[sabrina]

How many of you on this site have lost a dog through cancer and what breed was it ? My niece lost a Border Collie age 5 years to cancer and this week she was told her 3 year old Border Collie has cancer too. Not the same breeding but he is going down hill very fast. I heard on the TV the other week, might have been when crufts was on about the setter family prone to this. I lost 2 Irish setters myself to cancer aged 8 and 9 years old. I wonder what is the cause. A friend bred setters many years ago and she had one that lived until 17 so what has changed. Diet ?  A vet in Canada did research on what goes into dog food and he came up with some horrible things, paint thickner was one. That was shocking enough but things were changed or so we have been told. So much research goes into feeding dogs so you would think it would be good for health. Is it some other cause ?

[Fleecewife]

Not setters, but we lost an Irish Wolfhound to cancer in the aftermath of Chernobyl. She was 3 years old. The vet said it was because they were using meat condemned for human consumption because of radioactive contamination in tinned dog foods.
We also lost a Wolfhound X Anatolian Karabash to cancer about 10 years ago. She was 8 years old.


Do setters have the similar short bowel for size of dog problem that giant dogs have?  It could be something to do with that.


Proximity to a source of radioactivity such as a power station might be involved.


Or food contaminated with unsuitable stuff such as the Canadian vet found.


On the other hand, as with humans, there might be no known cause, or genetics, or any number of things.


It's horrible when it happens 

[roddycm]

We lost our first flat coat to a brain tumour. The breed is more prone to cancer than some others. Our current Flatie is going on 12 and so far, she is doing great. The breed society did a survey to try and trace which lines were more prone to cancer and which seemed to be more resilient, so we sent in our feedback... I am not generally bothered if a dog is registered or not but in this case it has proven to be helpful for the health of the breed.

Massive flatie fan so I am happy that action is being taken to help improve their health!

[alang]

We lost our first boxer dog to bone cancer. She was aged 9. Totally gutted about losing her as she wss amazing with our newborn child.

We lost our second boxer to a twisted intestine.

[Buttermilk]

Lost a greyhound aged 9 years to cancer.

[SallyintNorth]

Lost a 10-year old large black bitzer rescue bitch to bone cancer.  Other than that all but one of my dogs has died of old age in their mid teens. All rescue mongrels.

Current old collie is 13, younger 10.

[Steph Hen]

I'm not convinced about animal food. If/when we get a new dog I'm thinking the raw food diet as much as possible. My husband was at a presentation by a guy called Graeme Sait, he's into natural, sustainable farming and stuff. He reckoned average life expectancy of dogs in his native Australia had gone from something like sixteen years, fifty years ago to eight now.

I see it taumaline that they have to add back into cooked food? My battery's away to die but there's an experiment you can google about a bloke who fed cats cooked or raw food. Maybe francis pottier, best bit of hundred years ago.

There's the roundup in everything that's meant to be a problem, and vaccines, some blame for causing increasing arthritis... who knows.

[CarolineJ]

We lost one of our springers to cancer, age unknown, but estimated at 13.  She came to us estimated at 10 years old with an intermittent cough that nothing ever seemed to clear up and x-rays when it was bad always showed what was interpreted as fluid in the lungs, which seemed to improve with a course of antibiotics.  The post-mortem showed that she'd had a tumour in the membrane between the lungs and then the cancer had spread through into her stomach, which is what killed her.

[sabrina]

I myself wonder if its all the weed killer used on crops these days. I know if my own dogs eat the grass from the side of the road after the fields next to us have been sprayed they are sick. We no longer take them out when spraying is going on. Most dog food has grain in it. My son lost his flattie to cancer. it was in his bones. I tried talking to my vet about it but he did not have any answers. You don't hear of cattle or sheep getting it maybe due to the fact their lives are shorter. I have heard of horses though. My neice has her dog insured so she is taking the vets advice. very costly treatment but if it saves her dog that is all she is thinking about. Just heart breaking.

[Me]

and vaccines, some blame for causing increasing arthritis... who knows.

Well anything that means you survive to see old age would increase the risks of arthritis, heart disease, cancer etc

[nutterly_uts]

I'm not sure that cancer is on the increase or if we are better at diagnosing it or if animals are living through other diseases that would have normally got the blame - I don't think you can preusume its any specific factor, same for diets.

Some breeds ARE more prone to cancers - flatties and boxers are 2 well known breeds, but they tend to get specific types of cancer which does seem to have a genetic predisposition

WRT Raw - Cats cannot make their own taurine and need a constant supply to be healthy. Dogs can so its not supplemented in their food. Cats are obligate carnivores, dogs are the product of years of scavenging from people and so can tolerate all sorts. Cats without taurine go blind and have all sorts of problems

[in the hills]

Another Flattie fan here, Roddycm


Sister lost a Flattie at 12 months old and another at 8 years old.
As a teenager I lost my flattie that was my first working dog when he was 7 years old. All to cancer.


Nearly every Flattie owner that I have met has a sad tale to tell of dogs that they have lost too soon.


I think the breed society believes that there is a genetic cause due to the fact that all Flatties originate from a few remaining individuals when the breed fell intoideclined after it lost favour in the shooting field.

[in the hills]

Roddycm, our present Flattie is 12 and a glorious half.
Just love him

[doganjo]

I lost two cockers (unrelated) to liver cancer in the 1980s.  Allez my brittany had a tumour behind his eye, but my vet managed to get it all out and he's been fine for 3 years.  He does have another lump under his armpit which we noticed over a year go, it has grown slightly since, but  at 12 and a half I'm reluctant to have him operated on.  Need to speak to my vet about it.  He's fit and well otherwise

[in the hills]

Our old Flattie is covered in lumps!
We've had several removed and luckily all were fatty.


We've made the decision not to have any more removed. The vet thinks they are innocent but also said that due to his age it may not be the best choice to have surgery anyway.