We lost our male Cocker Spaniel (Fudge) to cancer on 10/16/07. He would have turned 11 a week later. I've not felt like discussing it at all, until now.
We would have paid anything to save him, and paid quite a bit but he went from a slight limp on Labor day to death not much more than a month later. It was terrible.
In in early years he ate Purina One, and Iams sometimes. When Fudge was 7 we got another cocker, a female. She had skin allergies and the vet said she would always have them. We tried cortizone treatments, etc but sores kept coming up on her belly.
On a whim, we switched to Muenster natural dog food, which is manufactured just 40 miles or so from where I live. Gracie's allergies cleared up literally in a couple of weeks and never came back.
A couple of years ago it become less convenient to buy the Muenster food so we switched to Nutro which is supposed to be anther "natural" dog food. It certainly does not have animal parts in it. Gracie's skin is still just fine on the Nutro.
Fudge became overweight so we switched both dogs to Nutro lite, which has less calories and fat.
When Fudge was diagnosed we started making dogfood out of ground beef, pork, or turkey and mixed with beef liver, whole grain rice, and spinach. We mixed it about half with the Nutro and a couple of tablespoons mixed with Gracie's food.
Now that Fudge is gone, Gracie is still eating Nutro lite mixed with the homemade food. We are thinking of switching back to Muenster because we know where it it made and it highly recommended in these parts.
I don't know what causes cancer in dogs, but do know that it is alarming how many dogs die from it. This terrible disease makes me not want another dog because no matter what you do you can't prevent it, and losing your pet is just too painful.