Lizzie is excitedly digging through TONS of information that her mom, Dr. Mitchell, lugged home from TNAVC (The North American Veterinary Conference). TNAVC, the largest annual veterinary meeting in the world, is held each January. American vets join colleagues from all over the world to learn the latest and the best from experts in medicine, surgery, and special interests such as dermatology, oncology, cardiology, geriatrics, and neurology. Special topics on emerging therapies such as acupuncture, homotoxicology, and rehabilitative medicine are also featured.

Lizzie says: There is nothing quite as exciting as rooting through a suitcase that hasn't been unpacked yet. BOY did Mom bring a lot of stuff for me to read!! I plan to have some info for all of you by the end of the weekend. I'm starting first on some articles about new treatments for cancer. Then, I will tell you about the lectures my Mom did at TNAVC - she talked for 6 hours on acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, and she even told all those vets what works best for things like skin infections and seizures here in Chicago!! Now, I just have to remember: where did I bury my reading glasses?

UPDATE: Like I promised, I have some new info for you on new cancer treatments! My mom attended a lot of lectures on the treatment of cancer at TNAVC, and I am working my way through her notes. It was very exciting to see that a lot of what she has been telling her clients for years, like how important it is to eat right (not just dog and cat food) and take your vitamins and supplements, is now recognized as being extra important when you have cancer. Here are some of the highlights of what I have read so far:

When any of my dog and cat friends get cancer, a lot of changes happen in their bodies. They might get really thin, because cancer cells like to use carbohydrates (wheat, corn, rice, oatmeal, etc.) for energy and most of our pet foods have lots of carbohydrates. These kinds of foods can really "feed" a cancer and "starve" the patient! Cancer cells can use protein, too, but not as well as they use carbs. So it is a good idea for cancer patients to have essential amino acids and extra protein in their diets (even the experts from the pet food companies said so!) One important Doctor who studies cancer says that cats with cancer should have 40-50% protein and dogs should have up to 45% protein, both on a dry matter basis, in their foods. That is a LOT more than is in most pet foods! Cancer cells cannot use fat very well to grow and that is why many of the diets made specifically for cancer patients have a lot of fat in them. (Fortunately for us dogs and cats, we can use fat as a energy source very well - it won't hurt our arteries or our cholesterol - and we like it, too!)

So, if you have cancer, it would be a really good idea to tell your owner to ask your vet about what additions would be good for you. This is because if you are eating a commercially available pet food, 25-60% of that food is probably a carb and only 7-25% is a fat - and that is completely wrong if you have cancer. Or many you should have a home-cooked diet or one of the ones that is made for pets with cancer, to help you feel stronger so you can fight your cancer better.

What about supplements? Well, you need to have some, if you really want to whomp on that cancer! Lots of Doctors who lectured at the TNAVC meeting were talking about supplements for cancer patients - it made my Mom feel good that more vets are learning about this, because it is really important! (She makes me and my cat buddies take fish oil every day, and other supplements, too). The Doctors who talked at this meeting say that studies have shown that adding essential amino acids like arginine and using omega-3 fatty acids slows down cancer growth, slows spread of the cancer to other areas of the body, and they even slow down weight loss and muscle loss. Other very cool studies showed that fatty acids and arginine can even help prevent the development of cancer in the first place! This is because cancer cells have to form a little "nest" to grow and the supplements can stop this from happening. You need to ask your Doctor how much of these supplements you should take, because overuse can cause problems.

Levels of trace minerals like zinc, selenium, and iron are often much lower in cancer patients, so it is important to make sure that you are getting these in your diet every day! And it may help, if you are losing weight, to find a good source of branched chain amino acids to add to your diet daily.

Here is one final good piece of news - if you are already quite old (and you are if you are a big dog over the age of 10, a little dog over the age of 13, or a cat over the age of 15), your chances of getting cancer are really very low. Studies in both people and in Rottweilers show that the "oldest-old" in these groups hardly ever get cancer, and even if you do, it is likely to be a kind of cancer with a very slow growth rate.

Now- what about preventing cancer in the first place? Well, the best idea is to avoid the things that we know will give you a good chance of getting cancer. Like being fat: lifetime obesity is a very important risk factor for all kinds of cancer, as well as for bad diseases like diabetes. Humans who smoke are very bad for you to be around, too, because they can make us pets very sick. Honey, I'm telling you, you need to take a stand and BITE those cigarette and cigar smokers in the ankle if they try to light up around you! I feel so bad when I smell some of the animals who come into our hospital stinking like an ashtray, because passive exposure to tobacco smoke is a great guarantee for all kinds of bad lung diseases, including lung cancer. Last, you need to really lean on your owners to feed you a good food. Boycott the cheap stuff! Turn up your nose and give your people the sad eyes! We dogs and cats need more protein, more fat, and less carbohydrates than are found in most pet foods, and we need to spread the word that our owners need to supplement these foods if they want to keep us healthy!