Pets

Campaign promotes Pet Cancer Awareness Month

Fifty percent of dogs aged 10 years or older develop cancer at some point during their lives.

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Fifty percent of dogs aged 10 years or older develop cancer at some point during their lives. To help dog owners better understand the treatment options, cutting-edge research and ways to support canine cancer research, the AKC Canine Health Foundation (CHF) today launches a public awareness and fundraising campaign to kick off Pet Cancer Awareness Month, May 1-31, 2012.

“Cancer affects all dogs,” said Dr. Shila Nordone, CHF Chief Scientific Officer. “Canine cancer research is a major funding priority of our parent clubs and individual supporters. As stewards of their contributions, we make sure that cancer research continues to be a major component of our research portfolio.”

CHF is the most highly regarded organization funding sound, scientific research exclusively for dogs. Since 1995 CHF has funded nearly $8.3 million in canine cancer research. This research has provided breakthroughs in treatment options and diagnosis and has helped scientists study cancer at the cellular level, allowing veterinarians to diagnose cancer earlier and treat it more effectively. CHF-funded research has a broad impact, extending beyond dogs to having application to human cancer diagnosis and treatment.

The public awareness and fundraising campaign runs through the month of May and uses social media and online outreach, podcasts and website features to promote not only CHF-funded research, but information on different types of canine cancer, care for dogs with cancer and other cancer-related health resources. The podcasts release schedule and topics are:

* Thursday, April 26: CHF Cancer Research, with Dr. Shila Nordone, CHF Chief Scientific Officer
* Thursday, May 3: Cancer Research Infrastructure, with Dr. Bruce Smith, Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine
* Thursday, May 17: Hemangiocarcinoma Research, with Dr. Jaime Modiano, University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine

* Thursday, May 31: Osteosarcoma Research, with Dr. Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University

Dog owners and dog lovers are encouraged to take part in the Foundation’s goal to help raise funds for canine health research through two special honor and memorial gift programs. The Celebration Wall is a special online photo gallery in memory of much loved dogs. This memorial is a fitting tribute for dogs that have died from cancer or another disease.

Heroes for Health Research pages are custom-built personal donation webpages. Pages can be created for any canine hero – whether it is a dog battling cancer or a dog that has been a great companion. Participants are encouraged to invite family and friends to donate to their page.

Contributions raised through the Celebration Wall and Hero for Health Research will help CHF advance the health of all dogs by funding sound, scientific research to prevent, treat and cure canine disease.

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