>> Dr. Demian Dressler: If these are fish that are raised in captivity, those guys usually have less heavy metals, although they may have more glyphosate and other unhealthy things, so you got to kind of pick your battles there.
>> Announcer: Welcome to Dog Cancer Answers where we help you help your dog with cancer. Here’s your host, James Jacobson.
>> James Jacobson: Thanks for joining us on today’s Question & Answer show. Today we hear from Dorothy, who asks Dr. Demian Dressler about her little dog’s terrible allergies and using fish in her diet. Let’s listen first to her question and then to Dr. Dressler’s answer. Here’s Dorothy now:
>> Dorothy Hyatt: Dorothy Hyatt I’m with Bat World Sanctuary, my question is my little dog, it’s a 13 pound toy poodle. She has become allergic to just about every food under the sun.
She had a problem since she was a pup, but it’s gotten worse. We’ve been through all the game meats. She was a vegan for five months and that was golden, then she started having problems with the vegetables. Right now, as in the dog cancer diet, she does get cottage cheese for breakfast, and she’s able to hold that down.
But for her evening meal, I’m giving her brown rice and fish because that’s the only thing that she seems to be able to tolerate. I am using wild-caught U.S. water salmon. Because she’s small, I can afford to do that, but I’m fearful that once she has a problem with this, that, you know, where do I go from there?
But my main question is can a dog be fed too much fish because of the chemicals that they say, fish pick up in the ocean? Thank you very much.
>> Dr. Demian Dressler: Yeah. A good question. So two points, but to answer your question directly, the answer is kind of like, can a person be fed too much fish because of the heavy metal, particularly carcinogens, that are accumulated a lead, mercury, cadmium, stuff like that.
And for those who don’t know, the higher food chain fish, they’re larger that eat smaller fish, the heavy metals go up, and collect in the body and then go up the food chain. And by the time you get to some of these larger carnivorous fish, they end up with pretty high, heavy metals in their circulation and tissues and we eat them and the dogs eat them, and we get a lot of that.
So to answer that there’s two pieces, one, you can rotate between different types of fish. So that’s a good thing. And that’s one way to address that issue. The second thing, if these are fish that are raised in captivity, those guys usually have less heavy metals, although they may have more glyphosate and other unhealthy things, so you got to kind of pick your battles there.
And the third thing is there are many different types of fish, you know, there’s halibut and there’s Cod and stuff, and the costs tend to go down and there are other options. You can also go for more exotic meats. You said game meats. I don’t know if you’re including goat with that.
You can also – bison. You can also consider things like ostrich. That’s another meat source. So these are options.
By the way, it sounds like your dog probably has some pretty bad food allergies or probably even inflammatory bowel disease or other causes of GI upset because it’s unusual to have such reactivity going on towards vegetables.
That really makes you think, okay, there’s something wrong with this dog. It’s not just a simple food allergy thing. Like maybe it’s got exocrine, pancreatic insufficiency where it can’t digest certain things. My advice would be got to look at that. Maybe there’s something wrong there. Maybe there’s different problems.
Maybe we need medication to suppress these abnormal responses and it’s not so much that’s the food’s problem, it’s the dog’s problem. And anything that you put inside that stomach creates abnormal inflammatory reaction. Maybe it deserves some medication or a closer look to see. Particularly with pancreatic insufficiency and sometimes some other problems like Addison’s disease, which is a hormonal thing, will give you GI upset and it’ll happen if they’ve got like a little allergy and then a background problem with Addison’s disease or with pancreatic insufficiency.
So those types of things I’d be looking at, I’d be looking at medication and I’d be looking at an alternating your protein sources. I hope that helps.
>> James Jacobson: Thank you, Dr. Dressler, for answering Dorothy’s question, and thank you for leaving your question on our Listener Line, Dorothy, we certainly appreciate it. I always learn something new from these Question and Answer shows, even when I think I “know” the answer already.
For example, I knew about the possibility of heavy metal toxicity from eating too many wild-caught fish, because I live in Hawaii and we eat a LOT of sushi. But I hadn’t thought about how severe food allergies like what Dorothy’s little girl suffer might be something more serious, or a “dog problem,” rather than “food problem.”
So if you get tired of us reminding you to visit your veterinarian, well, that’s why – there could always be something else going on, and we’ve learned from hard experience that it’s best to get your vet involved early rather than later. Just like for us, I suppose.
A couple things to wrap up on today’s show: don’t forget to hit that subscribe button, and write a review, and tell a friend and tell your veterinarian about this program.
Telling your friends and associates about Dog Cancer Answers is how we grow. And everyone here on our team would appreciate your support so we can continue to support as many dog lovers as possible thru what can be a very difficult time.
<<TOUCH TONE SFX>>
Those touch tones remind me to remind you to call our Listener Line and leave your question about dog cancer for one of our veterinarians to answer on a future episode. Call 808-868-3200 24 hours a day, it’s a recorded line, or visit our website at DogCancerAnswers.com.
And finally, we’d like to thank our sponsor: The Dog Cancer Survival Guide BOOK by our guest for today, Dr. Demian Dressler and Susan Ettinger. It is available wherever fine books are sold both online and in physical bookstores. And you can get the book right away direct from the publisher. It’s available in paperback (with free shipping anywhere in the USA) or as an ebook edition for less than $10. To get either the ebook or the paperback go to this website: DogCancerBook.com. And because you are a listener to this show, if you use the promo code “podcast”, you can save 10%. The website again: DogCancerBook.com. And use that promo code “podcast” for 10% off. That is www.DogCancerBook.com.
Thanks again to Dr. Demian Dressler for being our guest today and to Dorothy for her question. If you would like to reach out to Dr. D, his website is www.VetinKihei.com, that is Vet in Kihei, spelled K-I-H-E-I, dot com.
Until next time, I am James Jacobson. From all of us here at Dog Cancer Answers and Dog Podcast Network, I wish you and your dog a warm Aloha.
>> Announcer: Thank you for listening to Dog Cancer Answers. If you’d like to connect, please visit our website at DogCancerAnswers.com or call our Listener Line at 808-868-3200.
>> Announcer: And here’s a friendly reminder that you probably already know: this podcast is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It’s not meant to take the place of the advice you receive from your dog’s veterinarian. Only veterinarians who examine your dog can give you veterinary advice or diagnose your dog’s medical condition. Your reliance on the information you hear on this podcast is solely at your own risk. If your dog has a specific health problem, contact your veterinarian.
Also, please keep in mind that veterinary information can change rapidly. Therefore, some information may be out of date.
Dog Cancer Answers is a presentation of Maui Media in association with Dog Podcast Network.
