Carcinogens in your dog's diet

CARCINOGEN /kɑːˈsɪnədʒ(ə)n/

1. a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue.

Approximately 6 million dogs fall victim to cancer annually, and your dog's daily meals could be a large contributing factor to their risk rate and susceptibility.

What Causes Cancer?

In 1981 Oxford University published "The Causes of Cancer", that determined smoking as a cause of about 1/3 of human cancers and diet as another 1/3, with the final 1/3 comprising of viruses, genetics, environment and unknown causes.

Experts at the World Cancer Research Fund subsequently said that cancer a largely preventable disease: “The strongest evidence indicating that food and nutrition modify the risk of cancer comes from a combination of different types of epidemiological enquiry, supported by experimental findings, and by identification of plausible biological pathways.”

The same cancer causing carcinogens found in human food could also be in your dog's food, particularly if they eat a highly processed or dry food diet.

Aflatoxins are often found in commercial dog food. Aflatoxins are various poisonous carcinogens and mutagens produced by certain moulds commonly found on agricultural crops such as maize (corn). As a large number of processed dog foods contain grains such as corn, wheat and rice, these products are susceptible to growing these fungi, particularly when their shelf life is very long term, and the ingredients or final products have been grown or stored in poor conditions. Once grown, these aflatoxins are not killed by high cooking temperatures during production.

“The National Cancer Institute says that many cancers can be prevented by making appropriate lifestyle changes. In fact, National Cancer Institute studies show that 35 percent of all human cancers can be attributed to dietary imbalances. An estimated 80 to 90 percent of all cancers are preventable by lifestyle choices.”

An eyeopening statement for both our dogs, and ourselves!

Ditch the Dry. Feed whole foods, with recognisable and raw ingredients, little to no commercial processing or interference, and no illegible or incomprehensible recipes on the back of the packaging.

Understand exactly what your dog is eating. What goes in their mouth is, quite literally, in your hands!