Perhaps it is all the intensive inbreeding that dog breeders practice with their animals for the fluffiness of coat or the friendly of disposition that they need to have continue. For whatever reason, when you have a dog, cancers and tumors in dogs are distressingly common. Among golden retrievers especially, about one in two dogs gets some kind of cancer – lymphoma of the white blood cells, osteosarcoma of the bones or a lump humor. Some of them can be really a bolt out of the blue – when it affects the cardiovascular system – a cancer that lines the insides of all the blood vessels. When that happens, you could have a dog that could be chasing a Frisbee and jumping up in the air one minute, and then dropping dead the next. The Golden retriever dog tumor is an especially tragic problem; but other kinds have their serious and recurrent health issues too. Labradors have diabetes and heart disease, Jacksons have spinal problems, and so on.
Scientists are beginning to make use of the dog genome – the sequenced DNA of the dog species – to try to learn how to breed around these health issues that specific breeds of dogs are prone to. But until then, to help the dogs in our lives stay clear of cancer or a tumor, let’s try to put together a list of healthy practices in raising dog. For instance, dogs can be just as prone to cancer from secondhand smoke as us humans. If you use pesticides and phenoxy weedicides on the lawn your dog likes to root about in, some kinds of dog tumor are known to be aggravated by these. Some people worry that using products that prevent fleas and ticks on dogs can bring on cancer or tumors; not only is there no evidence to support this though, there are some studies that exist that show that using them actually keeps cancer away.
General fitness seems to help reduce risks of dog tumor incidences, just as it does with humans. And in the bargain, you get the benefits of fewer joint, bone and other health problems. Feeding your dog fewer carbs on a low-carb diet is suspected to help in the efforts to keep the dog tumor free too; but there is no real solid proof. And a diet that includes vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage or broccoli a couple of times a week can help the dog cleanse its body of carcinogens too. It would be best if you could work the vegetables into a purée, since dogs don’t really chew their food.
The FDA has approved its first dog tumor drug called Palladia. It uses some of the same chemicals used in human chemotherapy, except of course, as a milder variant. It is specifically meant for skin cancer – for mast cell cancer of the skin. One day soon though, none of this will probably be necessary, as an understanding of the genome of the dog will lead to better breeding practices, and hopefully, cancer free living experience for man’s best friend.
Scientists are beginning to make use of the dog genome – the sequenced DNA of the dog species – to try to learn how to breed around these health issues that specific breeds of dogs are prone to. But until then, to help the dogs in our lives stay clear of cancer or a tumor, let’s try to put together a list of healthy practices in raising dog. For instance, dogs can be just as prone to cancer from secondhand smoke as us humans. If you use pesticides and phenoxy weedicides on the lawn your dog likes to root about in, some kinds of dog tumor are known to be aggravated by these. Some people worry that using products that prevent fleas and ticks on dogs can bring on cancer or tumors; not only is there no evidence to support this though, there are some studies that exist that show that using them actually keeps cancer away.
General fitness seems to help reduce risks of dog tumor incidences, just as it does with humans. And in the bargain, you get the benefits of fewer joint, bone and other health problems. Feeding your dog fewer carbs on a low-carb diet is suspected to help in the efforts to keep the dog tumor free too; but there is no real solid proof. And a diet that includes vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage or broccoli a couple of times a week can help the dog cleanse its body of carcinogens too. It would be best if you could work the vegetables into a purée, since dogs don’t really chew their food.
The FDA has approved its first dog tumor drug called Palladia. It uses some of the same chemicals used in human chemotherapy, except of course, as a milder variant. It is specifically meant for skin cancer – for mast cell cancer of the skin. One day soon though, none of this will probably be necessary, as an understanding of the genome of the dog will lead to better breeding practices, and hopefully, cancer free living experience for man’s best friend.
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