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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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A picture of a dog, with the words Prednisone for Dogs

Prednisone for Dogs: Uses for Dog Cancer and Other Medical Conditions, Side Effects, Alternative Options, and More

What is prednisone for dogs, why is it prescribed so often, and how can it help your pup? Read on for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about prednisone for dogs—including uses, side effects, dosing, and more…

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Support chemotherapy and radiation with botanicals. Vet checking dog laying on table.

Support Chemotherapy and Radiation with Botanicals: Dr. Dressler’s Article in Innovative Veterinary Care

A new Innovative Veterinary Care journal article shows veterinarians how to support chemotherapy and radiation with botanicals.

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Is My Dog Dying? Here Are Some Warning Signs and Symptoms

How do you know if your dog is dying? Learn what signs to look for, and how to handle them.

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Your Dog Cancer Journal

Keeping a dog cancer journal — even a simple one — can help you and your dog tremendously. It doesn’t have to be fancy or take a long time. If you’ve got a pen, you’re all set.

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Chronotherapy Dog Cancer

Nobel Prize Winning Research, Once Again, Can Help Your Dog

How does your dog’s internal clock help with dog cancer? 2017’s Nobel Prize can point in an interesting direction. (Hint: Dr. D’s been talking about this for years!)

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Is There a Link Between Overfeeding and Cancer?

As humans, we know that overeating is not healthy for us and by the same logic, we must realize that overfeeding our dogs is not healthy for them. While overfeeding can lead to obesity and shorten life expectancy, it may also lead to obesity and cancer. And since dog cancer is difficult to deal with emotionally,…

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Food and Nutrition for Dogs with Mast Cell Tumors

Dr. Dressler’s Dog Cancer Diet is appropriate for most dogs, but dogs with mast cell tumors need a few modifications. Read this if your dog needs a low-histamine diet.

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Guidelines for Dealing with Your Dog’s Chemotherapy Side Effects

As I’ve discussed in other posts, chemotherapy is very well tolerated in dogs. Yes I know that is hard to believe. I have had family members get chemo and we have all seen it on TV, but happily it’s not like that for dogs. Approximately 80% of dogs do not have side effects at all…

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Metronomic Chemotherapy for Dogs with Cancer

What is Metronomic Chemotherapy? Metronomic chemotherapy is a relatively new type of chemotherapy that uses low doses of oral (pulse) chemotherapy given on a continuous treatment schedule. Since it is given daily or every other day, the chemotherapy is given at lower doses then typical chemotherapy, often with a reduced toxicity profile. That reduction in…

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Diet and Dogs with Cancer

Dr. Ettinger’s views on diet have changed since she co-authored The Dog Cancer Survival Guide and attended the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Associations’ conference. This is important stuff!

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How to Know If Your Dog Is In Pain

How to know if dog is in pain? There are dozens of signs of pain in dogs, and MOST of them are unrecognizable. Learn how to know if your dog is hurting. 🙁

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Should My Regular Veterinarian Give My Dog Chemotherapy?

Here’s a touchy subject for us to look at: why can’t my regular veterinarian give my dog chemotherapy? Do I really need to see a specialist? I am often asked these questions by clients, and my answer is always the same:  no. That might sound harsh, but let’s look at this a little closer. If…

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Primary Lung Tumors, part 2

Unlike people where lung cancer is one of the top five cancers and the leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide, primary lung cancer is very rare in dogs. Dogs are often diagnosed with lung cancer as in incidental finding during a routine geriatric screen. Lung Cancer Symptoms in Dogs Often dogs have NO clinical signs,…

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How to Help Your Dog with Cancer When He Won’t Eat

When your cancer dog won’t eat, it’s really frightening. It makes you think they’re close to the end, right? Don’t panic – try these things to help.

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DogCancer.TV: Palladia™ and Dog Cancer- What You Need to Know

Dr. Ettinger and Dr. Dressler discuss the use of Palladia, an FDA approved drug for dogs, as a chemotherapeutic treatment for dog cancer.

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DogCancer.TV: Lymphoma- What You Need to Know About Your Dog’s Cancer

Dr. Dressler and D. Ettinger discuss the detection, diagnosis, and the Full Spectrum Care Approach to the treatment of lymphoma in dogs

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DogCancer.TV: Help for Your Dog’s Nausea

In this video, Dr. Ettinger and Dr. Dressler discuss nausea as a side effect of dog cancer, in addition to some methods and treatments to help deal with nausea.

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DogCancer.TV: Cancer Cachexia and Dog Cancer- When Your Dog Won’t Eat

Dr. Dressler and Dr. Ettinger define cancer cachexia and discuss some ideas as to how you may deal with your dog’s loss of appetite and vitality

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DogCancer.TV: Why Didn’t My Vet Catch My Dog’s Cancer Earlier

In this video, Dr. Dressler and Dr. Ettinger discuss the normal, human reactions of frustration and blame and how to move beyond and get empowered in dealing with your dog’s cancer.

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Why I love being an oncologist

In my first blog, I wrote about that many people I meet cannot believe I am an oncologist for dogs and cats. I know it sounds weird, maybe even corny, but I am so thankful for my job. As the year comes to a close, I have thought a lot recently about how grateful I…

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The chemotherapy appointment, demystified

Ever wonder what happens at your dog chemotherapy appointment? The idea of chemo may conjure up an image of a bunch of people sitting around in chairs hooked up to their IV chemo lines, but how do we do that in dogs? Let’s break a typical chemo appointment down, with Charlie as my example. Charlie…

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dog cancer pain

Pain Meds for Dogs: How to Manage Pain for a Dog With Cancer

Dog cancer pain control is really important, especially because dogs hide their pain symptoms so well. Learn how to treat your dog’s pain.

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Chemothapy and low white blood cell counts part 3. Animation of different cell types.

The Oncologist’s Perspective on Chemotherapy and Low White Blood Cell Counts: Part 3

Extremely low white blood cell counts and sepsis are rare side effects of chemotherapy that require immediate and urgent care.

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The Oncologist’s Perspective on Chemotherapy and Gastrointestinal (GI) side effects: Part One

Obviously, you are concerned about your dog having side effects from chemotherapy.  No one including me, the oncologist, wants your dog to get sick. Chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cancer cells. However, there are normal cells in the body that also rapidly divide as part of their normal function. It is these cells that can be…

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Can a Dog Cancer Diagnosis Be Wrong?

The news that a loved dog has cancer turns the world upside-down. Shock, dismay, disorientation, anger, and profound feelings of loss or sadness are common.  Another common response is questioning the diagnosis. “My dog seems fine.  The lump does not seem to bother her.  His appetite is good.  She still plays.  How can he have…

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Lymphoma – what you need to know BEFORE you see the oncologist

In my last blog post on lymphoma, I shared that I would personally treat my dog with a multi-agent chemotherapy protocol if she was diagnosed with lymphoma.  You will learn a lot about diagnostics and treatment options once you meet an oncologist, so in this blog post, I will share some of the things you…

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Kidney Supplements For Dog Cancer

Cancer of the kidneys can be very hard, both for you and for your dog.  This is actually a rare cancer, so I hope some information here can help. Let’s look at this topic.  To understand what happens with cancers of the dog kidney, it is important to understand what the kidneys normally do. Just…

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How Do I know The Right Course of Treatment

The decisions surrounding dog cancer treatment can be complicated. This is not only because of the treatments themselves. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation have multiple steps. Diet and supplements are not necessarily strait forward either. Steps to change a dog’s brain chemistry to a cancer fighting state take some doing as well. Boosting life quality needs…

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A Useful Discussion for Dogs With Cancer

I received a question recently that involves a common situation for guardians coping with a dog cancer diagnosis. So, to benefit everyone, I am including my answers here, in the hopes that you can apply the information to how you manage your dog with cancer. This case is Almond, who is a 10 year female…

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The Sign of Cancer Hidden in Plain Sight

We’ve been looking at signs of cancer.  So today, let’s look at a really obvious one that can fool all of us. One of the first things I review during a patient intake is the body weight.  Next, I compare this weight with the numbers over the last couple of years. So am I just…

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