Chinese Herbs

Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) utilizes herbs, food and acupuncture to treat the disease pattern identified in an individual patient, taking into consideration the overall condition of the patient at that time. TCVM treatments work with the body rather than against it, and the side effects, if any, are typically mild. TCVM may be used as a stand-alone treatment or integrated with western medicine treatments for cancer patients. A few commonly used herbs for cancer are:

• Stasis Breaker: breaking blood stasis, soften hardness of tumors, clears the enlargement (4)

• Wei Qi Booster: boosts the pet’s immune system (5)

• Yunnan Baiyao: stops internal bleeding (6)

These herbs must be prescribed by a veterinarian educated in TCVM. To find one near you use this link.

CBD

CBD has the potential to help pets with cancer by aiding the tumor shrinking action of chemotherapy, reducing pain and inflammation, boosting the immune system, improving sleep, and increasing appetite while lessening nausea. In order to find a quality CBD oil, look for:

• Full or Broad Spectrum CBD Oil (hemp extract without THC) contains cannabinoids in addition to CBD and terpenes

• CO2 Extraction is best versus Solvent Extraction (unless solvent is something natural like olive oil)

• Review the Certificate of Analysis to make sure the amount of CBD is confirmed during testing and the testing is produced by a third party.

• Try to find an organic product

• Confirm there are no chemical additives or preservatives

• Check with your vet to determine if CBD interferes with your pet’s current medications (7)

Dosing CBD can be confusing. “Prior to recent studies, the generally accepted therapeutic dose range for CBD in animals has been 0.1 to 0.5 mg/kg twice daily, but dosing has been updated to 0.1 to 2 mg/kg twice daily based on now-available canine and feline data”, according to Dr. Cital, co-founder of the Veterinary Cannabis Academy (8). Always start at the low end of the range and work up slowly.

There is a veterinary cannabis organization that does phone consultations with a veterinary cannabis counselor for oncology patients. They are not affiliated with any product or brand and they are not veterinarians. I have heard good things about them through the TCC Facebook group.

A Facebook group CBD Oil for Pets should be helpful as well.

Curcumin & Golden Paste

Curcumin, one of the main ingredients in the spice, Tumeric, has been found to have anti-cancer effects and the ability to reduce inflammation. One 2012 study in rats, showed a protective effect against bladder cancer (9).

This bladder cancer study in 2014 , concluded “new compounds, such as curcumin, could be complementarily used in the clinical practice to manage the recurrences and soothe the inflammatory effect of transurethral resection or intravesical chemotherapy administration, or in combination with the chemotherapies to potentiate the antitumor effect”(10).

Curcumin, taken alone in your dog’s diet is typically not absorbed well into the bloodstream when eaten. However, if a fatty food is added such as coconut oil, olive oil or fish oil to the curcumin, it can increase the absorption. Another way to increase bioavailability is to make a mixture of Golden Paste using coconut oil, curcumin, pepper and filtered water (11).

Side effects are very uncommon, but “Curcumin causes contraction of the gallbladder so it is contraindicated if your pet has gallbladder stones or bile duct obstruction. Also use with caution in diabetic patients because it can lower blood sugar a bit. Stomach ulcers and bleeding disorders are two other situations where Curcumin is not recommended. It can occasionally cause stomach upset and might slow blood clotting. These effects are all very mild but if your pet has any of these conditions then Curcumin would not be the best choice for them”(11).

Probiotics

Based on current studies in people, physicians are studying the impact of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) as a stomach protectant for patients using NSAIDs long term. This 2018 study, suggests that PPIs protect the upper GI tract such as the stomach, but upset the bacteria in the lower intestinal tract (12). This study from 2010, suggests probiotics protect the lower intestinal tract in people taking NSAIDs long term. Veterinarians often prescribe PPI’s to prevent injuries to the GI tract when the animal is taking an NSAID long term, generally based on human studies. Therefore, it would be reasonable to assume a probiotic would be helpful to our TCC pets (13).

• The 2010 study on people did use specific bacteria as follows: contained 900 billion viable lyophilized bacteria consisting of four strains of Lactobacilli (L. casei, L. Plantarum, L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus), three strains of Bifidobacteria (B. longuum, B. breve and B. infantis), and one strain of Streptococcus salivaris subspecies thermophilus.

Saw Palmetto

Saw Palmetto works as an anti-inflammatory offering support for bladder control and muscle tone. Many people in the TCC Facebook group use this for their dogs and have good results. Most of the studies focus on using saw palmetto to improve prostate symptoms and show it does not help.

D-Mannose

D-Mannose is used to prevent recurrent UTI’s caused by E coli. There are no studies on dogs using
D-Mannose, but there is study from 2014 looking at women with recurrent UTI’s. D-Mannose significantly reduced the frequency of infections with minimal side effects (14).

Pumpkin

Pumpkin is a good source of fiber. Pureed pumpkin (with no added sugar or spice) can help dogs and cats with both constipation and diarrhea. Adding a tablespoon or two (in proportion to their size) to their regular meal is known to help keep them regular. It can also help dogs and cats with indigestion or upset stomachs.