Food for Thought

[Kasey]

Not sure this is the place for this post......none of the forums seemed right. But since smoking is often discussed as the cause of LC, I thought this interesting.

Teddy's (my dog in avatar) best buddy up the street, Tucker, was dx with lung cancer just a few months ago. Tucker outlived his prognosis of 30 days and made it to 60. Tucker was a 7 yo German Shepherd. Tucker was a never smoker and did not live with second hand smoke. Not even any of the neigbors smoke. He never frequented smoky cabarets either. So.........HOW did Tucker get lung cancer?????? Murphy, my canine companion before Teddy, developed lymphoma. He received chemo and lasted 2 more years. There seems to be a higher than average # of cancer cases in this neighborhood. We don't have radon and aren't near any chemical plants.

I just found Tucker's case one of interest. I wonder IF there will ever be an answer to HOW one gets cancer...........lung cancer in particular. But sure hope no one tries to blame Tucker's on smoking somehow.

Kasey

[Donna G]

Kasey I thought I would just google lung cancer in dogs---well would you believe there is a web site like this -

http://www.dogcancer.net/forum/

never even thought of looking on the web when our Airedale got cancer of the splene/

Donna G

[Donna G]

just found this.

IX. Lung Cancer

Lung cancers are fairly rare in dogs though the number has been increasing. It is not known, however, whether the increase is real or a result of improved techniques to detect lung cancer in dogs.

Male and female dogs get this cancer at roughly the same rate. There may be a slight increase in risk associated with living in an urban area. Short-nosed breeds exposed to cigarette smoke in the home have twice the risk of getting lung cancer as medium- or long-nosed breeds exposed to a similar amount of cigarette smoke. This is, of course, the inverse of the nasal cancer findings and again speaks to the more efficient nasal filtration system in long-nosed breeds.

Cancer of the lining of the lungs (mesothelioma) is associated with exposure to asbestos in dogs just as it is in humans. The owners of dogs with this type of cancer were more likely to be exposed to asbestos at work or in their hobbies.

Donna G

[Kasey]

Wow, Donna, you are really on top of this one! Teddy taught ME how to do chemo. Fred actually took his vacation (it was my first week back to school in the fall......they weren't looking very kindly on me taking off to take the dog to chemo) so he could drive him the one hour to the specialist and sit with him. SHE is a wonderful vet ~ attends oncology conventions all over the world for HUMANS. Maybe you can google that too, Donna, just WHAT it is that makes some of these tx for dogs valuable info for humans. If I recall, she said it is something about or in the dogs that most closely resembles a human. At any rate, Murphy responded well and lived 2 more very good years. Wish Tucker had been so lucky.

Kasey

[RandyW]

THeir bodies are very close to ours anatomically. THat is what Daisies Vet told me once when she was diagnosed. Daisy's vet was State director of Veterinarian services once in her career.

http://www.oncolink.org/types/section.cfm?c=22&s=69

everything you wanted to know! Well almost everything.

[Donna G]

If their bodies are close to ours anatomically, I wonder if any one has looked into whether people with large noses are less likely to get lung cancer than those with short noses?

Donna G

[ernrol]

Kasey,

You may have answered part of your own question, "FOOD FOR THOUGHT".

Dogs consume some of the same food additives that we do. They drink the same chlorinated water and many other things. These have all changed greatly over the last 75 years. I think they make a difference.

Stay positive,

Ernie