Showsight August 2017

OnTheLine Canine Cancer Diagnosis byBJANDREWS Why are dogs diagnosed with cancer more frequently than people? Is the canine cancer rate really higher than for human cancers? Have there been any cures? Most reference sites state exactly the same thing “Dogs and humans get cancer at similar rates without clear causes” but I found none that offer statistics for that claim. That miss- ing info was enough to motivate me to dig a little more but canine cancer facts are scarcer than hen’s teeth.

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hink about this. Your dog doesn’t smoke, drink, or take drugs and is less likely to be exposed to carcinogens in the workplace or home. On average, dogs spend more time outside in relatively fresh air than do humans. Your dog may or may not eat as healthy as you because few dogs are fed a natural

prostate cancers. The type of breast cancer that affects dogs spreads to bones – just as it does in women. And the most frequent bone cancer of dogs, osteosarcoma, is the same cancer that strikes teenagers.” That was hardly comforting news. I found a lot of sites that offer to test your dog’s DNA, as though

diet. By definition, natural diet for wild canids means he would select vegetation as needed and otherwise subsist on raw meat , fish, fowl, carrion and occa- sional nest eggs. So why then are dogs so frequently diagnosed with cancer? They don’t see a veterinarian as often as we see a doctor. They can’t self-diagnose a suspicious lump or growth and call a physician. Are we to believe this statement from Pets.webmd “Fifty per- cent of dogs over the age of 10 develop cancer at some point”? There is no reference cited nor provid- ed. Not to worry, the same site then purports to list those breeds but first it wants you to watch a slide show. Right, time on site boosts search engine rank- ing. I didn’t watch and did not find the list of most affected breeds. INSERT ATTACHED “cancer-diagnosis-rate- human-canine- ILLUSTRATION HERE Instead I sought other sources for canine cancer rate and more information on how often it is diag- nosed compared to human cancers. What is the fre- quency and most common cancer diagnosed in dogs? The first and most profound thing is that “mixed breed” dogs have the highest cancer rate according to statistics provided by Embrace Insurance company. {1} The second thing that caught my eye was this statement on fetchacure.org .{2} “Dogs and humans are the only two species that naturally develop lethal

knowing if he were likely to develop cancer would make his life or yours any more bearable. I deemed them all “catcher sites” i.e. of no value other than to their visitor stats. This statement was interesting although not hope- ful. “The tumors with potential relevance for human cancer biology include osteosarcoma, mammary car- cinoma, oral melanoma, oral squamous cell carcino- ma, nasal tumors, lung carcinoma, soft tissue sarco- mas, and malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. {3} As in human cancer research and treatment, canine cancer is big business. Even so, I was astounded by the $$$ involved in acquiring compa- nies that do animal health research {4} and market their products. Quote “As part of its $3.6 billion pur- chase of King Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer’s animal health organization will acquire King’s animal health orga- nization, Alpharma Animal Health. Alpharma devel- ops, manufactures and markets pharmaceuticals and nutritionals for food producing animals. The organi- zation’s 2009 sales were $359 million.” My radar went up when I spotted this blurb. “TGen and VARI study cancer in dogs to find new treatments for humans … They could provide the DNA keys to findings new treatments for rare can- cers and other diseases in both dogs and human patients.” The blurb was dated April 15, 2010. Continued on page 178

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