You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

Some amino acids are essential for the growth of tumour cells, and restricting them or inhibiting them may be beneficial for some patients

Increasingly our knowledge of the essential requirements for cancer cell growth help us to identify strategies for treating patients, or for avoiding the onset of cancer, examples of this are :

• Asparagine is required by lymphoma tumour cells for them to grow and treatment of cats and dogs with the enzyme L-asparaginase has induced remission in up to 80% of lymphoma patients.
• Melanoma cells appear to require the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine and restriction of these amino acids has been shown to inhibit melanoma tumour cell growth in rodents and in cell cultures

Modifying diet has already been demonstrated to be effective in the management of lymphoma in dogs with the development of n/d Prescription Diet by Hill's Pet Nutrition , and further developments can be expected in this area over the next few years. However, restriction of essential nutrient intake may not always be feasible if the patient itself also requires the nutrient. 

Updated January 2016