Did you know dogs can diagnose cancer at its earliest stage even before any devices can? It has a great potential as it could lead to new non-invasive and cheap methods to reveal the disease.
Dogs’ olfactory receptors are 10,000 times more sensitive than those of people. Therefore, they are also very sensitive to odours we don’t even notice. According to a study published last year at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, dogs are capable of detecting cancer from blood samples with an accuracy of up to 97 %. This method could therefore become a new screening method to detect cancer.
Even though there is still no cure for cancer, its early detection equals to the highest chances of survival. In the above-mentioned study, four beagles were trained using a clicker to recognize the blood of patients with malignant lung cancer among more blood samples.
In the Czech Republic, the dogs have been trained for this since 2016. However, the Czech Centre of Signalling Animals that came up with the project has problems because of the lack of samples as well as money. You can support their effort on a Czech crowdfunding website Startovač and donate money for building a new centre that would be used to train dogs in recognizing cancer.
The dog detectors include individuals of various breeds as well as mongrels. They’re success rate of detecting cancer is similar to that of American dogs. It is somewhere around 90 %. Recently, one dog there was able to detect cancer of a volunteer even three months before a special imaging technique which is usually used for that could find it.
The currently available research from the Czech Republic focused on detecting five types of cancer: lung cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer and urinary bladder cancer. However, the researchers would like to include even more types.
And how do dogs learn to detect cancer? First, they practice sniffing the containers with samples and then they learn to recognize those of healthy people and cancer patients. A dog trained like this has to pass an aptitude test that will define its class of diagnostic performance. Later, it has to take a tough test at the presence of an arbitration committee
comprised of experts from various fields. After that, the dog can start its work.
According to my opinion, this is definitely something worth supporting. I hope this method of cancer detection will soon be a common part of diagnosis and will help many people in their treatment. What do you think about it? Would you trust the results of dog diagnosis?
Every one of us has for sure encountered diarrhoea in our fuzzy friend. Usually, there’s nothing to fuss about, the body reacts to food that it isn’t capable to digest or that didn’t do it good. However, it is good to know, when we are capable of...
I have been sharing with you my experience with dogs and other animals for quite some time now and it occurred to me to wander a little bit into history as well, but into an interesting one! I’d like to introduce you to several well-known dog...
Allergy is a disproportionate reaction of the immunity system to common stimuli. It cannot be cured, but we can suppress its manifestations. In the last years, allergies in pets and dogs especially are on the rise. Currently, about 10% of house-dogs...
Today, we are going to take a look at the Feline Infectious Peritonitis - FIP, an utterly exceptional virus illness that always has a fatal end. Most of the cats get into contact with the viruses that cause FIP in their lifetime, even though the...
We can divide dog owners into two groups. The ones that allow the dog in bed and those that feel that this is no option. Let’s take a look at what such bed sharing with a dog actually entails.
If you like going on treks with your fuzzy friends, geocaching is something precisely for you. This way, you will liven up your trips and maybe you even discover places that you wouldn’t have found otherwise. I and my pack can’t get enough of it.
Contrary to dogs, cats have a strong bond with the place where they live. That’s why moving is very stressful for them and this stress may cause a number of diseases. It’s a good idea to plan everything well, so that you could make the situation of a...
Even though the dogs went through long years of domestication, they still retain fundamental instincts as we do. They might not be as strong as in wild dogs, but they still play a very significant role in the life of a dog and in their behaviour. So if...
Even though it’s been a long time since our four-legged furry friends lived a feral life, they still have the laws of the pack rooted deep down inside them. It is not acquired behaviour, the need to live in a pack is determined by genetics. And if...
It is no news that the dog isn’t only a pet and that it can also help saving human lives in various catastrophes. But have you ever thought about what it means for dogs to become rescuers? You haven’t? Well, then it’s the right time to set off together...
The usual pregnancy period in female dogs is indicated at about 58 – 65 days, the average is 63 days. In case of the nutrition of a pregnant female, possible changes in diet can be likened to the changes in diet of pregnant women. Pregnant female dogs...
The most frequent reason why your dog starts to gain weight is simple, as in most of people: they consume more energy than they spend. Some owners wave their arm at a well-intended warning that their pet has gained weight, stating that the dog is...
