Golden retrievers are more likely to get cancer than other dogs, but veterinarians are making progress in finding it and giving owners more years with their loving pets.
“In my opinion, there is no sweeter breed,” said Allyson MacKenna, with Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue.
The American Kennel Club lists golden retrievers as the third most popular breed in the United States.
“Goldens are one of the breeds that we see that get a lot of cancer,” said Cheryl London, with the DVM/Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.
A study on the causes of death in dogs found cancer killed at least half the golden retrievers sampled.
London said goldens are more likely to develop four types of cancer, sometimes at an early age due to genetics: lymphoma; hemangiosarcoma, a cancer of the blood vessels; osteosarcoma, or bone cancer; and mast cell tumors.
“The incidence of cancer begins to rise at 6 years of age and peaks at 10 to 12, then starts to fall off,” said London.
Just like humans, owners have enrolled their sick dogs into studies to search for more effective cancer treatments.
A 6-year-old dog named Bayley has a cancerous tumor compressing his spine.
“MRI we could see that there was this tumor that was actually arising from a nerve that was going all the way up into the spinal cord,” said Ane Uriarte, with the DVM/Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.
The goal is to shrink the tumor, then remove it, but Bayley can already walk again and lift his head.
“Scientific advances have made it much easier to foresee a future where we’ll be far better at predicting which patients are going to get cancer and treating them earlier on,” said London.
To help protect your dog from cancer risks, London said keep pets’ weight in a normal range and beginning at the age of 6, do weekly checks for any new lumps or bumps. Any new growths felt during checks should get evaluated by a vet, according to London.
© 2020 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
