Cancer education

[Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>]

The following is a letter I have written to the GRCA which was stimulated
from the most recent copy of the GR-News "Letters to the
Editor" where the letter Rhonda Hovan wrote on cancer (
http://www.briergoldens.com/ed_cancer.htm
) was discussed and several key breeders and club officers have come forward to say YES we have a problem in our breed and it's breed wide.  For those of you who have the GR-News I urge you to read the letters, for those that do not get the GR-News in a nut shell, they echo a lot of my pleas here with you all and how we all need to participate in studies (as you all are doing with hips and eyes, I pray never with cancer..!)  But none of them address the real issues...  I address them here and I strongly, more than ever suggest that all of you really think hard about how you are managing your beloved family companions.  I note a new book below and I really think all of you should get this book and read it.  I got it up in Canada and after conversion the cost was $15.00.  You can get this book on line in many places but I suggest you buy it directly from Dr. Billinghurst at: www.barfworld.com and that you look into his products and others products too.  We are starting to see packaged raw food become available everyplace.  Just today I became aware of this new distributor: 

Message: 5 
Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 09:04:14 -0800 
From: "Peg Monahan" <peggym@pacinfo.com> 
Subject: New BARF Distributor in Oregon
Just a very quick note to let you all know that I am now officially a distributor for Dr. Billinghursts BARF foods & products. I am expecting my 1st supply to arrive Friday, November 15th. 
My e-mail address will be pmonahan@barfworld.com. It's not quite in effect yet. My regular e-mail is peggym@pacinfo.com. Phone: 541-782-4483. Cell phone: 541-490-4796. 
I will be serving Eugene/Salem/Florence/Roseburg areas. 
Thank you. 
Peggy 
Ginger - Taffy - Baxter, 
& Samson (1996 - 2002)

Anyway, onto the letter:


Re: Letters to the Editor September October 2002 regarding cancer in the breed.

First I would like to say that my heart goes out to each and everyone of us who has ever lost a dog to cancer, young or old. I have personally lost two young dogs ages 4 and 7 to Osteosarcoma in my 16 years of living with Golden
Retrievers. 

 From not only my personal losses but from being aware of others losses, pedigree research, and a quest to better my own dogs health I have gained hope that we can over come cancer! Through research which must be participated in by all of us and on going by making simple positive changes for our dogs at home. The following is my speculation my opinions I have formed in the past 4 years that I have been studying how to best my own personal dogs health, well being, and is only intended to serve as a stimulus an overview to provoke thought on a personal level. 

Cancer has many components, but in a nut shell it all boil down to one single strength or weakness, the immune system. Without a strong immune system how can one expect any species to survive? Genetics of the canine has been altered by man in many ways and it's my premise that we have made grave errors in the way we have chose to proceed and propagate how we manage dogs. Both with how we have fed them the past 70 years or so, and how we have additionally challenged their immune systems via vaccination protocols. Is it not possible that we have done more harm than good making things better and easier in the interest of love and looking to keep our companions safe sound and healthy? I think we have, but I also think we can make changes, step back, pause and reflect and move forward with positive results.

With out going into too much of a soap box on how and why I personally have made modifications and have moved away from ' new and improved ' and back to a more basic yet still a managed approach at living with dogs I would like to share with you where I see two places we as stewards to the canine can step back, pause, take a deep breath, and start over, hopefully with a good result in less time than it took us to make the negative changes we have. 

First what should a canine eat? Canines are omnivore, but not true omnivore, more carnivore. They require a high percentage of their diet to be derived from fat and other nutrients found in raw bone, and a lesser portion of their diet to derive from other raw foods such as raw meat; digest in the form of vegetables, grasses, fruits, some grain, all plant material digested to some degree. Where are these foods found? Not in processed dog foods, that derive mainly from cooked animals and grains with chemical additives, rancid oils and all heat treated . Dogs have little real use for simple and complex carbohydrates, starches, and or incomplete proteins or cooked fats. And as a steady diet these foods have changed our dogs. They have altered the core, damaged the immune system in ways we can not easily see. I suggest we have created a man made evolutionary change. My reference here is to understanding what a canine should be supplied, not what is easy or scientifically formulated to meet some standard set by a government agency as acceptable ratio's of ingredients. 

References: Dr. Ian Billinghurst has a series of books on feeding dog a biologically correct diet or a mimicked diet. And in 2001 he streamlined his theory/program into a easy read called: "The BARF Diet". While I think anyone keeping dogs should read both "Give Your Dog A Bone" and "Grow Your Pup's With Bones" for the best foundation, everyone should at least read "The Barf Diet" even if your not thinking about switching to raw feeding. In this series of books is a wealth of education on the canine, how and what they would make a choice to eat, what is healthy and what is not, what aides the immune system and what tears it down. How to fix what is broken at least in part. How feeding a biologically correct diet over time can promote better health and help identify what problems are truly genetic and what problems are masked and labeled "genetic" . It's only been about 70 years that we have been feeding dogs processed dog food diets and I fully believe that in my life time should I live another 30 years we can see a significant change for the better, if we embrace that dogs need to be fed a whole raw biologically correct or mimicked diet. I have already seen minor changes in my own dogs health in just 3 years. 

I am not as knowledgeable on vaccination protocols as I would like to be, but I am learning and with that, I still have a lot of questions and concerns for not vaccinating, but I am starting to practice modified protocols. Even some of the major vet schools are publishing modified time line vaccination schedules and questioning the need to vaccinate for certain diseases and virus if at all. I personally do not understand in my deepest of thought why we feel that dogs must be vaccinated yearly to maintain an immunity. I do not like to use the human to canine example but I will for this. Why is it that we as humans receive vaccinations for diseases only as children and we subject our dogs to challenging their immune systems on going? Is it not possible that we are again causing detriment to a system that is already working by challenging it with extensive vaccination? Sure diseases and virus mutate but are the vaccines being updated? Are some of the vaccines possibly more detrimental than the disease or the virus? 

Reference, the following are links to pages on Christie Keith web site, she has some of the best information on her web site, all of her info is backed up by scientific studies: 


Puppy Shots 
http://www.caberfeidh.com/PuppyVax.htm

Re-vaccination (lots of citations, research and links) 
http://www.caberfeidh.com/Revax.htm 

Titers 
http://www.caberfeidh.com/Titers.htm

http://www.holisticat.com/vaccinations.html - 
Don Hamilton article - this is mainly about cats, but the concept is the same and he is so knowledgeable, it is worth reading.

http://www.austinholistic.com/articles/WFalconer001.html 

http://www.austinholistic.com/articles/WFalconer002.html 

http://www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/health/common/vaccinations.html


It is my hope and my vision that more of us if not all of us, will embrace these very basic theories and that pet food manufactures will as well listen up and make changes, some are but more need to and really we are the voice. If we don't buy it, they won't make it, but they won't go away either they will make changes... Same with vaccines... 

Perhaps we can realize positive changes where we have failed doing so, by loosing sight of what is biologically correct for dogs and realizing their true need for whole foods. To make changes with in reason By embracing both science and nature. By relearning, undoing what we have been taught is the easy fast economical way to manage canines. I do not believe that we can fool mother nature but I do feel we can work with her and with that said I hope that each of you will take this as it is intended to be, educational and not a negative attitude on how each of us has learned to manage dogs. It's my hope you will be stimulated in a positive by my opinions and offering here and that you too will consider looking to making changes for your dogs away from feeding grain based processed diets and over vaccination. I really strongly with all of my being believe we can make a difference with these two areas, but I also respect that change comes slow and that we are gong to have to all be patient. In the mean time while we wait I too agree with others, we must recognize our breed does have a problem and we need to assist the veterinary community with submitting our dogs for testing where we can in hopes to come up with protocols that can help our less fortunate dogs who do become stricken with cancers live better lives. 

In closing, Sylvia I would like to see this letter printed in the GR-News though it probably needs editing and I can have that done by a friend if you feel that it has a place in the news? Bless you all for sharing your personal losses and for taking the lead here stepping up and making a statement. As noted I too am no stranger to cancer with my dogs and I too support that we have to make changes... 

Kindest Regards,

Gina 
mailto:brier@oregonsbest.com