Dogs who develop cancer are increasingly being given experimental drugs and other treatments that may someday benefit humans.
Like Oscar, a bichon frise with anal sac adenocarcinoma and a poor prognosis. Instead of having Oscar put down, his vet contacted a research center, which shipped out a new drug to try.
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There are several reasons why it makes sense to offer cancer treatments to dogs. The mice that are usually used in cancer treatments are bred to develop tumors (ugh). But dogs, like people, develop tumors spontaneously.
Also, treatments that are highly effective in mice — 80 percent or better — may only be 10 to 15 percent effective in humans. Dogs are more genetically similar to humans than mice are. What’s more, they’re exposed to the same environmental factors. So there’s hope that treatments that work well in dogs will be more helpful to humans.
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The dogs benefit too. Most of the drugs and therapies used to treat them were developed in the 1950s. But now, they are receiving cutting-edge treatments in cases where there would otherwise be no hope. The potential is so good that the U.S. National Cancer Institute has established the Comparative Oncology Program to evaluate chemotherapy drugs in dogs.
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Two other dogs — Haley, a giant schnauzer, and Buddy, a golden retriever — were treated with the same drug given to Oscar. Buddy’s tumor shrank 40 percent, and Haley’s 77 percent. There’s now a trial underway with 10 dogs.
And Oscar? Five years later, he’s still going strong.
