Cancer

On Animal Health:
March issue of Vitality Magazine

By Helke Ferrie

It is more than a decade ago now that I embarked on that steep learning curve that leads out of the morass of pharmaceutical propaganda into medicine that is curative and truly scientific, and attended my first medical conference. This was in Houston , Texas , and the presentations, according to the syllabus, all reported on advances in immunology. To my amazement, one of the presenters was a veterinarian who talked about curing cancer in horses, in this case mostly racehorses. The notion of curing cancer was then not only new to me, but outright cuckoo. His charts and tables, graphs and lab test results conformed to the expected hieroglyphics of medical science, as did his credentials. Nobody else but me seemed to be perplexed by the fact that most of these horses were cured of cancer, mostly by dietary interventions and massive supplementation of minerals, enzymes and vitamins, all of which measurably were shown to restore the immune system: the animal’s biochemistry changed so the cancer starved. In my astonishment I blurted out, “I didn’t know cancer could be cured!” The vet laughed, and I have never forgotten his reply: “A million dollar race horse is too great an investment to lose to cancer.”

The implications of his statement for human cancer are stunning and provide a glimpse into the darkest part of medicine - that industry that thrives on death, not on cures and prevention. Scientifically, any intervention that actually cures a sick animal is of the greatest importance because to animals the problem of the placebo effect does not apply. Animals only react to the active ingredient of a drug, never to the dummy pill. Therefore, curing a sick animal provides the ultimate confirmation of a therapy that even leaves placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over studies in the dust. This fact, that medical science totally accepts, is especially galling to those who keep attacking homeopathy as unscientific and those who attempt to discredit Chinese medicine. In fact, both systems of medicine work wonderfully on sick animals and are in this regard validated by the standard applied to western medicine. Homeopathic veterinarian Dr. Pitcairn’s wonderful book, listed in the resources, is highly recommended.

Because of this lack of the placebo effect and as especially mammals tend to suffer from just about all the disease humans may develop, it is through animal experiments that medical science obtained and still gets most of its information. Our physical kinship with our pets and farm animals is so close and so profound as to bind us to them in blood, enzymes, and hormones. Indeed, in an emergency a human life can be saved with a blood transfusion from a chimpanzee – but it can be done only once; after that the human immune system rejects the chimp’s blood as foreign, even though our DNA is 95% identical. Similarly, mice are so extraordinarily important to medical drug research because they share with humans a virtually identical enzyme system and metabolize drugs almost always exactly as humans do. It therefore comes as no surprise that animal health thrives just as human health does when the environment and food is free of poisons and full of essential nutrients – and all those essentials are essential to both.

Last year we adopted a 4-months old puppy with mast cell cancer. A purebred white Golden Retriever, she could not be sold. We named her Kulfi after the East Indian almond-speckled and cardamom-flavored vanilla ice cream which her coat resembles. Her case caused a stir at Guelph University ’s veterinary school whose oncologists had never heard of a case of a puppy with cancer. Mast cells produce a dual-action hormone/neurotransmitter known as histamine. Like all such communication proteins, histamine is capable of transmitting messages throughout the body in nano-seconds and its actions range from mediating inflammation, allergy, asthma and more, to such important processes as sleep regulation, many immune responses, promoting the work of enzymes that detoxify, and under certain circumstances helping to reduce allergic responses as well as promoting cell repair. Since mast cells with their histamine-producing capability are located in all tissues throughout the body, especially near blood vessels of all sizes, having them re-programmed by cancer can spell instant chaos throughout.

Having lost so many animals to cancer before we knew how to prevent it, this was a challenge we immediately embraced with enthusiasm. For a puppy to have cancer, the mother must have been exposed to a carcinogen that crosses the placenta. Sure enough, inquiries revealed that the pregnant dog mamma used to frolic in a pond on the breeder’s property which was downhill from a potato farmer whose liberally applied pesticides contained various toxic metals as emulsifiers, including especially barium and aluminum. Unacceptable amounts of arsenic, lead and mercury were also found when we received the results of a hair analysis from Anamol Laboratories. Since toxic minerals displace the beneficial ones, it came as no surprise to find copper levels to be dangerously depleted – the tell-tale sign of cancer.

Being familiar with the great work done by the French scientist Andre Voisin on mineral deficiencies and cancer, we got to work on designing the perfect diet and a supplementation program to help create a biochemical environment in our new animal baby friend that would send the cancer dragon back into hiding at least. Our vet, who also works at the Guelph Veterinary College , agreed with our views and is monitoring this experiment. Between March of last year and this February, Kulfi grew into a rambunctious big girl who literally yodels when she is pleased, which she is often. The recent follow-up hair analysis showed that detoxification of the heavy metals is proceeding nicely and that the copper reserves are approaching normal. Interestingly, Kulfi is especially fond of cashew nuts which happen to be full of zinc – the mineral antidote to the toxic mineral aluminim.

The basic rule of thumb for human and animal health is this: whatever prevents cancer, prevents everything else as well. Cancer is the last and mostly final biological cry the organism emits to inform us that now everything that could possibly go wrong has done so. Because animals so often are important to human purposes, and because they tend to be more profitable when they are healthy, alive and fertile it makes sense that in veterinary medicine a lot more attention is paid to biochemistry than in human medicine. Vets routinely sell organic animal food in their offices, while in human medicine only sports medicine pays attention to magnesium and potassium levels, to mention just one example. Dog breeders rattle off the importance of minerals and raw food like medical scientists while your GP may at best suggest you reduce your intake of junk food to control weight. At a lecture about Codex, the international food regulatory agency that is so hostile to the free availability of nutritional supplements, I once regaled the audience by reading off the list of ingredients in a popular cat food. It was full of optimal amounts of essential nutrients as to exceed the amounts provided in baby formulas. I joked that if Codex succeeds in limiting access to supplements, we can all switch to cat food and relax.

The rules of disease prevention for animals are the same as for us: don’t feed them processed foods, keep them away from disease-promoting environmental toxins (tobacco-smoking humans, chlorinated and fluoridated water, pesticide-loaded foods of any kind, hormone-laced meats, processed foods, chemical flea collars and potions) and feed them as much as possible good, organic raw foods, provide them with plenty of exercise and don’t vaccinate them unless absolutely necessary and only every 5 to 10 years. As our pets age, they require the same attention to joint health and digestion as we do. Our 10-year old Golden Retriever named Bogus (after the invisible friend who became real in the movie by that name), perked up mightily and roams the forest around our house with renewed energy after receiving extra vitamin E, MS glucosamine and a supplement containing all essential minerals.

Are these the words of a paranoid, chemico-phobic health nut (as I was once described by the pesticide lobby)? No – this advice comes straight from the websites of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. They warn of the high incidence of sarcoma in cats caused by vaccines and assert that it is incumbent on every vet to check the antibodies in a dog’s and cat’s blood before considering a booster shot for any disease. In fact, the AVMA recently even had an international, totally mainstream medical conference devoted entirely to vaccine-associated cancers in household pets. Human doctors, to my knowledge, haven’t got that far yet. CBC’s Marketplace ran a whole program on this problem in January of 2000.

You will find that once you start researching animal health publications, that all of the advice provided will also be good for you. The equivalent of Vitality Magazine for animals are undoubtedly the Animal Wellness Magazine and the Pets 4 Life Newsletter. The first covers the whole range of animal health issues and is available also on-line; the second treats one major one in each issue. As for food, I am especially impressed by two sources both of which provide all the food our three dogs and 6 cats eat every day. Really good commercially available pet food is a relatively recent development and a market niche that is by no means filled, and since I derive no personal gain from recommending these two companies, I feel free to do so, having seen how well our animals are doing on these foods.

Through a discussion on essential minerals for humans, I learned that a friend of my grandchildren, Kim Thomson in Orangeville, that she had started a raw organic pet food company a decade ago. Knowing from the research of Dr. Francis Pottenger how essential raw foods are to animal health, I started my dogs on it at once. Raw foods are of great importance to animal and human health because the minerals and phytonutrients available in uncooked foods support anything from fertility to cell repair. Kim’s fabulous organic food looks like kibble, comes freeze-dried to preserve all the nutrients, is 80% raw meat, and additionally contains all the important vegetable-based ingredients needed (garlic, carrots etc.). (And yes, animals need vegetables and even fruit. We had an Airdale named Teddy who absolutely loved apples – but only the Granny Smith variety. ) Best of all, Kim’s formulation is based on many years of experience with breeding dogs. Her website is not bashful: it is called “The Ultimate Diet”, but Kim can afford to crow – in terms of its nutrients, this food is fit for kings. Check it out yourself. Dealers are listed on the website.

The other food source is called Holistic Blend whose informative website also shows that their products are endorsed by the World Society for the Protection of Animals and that the manufacturer is a member of the Organic Trade Association. Nutritional and medical information on a long list of health problems in pets can be accessed on this website as well, and the information provided would make an orthomolecular medical practitioner working for humans very happy. The Holistic Blend dry foods are great when used together with the raw stuff. It is not always practical to have only frozen food available, when traveling for example, and many pets like to have some crunchy dry foods mixed with the frozen meat pebbles. When browsing this website you will also learn about the ingredients in great detail and what vitamins do what for dogs and cats and how. Finicky cats love this stuff!

Legend has it that the prophet Mohammed loved cats so much that he considered them worthy of the utmost consideration. When one of them curled up and fell asleep on part of his coat spread out beside him, rather than wake the animal, the Prophet is said to have quietly cut off that piece of his coat with his dagger when he needed to rise. Today, the Prophet would undoubtedly make sure his cats were fed with as healthy a food as humans know how to prepare for themselves and treat felines ailments with medicine that cures and restores all forms of animal life.

Anamol Laboratories, Concorde , Ontario , 905-660-1225 for mineral and nutritional analysis in humans and animals

Animal Wellness Magazine (digital or printed subscription call 866-764-1212

Gerson Institute, info@Gerson.org, for cancer questions

The Ultimate Diet, www.theultimatediet.com (for suppliers of this organic raw cat and dog food throughout the GTA)

Holistic Blend, animal food www.holisticblend.com (available at most pet food stores)

Pets 4 Life Newsletter, www.pets4life.com

R. H. Pitcairn, Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, 3^rd edition 2005. to order www.drpitcairn.com or amazon.com

A. Voisin, Soil Grass and Cancer, 1959, Crosby Lockwood UK ; out of print, photocopy edition through Kos Inc 519-927-1049

Dr. K.-G Wenzel & R. Pataracchia, The Earth’s Gift to Medicine: Minerals in Health and Disease, 2005, Kos Publishing, 519-927-1049

www.westonprice.org for Dr. F. M. Pottenger’s Pottenger’s Cats: A Study in Nutrition, Weston Price Foundation (1983), 1995


	On Animal Health:

	On Animal Health: March issue of Vitality Magazine By Helke Ferrie It is more than a decade ago now that I embarked on that steep learning curve that leads out of the morass of pharmaceutical propaganda into medicine that is curative and truly scientific, and attended my first medical conference. This was in Houston , Texas , and the presentations, according to the syllabus, all reported on advances in immunology. To my amazement, one of the presenters was a veterinarian who talked about curing cancer in horses, in this case mostly racehorses. The notion of curing cancer was then not only new to me, but outright cuckoo. His charts and tables, graphs and lab test results conformed to the expected hieroglyphics of medical science, as did his credentials. Nobody else but me seemed to be perplexed by the fact that most of these horses were cured of cancer, mostly by dietary interventions and massive supplementation of minerals, enzymes and vitamins, all of which measurably were shown to restore the immune system: the animal’s biochemistry changed so the cancer starved. In my astonishment I blurted out, “I didn’t know cancer could be cured!” The vet laughed, and I have never forgotten his reply: “A million dollar race horse is too great an investment to lose to cancer.” Top The implications of his statement for human cancer are stunning and provide a glimpse into the darkest part of medicine - that industry that thrives on death, not on cures and prevention. Scientifically, any intervention that actually cures a sick animal is of the greatest importance because to animals the problem of the placebo effect does not apply. Animals only react to the active ingredient of a drug, never to the dummy pill. Therefore, curing a sick animal provides the ultimate confirmation of a therapy that even leaves placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over studies in the dust. This fact, that medical science totally accepts, is especially galling to those who keep attacking homeopathy as unscientific and those who attempt to discredit Chinese medicine. In fact, both systems of medicine work wonderfully on sick animals and are in this regard validated by the standard applied to western medicine. Homeopathic veterinarian Dr. Pitcairn’s wonderful book, listed in the resources, is highly recommended. Top Because of this lack of the placebo effect and as especially mammals tend to suffer from just about all the disease humans may develop, it is through animal experiments that medical science obtained and still gets most of its information. Our physical kinship with our pets and farm animals is so close and so profound as to bind us to them in blood, enzymes, and hormones. Indeed, in an emergency a human life can be saved with a blood transfusion from a chimpanzee – but it can be done only once; after that the human immune system rejects the chimp’s blood as foreign, even though our DNA is 95% identical. Similarly, mice are so extraordinarily important to medical drug research because they share with humans a virtually identical enzyme system and metabolize drugs almost always exactly as humans do. It therefore comes as no surprise that animal health thrives just as human health does when the environment and food is free of poisons and full of essential nutrients – and all those essentials are essential to both. Top Last year we adopted a 4-months old puppy with mast cell cancer. A purebred white Golden Retriever, she could not be sold. We named her Kulfi after the East Indian almond-speckled and cardamom-flavored vanilla ice cream which her coat resembles. Her case caused a stir at Guelph University ’s veterinary school whose oncologists had never heard of a case of a puppy with cancer. Mast cells produce a dual-action hormone/neurotransmitter known as histamine. Like all such communication proteins, histamine is capable of transmitting messages throughout the body in nano-seconds and its actions range from mediating inflammation, allergy, asthma and more, to such important processes as sleep regulation, many immune responses, promoting the work of enzymes that detoxify, and under certain circumstances helping to reduce allergic responses as well as promoting cell repair. Since mast cells with their histamine-producing capability are located in all tissues throughout the body, especially near blood vessels of all sizes, having them re-programmed by cancer can spell instant chaos throughout. Top Having lost so many animals to cancer before we knew how to prevent it, this was a challenge we immediately embraced with enthusiasm. For a puppy to have cancer, the mother must have been exposed to a carcinogen that crosses the placenta. Sure enough, inquiries revealed that the pregnant dog mamma used to frolic in a pond on the breeder’s property which was downhill from a potato farmer whose liberally applied pesticides contained various toxic metals as emulsifiers, including especially barium and aluminum. Unacceptable amounts of arsenic, lead and mercury were also found when we received the results of a hair analysis from Anamol Laboratories. Since toxic minerals displace the beneficial ones, it came as no surprise to find copper levels to be dangerously depleted – the tell-tale sign of cancer. Top Being familiar with the great work done by the French scientist Andre Voisin on mineral deficiencies and cancer, we got to work on designing the perfect diet and a supplementation program to help create a biochemical environment in our new animal baby friend that would send the cancer dragon back into hiding at least. Our vet, who also works at the Guelph Veterinary College , agreed with our views and is monitoring this experiment. Between March of last year and this February, Kulfi grew into a rambunctious big girl who literally yodels when she is pleased, which she is often. The recent follow-up hair analysis showed that detoxification of the heavy metals is proceeding nicely and that the copper reserves are approaching normal. Interestingly, Kulfi is especially fond of cashew nuts which happen to be full of zinc – the mineral antidote to the toxic mineral aluminim. Top The basic rule of thumb for human and animal health is this: whatever prevents cancer, prevents everything else as well. Cancer is the last and mostly final biological cry the organism emits to inform us that now everything that could possibly go wrong has done so. Because animals so often are important to human purposes, and because they tend to be more profitable when they are healthy, alive and fertile it makes sense that in veterinary medicine a lot more attention is paid to biochemistry than in human medicine. Vets routinely sell organic animal food in their offices, while in human medicine only sports medicine pays attention to magnesium and potassium levels, to mention just one example. Dog breeders rattle off the importance of minerals and raw food like medical scientists while your GP may at best suggest you reduce your intake of junk food to control weight. At a lecture about Codex, the international food regulatory agency that is so hostile to the free availability of nutritional supplements, I once regaled the audience by reading off the list of ingredients in a popular cat food. It was full of optimal amounts of essential nutrients as to exceed the amounts provided in baby formulas. I joked that if Codex succeeds in limiting access to supplements, we can all switch to cat food and relax. Top The rules of disease prevention for animals are the same as for us: don’t feed them processed foods, keep them away from disease-promoting environmental toxins (tobacco-smoking humans, chlorinated and fluoridated water, pesticide-loaded foods of any kind, hormone-laced meats, processed foods, chemical flea collars and potions) and feed them as much as possible good, organic raw foods, provide them with plenty of exercise and don’t vaccinate them unless absolutely necessary and only every 5 to 10 years. As our pets age, they require the same attention to joint health and digestion as we do. Our 10-year old Golden Retriever named Bogus (after the invisible friend who became real in the movie by that name), perked up mightily and roams the forest around our house with renewed energy after receiving extra vitamin E, MS glucosamine and a supplement containing all essential minerals. Top Are these the words of a paranoid, chemico-phobic health nut (as I was once described by the pesticide lobby)? No – this advice comes straight from the websites of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. They warn of the high incidence of sarcoma in cats caused by vaccines and assert that it is incumbent on every vet to check the antibodies in a dog’s and cat’s blood before considering a booster shot for any disease. In fact, the AVMA recently even had an international, totally mainstream medical conference devoted entirely to vaccine-associated cancers in household pets. Human doctors, to my knowledge, haven’t got that far yet. CBC’s Marketplace ran a whole program on this problem in January of 2000. Top You will find that once you start researching animal health publications, that all of the advice provided will also be good for you. The equivalent of Vitality Magazine for animals are undoubtedly the Animal Wellness Magazine and the Pets 4 Life Newsletter. The first covers the whole range of animal health issues and is available also on-line; the second treats one major one in each issue. As for food, I am especially impressed by two sources both of which provide all the food our three dogs and 6 cats eat every day. Really good commercially available pet food is a relatively recent development and a market niche that is by no means filled, and since I derive no personal gain from recommending these two companies, I feel free to do so, having seen how well our animals are doing on these foods. Top Through a discussion on essential minerals for humans, I learned that a friend of my grandchildren, Kim Thomson in Orangeville, that she had started a raw organic pet food company a decade ago. Knowing from the research of Dr. Francis Pottenger how essential raw foods are to animal health, I started my dogs on it at once. Raw foods are of great importance to animal and human health because the minerals and phytonutrients available in uncooked foods support anything from fertility to cell repair. Kim’s fabulous organic food looks like kibble, comes freeze-dried to preserve all the nutrients, is 80% raw meat, and additionally contains all the important vegetable-based ingredients needed (garlic, carrots etc.). (And yes, animals need vegetables and even fruit. We had an Airdale named Teddy who absolutely loved apples – but only the Granny Smith variety. ) Best of all, Kim’s formulation is based on many years of experience with breeding dogs. Her website is not bashful: it is called “The Ultimate Diet”, but Kim can afford to crow – in terms of its nutrients, this food is fit for kings. Check it out yourself. Dealers are listed on the website. Top The other food source is called Holistic Blend whose informative website also shows that their products are endorsed by the World Society for the Protection of Animals and that the manufacturer is a member of the Organic Trade Association. Nutritional and medical information on a long list of health problems in pets can be accessed on this website as well, and the information provided would make an orthomolecular medical practitioner working for humans very happy. The Holistic Blend dry foods are great when used together with the raw stuff. It is not always practical to have only frozen food available, when traveling for example, and many pets like to have some crunchy dry foods mixed with the frozen meat pebbles. When browsing this website you will also learn about the ingredients in great detail and what vitamins do what for dogs and cats and how. Finicky cats love this stuff! Top Legend has it that the prophet Mohammed loved cats so much that he considered them worthy of the utmost consideration. When one of them curled up and fell asleep on part of his coat spread out beside him, rather than wake the animal, the Prophet is said to have quietly cut off that piece of his coat with his dagger when he needed to rise. Today, the Prophet would undoubtedly make sure his cats were fed with as healthy a food as humans know how to prepare for themselves and treat felines ailments with medicine that cures and restores all forms of animal life. Top

	Sources and Resources:

	American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, www.ahvma.org Anamol Laboratories, Concorde , Ontario , 905-660-1225 for mineral and nutritional analysis in humans and animals Animal Wellness Magazine (digital or printed subscription call 866-764-1212 Gerson Institute, info@Gerson.org, for cancer questions The Ultimate Diet, www.theultimatediet.com (for suppliers of this organic raw cat and dog food throughout the GTA) Holistic Blend, animal food www.holisticblend.com (available at most pet food stores) Pets 4 Life Newsletter, www.pets4life.com R. H. Pitcairn, Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, 3^rd edition 2005. to order www.drpitcairn.com or amazon.com A. Voisin, Soil Grass and Cancer, 1959, Crosby Lockwood UK ; out of print, photocopy edition through Kos Inc 519-927-1049 Dr. K.-G Wenzel & R. Pataracchia, The Earth’s Gift to Medicine: Minerals in Health and Disease, 2005, Kos Publishing, 519-927-1049 www.westonprice.org for Dr. F. M. Pottenger’s Pottenger’s Cats: A Study in Nutrition, Weston Price Foundation (1983), 1995 Top