Gaining insight into the incidence, prevalence, and varieties of disease impacting man’s best friend is the driving force behind an 11-year (and counting) research project by Morris Animal Foundation.
Launched in 2012, the group’s Golden Retriever Lifetime Study utilizes owner questionnaires, veterinary exams, sample collecting, and genetic sequencing with the primary goal of identifying nutritional, environmental, lifestyle, and genetic risk factors for cancer and other diseases in dogs.
The study has now reached a milestone with the accrual of 500 cumulative diagnoses of four major cancers in dogs: hemangiosarcoma, lymphoma, high-grade mast cell tumor, and osteosarcoma.
“This is a sobering and significant finding,” says Morris Animal Foundation’s chief program officer, Kathy Tietje, MBA, PhD. “We are grateful to the dogs and their owners who contributed, and continue to contribute data, specimens, time, and resources to the study.”
Among the most significant reports to come out of the project is the revelation of a higher-than-expected prevalence of hemangiosarcoma, a deadly form of canine cancer, within the study’s group. In response to the finding, the foundation launched a multiyear, multimillion-dollar Hemangiosarcoma Initiative, which dedicates funding and resources to advance the prevention, detection, treatment of, and, potentially, cures for this cancer in dogs.
“Hemangiosarcoma, an almost universally fatal cancer, accounts for approximately 70 percent of cancer deaths to date in our cohort,” Tietje says. “With meaningful and targeted research efforts, and a greater investment of funding, we hope we can improve the outlook for all dogs diagnosed with this devastating disease.”
While the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study’s initial cohort of 3,044 dogs has now decreased to 1,653, Morris Animal Foundation will continue to follow all study dog participants for the rest of their lives, regardless of disease or diagnoses. This collection of prospective data and samples is available to researchers by request and at no charge to help spur more studies seeking to address canine cancer and other health challenges in dogs.
For more on the study, click here or email grdogs@caninelifetimehealth.org.