707 -- Breast Cancer Awareness for You AND Your Dog

Breast Cancer Awareness for You AND Your Dog Host Laura Reeves is joined by Dr. Marty Greer for an important reminder about the risks of breast cancer in our dogs and how to prevent and treat it. October is Breast cancer awareness month: How does hearing the words “she’s got breast cancer” affect you? Bring tears to your eyes? Start a knot forming in the pit of your stomach? Make you want a second opinion? Create anger at being cheated? The diagnosis: We all know and have been affected by someone with this dreaded diagnosis. Maybe it is you, maybe someone you love: a wife, sister, daughter, girlfriend, mother, another family member or co-worker. We know it is a life-changing experience - pain, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, fear of a shortened life expectancy. For many women, they are fortunate that advances in early detection and medical therapy has made breast cancer a story of survival instead of a death sentence. But this is not the path for all those diagnosed. Some are diagnosed too late or with a very aggressive form of the disease. Some cannot afford the medical care that allow for an improved prognosis. Some deny themselves the care they need. But for those who are blessed with great diagnostics and treatment that allow for stories of happy endings, they owe their successes to the incredible research that led to this improved prognosis and outcome. Part of the success story is thanks to the similarity of breast cancer in women with mammary tumors our dogs also are affected by. The dog has served as a research model for the disease in humans. Many advancements in human medicine are directly linked to the information discovered by research on the disease in dogs. Sadly, our dogs have not benefitted as much as humans have. In human medicine, there are two keys to survival: early detection and successful treatment. Self-breast examinations and mammograms have been credited with changing survival by early detection. Many organizations have put their resources into educating us about the importance of these two important detection tools. New diagnostic tools are on the horizon for humans. Of course, mammograms are not available for our dogs. They rely on us to detect their lumps and to seek appropriate therapy for treatment. Treatment: But, treatment is a very different story. Despite the similarities between this human and canine disorder, there are no widely accepted successful chemotherapy and radiation therapy programs available for dogs. Surgical excision is the only treatment option widely available at this time for dogs. Prevention: In contrast to humans, mammary tumors in dogs are nearly 100% preventable if owners would take one simple step – to spay their female dogs prior to age 2 or younger. We all know that spaying (ovariohysterectomy or ovariectomy) prevents heat cycles and pregnancy. What we have not always done as well as we should have as veterinarians is to educate our clients that spaying under the age of 2 prevents most mammary tumors. Spaying before the first heat cycle protects nearly all dogs. In the veterinary profession, we have also not educated our clients of the risks of spaying our female dogs. While it is true that spaying prevents pregnancy, mammary tumors, and pyometras, there is research that supports increased risk of other disorders thought to be related to removing the hormonal influence of the ovaries. There is an increased risk of urinary incontinence and associated urinary tract infections, osteosarcoma, lymphosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, mast cell tumors, and hypothyroidism. Each of these disorders has an associated health risk ranging from mild to severe affecting quality and length of life, as well as financial cost to the owner. Even when dogs with mammary tumors were included in the study, they still achieved greater longevity than their spayed female counterparts. More...