Can Keto Fight Cancer in Dogs?
We’ve gone on about the benefits of a Keto diet for humans, but what about our furry family members?
I’m not talking about Uncle Jerry. I’m talking about your four-legged fluffy puppy that you pick up after. New Canadian brands promoting gently cooked fresh dog food have started popping up and from first glance they seem to be the healthier alternative, but are they?
I came across an interesting study that showed how one of the most aggressive cancers found in dogs, Hemangiosarcoma, was wiped in 120 days using a fresh dog food diet containing higher protein and fat content.
It is crazy to believe a simple change in diet can help us battle something as degenerative as cancer, but let’s try and understand that a bit more.
So what’s in current dog food?
It took me by surprise when I found out the number of dog food recalls happening in Canada and across the globe. Current leading pet food brands like Purina and Hill’s use an extrusion method, which cooks all the ingredients in such high temperatures essentially destroying most of the nutrients. This leaves you with those burnt brown balls that they coat with chemicals, food colouring and preservatives to make sure it is marketable. These diets are high in fillers that are primarily carbohydrate based.
Highly processed and carbohydrate diets have driven obesity in Canada to over 64%. This clearly draws a strong correlation to what we see in our pets who face obesity rates beyond 60%. It’s evident that what we put in a dog's stomach matters just as much as what we put in our own stomachs.
How do I give my dog a richer protein and fat diet?
Although dogs aren’t humans, it’s important to know that our pets shouldn’t be eating overly processed foods everyday. How would you feel if you had the same meal packed with fillers and carbs everyday (looking at you Cereal industry)?
The easy answer could be building a raw dog food diet, but due to the high recalls and safety concerns the best median seems to be a gently cooked, fresh food option.
More recent studies have shown that freshly cooked dog food can even improve digestibility in dogs. From even more investigating, I found a non-profit in the United States studying the benefits of Ketogenic diets for dogs with cancer. To much of my surprise there are some great case studies and the research keeps coming.
Dogs are no longer just an object we own. They are an important member of our family and we deserve to feed them the best diet possible. We need to think more about what we put in our dog’s bowl and understand it impacts their way of life.
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Chris Appave
CEO & Founder of KETO4ALL!
