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Poodles and Cancer: Is this breed-specific?
September 13th, 2007
Three years after what was left of my family moved to our mountain in North Carolina following the tragic death of our son and business partner SkyPup, we lost Uncle Bob the Poodle to systemic cancer. He’d been with us for 9 years as a certified member of our family as well as our family entertainment troupe.
It broke our hearts, even though we still had Kenya, our female black with the improbable registered name of “Kenya Queen Reba Amelia E.” - our Flying Poodle. She was 5 years younger than Bob, purchased from a breeder in Savannah as a mate for Bob (in hopes we could pay for haircuts with occasional puppy litters). We’d wanted to make especially sure their bloodlines were not closely related, having researched the issue of interbreeding and prevalent cancer and not wanting to make that mistake.
Both Bob and Kenya got sick with what appeared to be a dog-cold in the fall, but unlike Kenya, Bob didn’t get better after a couple of weeks. A few trips to the vet and some expensive testing later, we got the news. Bob had the canine equivalent of Hodgkin’s Disease (a cancer of the lymphatic system). We began a more expensive regimen of chemotherapy we hadn’t known was ever developed or available for dogs with cancer.
The drugs made his hair fall out - a sad thing for a poodle - and caused him to gain weight like nobody’s business. He managed to last until mid-January, when he went down while doing his business in the yard, and couldn’t get up again. It was time. We met the vet in the parking lot, where she gave him “The Shot” and then it was all over except for the tears.
We buried him below the garden and got a nice angel yard statue as a headstone. Over the years 2 more poodle graves have been added, along with those of several other dogs and cats. We call it our “Pet Semetary” after Steven King’s horror novel, though ours is peaceful and shaded by cherry and dogwood trees, with a weeping willow at the top end.
The vet told me that unless a dog gets hit by a car, in his experience standard poodles and boxers ‘always’ die of cancer. Is this a genetic issue? So I did a little research on the web and found an interview with a geneticist and dog fancier published on the American Boxer Club website.
The article is Research on Canine Longevity & Dog Breeding, with geneticist John Armstrong of the University of Ottawa, and it offers some interesting insights. First, he takes some issue with the surveys of dog longevity over sizes and breeds, as well as between mixed breeds and purebred dogs.
Armstrong does mention that a major factor affecting purebred longevity has to be inbreeding. If a breed as old and established as poodles is living shorter lives than before, inbreeding must play a significant role. Yet he mentions another factor that may play just as significant a role in the issue, particularly my issue of why poodles (and boxers) tend to die of cancer rather than some other problem that affects larger dogs…
Increasing exposure to environmental toxins and carcinogens. Which - let’s face it - has to be playing more of a role in the human “cancer epidemic” than inbreeding! Add to this the genetic stress of inbreeding that inevitably occurs because there are only so many lines to draw from, and one gets a predisposition or inability for the immune system to deal with environmental factors that can lead to cancer.
I’m guessing there isn’t much to be done by the individual dog owner, except to be as careful as possible to trace their pup’s ancestry, asking specific questions about how long the relevant ancestors lived and what they died of. With AKC registered animals, this is not too difficult, and many of the previous owners will be happy to share that information if you but ask.
On top of that, a commitment to providing the best food and treats for your animals - choosing organic or close to organic brands with the least added chemicals and preservatives that can be obtained - won’t hurt. Being very careful of any type of table scraps the dog may get, regular health check-ups, lots of exercise… all these things tend to help people avoid cancer, they won’t hurt your poodle either.
But in the end, we all die of something. End of life issues are no less a concern for pets than for people, as people do tend to invest a lot of love and suffer a lot of heartache when their pets die. For that, there are some fine websites dedicated to sharing grief, which can help a lot.
I’ve also written about poodle crossbreeds and the benefits.
Links:
Canine Longevity & Dog Breeding
Euthanasia: How Will I Know When It’s “Time”?
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9 Responses to “Poodles and Cancer: Is this breed-specific?”
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This is too strange. Our Apricot Standard male Poodle “Bob” died of Leukemia in February. He was only 3 years old. He is also buried in our garden along with our previous English Cocker Rusty, who pretty much just had to be put down from old age.
How sad, Sandy! Three years isn’t much time at all, but I guess they average these things out. Met a champaign labradoodle this summer I could easily fall in love with, heard they don’t get cancer so much (but do suffer lab issues, like arthritis and hip problems). Still, we’re on the list for another poodle rescue and willinvest our love again without hesitation. Life counts more than death, I always figured! §;o)
My dog Lassie, (a poodle)was diagnosed today by her doctor with cancer, we do not know what type yet because we are waiting for the lab biopsy results, however, the doctor is preety sure its cancer because my dog’s face and neck are swollen. She is 10 years old and I am trully devastated, but at the same time I think, at least she lived 10 years and she really enjoyed her life with my family and I. Her mom, however, is 17 years old and she is going strong.
Oh, Marlene! I’m so saddened to hear that. 10 years is pretty good (well within the average span for standards, a little short for the smaller poods), and it sounds like Mom managed to avoid the issue. As mentioned, some of this may well be environmental, as it is with people. Additives in food, environmental carcinogens, maybe even some of the products used for all that poodle-grooming (I’ve taken to organics exclusively). Why, sometimes for people it turns out our medicines cause cancer, so who knows about those new type anti heartworm/flea/tick internals, really? All we can do is love ‘em and do our best, then cry when the time comes.
Sounds like a systemic cancer. They do have chemo for that, though I’m not sure it did Uncle Bob any favors. When Beau got cancer it was a really rare one - cancer of the nail follicle in one of his front toes. The vet amputated the two middle toes so he looked for awhile like king of the heavy metal poodles, but 6 months later it had gone systemic and we didn’t go with the chemo. I suppose we could have, maybe would have had a few more months. But at what cost to him as well as to us?
My sympathies. When the time comes and goes, maybe you’ll be up for a rescue! I’ve got us on the list at several shelters… §;o)
wow, i’m totally impressed. saved your feed to my blog, thank you
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[...] have written previously about the sad fact that poodles (and boxers, and some other breeds) are prone to developing cancer. My own family has lost more than one beloved pet to this insidious disease. Most experts believe [...]