I am driving along the other day in my truck listening to National Radio and there is a bit on dogs and cancer. The vet said that 70% of dogs die from cancer and that bigger dogs die between 7 and 9 years of age. I say to Red [that's the dogs name ] bloody hell your living on borrowed time mate, he is 9 1/2.
Well to cut along story short he gets a bit of a limp and off to the vet he goes and after an xray he is found to have a cancerous tumour in his back leg and was put down last Monday.
Why do 70% of dogs die from cancer ?
Is it what they are fed all the processed crap are we better off feeding our dogs a natural diet ?
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Re: Dogs and Cancer Reply #1 - Jun 25th, 2013 at 8:14pm
Sh*t that's bloody awfull mate looks like he was a top dog weve had a couple dogs go like that its sad im not sure the awnser as to why though.the dog we have now has been sprayed as the vet told me it reduces the risk of cancer later in life if it is diet would be intresting to know
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ethos
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Re: Dogs and Cancer Reply #2 - Jun 25th, 2013 at 8:26pm
Awesome photos there Salmoner, I'm sorry to hear about your mate.
Im not sure I agree entirely with what the person on the radio was saying. Certainly some breeds might have a shorter life expectancy (Rotties, Newfoundlands, boxers for example) but it is very hard to get figures to apply across the board, also an "average" for a breed is only that, an average so the majority of dogs will be one side or the other of a set figure. I would say 7-9 years is lower than average even for large breeds and might only be true of giant breeds.
Its interesting that across breeds dogs and cats are likely to be living longer now than previously and modern nutrition is actually considered part of that mix!
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/33076736/ns/health-pet_health/t/life-dog-years-many-pe... “The most short-lived breeds are giant breeds. They tend to live to be 6 or 8 years old,” says John Berg, a veterinarian and professor in the department of clinical sciences at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, Mass. “Large breeds like shepherds, Labs, goldens probably live 10 to 13 years and the medium and small breeds 12 to 14 years. Mixed breeds in general tend to live a little bit longer than pure breeds.”
Also I wouldnt agree that 70% of dogs die due to cancer, my understanding is across all breeds approximately 25-50% of dogs die from cancer but within some breeds the number is higher.
My anecdotal experience would support this. In clinic we may have a slightly skewed view of all dog deaths as we only see those brought in for euthanasia yet I would say advanced arthritis would be at least as common a reason for euthanasia as terminal cancer.
As to causes of cancer, there are a lot. Cancer can arise from virtually any cell type in the body and each cancer may have its own triggers. For example squamous cell carcinoma is mainly a disease of white haired pink skinned cats and dogs from sun damage, but bone cancer is much more common in large breed dogs (especially rottwiellers) in the long bones of the leg , in rotties one study suggested that desexing also increased the risk for that breed.
sorry to hear ya dog passed on salmoner. a shame as he was getting into his well earned retirement years by the look of it.
"Pedigree indicates what the animal should be. Conformation indicates what the animal appears to be. Performance indicates what the animal actually is."
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Re: Dogs and Cancer Reply #4 - Jun 26th, 2013 at 11:53am
Red was a pretty good mutt. He took me tahr hunting once, deer hunting and salmon fishing a few times. I have a great picture of him pointing at a spiker with salmoner, dog and deer all in the same frame.
Hunting wild animals on Department of Conservation administered land during the hours of darkness (˝ hour after sunset to ˝ hour before sunrise) is prohibited.
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Re: Dogs and Cancer Reply #6 - Jun 26th, 2013 at 10:28pm
How did they diagnose cancer for your dog mate? I had an Xray done on my 3 year old Huntaway while he had a sore leg and it appeared to show a golfball sized tumour on the pelvis, the vet wanted to put him down then and there but I decided not to as I couldn't spare him so got some painkillers instead.
A week or so later he was perfectly fine again, turns out the tumour was actually a broken pelvis that healed very well by itself.
I think the vets now recommend biopsys or surgery to diagnose cancer rather than just going by what it looks like on the Xray.
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Re: Dogs and Cancer Reply #8 - Sep 7th, 2013 at 8:33pm
He fell out of my maimai and limped for a few days and then tried to jump up on the deck of my truck and didn't make it and again fell on the side he was limping on. Waited for a bout 10 days and then took him to the vet and he went on painkillers and about 10 days later took him back where he was diagnosed under x ray.
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ethos
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Re: Dogs and Cancer Reply #9 - Sep 7th, 2013 at 9:55pm
BBW the pelvis is not a common site for bone cancer.
Most commonly bone cancer in dogs occurs "towards the knee" eg: tibia/fibula near the stifle or the end of the femur at the stifle; and "away from the elbow" eg: the top end of the humerus and the carpal end of the radius and ulna. It can occur in any bone though. To be fair in an older dog with "classic" radiographic lesions in a "classic" location, further tests are not always done. Bone biopsy for a definative diagnosis is a painful procedure done under general anaesthetic and its not cheap but it has its place.
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Re: Dogs and Cancer Reply #10 - Mar 3rd, 2014 at 10:42pm
My GSP is going on 11 this year,deaf as a post but still going strong otherwise..should get at least this duck season out of the old boy I reakon,still feel mean when I leave him behind on the deer hunts tho an take the pup instead..
White coat with pink skin around nose and ears does predispose to skin cancer, even so its more common in cats than dogs. Squamous cell carcinoma is the usual culprit, it starts as spots that scab and then it starts to eat tissue away. pretty horrible cancer, tends to invade locally rather than spread through the body but hard to remove around the nose when well established, best caught and cut out +/- cautery early. Ear tips can be removed if affected. Melanomas can also occur particularly around the mouth, not sure they are always associated with sun damage in dogs - lumps that may be black or even pink colour. Not as common as squamous cell carcinomas tho in my experience. You can get animal sunscreen to rub on nose and ears for those with the susceptible skin type.
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Re: Dogs and Cancer Reply #13 - Apr 30th, 2014 at 7:41pm
BBW the pelvis is not a common site for bone cancer.
tibia/fibula near Most commonly bone cancer in dogs occurs "towards the knee" eg: the stifle or the end of the femur at the stifle; and "away from the elbow" eg: the top end of the humerus and the carpal end of the radius and ulna. It can occur in any bone though. To be fair in an older dog with "classic" radiographic lesions in a "classic" location, further tests are not always done. Bone biopsy for a definative diagnosis is a painful procedure done under general anaesthetic and its not cheap but it has its place.
Yip knee it was.
Man am I missing the old fella with duck shooting just around the corner. I have a few maimais out L Ellesmere and cant shoot a couple of them as they are surrounded by scrub and any wounded ducks get into the scrub and you cant get them without a dog. He would get everyone of them unless they fell dead and landed up high in a massive tangle of tall bush.
« Last Edit: May 1st, 2014 at 12:15pm by Salmoner »
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Re: Dogs and Cancer Reply #14 - Apr 30th, 2014 at 7:43pm