By Scott Harris
Do you know the truth about dog food? You may have heard about the possibility that some dog foods can cause cancer but is there any truth to this? In this article I will tell you if it is or is not the case and how it could happen. Most importantly, I will tell you how to give your dog the best chance of avoiding cancer and living a long life.
Simple Yes Or No - Does Dog Food Cause Cancer?
The answer is "yes" - some dog foods can indeed cause cancer. I'm talking here about dog food of the manufactured sort that most people feed their dogs with. It's convenient to choose and buy and prepare for your dog but these positives are outweighed by the negatives of a life cut short while your dog is in otherwise prime condition.
How Can Dog Food Cause Cancer?
To understand this we first need to understand the causes of cancer.
Almost any living mammal (dogs, humans and other animals) can get cancer. It is impossible to reduce the chances to zero so there is always some "luck" element to it. This is down to our genes and the aspects of our specific environment that we cannot control. It is also down to pure chance.
However, most cancers today are caused by lifestyle and especially what we eat. You are your dog's best friend and you alone are responsible for what he or she eats. It's as simple as this: feed your dog trash and he or she has a higher chance of getting cancer. Feed him or her good quality food and not only will they have a reduced risk of cancer but they will also live not just a longer life but also a much healthier and happy life.
But that is not the only way that dog food can cause cancer.
Inferior Health Regulations For Dogs
The most stringent health regulations concerning the food industry apply to us, humans. Unfortunately, we don't extend the same laws towards our pets. Commercially produced dog food is full of toxins (mostly added) that bring economic benefit to the manufacturers but slowly kill our beloved pets.
For example, many commercial dog foods contain high levels of fluoride in ingredients such as bone meal. Studies have shown that bone cancer can result from excessive fluoride consumption and yet there are no controls on this substance in dog food. This stuff accumulates in the bones and may explain why there are over 8,000 cases of osteosarcoma reported in dogs each and every year in the United States alone.
Another major cause of cancer in dogs comes from high temperature cooking. By-products such as heterocyclic amines and acrylamides are carcinogens which can increase the risk of cancer when ingested. Of course, most processed foods (even for humans) carry some small risk. But when you feed your dog nothing but poorly prepared commercial foods (even half his or her diet) then they are going to have a much greater cancer risk compared to the alternatives.
What Are The Alternatives?
There is really only one alternative, in my view, and that is to prepare your own homemade food for your dog. Before you think "no way, I don't have time for that" you need to understand that so long as you prepare food in bulk then it really is not a chore at all. Plus you can sleep better at night knowing that your beloved dog is getting the best in life from its master and will likely live a long time too. It's simply unfair on a dog to give it nothing but processed food.
Even if you don't want to make all the food for your dog, a couple of bulk recipes made per week should be enough so that your dog will at least get half of its food from healthy sources. This is better than none at all.
Help your dog live longer. Get free tips for a better and longer life for your dog and discover why 87% of dogs die early here: Help Your Dog Live Longer [http://www.helpyourdoglivelonger.com].
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Harris
