Finding the “best diet” for cancer prevention isn’t one-size-fits-all. It depends on your dog’s specific needs, age, health status, preferences, and your resources. It’s an ongoing process that will likely evolve throughout your dog’s life as his needs change. For cancer prevention specifically, Dr. Kendra Pope, board-certified veterinary oncologist, recommends focusing on these three key areas:
- Limiting nutritional toxins, especially from ultra-processed foods.
- Considering when you feed your dog, not just what you feed them.
- Providing a “heritage diet” that more closely resembles what their wild ancestors would eat by limiting carbohydrates and emphasizing quality proteins and healthy fats.
What is a heritage diet?
The concept of a “heritage diet” comes from human longevity research. Studies of long-lived populations show that people tend to thrive when eating diets aligned with their ancestral heritage.
What would a heritage diet look like for our dogs?
Researchers have investigated this question by offering domestic dogs choices between foods with differing macronutrient ratios. Their findings reveal that today’s dogs still prefer diets remarkably similar to their wild ancestors, despite hundreds of years of domestication. However, there’s a dramatic difference between what dogs naturally prefer and what most commercial foods provide.
WHAT DOGS NATURALLY CHOOSE
When given free choice, domestic dogs select diets with:
- High fat content (63%)
- Moderate protein levels (30%)
- Very low carbohydrates (less than 10%)
WHAT COMMERCIAL KIBBLE CONTAINS
When looking at the typical commercial kibble, many have macronutrient ratios of:
- 40-60% carbohydrates on a dry matter basis (compared to dogs’ preference of less than 10%)
- Only 6-18% fat (compared to dogs’ preference of 40-60%)
- Moderate protein levels (16-38%)
Why This Mismatch Exists
This discrepancy isn’t accidental. Many commercial dog foods are formulated with high carbohydrate levels because:
- It makes production less expensive.
- It increases shelf stability.
- It makes the food more convenient for mass production.
Unfortunately, these manufacturing conveniences have led to dog foods with nutrient profiles very different from what dogs would naturally choose for themselves.
Moving Toward a Heritage Diet
While there are exceptions to this based on the individual dog food company, the less processed your dog’s food is, generally the closer it aligns with his heritage diet:
- Less processed foods naturally tend to have lower carbohydrate content.
- Less processed foods typically contain higher amounts of protein and fat.
Dr. Kendra Pope is one of only four board-certified integrative veterinary oncologists in the U.S. She is extensively trained in herbal medicine, intravenous nutrient therapy, mistletoe therapy, and more. She is active in clinical research through her nonprofit organization, Prism Veterinary Research Institute, whose mission is to validate and legitimize integrative modalities in the treatment of cancer and chronic disease.
For more information, check out Dr. Kendra Pope’s Pet Cancer Prevention Course.
For More Information:
- 2025 Prism Pets Academy. Pet Cancer Prevention Course.
- Hewson-Hughes, Adrian K et al. “Geometric analysis of macronutrient selection in breeds of the domestic dog, Canis lupus familiaris.” Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology vol. 24,1 (2013): 293-304. doi:10.1093/beheco/ars168
- Bosch, Guido et al. “Dietary nutrient profiles of wild wolves: insights for optimal dog nutrition?.” The British journal of nutrition vol. 113 Suppl (2015): S40-54. doi:10.1017/S0007114514002311
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