Cancer is now the single most dangerous threat to domestic animals in the US. Roughly one third of all dogs will be a victim of canine cancer and half of them will lose their life to it. Fortunately, as horrible as cancer is, it is one of the most preventable diseases your dog may get and there are plenty of steps you can take to ensure they never do. And if your dog has already been diagnosed with cancer, you can do plenty to help them fight it or simply live a better life.

The first goal is always to identify what exactly might contribute to you dog’s chances of getting cancer. Anything from poor diet to an unhealthy environment might be a factor. Correcting your dog’s diet is the simplest step, but one of the most effective, in helping your dog avoid being unhealthy.

Store brand dog foods are some of the worst things that you can feed your dog, lacking nutrition and containing dangerous chemicals. You wouldn’t eat processed food for every meal of the day for your entire life, would you? Think what you would feel like if you never ate fruit or fresh vegetables.

Environment also plays a big role in determining your dog’s health. Even if you are a clean person, the air inside your house is filled with dust and allergens and even microscopic mites and other organisms and, while they are not dangerous is small amounts, if your dog sits inside all day and never gets any fresh air you can’t expect him to be healthy or happy. While it may be fairly obvious, keeping your dog in a smoke-free environment is going to keep him much healthier.

There is no way to guarantee that your dog will never get cancer, but having a healthy immune system is as close as you can get. A healthy diet is the primary contributor to leading a healthy life.

Forget that you ever heard that dogs should only eat bagged dog food. Your dog would do well to have a carrot or celery stick for a treat rather than a dog treat. Veggies which have plenty of vitamins and fruits with antioxidants are great snacks and treats for dogs.

However, there are some foods which dogs must avoid such as avocados, raisins, grapes, onions and garlic among other things. The next major aspect to a healthy lifestyle and strong immune system is lots of outdoor exercise.

There is no limit to how much activity your dog should get during their life. Dogs are far more active than humans and can seem to go all day, but when they do not get enough exercise they can become aggressive and destructive.

However, even a healthy dog may end up with cancer. If your dog is diagnosed with cancer, it doesn’t mean there is nothing you can do. While medical treatments are extremely expensive, they are also invasive and hard to endure for the dog.

Surgery, usually the first step in fighting cancer, can be too much for some older dogs to handle and may not even be an option. It doesn’t get better with chemotherapy either as the entire body is poisoned to kill the cancer.

Radiation therapy requires the tumor to be blasted with radiation which can also kill healthy cells. Whether you can’t afford these treatments or simply don’t want your dog to have to endure them, there are alternative cancer treatments for canines that you can pursue.

Along the lines of a healthy diet, many holistic and homeopathic canine cancer treatments use herbs that help fight cancer. Two of the most popular herbs, Echinacea and Astralagus, have been used for centuries as immune-boosters. Cat’s Claw and Milk Thistle are also used to prevent or fight cancer in humans as well as dogs.

If you are already pursuing these treatments, you may want to consider acupuncture or static magnet therapies which can help alleviate some of the pain associated with cancer. While these methods may all help, it cannot be understated that a healthy diet and ample exercise are the best things you can do for your dog and there really is no supplement that can take their place.