Sure it's true that a dog can live a long life if you take care of them, but sometimes it requires a little bit more effort than your normal daily walk. There are other things you can do, such as making small changes in his diet. Do this and you can help increase your doggy's life span. Check out what type of food can help below:

Diabetes is up 900 percent in dogs in the last five years. Obesity is up 60 percent. While 10 percent of all cancer cases are genetic, 90 percent are the results of lifestyle and environmental influences, including stress, obesity, infection, sedentary lifestyle, toxins, pollution and most importantly diet.

“30 to 40% of cancer can be prevented simply by implementing dietary changes.”

Habib spoke with Norwegian scientist, Thomas Sandberg, who is conducting a 30-year-old study (the longest observational study to date). Sandberg is hoping to prove that poor quality food may cause cancer to develop in dogs and cats, mainly due to a compromised immune system.

Here’s the part of Rodney’s TedX Talk that was jaw-dropping for me: Research shows that dogs on a diet of dry commercial pet food fed leafy green vegetables at least three times a week were 90 percent less likely to develop cancer than dogs that weren’t.

Thomas Sandberg has Great Danes, who typically live only six to eight years. In a 6-year study of 80 dogs fed a completely raw diet with low amounts of carbs, only one dog developed cancer.

Remember Maggie, the world’s oldest dog? In addition to a diet that included raw fed grass milk, she also self fasted some days. She lived on a dairy farm and exercised all day long, often getting in 9 kilometers (5 1/2 miles ). Obesity is also now known to be a contributing factor to canine cancer, which is why exercising with your pet is so important.

Who knew that there would be so many benefits just by simply adding more veggies into your doggy's meals? That is such great news! If you were considering making some changes in your dog's diet, now is the time. It's never too late to start — small changes can turn into lifetime health changes for your pooch!

For more information on healthy doggy diets, check out Care2.