I write from the perspective of a mom. I lost my beloved Buddha to cancer. I had 15 wonderful years with my angel and I can tell you there isn't anything I wouldn't give for just 5 more minutes with him. Grief is truly a devastating and unique emotion. It can hit you like a hammer at the oddest times. It's been almost two years and still there are moments that just come out of nowhere and I find myself still looking for answers. Part of the grieving process, a really useless part, is trying to figure out what you should have done. But never let it be said that I won't spend time on useless excersises.
After Buddha's passing I did a lot of investigating about cancer and what I missed. I spoke with trainers and vets, pet owners and shelters, everyone I met basically. What I found out is basically what you already know, diet and exercise, but I'll share what I was told and what I learned.
Diet
No topic for any dedicated pet lover is more frustrating than what food to feed your pet. Seriously, you can drive yourself nuts on this issue. It never fails that when I go to the store for food for my dogs I spend at least an hour reading labels and rethinking what I buy. What's more, invariably the dogs' food bill is higher than my own. Generally, everyone I spoke to had their favorite brand or type of food, but they all agree that the food should have meat protein as the main ingredient. I don't have any issues with this and fed Buddha a product with meat protein as the main ingredient all his life.
Raw food
Okay, raw food. I fed my Buddha raw chicken breast as a supplement to his dog food since he was a puppy. I jumped on the raw food bandwagon before it was popular. It only seems logical to me that you'd feed your dog what they'd eat naturally. However, it didn't prevent Buddha's cancer and I think the raw food approach may really depend upon your dog. Since Buddha's passing, I got two dogs, Molly and Timber. I began the raw food supplements with them as well to which they looked at me as if to say, "You're going to cook that, right?" They truly have no desire to eat anything raw. It's odd to me and I admit I was really shocked. We don't eat cow in my house, but I even broke down and bought some steaks just to see if it was the type of protein. They were a bit more interested in that, but they still preferred their dry food. So before you go broke buying meat or some special product for them just think about it, don't get sucked into some sales pitch. Been there, done that.
Exercise
Excercise is the biggest issue for us all. I'll admit to not doing enough excercise with Buddha. I took him to dog beach and taught him to swim (which he hated, BTW) and took him to dog parks for exercise. Buddha was a border collie mix. There really wasn't much to do for him on exercise; he loved to go out on his own and explore, then he'd come back and chill. I still think I could have done more with him. I took him to herding (border collie training). He loved that, he was so good at it. While I think I could have done more, I don't think it was the exercise or lack thereof that gave him cancer. He was always very fit, exceedingly so in fact.
So what gave him cancer? Why should he get cancer? I asked everyone from the emergency vet that I took him to to the herding trainer, my vet whom I was furious with for not curing him (real rational I know), to the jerk vet that I took him to for second opinion. Online groups, the trainer for my new babies, other pet parents. Why?
The answer isn't one you'll want to hear. It's not one I wanted to accept, hence the reason I went to so many people for another answer. It was as if someone could tell me that it was all my fault that would make it better somehow. The truth is cancer is naturally occurring in all animals. If you don't take care of your pet, it will come much earlier than it should just as unhealthy lifestyle in humans will make cancer come sooner than it should but, if you live long enough chances are.... Buddha was 105 in human years. I had hoped he would live at least 20 years but is 140 years reasonable? Probably not.
I was told by another mom when Buddha died, "You're going to feel guilty and say you should have done this or that, don't." She was right. There's nothing I could have done and it's just my ego telling me there was something I could have or should have done to prevent death. The really ugly truth is our dogs cannot live as long as we do and chances are cancer will be the cause of death. The best we can do as pet parents is take really good care of them while they're with us and love them up every chance you get. Spoil them rotten with love if you can. I'm so grateful for the time I had with my Buddha.
Next week Molly, Timber and I attend Camp Dogwood. It's my first time going, I look forward to it and to the years to come with my new babies. Come what may.