Q&A: Elective Tumor Removal

Question on Elective Tumor Removal:

I adopted a 9-year-old mixed lab from a shelter. The shelter took her to their vet and had a lump on her chest looked at. This vet said to watch and see if it gets any bigger and if it does, get it checked again. I took her to my vet and she looked at the lump, which had grown some, and she said it needs to be removed and checked for cancer. My vet would charge around $500 for the operation, which would include everything, hospital stay for 1/2 day, anesthesia, etc. I could really use the extra money for other things for my dog, BUT I also want her to have the best of care. What do you think?

Answer on Elective Tumor Removal:

All remedial disease treatments should be evaluated in terms of cost versus benefit. Without even acknowledging the financial cost, the other costs of tumor removal are very high (harm, stress, toxicity and recovery time for the animal). They are not usually considered by vets, while the benefits are questionable and typically exaggerated. Even when a tumor is associated with cancer, tumor removal has not been shown to increase survivability and may even decrease it. Especially if the dog owner is not prepared thereafter to change the way he treats and feeds the dog. The tumor is not the enemy! It is merely a symptom of a much, much larger problem that can only be resolved through removal of cause.

Removal of cause

Despite veterinary propaganda to the contrary, the causes of tumors are easily determinable. Once causes have been identified, it’s an easy matter to eliminate them. The one exception that could make surgical removal a preferable option is when a tumor is interfering with the functioning of a vital organ.

Removal is not conservative

Surgical tumor removal is risky, radical and fraught with harmful consequences. The natural way of dealing with tumors is gentle on the dog, has no side effects, and is almost always successful. These methods are not researched, since there is no money to be made, so we are left to rely on logic, reason, what we know to be true of how life works, and so-called anecdotal information. There are literally thousands of testimonials on record from people who either resolved tumors on their own bodies or whose animals’ tumors autolyzed on their own, using methods which involved NO supplements, no herbs, no remedies, no chemo (of course) and, in fact, no medical or veterinary intervention at all, “holistic” or otherwise.

Is it necessary?

Unfortunately, nobody’s speaking the truth about all these unnecessary tumor surgeries. They are not harmless, and neither are biopsies. It is common for dogs to succumb to cancer or other severe illnesses within months of having ‘benign’ tumors removed. Vets claim there is no connection, but in truth the harm and toxicity associated with tumor removal can push an already compromised dog over the edge.

Cost vs. benefit

Even needle biopsies are not harmless, and are not necessary. Finding out whether your dog has cancer or not will not reveal to you what needs to be done to resolve either the tumor or the cancer, since vets are not taught this information. Biopsies are far more beneficial to vets than they are to dogs or dog owners. They give vets the opportunity to scare dog owners into submitting to harmful drug, herbal or surgical treatments, none of which prolongs life or improves quality of life but causes much additional suffering to the dog.

A tumor is not mistake

A tumor is a brilliant engineering feat that costs the body a good deal of its precious resources. The body only forms tumors if it deems dangerous the level of toxicity in the blood. Tumors are nothing but temporary depositories that sequester toxins and extraordinary wastes and keep them out of the bloodstream and away from tissues and organs. Tumors are sometimes associated with cancer because when the bloodstream becomes saturated with waste, cells adapt themselves to an acidic, anaerobic environment.

The body forms tumors as a way of protecting itself, and keeping itself functioning at the highest possible level, given the circumstances it is dealt. Even cancer is the body’s last ditch effort to accommodate itself to sustained injurious influences. That veterinary and medical professionals typically remove tumors and send the patient home without a moment’s thought to why the tumor formed in the first place is criminal. Their claim that nobody’s capable of understanding the causes of tumors is completely false and self-serving.

Tumors are waste depositories

In dogs and humans, the obvious problem is too much waste in the body. Indigestible foods, vaccines, medicines, herbs, fake nutrients (supplements), etc. Of course since vets and doctors contribute to these sources, they’re not about to tell us that they cause harm.

Medical fallacy is everywhere

These ideas I’m expressing here are not new, they’ve just been lost in an avalanche of medical belief that gets pounded into our brains from all directions everyday. That’s why they are unfamiliar. For people whose minds are not yet committed to the medical shoot-and-ask-questions-later approach to disease (and that includes so-called holistic as well as allopathic), they offer great potential for understanding disease and approaching it in a way that involves the least amount of additional harm.

Trust the body

The wisdom of the body is far greater than our capacity to fully comprehend it. We may not know why tumors form in the areas they do. Although it can sometimes be surmised if enough information is known about the habits and history of the afflicted individual. But that’s not really necessary. It’s only necessary to remove those harmful influences in the diet and/or lifestyle of the afflicted dog (or person) that are generally known to cause disease. That’s what the science of health (aka Natural Hygiene) helps us do.

It’s important to note that when tumors do occur in areas where surgeons can’t get at them, like in the brain or inside a bone, even more harmful methods are typically employed, including the kinds that have a record of deadly outcomes, like chemo, radiation, etc. In these situations, the cancer always gets the blame for the death. But it’s the treatments and the continuation of original causes which are responsible.

The fundamental difference in the Natural Hygiene approach is that it holds that disease does not happen randomly or indiscriminately. It has causes, just like everything else in the universe. That being the case, it’s not even necessary to prevent disease, it’s only necessary to not cause it. That’s one reason why I wrote my book about how to feed dogs, because where disease prevention is concerned, diet is by far the #1 factor that dog owners should focus on. Rotational MonoFeeding is not just a way to feed dogs that replicates nature, it’s a new approach to disease. It teaches us to cooperate with the body and put our trust in its innate ability to heal itself.