What is responsible for the recent surge of pet cancer rates in dogs and cats?  What are the major factors that have changed over the last several years that may be the culprits? What can pet owners do to protect their dogs and cats?

Certainly the increase in pollution and pesticides play an important role, although other significant factors responsible for the recent surge in pet cancer rates must be also explored.

According to a recently published study, spaying female dogs prior to 4 years of age, reduces healthy pet life spans by 30%.

Therefore female dogs spayed prior to age 4 will have their lives shortened by nearly 1/3!

In addition, as opposed to what most veterinarians, including myself were taught in Veterinary Medical School, spaying and neutering dogs and cats at young ages, does not promote pet health.

It reduces the quality and length of pet lives and actually INCREASES the incidence of several types of  cancer in dogs and cats.

Published data cites multiple types of cancer, including bone cancer, or Osteosarcoma and reproductive related cancers, whose incidence increases in pets, as a result of being spayed or neutered at young ages.

Another factor involved in the increased cancer incidence according to this veterinarian’s research is diet and pet nutrition or what you place in the food bowel for your dog and/or cat each day.

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Hello Dr. Carol!

Remember Jeremy our collie? We called you about a year and a half ago when we got the bad news that he was diagnosed with Lymphoma Cancer and we were devastated. It was a relief talking to you that day, but you encouraged us to have hope.

Jeremy had been very healthy most of his life so this was very shocking for us. He was given the option of IV chemotherapy or oral chemo and prednisone. The oncology vet told us that Jeremy could very well not pull through the IV chemo treatment but then again said it could be successful but that it would only give him 6 months at best. The cost of the chemo was also very high and came with no guarantee at all.

So we finally decided to treat him naturally with your help and try to keep him comfortable.

It is hard to believe but its been a year longer than the oncology vet gave him to live with chemo and without any chemo Jeremy acts like a champ. His appetite is still good and he gulps down your anti-cancer diet.

We give him your Paaws vitamins and kidney product every day. They are wonderful and I believe have been responsible for helping him tremendously through all of this. When our friends come over, they can’t believe Jeremy is sick. Sometimes when we are outside playing, he is so active and energetic we forget he is sick. But that piece of paper with the biopsy report from the oncology vet makes us come back to reality.

Our vet is amazed at how well he is doing.  The most recent blood test shows normal kidney values and slightly elevated liver values and some abnormal white cells and our vet said that’s to be expected.

We wanted to do the very best for Jeremy. We love him like a child and now we feel certain that we made the right choice.

We are so grateful for all the time you spent helping us and your wonderful products.

We can’t thank you enough!

Carol, Bill and Jeremy W.

Gwinn, Michigan

Holistic veterinarian, Dr. Carol Osborne, DVM is available for pet health consultations and pet health questions for dogs and cats. Call Dr. Carol’s office toll free t 1-866-372-2765 to make an appointment for your pet.

Bookmark www.carolonpets.com for the latest pet health news, tips, stories and pet anti-aging updates for your dogs and cats.

I wanted to share this note with all of my pet loving friends. I received this from a family in Florida. They are the proud owners of a Cocker Spaniel named Buddy. who has been diagnosed with Lymphoma cancer.

Hi Dr. Carol,
Our Cocker Spaniel, Buddy was diagnosed with Lymphoma cancer in July 2009.

We live in Florida. My husband found out about your PAAWS vitamins online and called to find out some information and order PAAWS.

Buddy started taking PAAWS vitamins the week after his diagnosis and has been taking them ever since!

He loves them!

We decided to try chemotherapy and with the first protocol, he went into remission for 5 weeks.  Then, unfortunately the lymphoma returned. We decided to try a rescue protocol and he has been in a second remission for 6 months now.

His last chemotherapy treatment was 3 months ago and he is doing FANTASTIC!!!

We think that it is a combination of many things: his wonderful veterinarian, chemotherapy, your wonderful PAAWS vitamins and lots of love from his family!

Just wanted to share his success!

We can’t thank you enough you for all your help, time and advice and for making this wonderful PAAWS product!

Tom, Beverly & Buddy

Holistic veterinarian and Anti-Aging Pet Health Diplomat, Dr. Carol Osborne, DVM., is available for pet health consultations and pet health questions for dogs and cats. To make an appointment for your dog and/or cat call Dr. Carol’s office Toll Free at 1-866-372-2765.

Bookmark www.carolonpets.com for the latest pet health news, tips and pet anti-aging up dates for your dogs and cats.

Dear Dr. Carol,

Thank you so much for your offer of advice (which I will use in the future as I have 3 dogs), but unfortunately, our dog was diagnosed with cancer. A tumor weakened the shoulder which made the breaks easier to happen. We put him to sleep this morning as his quality of life was not going to be good. He was in pain. He lived 15 great years. He passed peacefully. I think that is the best gift we could give him. He was fed home-made foods and given great immune supplements all his life, but sometimes we have to let them go.

How nice to know that a total stranger (and, now, new friend) can be so intimate and caring.
Thank you for this. I will stay in contact as we continue to be blessed with our four legged friends.

Blessed to be a caretaker
Best wishes,
Sherri L.

Cancer is now the leading cause of death in dogs in the United States!

Certainly cures are needed and now some of these cancer ridden dogs have been enrolled in a new clinical trials program, in which they receive experimental chemotherapeutic drugs before they become available for people. Twelve trials are currently under way on groups of 15 to 60 dogs, and at this point some reports say that many of these canines have responded “favorably” to the drugs.

The trials are being run by The Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium which is located in Bethesda, Maryland, and was recently formed by the US National Cancer Institute.

The rationale for using dogs instead of mice and rats, is because cancer affects dogs very similar to the way it affects people. In addition, the different types of cancers, plaguing pets is also similar to the variety’s affecting humans. Therefore their rationale on using dogs, instead of rats and mice as “guinea pigs” for people gives researchers a better idea of how the drugs would eventually affect people.
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The Nobel prize for medicine was awarded to three American scientists for their discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase, that play a key role in the aging process as well as cancer, in people and pets.
The three American Laureates were awarded the Nobel Prize of $1.42 million dollars.

These discoveries will further the understanding of the aging process, shed light on disease mechanisms, and in time help to stimulate the development of potential new human and pet therapies.

Elizabeth Blackburn from the University of California at San Francisco was one member of the Nobel Laureate team.

The telomerase enzyme also plays a key role in allowing tumor cells to multiply uncontrolled and develop into cancer. As such this represents a major new area of focus for new drug research. For example, vaccines that target telomerase are currently in clinical trials for the treatment of lung and prostate cancer.

This discovery is of major significance and will become the new foundation for future research on cancer, stem cells and the aging process itself. This research is as applicable to pets as it is for people.

Jack Szostak of the Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts was the second recipient.

Medicine is traditionally the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year. The prizes for achievement in science, literature and peace were initially awarded in 1901 accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman, Alfred Nobel.

The final recipient, Carol Greider (left) is with John Hopkins University, School of Medicine, in Baltimore, Maryland.
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Ever since scientists unraveled the dogs DNA or genetic code and found it to be quite similar to human DNA, research into medical conditions and treatments for people and pets has been on the rise.
Recent results from a 2008 survey revealed that the leading medical conditions affecting people, mimic the top conditions plaguing pets.

Allergies, for example rank number one for people and pets. In the past, many mistakenly considered allergies to be exclusive to humans. The signs of an allergy differ between the two species.

Allergic people primarily sneeze and may also get runny eyes whereas itching is usually the primary sign of allergies in pets and some may also be affected with runny eyes. The end result for both is the same and requires treatment for relief.

1. Allergies topped the list. In 2008, there were 63,761 claims made for pet skin allergies. Allergic reactions in pets can result from various agents that are called allergens, including flea saliva, pollen, grasses and/or various foods.

Treatment options for pets are similar in principle to those for people. It involves controlling the pet’s exposure to allergens,in the environment and/or to certain foods, stopping the itching, sneezing and/or runny eyes and boosting internal immunity.

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Hi Dr. Carol,
Happi Dog is still doing great! I’m so pleased.
It’s time to order some more am/pm Paaws vitamins, I have less than a week left.

Happi Dog is so full of life and energy that I can’t believe he is really sick and no one else can believe it either. He hasn’t had any more collapsing episodes and loves his anti-cancer diet
I know his spleen cancer is terminal but he is surely enjoying life to the fullest for now.

Thanks!! Mindi V.

Hormones naturally decline as people age… but what about hormones in our pets? In general, and as televised by Oprah herself, hormones are needed by the body and brain to grow, sustain life and function normally. Specifically, the female hormones of importance are estrogen and progesterone and in males testosterone dominates.

Have you ever wondered why so many pets are dying of cancer, suffering from obesity related issues, including arthritis and/or diagnosed with diabetes?

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Over the weekend, Mindi, who owns an 11 year old, 78 pound Labrador retriever called me crying. She was out of town and her dog whose name is Happi, suddenly collapsed. She rushed him to the nearest veterinary facility. They diagnosed a condition called Hemangiosarcoma, which is a terminal cancer of the spleen and recommended euthanasia.

Dear Dr. Carol,

This is a picture of Happi and me at the beach.

Thank you so much for helping my best friend, Happi dog. He is doing great! Happi loves the “anti-cancer” meal as well as the Paaws am/pm vitamins. I took him for more blood work and a urinalysis, and will be picking up copies this afternoon, which I will e-mail to you.

He is still full of life, despite his diagnosis of the hemangiosarcoma cancer of his spleen.

I am very pleased and appreciate all the time, help and wonderful advice you gave me.

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