Dog Cancer Treatment

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Cancer is the result of the body’s failure to recognize and destroy cells that do not replicate normally. The key to successful cancer treatment is to trigger immune recognition and response in the dog. When this happens, the dog's own body will usually destroy the cancer and leave behind only scar tissue. Why would a dog's immune system fail to recognize the cancer cells as invaders? In healthy dogs around 100 million cells replicate every day. Just by the shear number of cells replicating, some of them are bound to replicate with errors. One of the main functions of the Immune System is to identify and destroy these aberrant cells before they have the chance to pass that error along. It is only when the immune system fails to recognizes these 'bad' cells that they become cancer. What this means is that cancer is first and foremost an immune dysfunction disease. Because if the Immune System were working properly there would have been no chance for the cancer to begin in the first place. It would have been destroyed on a cell-by-cell basis as it happened. This is actually a process that occurs in all animals from the moment of birth onwards.

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For dog cancer to occur, there are three things that must take place:

1. Some cells must have errors in replication for the process to begin. There are a number of things that cause an increase in replication errors, like toxins, radiation, congenital defects and most importantly age. It is age that causes the greatest numbers of errors in cellular replication. That is why cancer is much more common in older dogs than in pups.
2. The second thing that must happen is the dog’s immune system must fail to recognize the aberrant cells when they are formed. At the point of the initial error it is quite easy for the Immune System to overcome the single bad cell. But if that cell escapes detection and divides again, the third step can, and often does follow:
3. The third thing that happens is that the immune system remains in a non-responsive state for some period of time as the tumor continues replicating. Most of the time, the body will overcome the tumor in the first few days/weeks/month of its growth and spontaneous remission will occur. But occasionally the tumor continues to evade detection and keeps growing until it becomes large enough for the veterinarian to detect.

Reaching the stage at which a tumor is large enough to detect can take a long time, perhaps even years. By the time it is big enough to be diagnosed as cancer it is already quite large: hundreds of millions of cells in size. By this point it is very difficult for the dog’s own immune system to mount an effective defense against the invader; the tumor, tumor without some assistance.

The American concept of cancer treatment is to cut, burn or poison in an attempt to kill off the bad cells (cancer cells). Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are the methods of choice, and up until recently the best we have had to offer. While these may remain the only treatment options available in America, in most of the world another component is added to human cancer treatment. It is called Adjunctive Immune Support or Immuno-Modulation therapy. This is also proving to be one of the most promising frontiers in treating dogs with cancer. Immune support, along with conventional therapy, increases the effectiveness and results in higher remission rates.

The largest class of anti-cancer drugs being used in the world today is a class called heteropolysaccharide immunomodulators. These are compounds that trigger enhanced Immune Function, and hopefully, will trigger the patients 'Cancer Recognition Response'. These polysaccharide compounds bind to surface receptors on the various Immune cells and activate them. This means they either turn the cell on, or trigger the production of more of that type of cell, or trigger the release of certain chemicals (cytokines) such as a substance called Tumor Necrosis Factor. The very name itself tells exactly what it does. 'Tumor Necrosis Factor' means 'A Substance Which Kills Tumors'. The reason this Immune System adjunct therapy is being used along with conventional therapy is because it works.

Some might say it is easy to get rid of cancer. You can simply take a knife and cut it out. Unfortunately, in doing so you have not removed the cause of the cancer, which is the immune dysfunction that allowed the cancer to proliferate in the first place. Nor have you addressed the cause when you kill the tumor off with chemotherapy, or burn it out with radiation. All these methods are useful in that they directly kill off the tumor cells, but ultimately they will fail and the cancer will return, unless adequate steps are taken to trigger an effective and appropriate immune response. Without the adjunctive immune modulation treatment, the recurrence rate is so high vets in America are hesitant to even use the word “Cure”. They use the term “In Remission” instead because we know that the cancer is almost certain to return. Why? Because the same cause that allowed the cancer to start the first time is still present. After all the chemo, and the radiation, and the surgery are over and done with, the underlying cause is still there. Wouldn't it be better to attempt triggering the immune recognition response along with the conventional therapy?

The most important thing you can do to help your dog through this fight is to provide him or her with whatever you can to help optimize their Immune Function. There are several good immunomodulating products on the market for people, but not very many serious options for dogs. K-9 Immunity™ from Aloha Medicinals is the best that science has yet come up with for use as an adjunct in canine cancer therapy. There are many aspects of the immune system which work together to trigger an effective anti-cancer response. While the main mechanism seems to be the polysaccharide induced immune modulation, there are secondary mechanisms which are also involved. There are small protein molecules present in the blood which act as immune identifier molecules, called Transfer Factors. On their own, these transfer factors do not seem to have any effect in cancer treatment. But our observation has been that they do add significantly to the bio-availabilty, and thereby to the effectiveness of K-9 Immunity™. Transfer Factor Plus by 4Life Research is a good product, and the one we usually recommend for use along with the K-9 Immunity™. Other brands of transfer factor may work also. The combination of Transfer Factor Plus and K-9 Immunity™ seems to have the most powerful effect in turning cancer around, as well as being very quick acting. Most dogs on this combination experience dramatic improvements within the first ten days of use. Once you see it for yourself, there will be little question of whether it is working or not.