Garlic Is Good For Your Dog And It Also Fights Cancer

For as long as people have been been using garlic, they've been feeding it to their animal companions. However, recently, the safety of garlic for dogs has come into question. Knowledge is a powerful thing but astute pet owners should gather all the data before shunning this celebrated bulb. Today, garlic is making a strong comeback as a potent natural remedy.

Five thousand year old Sanskrit and Chinese medical manuscripts describe the benefits of garlic. Garlic was also a valued staple for the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans. In fact, fifteen pounds of garlic was the going price for a healthy male slave in Egypt.

Hippocrates advocated garlic for infections, cancer and digestive disorders. The great Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder recommended it for a wide variety of ailments ranging from the common cold to epilepsy, leprosy, cancer and tapeworms.

What's healthy and what's too much? Let's get to the bottom the garlic story. Where do you draw the line on how much garlic your dog can get in his meal? Garlic is approved as a flavoring, spice or seasoning for use in pet food, yet the FDA has garlic listed in its poisonous plant database with this link http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/Plantox/Detail.CFM?ID=16094 Studies suggest that when garlic is fed in excessive quantities (5 grms of whole garlic per kilogram of the dogs body weight), it may cause damage to the red blood cells of dogs.

Drinking too much water can kill you but we all drink water. In fact, we all know that drinking enough water is a healthy thing to do Considering the data presented in the study referenced above does this mean the average Golden Retriever at 75 lbs would need to eat 5 full heads of garlic or about 75 cloves of garlic in a meal before there would be any adverse effect on the red blood cells. Similarly, a dog weighing mere 12 lbs would need to eat 30 grams of garlic which is a bit less than a entire head of garlic or about 8 to 10 garlic cloves in two meals a day repeatedly to experience any adverse effects.

Case in point: do you know anyone who feeds dogs that much garlic in one meal? Furthermore, reported adverse affects from garlic add up to a total non-event over the past 22 years. The National Animal Supplement Council responsibly records both Adverse Events and Serious Adverse Events resulting from the use of natural products. A Serious Adverse Event is defined as: "An Adverse Event with a transient incapacitating effect (i.e. rendering the animal unable to function normally for a short period of time, such as with a seizure) or non-transient (i.e. permanent) health effect." 900 million doses of garlic over a 22 year time span resulted in only two Serious Adverse Events and these episodes could very well have been due, not to garlic, but to another ingredient in the mix. This proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that the risk of using garlic is so infintessimally low that it's simply statistically insignificant. Here, in a nutshell is the whole truth about garlic. So what's the moral of the story? Perhaps, moderation is the key to good health.

GARLIC HELPS PREVENT CANCER AND MANY OTHER DISEASES

What is significant is all the positive research delineating the medicinal powers of garlic. Of all of garlic's reputed benefits, perhaps the best well known is its use as a natural antibioitic with reports going back through history. In fact, Pasteur noted garlic's antibacterial activity in 1958. Modern researchers have compared the effectiveness of garlic with that of antibiotics and have found that garlic has a broad-spectrum anti-bacterial effect. Additionally, bacteria don't seem to build up a resisitance to garlic as they do to many modern antibiotics. While I would not use garlic as a substitute for veterinary care and the correct choice of antibiotics it's antifungal, antiviral and antibacterial effects can contribute to the healing process. Garlic increases general immune activity along with the activity of Killer Cells (cells that seek out and kill invading bacteria and cancer cells). Uncooked garlic helps to lower blood triglycerides and choleterol making it useful for certain breeds (Schnauzers and Beagles) that are predisposed to this problem.

There's a secret to releasing the healing powers of garlic. Allicin is the most powerful medicinal compound derived from garlic, providing the most important health benefits. Garlic does not contain alllicin. Rather, garlic first has to go through a chemical process so the allicin can be released. When garlic is crushed, an amino acid contained within it reacts with an enzyme, creating allicin. You must finely chop or crush a garlic clove then wait a few minutes to allow the chemical reaction to occur. Additionally, allicin is unstable when exposed to air and heat so don't wait more than 20 minutes before you top your dog's meal with some healthy raw garlic. I can't help but think of the old fashioned home made Ceasar salad, where raw garlic is crushed and placed in the mix just before serving. It's healthier for me than I previously thought!

While cooking garlic destroys allicin, other components in the cooked or powdered garlic continue to provide some beneficial health effects. Compounds in garlic act as antioxidants and help flush toxins out. If you cook meals for your dog, it's totally safe to add garlic as a flavoring and for improved health. (Unless you add 75 cloves to one meal; forgive my tongue-in-cheek. Seriously, would the average dog even eat that meal?)

Additionally, garlic has been fed to dogs in order to help prevent flea infestation for decades. There are many products on the market containing garlic for this very purpose. Both powdered and raw garlic are effective although raw garlic has significantly more health benefits. When using garlic as a flea preventive it's important to use a castile soap or detergent free shampoo. Dogs don't sweat as humans do and the garlic 'aroma' comes out in the oil on their coat. It takes several weeks for the garlic compounds to build up in the oil and a detergent shampoo removes the oil and you're back to square one again.

A host of studies provide evidence that the allicin in garlic works to inhibit cancer formation. With cancer being the number on cause of death in dogs in the United States, let's all get going with garlic! Buy a garlic press or simply chop some garlic very finely and let it sit for about 15 minutes. You can then mix it in with a tablespoon of cooked, cooled chopped beef or chicken and place it on top of your dog's meal.

A recipe for perfect health support for your dog is a serving of Deserving Pets VITAL VITIES- the most perfectly formulated pet vitamin ever to come on the market along with some coconut oil. VITAL VITIES contain over 40 vitamins and minerals necessary for good health along with carefully chosen phytonutrients from super foods to help stave off and prevent disease. With one in two dogs getting cancer, it's time to be proactive. In my best-seller book Dr. Khalsa's Natural Dog, I have an entire chapter on cancer prevention. Let's work together to make our dogs healthier and happier.

The best-selling book, 'Dr Khalsa's Natural Dog, is described as a 'holistic bible' for dog owners. Dr Khalsa designed the most comprehensive and effective daily supplement on the market for dogs using a cutting edge technology to create glowing health in your pets VITAL VITIES