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Featuring Demian Dressler, DVM and Sue Ettinger, DVM, Dip. ACVIM (Oncology), authors of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide
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Cancer Causes

If you’re just starting to research cancer causes, you’re probably feeling pretty lousy right now. It’s true: the causes of cancer are many, and some of them we can’t do a thing about on a personal level.

But there are a lot of cancer causes we can lower or prevent altogether. Here are dozens of articles designed to help you just do that.

Golden Retriever Lifetime Study — Understanding Cancer Better

If we can catch cancer earlier, treatments work better. The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study is giving us massive amounts of data, and Dr. Janet Patterson-Kane is managing it all.

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Dog’s Balls Haven’t Dropped Yet — Is He at Risk for Cancer?

It’s not a common condition, but it happens: a dog’s testicles don’t descend. If your veterinarian can’t find them when they neuter … is that a risk for cancer? Dr. Trina Hazzah answers.

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Apoquel for Dogs and Cancer

People worry about Apoquel causing cancer in dogs. Is this a valid fear? Dr. Nancy Reese investigates.

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More Melatonin and Dog Cancer

More details on melatonin and dog cancer, including the whys, hows, and how much.

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Sleep, Dog Cancer, and Melatonin

Melatonin and dog cancer … why this powerful natural hormone produced inside your dog’s brain can help fight cancer. Inexpensively!

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Common Sense Lifestyle Choices to Prevent Cancer in Dogs

Can we really prevent cancer in dogs? Cancer thrives in certain bodies, so here’s how to make sure YOUR dog’s body is a hostile environment for cancer.

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Homemade Cleaning Supplies That Are Safe for You — and Your Dog With Cancer

Homemade cleaning supplies are easy to make and way safer for your dog with cancer than commercial products. And they work great!

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Summer Dangers for Dogs with Cancer

Summer dangers for dogs with cancer are right around the corner. Let’s be prepared!

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Filter Your Air for Dog Cancer

Is it really important to filter your air for dog cancer? Well, yeah. It is. Read why here.

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Is Your Dog Eating Grass, Vomiting, and Getting Sick?

Is your dog eating grass, vomiting and getting sick? Could be the pesticides and herbicides — war weapons — we use on our green spaces.

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Are Overweight Dogs at a Higher Risk for Cancer?

Are overweight dogs at a higher risk for cancer? Yes. It turns out that being chubby isn’t nearly as cute as we once thought.

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safer flea and tick treatment

Safer Flea and Tick Treatments for Dogs

What’s the best way to protect your dog with cancer from fleas and ticks? Susan Harper explores safer flea and tick treatments in detail.

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Smoking, Second-Hand Smoke, Third-Hand Smoke and Dog Cancer

We are all becoming more aware of healthy nutrition and lifestyle.  Much of what was deemed innocuous in our grandparents time is being exposed as risky. We’ve known for decades that smoking is hazardous to the smoker, and the term ‘second-hand smoke’ soon followed as science discovered that you didn’t need to smoke to be…

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Uncommon Tumors: Primary Lung Tumors, Part 1

As a boarded oncologist, I see not only the common cancers in dogs like lymphoma, mast cell tumors, osteosarcomas, hemangiosarcomas, and mammary cancers. But I also see the uncommon ones. Recently I have been seeing more of the uncommon tumors, and what’s even strange to me, I am seeing more that one within a few…

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Early spay and neuter increases cancer risk in golden retriever dogs. Dog riding in car with head out window.

Spay/neuter and the association with cancer in dogs: part three

Spay Neuter Golden Retriever: Early spay and neuter have several profound long-term effects for one of our favorite breeds.

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Early spay and neuter increases cancer risk in rottweiler dogs. Black dog laying on grass.

Spay/neuter and the association with cancer in dogs: part two

Spay Neuter Rottweiler: Susan Ettinger, DVM, Dip. ACVIM (Oncology) continues her discussion on how spaying and neutering dogs can increase their risk for certain aggressive cancers.

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Heterocyclic Amines in the News

I’m happy to report a news article highlighting one of the subjects, carcinogenic heterocyclic amines, discussed in the Guide. The Mercola article discussed a publication about finding this substance, PhIP, in dog fur (as an aside, not all dogs have fur, as some have hair, but that is a different story!).  PhIP is in a…

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Spay/neuter and the association with cancer in dogs: part one

Spay neuter dog cancer: despite its widespread popularity and the very good reasons to spay/neuter, it’s not without long-term risks to dogs.

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Vaccination and Dog Cancer

A reader recently posed a question about vaccinations and links with cancer in dogs. I discussed this in more detail in the Guide, along with many other factors that may (or may not) have links to cancer.  But, since it came up, I thought it might make a good post. If reader is looking for…

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Is There A Reason For All This Dog Cancer, part 2

In my last post, we looked at some of the connections between the environment, diet, and cancer development. We also examined how similar cancer is to the body’s reaction to an injury, as if it were healing a damaged or wounded organ in a deranged way. Today, I’ll continue some of my thoughts about why…

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Is There A Reason for All This Dog Cancer?

“Why did my dog get cancer? This is a tough question to answer, but I’d like to provide a bit of information about how I think about cancer to help answer this question. First, a bit about the disease itself, and what we know right now.  Cancer cells look and behave like young body cells. …

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Soil Depletion and Nutrients in Your Dog

Trace minerals and elements have not gotten the attention they deserve for our pets’ health. For example, zinc, selenium and magnesium are all critically important for dogs fighting cancer for many reasons, among them immunity and resistance to drug reactions. One of the reasons this may be problematic is that many ill dogs have low…

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Could Killing “Good” Bacteria Increase GI Cancer Risk?

Probiotics are linked to all sorts of necessary bodily functions. But do they really help to prevent cancer?

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What is safe? Thoughts of an oncologist and mom

After a pet Guardian finds out their dog has cancer, I am often asked, “What caused my dog’s cancer?  Was it the water, the food, the food bowls, the shampoo, the cleaners I used around the house, the herbicides or pesticides used on my lawn?” While there is so little evidence directly linking chemicals and…

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Can Needle Biopsy Spread Cancer?

Can needle biopsy or fine needle aspirates spread cancer? As always when it comes to dog cancer, there is no “one right answer.” Dr. Dressler, DVM goes over the facts.

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Cancer-Prone Dog Breeds

If you have a purebred dog, be on the look out for problems that are more common in your dog’s breed. Different breeds are more prone to certain health issues.  Many are familiar with genetic diseases like hip dysplasia, more common in large breed dogs.  However, there are more examples of breed-associated diseases, and cancer…

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Chubby Golden Retriever Has Less Cancer Protection

I was talking to one of my clients today in the exam room.  She owns an awesome Golden Retriever named Baloo.   Like his namesake in the movie “The Jungle Book,” Baloo is happy, friendly, goofy and….chubby. I started telling Baloo’s owner about the cancer rate in the breed. It is estimated that around 2/3…

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Steps to Help Avoid Canine Cancer?

Several readers recently have been asking the same question.  Maybe because canine cancer education is spreading, and the fact that canine cancer is so common these days. Here it is: “What can I do to prevent cancer in my dog?” Simple question, complex answer.  I’ll do my best here, and maybe do a few more…

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Is The Cause of Breast Cancer in the Water?

Many of our female dogs are spayed at a young age.  One of the benefits that vets commonly talk about is that early spaying can almost eliminate breast cancer in dogs.  We usually call breast cancer mammary cancer in dogs, but we are talking about breast cancer. We now know that early spaying is also…

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Is Cancer Caused By Old Age?

Cancer is due to the fact that our dogs are living longer. Right? This was recently stated by a publicly aired news broadcast, by an expert.  And the topic was dog cancer. I’m here to tell you that this is incorrect.  And as usual, there is ample back-up evidence. But first, some clarifications. In the…

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