Golden Retrievers Help Fight Cancer

Man's best friend may live longer in the future. Colorado State University, partnered with Flint Animal Cancer Center and the Morris Animal Foundation for the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study, is conducting a new study that will attempt to discover the cause of cancer in older dogs. It's the first long term study of its kind on canine cancer and other dog diseases.

The study plans to monitor 3,000 purebred golden retrievers over the course of their lives. They will be tracked for genetic, nutritional, and environmental risks in order to help scientists find ways to prevent canine cancer. The study will mainly focus on three principal cancers that can be found in dogs--bone cancer, lymphoma, and hemangiosarcoma (cancer in blood vessels). But it's not only cancer that this study will examine. The research could also offer insight into other issues such as arthritis, hip dysplasia, hormonal and skin disorders, and epilepsy.

This larger study comes hard on the heels of a pilot study that started in August 2012, according to The Huffington Post. It used 50 dogs, and researchers have announced that reportable results could be available in about a year. The larger study still doesn't have all of its participants. Currently, only about 200 golden retrievers have been recruited.

Although the current study will observe the dogs, it will not intervene or recommend any treatment for them. Instead, it will record the canines' medical histories, diets, and environments. The eventual hope is that the study will benefit humans. In particular, researchers plan to pay attention to the early onset of obesity in dogs and see how it is related to diabetes.