Despite a good prognosis for some types of cancer, due to the fatality and toxicity of the medication associated with it, pet owners are often confronted with a dilemma whether to go for a treatment or not. Most of the times, cancer in dogs occurs in old age making dogs more vulnerable to the side effects of conventional treatment. Surgery has a limited scope in as far as it can only excise parts of the tumor.

There is a dire need for exploring new areas of cancer treatment. Despite significant developments in this field, a lot more needs to be done to develop new strategies and drugs that target only cancerous cells and spare the normal cells.

The development of any new treatment needs to be done keeping in mind that any medication should cure the disease with a minimum of side effects. To achieve this goal the therapy has to target and destroy only the cancer cells while it allows the normal healthy cells to live.

It can be very painful for pet owners to endure the course of a cancer and see their companion cat suffer from cancer and the side effects of conventional cancer therapy. A concerted awareness campaign is being conducted to highlight the serious side effects of chemotherapy and radiation.

Like any other disease cancer does not develop without a cause. Although medical science knows very little about what causes cancer, it suspects that various environmental, dietetic and vaccine related factors cause cancer in pets. There are even certain drugs used for treating autoimmune diseases in cats that are metabolized by the liver into carcinogenic substances.

The three main conventional treatment options available to cat owners are chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. The first two are known for their far reaching side effects and some people go to the extent of terming them as ‘poison’. As far as surgery is concerned it may not be an option in many instances. Cancer is not easy to detect in its early stages and by the time it is diagnosed, it is usually too late to exercise the surgical option.

While pursuing longevity for domestic pets, the medial fraternity did not probably bargain for the accompanying risks of cancer, which is mostly seen in older pets. Moreover, as long as we feed an unnatural diet to our pets and abuse the environment, pet owners are likely to continue facing problems with cancer in their pets.

Seeing pets die slowly killer diseases like dog liver cancer and lymphoma in cats is indeed not something that any pet lover would want.

Many of us do not realize that it is natural for animals to resort to ‘self treatment’ in the wild. Most of them nibble at things that are actually not their natural diet. It has been seen that this happens only when the animal is not completely healthy and therefore is actually a means of herbal self medication. This forms the basis on which herbal and natural medicine for pets is based.

For example, dogs are basically carnivores and cats are obligate meat eaters. However, a dog will instinctively start eating plants and herbs when it is not well. This is nature’s own way of combating disease. Exactly these types of observations led our ancestors to understand the curative properties of herbs.

Medically, cancer is known as malignant neoplasm. However, a growth or a tumor may be benign or malignant. The three properties that differentiate self-limiting benign tumors from malignant cancer are:

-    Uncontrolled growth, which is division and multiplication beyond normal limits
-    Invasion, which is intrusion and destruction of adjacent cells
-    And sometimes metastasis, which is spread to other locations in the body through lymph nodes or blood.

Cancer is basically a disease of regulation of growth of tissue and with the exception of leukemia, most cancers form tumors. For the disease to spread and develop further in the body, a normal cell must change into a cancer cell. The common course in all cancers is the alteration in the genetic material of a cancerous cell and its progeny.

According to a report published in January 2006 in the National Geographic “there is compelling evidence that cancers hidden beneath the skin can be detected simply by (dogs) examining a person’s breath.” While the basis of this news may be debatable till is conclusively proven, cancer remains a medical condition that is usually detected very late in humans as well as dogs.