Some of you may know that my previous dog had cancer. In her case it was a slow moving form. We had her leg amputated and she lived another 3 1/2 years.
I've heard people complain that we should treat animal diseases. They think that we shouldn't waste our energy or time. But they are overlooking the fact that human and animal medicine is very much intertwined. Some of what we've learned through treating animals (human amputees have benefited greatly from the knowledge picked up from treating animal amputees) has transferred to human care and vice versa.
In this news story, a vaccine once designed for use in humans is becoming a possible treatment for cancer in dogs. They originally were working with breast cancer genes but found that it worked quite well with a form of canine cancer.
The vaccine has been tested in 4 or so dogs with permission of their owners. They are getting good results with it. What they hope is that what they learn through treating dogs will then give them more information about treating human cancer. They think it may be a future treatment for one type of childhood cancer.
Here's the article:
http://www.weartv.com/health/features/he...-331.shtml
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