Can dogs smell cancer?

[daneinspain]

Saw a documentary last night that proved that dogs can sniff out lung, breast, bladder and prostate cancer with differing success rates ranging from 43% to 97% depending on the form of cancer and how trained the dog is.

Anyone know more on the subject?

[hillybilly]

Didn't see the documentary unfortunately but when my cousin was ill with terminal cancer a few years ago, her dog would sit and lick the affected area, the seat of the cancer. As if she knew, sensed or smelled something?

[Kelly4]

My Dad died very suddenly last year following a few days complaining of a sore leg, something akin to a bad cramp. My mum says that one of their dogs had been obsessively licking my dad's leg for about a week before he died, to the point where it became a standing joke. It wasn't until after he died (from a rare blood infection originating in that leg) that she realised the significance of it. Most animals tend to have a sense of when they are very ill...which is I think why many species will take off so that they can die in peace, alone. Personally, I think that we all have this kind of sense, but we're just really bad at paying attention to it. Or maybe we have evolved to the point where we rely so heavily upon others to give us a view on our own well-being, that we've lost it altogether.

Very interesting theory, the whole dogs and illness thing. I would probably have laughed it off before, were it not for the experience of my Dad. I guess this research just reinforces the well-documented fact that some pets can be good for your health.

Kelly