Natural Food Diets for Dogs With Cancer

Homemade Cooked Food Diet

• Dr. Susan G. Wynn, veterinarian/nutritionist at the University of Georgia̵7;s College of Veterinary Medicine, offers this sample recipe as a nutritional alternative for canine cancer patients.

  Use a crock-pot to stew together 50 percent fish or poultry and 50 percent mixed frozen or fresh vegetables, or steam the vegetables along with the cooked meat and blend everything in a food processor. Add olive oil, a vitamin-mineral supplement, a calcium source, fish oil, plus some garlic and turmeric seasonings with anti-cancer properties that will improve the recipe̵7;s flavor.

Raw Food Diet

• One way to ensure that your dog eats fresh, natural food is to feed a balanced raw food diet. Australian veterinarian Dr. Ian Billinghurst, who created the Biologically Appropriate Raw Food Diet (BARF) said he believes eating raw can be beneficial for dogs with cancer. The raw feeding philosophy is "that dogs should be fed the foods they are evolutionarily suited to eat. ... not commercially-prepared cooked foods that lack enzymes and other essential dietary components and that contain some ingredients that promote allergies and are otherwise harmful for dogs." Fresh, high quality raw food meals contain unaltered essential enzymes, plus vitamins, proteins and fats, all of which are vital for dogs with cancer who need everything they eat to have a high nutritional value.

  The raw food diet consists of 75 percent meat, organs and bone and 25 percent vegetables or fruits. Included in this diet are: raw bones (cooked or smoked bones splinter), chunked or ground meat (chicken, venison, lamb, beef or pork), organs (kidneys, liver, heart, unbleached tripe), vegetables/fruits (broccoli, cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, bok choy, radishes, tomatoes, red peppers, apples, carrots, oranges, etc.), plus other fresh ingredients (whole egg, garlic, kelp, alfalfa, kefir, tofu, yogurt, cottage cheese).

  To feed your dog the cancer version of the BARF diet, "prepare a week̵7;s worth of raw meat patties for a 50 pound dog, use: 4 lbs. ground meat, 1 cup yogurt or cottage cheese, 3 raw eggs, an apple, a garlic clove, 2 carrots, 1.5 pounds mixed vegetables. Mix in a food processor and make into patties to freeze."

  Some veterinarians say dogs, especially dogs undergoing chemotherapy, should never be fed raw meat. Do research, consult experts and then decide if a raw diet is a good idea for your dog.

Veterinary Formulated Cancer-Specific Diet

• Ask your veterinarian about Hill's Science Diet n/d, a cancer-specific veterinary prescription dog food that was formulated in part by Dr. Gregory Ogilvie. He suggests feeding dogs with cancer either this cancer-specific prescription product or a similar diet consisting of ̶0;limited quantities of simple sugars, moderate amounts of complex carbohydrates, high quality digestible proteins, and certain types of fats.̶1;

Homemade Version of Veterinary Formula

• You can prepare a homemade version of this veterinary formula, consisting of 1 pound lean ground beef, 1 1/3 cups cooked rice, 1/2 pound beef liver, 4 Tbsp. vegetable oil, fish oil, 3/4 tsp. oyster shell calcium, 3/4 tsp. bone meal and a vitamin/mineral supplement.

  Cook the rice; cook the ground beef and drain the fat; cook the liver and finely chop; combine the rice with the cooked meat; then mix in oils, vitamins and supplements; stir everything together, cover and refrigerate. Feed one-third of this mixture each day to a 25- to 30-pound dog.