesn't agree with him. In this case, you can prepare for him
the same cancer-fighting diet
but as a home made cooked diet instead of a home made raw diet.
by
Laurie Kaplan
"Because of the
recent
pet food recalls, it is extremely
urgent and necessary for pet caretakers to rethink what they feed their
4-legged loved ones. Flint River Ranch is a high quality pet food made
with human-grade ingredients and no preservatives. All of our foods are
made using our own fixed formulas under our direction in our kitchens
in Southern California. We do not 'piggy-back' onto lines of
mass-produced foods to add in pre-fab ingredients."
To order or to contact me for more
information,
* Flint River Ranch natural pet food
distributor
Diana
Forcine donates
20% of proceeds to the Magic Bullet Fund |
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by
Patti Henderson
Laurie,
I read
your
book the first week of Duncan's
diagnosis and I was totally blown away and felt armed.
It was my first
life preserver - I felt I was sinking to great depths no matter how
fast I swam. Thank you thank you so much.
I have
shared your book with the vets in Duncan's cancer team, as something
they should all have available for their patients. I went thru your
book page by page with both of them.
I am so
thankful for your book... it is an absolute Godsend.
THANK YOU LAURIE
KAPLAN!!!
[Bless your heart and Bullet's for paving the road. I know it must have
been difficult.]
Patti
& Duncan,
my little Doodle-bug
[Below, letter from Patti to those facing the journey]
"What helped me was Laurie Kaplan's book.... It's a great book ---it tells you what to
expect, what to do and things to consider. When I found out about Duncan, my
heart was in my throat, I felt I couldn't breathe and that book helped
calm my spirit sufficiently so I could focus on what we needed to do and
what our plan was. I went from Flailing to
Focused!"
Read the article
"Diets
for Dogs with Cancer"
by Lew Olson
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