Supplements & Diet

This 1st section deals with SUPPLEMENTS - the 2nd half of this page covers extensive info on DIET & FOODS for ALL dogs

The DIET info is for all animals, both healthy and sick, however there is extra info for cancer and diabetic dogs at the end of the section.

Canine Care & Canines In Crisis has a cancer program that one of the founders put together for her own cancer dog. It has been able to slow/shrink about 8 types of canine cancers and buy quality of life for the cancer animal. It is based on the info acquired though medical studies-many listed below and on the reference page. We do not charge anything and do not sell anything.

The above will work best if your pet is given the proper diet for the body to assimilate all the nutrients properly.

Along with the above program -You will want to keep your pet on a good quality food, Maybe even make your own. You may want to reconsider what brands you feed your dog after reading this. LEARN TO READ ALL YOUR LABELS!

What do veterinarians think about commercial pet food and its impact on companion animal health?

Last spring API and the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR) developed a survey to answer that question.

Most veterinarians who responded share API's concerns about the quality of commercial pet food and its influence on companion animal health.

Respondents to the survey rated nutrition as having a moderate to strong influence on a number of health problems in dogs and cats. Developmental bone disease in dogs and lower urinary tract disease in cats were also seen as being strongly influenced by nutrition.

"Clinical experience tells me many medical problems are caused by commercial diets"' offered one vet. Another commented, "I believe that the incredibly poor quality of commercial pet foods is largely responsible for the continued increase in chronic, degenerative diseases in dogs and cats".

More than 90% of veterinarians responding to the survey said they have concerns about pet foods. "If the American public knew what went into their dog's and cat's commercial food, you'd see some major changes in purchasing choices".

"Ingredients not fit for human consumption- how can these be good for our pets?" asked on veterinarian.

Greater than two-thirds of the vets said they didn't think pet food companies provide adequate information about their products.

For the complete story please visit www.api4animals.org and look under "What's Hot" section.

Although you won't find it on any pet-food label, many brands of pet food contain dog and cat remains. Each year, millions of dead dogs and cats are processed along with billions of pounds of other animal materials by companies known as renders.
The finished products - tallow and meat meals serve as raw material for thousands of items that include cosmetics and pet food.
The National Animal Control Association estimates that U.S. animal shelters annually kill 13 million household pets. It's statistics show that 30% of these pets are buries, 30% are cremated and 40% - or about 5.2 million - are sent to rendering
factories.

"When you read pet-food labels and it says meat meal, that's what it is - cooked and converted animals, including some dogs and cats," said Eileen Layne, of the California Veterinary Medical Association.

"Thousands and thousands of pounds of dogs and cats are picked up and brought here everyday," said one employee of Sacramento Rendering. "The small animals are a big part of the company," confirmed an ex-employee. The two estimated that
the company rendered somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 pounds of dogs and cats a day out of a total 250,000 to 500,000 pounds of cattle, poultry, butcher scrap and other materials.

California law states that rendered dogs and cats must be labeled as "dry rendered tankage," but is often sold out of state labeled as "meat and bone meal." "For years we sold Ralston Purina meat meal and they had dogs and cats in their product for years and didn't know it until somebody squawked," said a rendering plant executive. Ralston Purina apparently tried to avoid using dog and cat meat thereafter, but, said the executive, "I don't recall any other pet food manufacturer saying they wouldn't buy it."

Allman Report

What's getting into your pets?
Part 1
Reporter: Jamie Allman, News 4 | Allman Report page

(KMOV) -- There is no doubt that our pets are very important to us. What we feed them may be just as important. What is inside that food, though, may not be what you think. This installment of the Allman Report has some surprising information about what may be in the food you're feeding your dogs and cats.

(KMOV)

Their names are Blacky, Scoop, Puffy, and Diamond. Some are just a few years or a few months old. They are mostly dogs and a couple of cats.

"It's the most undesirable part of our job," says one city pound worker.

This sunny morning in the city pound is the last day of their lives. It is a cruel but necessary routine played out every morning at the pound. A dozen or more former pets are put to death because no one wants them -- alive that is.

(KMOV)

Unwanted by their owners, their bodies are in high demand. Loaded into a city refuse truck, they are taken five miles across the river to Illinois to a rendering plant in Millstadt. Along with dead cows and road kill, they will be piled into a vat and boiled, turned into raw tankage or protein.

We were asked to leave the property before we could ask where it all eventually goes. But it soon became evident as a tanker truck made its way into the plant to be filled. The truck was from a southern Missouri company, its mission spelled out on the tank itself: "serving the pet food industry."

"It may be objectionable. People may not want to know what goes in there," says Don Aird of the Food and Drug Administration.

But the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees pet food ingredients, allows dead dogs and cats in pet food, saying disease or the drugs used to sedate the animals dissipates through cooking.

"Well, we don't believe it's going to cause problems for the animals. If we did, we would not allow it to happen," Aird says.

However, the Pet Food Institute, which represents major pet food labels such as Purina and Alpo, says it strictly forbids member companies from using materials from dead companion animals in pet food.

As for other pet food companies, well, there's no requirement they divulge exactly what's in their product or where they get the raw ingredients. The Food and Drug Administration says legally, it's none of your business.

"That's what keeps the prices down and I think it keeps the health down," says Dr. Christine Crosley, a veterinarian.

Crosley insists companion animal parts are unhealthy as are the other things allowed in pet food like scraps from slaughter houses, ground up chicken beaks and feathers, and recycled grease from Chinese restaurants and fried chicken stands.

"It is food. I guess it's food by definition. It goes in the mouth and out the other end. But, it's not nutritious," she says.

Crosley advocates feeding your pets what you eat. Some of her clients swear by it.

"So we started steaming vegetables for her and brown rice and chicken broth. She didn't leave any dandruff residue and her skin wasn't dry anymore and she wasn't always scratching at herself," says Karen Heyden, a pet owner.

If you do choose commercial pet food, Crosley suggests you reject food with animal by products or bone meal or meat meal in them and choose foods that have natural products in them.

"Flash frozen green beans and half of a good dry food. That's much better than this package," Crosley says.

None of the pet food companies we talked to would sit down and be interviewed for this story. The company that owns the truck you saw at the rendering plant refuses to tell us who buys from them. We talked about other things you could feed your dogs, but remember cats are carnivores and feeding them just vegetables and grains will not be good for them. Foods containing real fish and other meats are recommended.

Copyright © KMOV-TV Inc., A Belo subsidiary, All Rights Reserved.

Your pet's taste buds may change due to the chemo, ask your vet or post on the boards for ideas and suggestions of what you might add to make your pet eat when this happens.

Please check back here in a week or so as we hope to have some more specifics on this information.

ìPet Food Investigative Report: The Truth About Commercial Pet Foods, by
the Animal Protection Institute of America, available on the World Wide
Web at http://www.api4animals.org or free of charge by
contacting:
Animal Protection Institute of America
PO Box 22505
Sacramento, CA 95822-2831
(916) 731-5521

Fetch a Few More Years
by Susan G. Wynn, D.V.M.

Humans are not the only members of the family who can benefit from nutrition and preventive health care. Dogs and cats can also greatly profit. Research and clinical observations support the notion that diet and supplements gently usher our canine and feline friends into a healthy and happy old age.

A variety of conditions determine how fast a pet ages. Species and breed genetics are major factors. Great Danes are notorious for breaking their owners' hearts, because that breed's life expectancy is only eight years. On the other hand, 20-year-old Pomeranians are not uncommon. Most cats live about 12 years, and some even hit 20. Individual genetics are another factor within both purebreds and mixed breeds. Bloodlines do tell the story, so anyone buying a pet should ask how old the ancestors were when they died. Other factors determining a pet's life span include lifetime nutrition, lifestyle and environment.

Some age-related changes are perfectly normal. For instance, a 12-year-old cocker spaniel that begins to lose its hearing or a 14-year-old cat that spends less time stalking prey is not always undergoing an abnormal process. Cloudy eyes, slowing romps and longer naps can also be expected. Sometimes, however, these symptoms are signs of age-related illness. Obviously, the trick is determining the cause. A veterinarian should be consulted for any of the following symptoms: changes in food and water consumption, fluctuations in body weight, abnormal urination or defecation, changes in activity level, abnormal odors, chronic discharges, lumps, sores that don't heal, color changes in skin or eyes, coughing, sneezing, vomiting or diarrhea.
Cancer: This devastating disease is becoming as common in domestic animals as it is in humans. This is not surprising because the same risk factors apply: Improper diet, stress, genetics and exposure to chemical or physical carcinogens.^10,11 Cancer of the nose and mouth are common in dogs and cats, possibly because they use their noses so much more intensely than humans do and because they lick their coats, where environmental carcinogens may be deposited. In particular, older animals should be fed high-quality diets without potentially cancer-causing preservatives; pet owners should not over-medicate and should limit their pets' exposure to pesticides.

A dog or a cat with cancer needs a special diet--one that unfortunately is not yet available commercially. Researchers at Colorado State University in Fort Collins have determined that carbohydrate metabolism is altered in canine cancer patients and that tumors preferentially utilize dietary carbohydrates for growth.¹² Some veterinarians have acted on this information by prescribing a Paleolithic pet diet. For dogs and cats this means a moderate-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet composed of high-quality meat, vegetables and very little grain, if any at all. In my experience this diet has been effective in improving survival rates and the quality of life for pets with cancer. However, it is easy to cause serious nutritional imbalances with this diet such as calcium/phosphorus or other abnormalities, so it should be designed and implemented with a veterinarian's guidance.

Other commonly recommended supplements for pets with cancer include fish oil, antioxidant vitamins and, in some cases, herbs that stimulate the immune system. I commonly recommend the adaptogens maitake (Grifola frondosa) and reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) mushrooms as well as astragalus (Astragalus spp.) to support immune function in cancer patients. **Use caution when working with lymphoma patients, however. I don't recommend stimulating their immune systems because this could stimulate growth in the lymphoma cells.

Deterring Disease
Preventive care is as important for animals as it is for humans, and diet remains the centerpiece. Geriatric diets are not often indicated for preventive care, although prescription or specialized diets are sometimes necessary for pets with an established disease.

Regular exams become more important as pets age; unfortunately, animals are not able to express mild aches and pains, fatigue or other potential indicators of serious disease. A veterinary exam may reveal lumps by palpation, heart abnormalities by auscultation, or organ disease by blood test. Regular veterinary exams are also a good opportunity to discuss what vaccines are or are not necessary.

Older pets may slow down, but regular exercise is extremely important. Scheduled exercise is a great way to spend quality time with an older pet--walks for the dog or play time with a cat. These pets need owner attention even more than they did as younger animals and really appreciate the interaction with their best friends. They know, as we do, that there's no friend like an old friend.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A diet supplemented with fish oil and the amino acid arginine appears to increase survival time in dogs with lymphoma, a cancer that affects white blood cells.

Dogs with this kind of cancer, similar to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in humans, are easily treated, but as with humans, their cancer tends to return. A team of researchers led by Dr. Gregory Ogilvie of Colorado State University in Fort Kent, studied the effects of adding fish oil and arginine to the diets of 32 dogs being treated for lymphoma.

Half of the dogs received a special chow with the two supplements in it, and the other half ate chow with soybean oil added. The two chows were identical in nutritional value, and formulated to be equally tasty to the dogs. All the dogs were being treated with the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin every three weeks, and were living at home with their owners.

Previous research has shown that some polyunsaturated fatty acids, like those found in fish oil, may help prevent the growth and spread of cancer tumors, and may help prevent cachexia -- the devastating weight loss and muscle wasting seen in some cancer patients despite adequate nutrition. Likewise, arginine supplements have been reported to improve immune responses, and might help the body fight cancer.

The dogs were fed one of the chows twice a day during and after their cancer treatment. The researchers report that compared to the control dogs, those who ate the supplemented chow showed higher blood levels of two fatty acids called C20:5 and C22:6 that seem particularly effective in fighting cancer. Dogs with more of these fatty acids in their blood also tended to have more normal levels of lactic acid, which tends to accumulate in the blood when metabolism is disrupted in cancer patients.

In addition, report Ogilvie and colleagues, the dogs with higher levels of these two fatty acids survived longer than those with lower levels, and had longer remissions, periods of time before their disease came back.

Writing in the journal Cancer, the researchers suggest that the fatty acids may help both dogs and humans by slowing down the spread of cancer cells and by increasing the cells' susceptibility to anti-cancer drugs like the doxorubicin used in this study.

Ogilvie and colleagues also note that their findings fit in with previous research showing that the fatty acids they studied appear to help fight cancer and its effects in both humans and animals.