Kids and canines with cancer, helping each other

Kids and canines with cancer, helping each other


It’s no surprise that dogs and kids love each other. But that’s not all they have in common.

Cancer is the number one cause of disease-related death in children. And at a whopping 47%, cancer is also the leading cause of death in dogs.

Dogs and kids also tend to develop many of the same types of cancer, including cancers of the bone, the brain or other parts of the central nervous system, the lymph nodes or the blood. In fact, pediatric cancers are often more similar to those in dogs than in adults.

In addition, many dog breeds are closer than adults or laboratory mice to a child’s size, so dosing of cancer medications in dogs can inform dosing in kids too — and vice versa.

Comparative oncology — that is, the study and comparison of cancers in dogs and people — is one more way that dogs and kids have each other’s backs.

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