Walking to raise awareness

Thanks to a post at At Home with Herbie, I just started reading about 2 Dog 2,000 Miles. Luke sold his truck, put his belongings in storage, and set off on foot with his two dogs, Hudson and Murphy. They are walking from Austin to Boston to raise awareness of canine cancer. Please visit their site, or you can follow them on Twitter. It's inspiring!

New blogs to read, fake links, wonky leg

It's been a while since I've checked in.... shame on me as I can give you a hundred excuses (work, home, summer vacation, etc.) but I really should be better about updating the blog.

This past Sunday was the second anniversary of Watson's passing. I still think about him often and we reminisce about his time with us. Time does heal, but time is also funny that an event can feel distant and close all at the same time.

Little Waldo is not so little anymore. He turned 3 in June. Still healthy, although he will go for leg surgery in December. His left leg is overly basset (i.e. crooked) and he needs some corrective surgery to hopefully give him a better quality of life as he ages. The leg is affecting his gait and his shoulder.

I've been keeping up on canine lymphoma news via Google alerts and have noticed a disturbing trend. Many of the canine cancer or canine lymphoma tags that Google picks up are actually URLs that direct you to a spam site when you click on them. It's been very frustrating to sort the wheat from the chaff.

That being said, I've found two new blogs worth a read. The first is simply titled "Canine Lymphoma" and offers facts about the disease and treatment. The second is a blog by pet nutritionist Susan Blake Davis called "Ask Ariel". Specifically, her post in response to supplements for a golden retriever with lymphoma caught my attention.

Updated Vetinfo.com pages

Hi All,

It's been a while since I've updated the blog. I am happy to report that no news means good news. Waldo is doing well and is enjoying the spring weather in New England.

I wanted to post a link to some helpful information from Vetinfo.com's pages, including How to Recognize Canine Lymphoma and 5 Subtle Canine Cancer Symptoms. There are links on these pages that lead to other informative articles too.

New canine cancer research from North Carolina State (USA)

NC State Researchers Find Soy May Aid in Treating Canine Cancers

Researchers at North Carolina State University are looking to soy as a way to make traditional canine cancer therapy more effective, less stressful for the dog and less costly for the owners.

Dr. Steven Suter, assistant professor of oncology, and NC State colleagues studied genistein - a molecule found in soy that has been shown to be toxic to a wide variety of cancer cells in humans - to determine whether it would also inhibit the growth of canine lymphoma cells.

The researchers found that a commercially available form of genistein called GCP was effective in killing canine lymphoid cells in a laboratory setting, and that GCP is “bioavailable” in canines - meaning it is absorbed into the bloodstream where it can affect cancer cells in the body. The researchers hope that their findings will lead to the use of GCP for their canine patients in conjunction with traditional cancer treatments like chemotherapy.

The researchers’ findings were published in Clinical Cancer Research.

“Humans have been using soy in conjunction with traditional chemotherapy for some time as a chemo potentiator,” Suter says. “This means that the GCP makes the chemotherapy work more efficiently and faster, which translates to less stress on the patient and less money spent on chemotherapy.”

Since dogs absorb GCP in much the same way that humans do, Suter hopes that veterinarians will be able to offer this therapy to canine patients in the near future.

“Since GCP is a dietary supplement, it is harmless to patients,” he adds. “Plus it’s inexpensive and easy to administer in a pill form. There’s really no downside here.”

Source: http://v3.news.ncsu.edu/releases/nc-state-researchers-find-soy-may-aid-in-treating-canine-cancers/

National Canine Cancer Foundation blog

I recently found the National Canine Cancer Foundation blog and thought this post "Notes by Dr Kent’s on his canine Lymphoma Cancer research with Nanoparticles. Research funded by a grant from NCCF" was interesting. Sadly, it notes that only about 5% of lymphoma dogs will be alive at two years. On the bright side, there is a new chemo trial happening specifically for relapsed lymphoma dogs.

Read more at the link above.

Meet Jack

Hi, All! Apologies to those who get the blog feed. I accidentally published a blog post for my AV blog on this one. I guess I haven't had enough coffee today. ;)

As the title to this post suggests, I'd like you to meet Jack, a 6-year-old Mini Schnauzer from Australia who was recently diagnosed with canine lymphoma. Please go visit Jack and his mum at their blog and offer your support as they undertake a huge fight against this horrible disease.

Would you clone your dog?

I saw this story today about a couple in Florida who paid $155,000 USD to have their dog cloned! Their dog had died of cancer and, since he held such a special place in their hearts, they had him cloned. It got me thinking as to whether I would have done that for/to Watson, and I am unsure of the answer.

This couple had their dog's DNA frozen prior to his illness. But doesn't that mean that Cloned Dog would have the same genetic disposition to cancer as Original Dog? It would be heartbreaking to have the new dog die in the same horrible way.

So, would you have your dog cloned? Thoughts?

Q&A video about canine cancer

Here is a video by the Morris Animal Foundation featuring three veterinary oncologists from Colorado State University discussing canine cancer prevention and treatment. According to the video, cancer is the number one killer of dogs over two years old. Take a moment and find out more.

Snowy days

We've been trying to enjoy the snowy days here, although arctic cold has made it difficult to go for walks sometimes. Here are some shots from a recent walk in the woods after fresh snowfall. Waldo has such thin fur that we got him a coat this year. Red, so that the hunters know not to shoot him!


Here he is bounding off onto the trail.


It seems like the cold weather has lessened the appearance of his sebaceous cysts, as well. Near the end of the summer, I was in a cycle where I thought every lump must mean that dreaded "c" word. Looks like I officially have my first lumpy dog! And what a relief that is.....