Question About Colors And Cancer

[robinw]

Do you think that perhaps injuries and wear and tear on racers' bodies might contribute to the high osteo numbers?

[NeylasMom]

I don't see any reason why risk for osteo would be linked to coat color.

 

Racing or not has nothing to do with it.

This isn't entirely true. It is known that there is a higher risk of osteo in a place where there has been a previous break. And I would venture that if that's true, it could also be true that other injuries/stress to the bones that don't result in a break could also increase risk, although there I'm just hypothesizing. Still, in the sense that racing does cause a much higher incidence of bone breaks, it also increases the risk of osteo in racing greyhounds.

 

The argument that cancer , especially osteo in greys, must be genetic could hold true, but I have doubts.

I don't know why you would doubt this. Why would cancer in dogs be different than cancer in humans? I suspect that, as in humans, there are various components that put you at risk - genetic, environmental (particularly pollution), improper diet over the course of a lifetime, bone breaks as mentioned above, size of breed (larger dogs have a higher incidence of bone cancer), etc.

 

If I had any doubt about the genetic component, I only have to look to a friend who sadly lost the 2 littermates she adopted to bone cancer within 7 months of each other. Same cancer, same place, same leg, 7 months apart. You'd have a hard time getting me to believe that that is coincidence even though it's only one case.

[Guest GreysAndMoreGreys]

Yea but I have a therary on that one all ready. The fact is in looking up the foods fed to racers, they are sponsered by food companies that used Ethoxyquin in the past and also buy from rendering plants that do not have to list if the ethoxyquin was used in the first place

 

what foods are fed to racers? and where did you find this info?

[Guest tinams8]

I've heard that mast cell might be linked to color, as it is more prominent in breeds that have a reddish coat- vizslas, darker golden retrievers, boxers are the ones I have heard of. To make things more complicated, I would assume that different cancers have different causes, just like in humans. Some are more likely genetic, some are typically environmental.

[Guest Heehoo]

I've had 3 with cancer, all males, all black, all from different bloodlines. All different ages. Two different cancers. But I don't believe color has anything to do with it.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Heehoo

[Guest kiana325]

 

Add that most dogs that have bone cancer its already known that early s/n is one of the causes. Or put it this way- more s/n dogs have bone cancer as well as structural weakness ie growth plate developement,and weight baring bones etc.

 

 

 

 

That's odd, because in general racing greyhounds are s/n a lot later than all the mixed breeds coming through rescues or even most pets from breeders. I mean racers are still generally intact at 3-5 years old whereas other dogs are being s/n at 6 months. This doesn't make sense as playing a factor in greyhound bone cancer to me.