Mast Cell Tumor Dog Cancer Supplements Can Enhance Conventional Chemotherapy Treatment

Radiation is highly effective in controlling mast cell cancer, but radiation is not for everyone. The treatments can be lengthy and expensive and the dog must be anesthetized for each treatment.

Mast Cell Canine Tumor treatment.

Further, there may be short or long term side effects that owners find objectionable. It is considered a good option for otherwise healthy young to middle aged dogs depending on how extensive the cancer is, and whether it has spread to other areas of the body. Chemotherapy can be very harsh, but if a dog tolerates it well their quality of life can be quite good, even during the treatment period. Prednisone (a corticosteroid) may be prescribed to reduce pain and swellings, but it is symptomatic treatment only and probably will not appreciably extend life span.

These treatment methods, developed over the last century or so are used to reduce the tumors, but should always be seen as only one arm of a multipronged approach. The reduction in tumor mass, or another way to say that is the reduction of the aberrant cells which are present, is most certainly a vital part of any treatment protocol.

But these methods alone do not cure cancer.

Only triggering the dog's normal immune recognition response can allow the dog to overcome the cancer. This is why we recommend immune enhancement to go along with any other treatment. Even after surgery or radiation or chemotherapy the underlying cause of the cancer is still there, which is the immune dysfunction that allowed the cancer to form in the first place.

Chemo and surgery do not deal with this underlying immune dysfunction.

However, when chemo and surgery are used along with immune modulation therapy, the chances of a dog overcoming mast cell cancer and living a normal life span are excellent. Until and unless the immune recognition response is triggered, the patient cannot overcome the cancer and recover fully. Ultimately, only the patient's own immune system can overcome the cancer.

Immune support for dogs fighting cancer.
Modern research into immune modulation therapy as an adjunct to conventional therapy has proven this concept. Immune modulation therapy is at the forefront in treating human cancers worldwide, although naturally occurring compounds are not usually recognized as drugs in America, so it is catching on slower here than in most other countries.

Naturally occurring compounds act to enhance immune function. These are called heteropolysaccharides, and work in conjunction with other compounds produced in the body, called immuno-proteins. Together they activate various types of immune cells that are the body's normal response to invaders. These invaders can be virus, bacteria, or cancer cells.