Diet for Dogs With Lymphoma

It is devastating when your dog is afflicted with lymphoma. No doubt you want to do what is best for your dog's health, which includes the food that goes into its body. According to dogcancer.net, it is important to provide nutritional food, such as protein and vegetables for your dog rather than grains, sugars and carbohydrates, which feed cancer cells.

About Lymphoma

Because lymphoma is the most common cancer that can affect your dog, it also has the best results for treatment and the highest rate of remission, according to dogcancer.net and caninecancerawareness.org. Lymphoma is malignant tumors in dogs, usually in the lymph nodes, the liver, spleen, and even the digestive tract. It is not uncommon for it to also affect the skin and eyes. As of 2010, there is a high rate of remission in canine lymphoma due to improved technology.

Diet Significance

As with humans, it is important what you put in your dog's body. Putting your dog on a special diet can have a significant effect on his overall health, keeping cancer cells at bay. According to dogcancer.net, most cancer side effects can be avoided by controlling your dog's diet. Every part of its body is restricted by the foods it eats. During the convalescent stage, it is important to build your dog's immune system back to normal. The body tissue has been damaged, and with the help of sufficient proteins, along with supplements of Omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids, new healthy tissue can build and grow.

Diet Features

Cancerawareness.org states that diet is extremely important to the maintenance of a dog with cancer, such as lymphoma. Your dog's diet should consist of limited amounts of simple sugars, moderate complex sugars, high quality proteins and specific amounts of certain types of fat. It also should include proteins, such as egg whites, white chicken meat, lean beef, beans, skim milk and lamb. A recommended food by the Morris Animal Foundation is the Hills Science Diet n/d, which is cancer specific.

Benefits

The cancer diet has tremendous benefits of building healthy tissue, blood cells and muscles along with building your dog's immune system. It will inhibit tumor growth as it fights the adverse effects of the cancer and cancer therapy. This diet improves your dog's quality of life by reversing the harmful deformities created by cancer.

Warning

Cancerawareness.org states that as well as the danger of grains, is the danger of simple and complex sugar and any ingredients that end in "ose," such as glucose and dextrose. Cancer cells feed on sugar and you want to starve those cells. Also, restrict the intake of complex carbohydrates that contain complex sugars.

As stated in vetinfo.com, be aware when your dog first starts on the diet, it may experience nausea or vomiting. Take it slow, don't push it into eating and talk to your veterinarian regarding medication for nausea. Also consider small meals several times a day, change mealtimes and feeding places, should it associate the eating experience with previous pain it has gone through. The objective is to make eating fun for your dog, avoiding medications or treatments during mealtimes.