The longevity of dogs already causes their main cause of death to be cancer

Humanity domesticated wild wolves thousands of years ago until they became its most faithful ally, which went from being pets to being practically one of the family.

About 30,000 years of coevolution, one of the best-known cases of artificial selection in animal history.

The material improvement of the dog's living conditions has led to the expansion of academic disciplines and the emergence of specialties such as veterinary medicine and its clinical aspect, as well as the industry focused on its care.

A success that has caused the way in which they die to also change: cancer is the main cause of death among these companion animals.

In the case of large dogs, weighing more than 50-60 kilos, the diagnosis of bone cancer is given on average at 5 years, compared to 11 detections for canids weighing less than 5 kilos.

Their breed also has an influence, since pure dogs are diagnosed at 8.2 years of age, while in mixed variants the disease does not appear until 9.2 years of age.

These data are collected in the new study that is published this Wednesday in the journal

The sample of 3,452 dogs analyzes cancer diagnoses and the correlation with their size, sex and breed, and determines that the average age is 7 years

Jill Rafalko, geneticist at PetDx Pharmaceuticals

Among the breeds sufficiently represented in the study, the researchers were able to determine that Mastiffs, Saint Bernards, Great Danes, and Bulldogs had the youngest median age of diagnosis, approximately six years, with English Mastiffs being the median of 6 years. youngest age at cancer diagnosis (five years).

Boxers, vizslas, and Bernese mountain dogs had a mean age of diagnosis of 6.1 to 7 years.

Among the breeds that tend to develop tumors later, around the age of 10, are dachshunds, cocker spaniels, Australian shepherds, beagles and terriers.

At 11 and a half years old, the Bichon Frize has the oldest average age at diagnosis.

Other details point to how female dogs usually suffer from cancer at older ages than males, and how tumors were recorded later in neutered dogs than in non-sterilized ones.

A veterinarian sterilizes a dog in the resort of Cancun, Quintana Roo (Mexico). Lourdes Cruz (EFE)

The work, directed by geneticist Jill Rafalko, analyzes the average age of diagnosis of cancer in dogs and how it is related to their size, sex and breed, with a sample of 3,452 American dogs with cancer.

Rafalko, from the pharmaceutical PetDx in La Jolla, California, explains how his work seeks to "help raise awareness about the importance of early care and popularize preventive screenings in dogs," he details, because, as in humans, this is a less harmful treatment for the animal in the long term.

New prevention model

Rafalko's pharmaceutical team is focused on animal liquid biopsy, a novel method of non-invasive blood testing that detects tumor samples before they metastasize to any organ, which is why Rafalko wants to formalize commonly used preventative guidelines among owners.

In the work they point out that it would be desirable "to start tests on dogs two years before the average in which, due to their species, or their weight, they begin to suffer from the symptoms of the disease", which would be tests on dogs at seven years, but even four depending on their characteristics.

Animal oncologist Andi Flory, the center's chief medical officer, details that developing this cancer treatment technique and its statistical animal model is "a way of standardizing prevention."

There is a brutal generational change, I see it especially among owners under 40 years of age.

Animal care is a very expensive specialty, so there must be a very large emotional factor

Noemí del Castillo Magán, Surbatán veterinary clinic

Professor Elena Martínez de Merlo, from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid, and not linked to this study, explains that "right now oncology in small animals is absolutely up-to-date, since the incidence of cancer is very high." .

The specialist points out that this is due to two complementary reasons: the importance of these animals in the lives of their owners has caused the field of oncology study to have changed radically in the last 30 years.

For the researcher, non-invasive preventive therapy is "the future, the way forward", but she raises questions about how "liquid biopsy will measure the severity of cancer, the types of malignancy in the same disease".

“The oncological study in animals is always behind the human one, but it changes very quickly;

In addition, our objectives are different: quality is sought over quantity of life”, explains Martínez.

The researcher believes that the US epidemiological sample cannot be directly extrapolated, but it is consistent with other analyzes of cancer in dogs carried out in Europe.

The importance that the well-being of dogs plays in people's daily lives is something that Noemí del Castillo Magán also detects at her Surbatán veterinary clinic in Madrid, also not related to the recent study.

“There is a brutal generational change, after years of experience I see it especially among owners under 40 years of age.

Animal care is a very expensive specialty, so there must be a very large emotional factor”, argues Castillo.

Both experts point to the importance in veterinary medicine of preserving the dog's quality of life, which is why they assure that prevention will be the way forward for the industry.

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