Does Fido’s owner look like this? (Image: Natl Human Genome Research Inst)

It’s official. Dogs look like their owners, a U.S. study suggests.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego showed that people choose purebred dogs that resemble them. But they weren’t so fussy when it came to choosing a mongrel.

Psychologists Michael Roy and Professor Nicholas Christenfeld report their findings in the May issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the American Psychological Society.

The researchers explored the myth that owners look like their dogs by seeing if judges could match photographs of dogs with their owners.

The researchers photographed 45 dogs (25 purebreds and 22 mongrels) and their owners, separately. The researchers then showed 28 judges pictures of the owners, their dogs, and one other dog and asked to pick the true match.

The judges matched 16 purebred dogs with their owners but couldn’t find a link between mongrels and their owners.

The researchers also explored whether any resemblance had developed while the person had owned the dog, in the same way that a 1987 report suggested the facial appearance of married couples converged over time.

The other explanation would be that owners selected dogs at the outset that looked like them, the researchers said.

The researchers discounted the “length of ownership” theory when they found no correlation between the degree of resemblance and the time the dog and owner had been together.

This left the “selection” theory. The researchers said the fact that resemblance only occurred in purebred dogs, which have a more predictable appearance as puppies compared to a mixed breed, supported that theory.

The researchers said that a person was also likely to spend more time choosing a purebred puppy and thus be more likely to get what they want.

The research couldn’t establish that owners choose dogs on the basis of hairiness, size, sharpness of features, attractiveness, perceived friendliness or perceived energy level.

“The judges did not make correct matches by simply matching hairy people with hairy dogs, or big people with big dogs,” the authors wrote. “It may be that the judges used some other more subtle trait.”

The case with purebreds

According to Australian psychologist Dr Eleonora Gullone, who studies human-animal interactions at Melbourne’s Monash University, the study may have been biased by judges’ preconceptions about purebred dogs.

“People have preconceived notions of the personality of dog breeds,” she told ABC Science Online.

The researchers did find a trend that people with a friendly outlook on life were more likely to choose friendly-looking dogs.

While they said this association was only modest and not statistically significant, Gullone said this could be because of the small sample size.

Gullone also criticised the way the researchers declared a match: at least 15 of the judges would have to find a resemblance.

“That’s just one over 50% and I’m not comfortable with that,” she said.

The U.S. team said other research had found a link between owners and their dogs. They referred to 1999 research showing that women with long hair gave higher ratings of attractiveness, friendliness, loyalty and intelligence to dogs with floppy, rather than pricked ears.

Dog Naturopath, Sar Rooney’s comment: It seems to me that our tax-paying dollars are going towards funding research that really has no consequence and may not even be valid.

If YOU were a dog – what breed would you be?

Yours In Health,
Sara Rooney BHSc., ND., DC., DASc., GDSc. (Hons) Zoology, MATMS, MHATO.
Naturopathic Physician, Research Health Scientist & Canine Naturopath

Spot the personality (Los Alamos National Laboratory)

Confirming dog owner suspicions, a new U.S. study reveals that dogs have personalities, and that these character traits can be identified as accurately as similar personality attributes in humans.

A team led by psychologist Professor Samuel Gosling of the University of Texas at Austin, reports on the first cross-species personality study between a human and another animal in the current Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Dogs (Canis familiaris) were chosen for the study because of their wide availability, the fact that they safely and naturally exhibit a wide variety of behaviours, are understood well by many humans, and can travel to research sites with ease.

The dog research consisted of three studies. For the first, 78 dog owners were recruited from dog parks to evaluate both themselves and their dogs using criteria common to human personality studies: extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and openness. The same evaluation of dog and owner was then carried out by a different person, who happened to be familiar with the dog.

For the second study, independent observers rated owners and dogs in a field-testing enclosure. And for the final study, photographs of human and animal participants were rated by a new set of independent observers.

After the three tests, the researchers determined that the judgments made for the dog personalities were as accurate as those made for the human personalities. While there was not 100% agreement for either human or dog evaluations, the responses of owners, peers, and independent judges all followed a similar pattern of consistency, which the researchers were able to chart mathematically.

The dog studies controlled for breed and appearance-based stereotypes, such as impressions based on size, sex, and age.

Gosling believes that more than half a human or non-human’s personality is inherited. The remaining percentage is formed by upbringing, events in life, and learning from chance happenings in the environment. As a result, animal studies could help to address some long-standing issues in human personality research.

“This includes such issues as understanding the social, biological, and genetic bases of personality and understanding how personality develops,” Gosling told Discovery News.

He said certain characteristics are associated with certain breeds: “So I can use these associations to make public statements to others. For example, if I want to convey a tough image, I will buy a rottweiller rather than a teacup terrier.”

Professor David Funder, chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of California at Riverside, agrees that animals have personalities, something that “every pet owner knows”.

Funder, however, was “surprised and impressed that Gosling was able to come up with ingenious methods to demonstrate and measure animal personality”.

Psychology Professor James King, at the University of Arizona and an expert on primates, said that research on chimpanzees and orangutans appears to support Gosling’s work, which King described as “elegant and well-executed”.

King said, “Tool using, culture, and language have recently been shown to not be uniquely human. Now, we are seeing that our personality and personality dimensions are also not uniquely human, but shared with non-human primates and even dogs.”

Yours In Health,
Sara Rooney BHSc., ND., DC., DASc., GDSc. (Hons) Zoology, MATMS, MHATO.
Naturopathic Physician, Research Health Scientist & Canine Naturopath

Survey of Veterinary Surgeons on the Introduction of Serological Testing to Assess ReVaccination Requirements

Despite the discussion of the use of serological testing in canine vaccination protocols, no study has been published that investigates the opinions of the veterinary profession regarding the use of the test to assess revaccination requirements in dogs. This paper presents the results of a study designed to fill this research gap which was completed in 2009. Veterinary surgeons were asked to complete a questionnaire on different aspects of canine vaccination and the introduction of serological testing to determine revaccination requirements. Of the 448 questionnaires distributed, 243 replies were received (54.2 per cent) and of these, a significant majority (169/243; 69.5 per cent) of respondents would consider introducing serological testing. An average of 53.5 per cent of respondents practised tri-annual revaccination for the core diseases. A significant number of respondents (86/140; 61 per cent) who placed low importance on vaccine overload would consider introducing serological testing into canine vaccination programmes (P=0.002).

DOG FARMS TARGETED

The Queensland government aims to wipe out puppy farms under proposed registration requirements for dog breeders.

Agriculture minister Tim Mulherin said yesterday unscrupulous breeders, who usually ran large-scale operations in isolated areas, would be squeezed out under a proposed two-tiered breeder registration system.

“These notorious operations generally have very poor conditions – sometimes with hundreds of dogs – and fail to meet any of the dogs’ behavioural, social and physiological needs,” he said.

Sar’s comment about puppy farms: For the welfare of Puppies around Australia, this can’t happen quick enough!

Sit. Stay. Scratch.

Thanks to inbreeding, dogs are more like us than ever before. Take the golden retriever. In the past few years, the breed has begun to suffer from one of a cluster of rare diseases that also afflicts humans, maladies that cause the skin to form scaly patches and that can sometimes be fatal. A new study of golden retriever DNA shows that the same gene is mutated in the dogs and in some people, offering a much-needed clue to the disease’s origins.

Mating closely related dogs helps keep the breed pure, but it can also cause trouble. “When dogs are bred for qualities like size, temperament, or color, the selected genes may be physically close to other genes that cause disease,” explains geneticist Catherine André, who heads the Canine Genetics Group at the University of Rennes 1 in France. “The mutated copy of the gene can rapidly spread in a given breed.” And that can lead to an explosion of once-rare disorders such as hip dysplasia, epilepsy, and syringomyelia (in which a too-small skull forces the brain against the spinal cord).

Also cropping up lately in golden retrievers, Jack Russell terriers, and Norfolk terriers, are forms of a series of skin disorders collectively known as ichthyosis. Named after the Greek word for fish, the disorders are so rare in people that even the most common forms affect only about one in 2500 individuals. Severe types such as Harlequin ichthyosis (which breaks the skin up into diamond-shaped plates outlined by deep cracks and is usually fatal in the first few days of life) occur so seldom that researchers can’t even make estimates of their prevalence. So it was hard to track down the  gene or genes responsible. But a clue has emerged—now that dogs have started coming down with the same condition.

To determine whether canine and human ichthyosis have a common basis, André and colleagues first checked for telltale mutations in golden retrievers. Working with 20 affected dogs and 20 healthy controls, the investigators screened the entire genome with 50,000 genetic markers, ultimately finding mutations in a gene called PNPLA1. In all of the dogs with the disease, which causes  whitish scales that darken with age, both copies of the gene were mutated; healthy dogs had mutations in only one copy or in neither. (Inheritance of this type of ichthyosis is recessive, meaning an individual must inherit a “bad” gene from each parent for the disease to occur.)

For the next step, directed by co-author and geneticist Judith Fischer of the University of Freiburg in Germany, the researchers tested whether human patients had mutations in the same gene. The team found mutations in six patients from two unrelated families. Mirroring the results in dogs, family members with ichthyosis had mutations in both copies of the gene, the team reports online  today in Nature Genetics, suggesting that defective PNPLA1 plays a role in the disease.

PNPLA1 has not previously been linked to ichthyosis or to any disease, and until now its function was unknown. The protein produced by the gene belongs to a family of enzymes that play a key role in breaking down fats, an important process in forming cell membranes. When the investigators studied skin biopsies from golden retrievers with the disorder and from one human patient, they found abnormal cell membranes, resulting from the mutated gene, in the outer skin layer called the epidermis.

André cautions that more research is needed to establish the role of the gene’s protein in normal cell operations and in ichthyosis. To identify genes that may contribute to other types of the disease, her team is now studying forms of the condition that affect other dog breeds. Meanwhile, Fischer is testing about 100 additional patients for PNPLA1 mutations.

The study shows the power of using dog genetics to learn more about human diseases, says Heidi Parker, a geneticist at the Dog Genome Project of the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. “When the researchers compared genetically similar dogs with disease to healthy ones, the single mutation stood out beautifully,” she says. “You couldn’t get such a clear result by testing a few unrelated families from different countries.” Parker adds that other mutations identified in dogs have lead to gene therapies for eye diseases such as genetic disorders of the retina.

HOW OLD IS YOUR DOG IN DOG YEARS?

A couple of weeks before Christmas, the world’s oldest dog – as certified by the Guinness Book of Records – died in Japan. Pusuke was reported to be 26 years and nine months old. Based on the photograph below, he looked like a typical Japanese dog and also looked pretty darn good for a serious senior citizen dog. Twenty-six years is really an achievement, because only about 8% of dogs live past the age of 15. If you do the math and one calendar year equals seven dog years, that made Pusuke 182 years old by human standards.

Can a dog really be 182 years old?

Common sense tells us this is not possible and yet everyone has heard that one human year equals seven years for a dog. So how old was Pusuke really? Based on gerontology research, my best guess is between 100 and 110 years old.

The relationship between chronological and physiological age in dogs is not linear. Young dogs age rapidly at first and then the rate of aging slows down in middle age before increasing again in geriatric dogs. For example, a Miniature Poodle at one year of age is about 11 human years old; at seven years, it is middle aged at 42 human years, and 14 years old is 67 human years. Great Danes, who have a shorter lifespan than Miniature Poodles, at one year of age are 27 human years, at seven years are 59 human years and by 14 years are 98 human years.

Which dogs live the longest?

Longevity in dogs depends on multiple factors. Two important ones are breed and body weight. Owners of small dogs will be happy to learn that the smaller the dog, the longer they live. This inverse relationship of body weight and longevity is one of the unique features of dogs since the converse is true for other mammals. Take for instance the largest mammal in the world, the blue whale,  which has a lifespan of 85 years, but the 1.8 gram Etruscan shrew has a lifespan of only three years.

Your dog’s breed will also affect her longevity. Overall, a mutt lives longer than a purebred dog with three notable exceptions. Miniature Poodles, Jack Russell Terriers and Whippets have been identified as purebred dogs with average lifespans longer than the average mutt. Breed also affects the diseases your purebred dog is prone to developing and will dictate some of the healthcare decisions you will make on behalf of your pet.

What about cats?

There is less information about how cat age relates to human age. Personally, the oldest cat I have ever seen was 23 years old. Siamese cats, in my opinion, live the longest. My sister’s Siamese cat, abandoned at The AMC as a kitten because of head trauma, lived to a ripe old age of 21, despite his handicaps. A study of longevity in Swedish cats enrolled in an insurance program found 68% of Birman cats were still alive at 12.5 years of age. Swedish Siamese cats did not fare as well with only 42% alive at 12.5 years of age.

Your veterinarian can help you keep your aging pet healthy though twice yearly checkups once your pet becomes a senior citizen. With a proper diet, weight management, environmental enrichment and treatment of geriatric conditions such as arthritis and periodontal disease, your pet can live healthy and well into its teens.

Interesting Note:  The previous Guiness record holder for oldest dog was held by a 28-year-old Beagle from the U.S. who died in 2003 (animaltracks. Today. msnbc.msn.com).

Do you know of any dogs that lived longer than this?

Dogs suffering from lymphoma will be able to receive the same type of medical treatment as their human counterparts, as North Carolina State University becomes the first university in the nation to offer canine bone marrow transplants in a clinical setting.

Sar’s naturopathic health comment:

Cancer in Dogs: Its great that dogs are being offered the same priviliges as humans when it comes to mainstream cancer treatments (as the rate of cancer in dogs is rapidly increasing) but I can’t help thinking that it would be really good if there was more information out there about cancer prevention rather than offering more and more expensive treatment options. Personally, I believe that feeding your pet commercial dog foods all the time, instead of a natural diet; excessive vaccinations, micro-chipping and regular pesticide use (e.g. Revolution, Advantage, etc) may be responsible for the increased rates of cancer in dogs (and there is much research to back this up). However, there are not enough people talking about this tragedy and taking some simple steps that may reduce the risk of cancer in their much-loved dogs. For more information read the articles on my website: www.AnimalNaturopath.com.au and let me know your thoughts about why cancer is rapidly increasing in dogs.

The article below illustrates that some veterinarians also believe that feeding dry food leads to obesity in pets:

Extra pounds can weigh heavily on animal’s health

In certain humorous poses, Murphy the cat resembles Jabba the Hutt from “Star Wars,” his owner says.

But Murphy, a tabby, is a lovable, adorable 21-pounder, who has lost two pounds since his heaviest weigh-in, Morgan Turner says. She adopted Murphy when he was a little kitten, and though it looked like he was a big-boned cat with a large, long frame, the kitty started bulking up with fat after his first year. She and her husband, Jim, aren’t sure why Murphy is so hefty, but he otherwise seems healthy: He runs around, wrestles with his normal-size brother, Charlie, and loves to play. They joke that Murphy’s father was a mountain lion.

“People comment on it all the time. They call him Big Chunk, Big Love and Big Snack,” says Morgan Turner, 30, of Springdale. When Murphy launches himself from the floor onto her lap, he sometimes leaves a bruise. A pudgy puss like Murphy may look cute, but its weight may threaten its health, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. An estimated 54 percent of cats and dogs in the United   States — about 93 million animals — are considered overweight or obese, according to the association’s 2010 figures. About 21 percent of American cats and dogs — 36 million pets — have crossed into the obese category.

Obesity cuts short many cats’ and dogs’ lives. Their condition costs owners huge vet bills that could be prevented if the pet were a healthy weight, says Dr. Ernie Ward, a veterinarian and founder of the association. “In 2005, this was really a comical topic — that fat cats are happy cats,” says Ward. His association is based at one of his clinics in Calabash, N.C. “We’re very grateful and certainly pleased that we’ve pushed this issue beyond a fun, fluffy piece to the serious medical issue that it really is.”

Pets’ waistlines seem to be expanding along with people’s, Ward says.

“Obesity is the biggest health threat that people face today,” he says. “It’s interesting how it mirrors the human issues. … We just simply exported our weight problem’s to man’s best friend.”

Dr. Frederick Schuler — a veterinarian with Valley Veterinary Associates in Lower Burrell — agrees.

“We talk about it to people every single day,” he says. “It really is a problem.”

Sometimes, when a pudgy pet is extra cuddly and cute, it’s hard for owners to see excess weight as a problem, Schuler says.

“Pets give you unconditional love,” he says. “How can they not be beautiful regardless of what their size is?”

Some wonder why the big fuss over few extra pounds. But look at it proportionally. Two extra pounds on a human is nothing, but on a 12-pound cat, that’s 20 percent of its body weight.

Some pets successfully drop pounds and lick the weight problem. Rosemary McGee, a retired Peters resident, successfully guided her mixed-breed female dog, Sayla, through a weight loss of 11.7 pounds. At her heaviest, Sayla, who is about 6, weighed roughly 76 pounds.

The weight problem appeared to come from commercial pet food. McGee saw a recipe for homemade dog food made out of chicken, rice and vegetables, and started cooking it. Sayla lost weight over a period of about four months, eating two 8-ounce servings of the homemade food each day. McGee makes enough for about 50 servings at a time, and freezes the bags until she is ready to feed them to the dog.

“One day, I looked at her and thought … ‘Geez, she really does look a lot thinner,’” McGee says. “We’re very pleased. It’s all the food. She seems happy, and she doesn’t seem lethargic.”

Other pets’ weight stays stagnant. Take Chunk — a 5-year-old, 15-pound tabby originally named Jasmine.

“I have a cat that’s let herself go,” says owner Andrea Longman, 42, of the West End.

Chunk gets free-fed dry food, which is the only system that works because Longman is gone from home so often — either traveling or pet-sitting through her business, Steel City Pet Sitters. Chunk’s littermate, Duncan, gets the same food, but is trim. Longman’s vet has recommended some diet foods, but they are expensive. Longman is looking into getting timed feeders to help control Chunk’s eating.

Though chubby, Chunk is adorable and “as happy as can be,” Longman says.

“How can you not like her at that size?” she says. “She’s like one of those bean bag pillows — so cuddly.”

Colleen Robinson — owner of Academy of the Wagging Tail, a pet-grooming salon in Greensburg — sees many overweight pets, and they often require special attention for grooming. Sometimes, the heavy dogs require a longer session because they had a hard time standing on the table. The older obese dogs, especially, often need a second person to help them stand up for grooming. Sometimes, Robinson needs to remove heavy dogs from the table and let them lie down on the floor. Some dogs need to use a walk-in shower to be bathed.

“Too many dog treats, probably,” Robinson says as a reason for their chubbiness.

Veterinarians say that, with few exceptions, pets become overweight mostly for the same reasons we do:
They consume too many calories and burn too few. A combination of too much food and too little exercise usually is the culprit of weight issues, Schuler and Ward say. In maybe 5 percent of cases, Schuler says, it may be just a genetic or medical condition. With dogs, owners can take them on more and longer walks, and adjust the canines’ diet.

Cats, being natural carnivores, get exercise by indulging in their predatory instincts during brief bursts of energy. They can stalk and chase toys or laser pointers. Without these kinds of outlets, cats can become frustrated, and anxiety can lead to overeating, Ward says.

Free-feeding unlimited amounts of dry food often leads to weight gain, and in a multipet household, someone often is a bowl hog, Ward and Schuler say. Owners can avoid this with set feeding times. Sometimes, food is very calorie-dense — 400 or more calories per cup.

Just like with people, losing weight isn’t easy for a pet, but it can be done, Schuler says.

“If you stick with it, you’ll get … a happier, healthier pet,” he says.

Is your pet overweight?

Your pet is a healthy weight if:

• You can easily feel its ribs.

• It has a tucked abdomen, with no sagging stomach.

• When you view your pet from above, you can see its waist.

Your pet is overweight if:

• It’s difficult to feel the ribs under the fat.

• It has a sagging stomach and you can grab a handful of fat.

• It has a broad, flat back.

• It has no waist.

Source: Association for Pet Obesity Prevention

• Will the treatment ensure my pet is treated successfully?
• What will the total costs be from the surgery, medications, consultations, etc?
• Will the problem return or continue to affect my pet?

As an animal naturopath specialising in canine health, I am often contacted by people that are feeling desperate to try anything to help their poor dog when they are in pain, especially in the case of chronic (long-term) conditions or when their pet has been diagnosed with cancer and pet owners are seeking alternative treatments.

Although there has been a large amount of scientific research conducted on certain herbal medicines, nutrient therapies and other natural medicines that has shown positive results in the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases, I feel that pet owners can sometimes be taken advantage of by a small number of unscrupulous businesses on the internet selling ‘magical cancer cures’ and other such treatments. These businesses are not usually operated by properly qualified practitioners and I feel they should be avoided at all costs. These online retailers and their ‘consultants’ may offer false promises and non-professional advice which is very disappointing as the pet owners are usually feeling extremely vulnerable and should be guided appropriately.

When dog owners receive a diagnosis of a serious disease in their precious pets, they often feel desperate when it comes to trying to heal their pet. That’s when I will often receive an email asking for help. In these cases I am always saddened and I think to myself “I wish they had contacted me a long time ago so that we might have been able to prevent the disease in the first place” but nonetheless, I will still try my best to help them. After asking a number of questions, the pet owner is sometimes shocked at my recommendation to seek veterinary advice regarding euthanasia. If the dog has an aggressive form of cancer that is well advanced; if the dog is very old (and at the top end of their normal life span), or if the dog is in severe pain that is not responding adequately to analgesics, then I will ask the pet owner to consider euthanasia and to discuss the matter with their veterinarian, as this is a very humane act and will allow the pet to have a peaceful end, rather than experience continued suffering.

It takes a lot of courage for dog owners to allow their pet to leave them forever.          

Dog owners that I have spoken to go through various emotions and often have many pessimistic thoughts about themselves such as feelings of guilt (e.g. Could I have done more? I’m awful for ending their life…etc) and other similar negative self-talk.

However, the fact that they are having these thoughts at all means that they really care about their pet and want to do what’s best for them. Having your much-loved pet euthanized can be the  hardest thing to do but it can also be the most unselfish act as well. Keeping pets alive when they are in pain and suffering – if there is no real hope of recovery – is not helping them at all.

On the other hand, if your veterinarian feels there is a good chance of a full recovery from the condition or injury, then great! I recommend that pet owners work with their veterinarian as well as a qualified animal naturopath and do all they can (within their budgets) to achieve the best possible outcome for their pet. The veterinarian can diagnose the condition, organize tests and scans if necessary, perform any surgery that may be required, and suggest any other suitable mainstream treatment methods. A qualified animal naturopath can provide advice on herbal medicines, nutrient therapies, homeopathic remedies or other natural medicines that can increase healing, improve immune function and allow the body to repair itself rapidly and effectively.

However, if your dog is at the end of their normal life span or the disease or injury is far too serious and is beyond recovery, then don’t beat yourself up for choosing to end your pet’s life in a humane and restful manner. By asking your veterinarian to euthanize your dog, you will know that your pet is no longer in any pain.

If this is what you choose to do, you can be there with your pet to comfort them and stroke them and talk to them (because they can still hear you right to the very end) and you will know that you have done the right thing by providing your pet with a peaceful ending, which is one of the hardest but most wonderful things any dog owner can do for their treasured pet.

Important: Please seek urgent veterinarian advice if your dog has been injured, is suffering from a serious illness or is in pain.

Q: My dog has developed a fatty tumor on her back leg that doesn’t seem to bother her. My veterinarian says it is probably a lipoma. What are lipomas and where do they come from?

A: Lipomas are well-encapsulated, benign tumors made up of fat tissue. They are reported to occur in 16% or more of dogs. They are more common in middle aged or older dogs and may be more frequent in overweight pets. Lipomas can be found anywhere in the body, although most commonly occur under the skin of the trunk or limbs. Like most tumors, the exact cause is not known. It is probably a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Like all benign tumors, lipomas do not spread to other places on the body. However, sometimes they still cause problems. If located in a high-motion area, like under a leg, a large lipoma can interfere with mobility. Lipomas inside the skull can push on the brain and cause neurologic symptoms. Lipomas in locations prone to trauma or that press on nerves or muscles can cause pain. The largest lipoma I have ever removed was the size of a basketball. Obviously it was causing distress to the dog, despite being technically benign. If a lipoma causes symptoms, it should be removed. Complete excision is curative. Most lipomas do not cause problems and can be safely left alone. Before treating with “benign neglect,” however, it is important to differentiate lipomas from more serious imposters. Infiltrative lipomas are not encapsulated and can spread between tissue layers deep into the body. Infiltrative lipomas are difficult to cure without limb amputation, although  early excision offers the best hope.

Liposarcomas are cancerous “fatty masses” that can spread throughout the body. Liposarcomas are typically fatal. Mast cell tumors are benign-looking skin cancers that can be mistaken for lipomas. In a dog with any new mass, I recommend examination by a veterinarian. I typically recommend a fine needle aspirate and microscopic evaluation of the cells. With this technique, I have caught several cancers masquerading as lipomas. Generally lipomas should be slow growing, should not bother the pet, and should not ulcerate to the surface. If that ever stops being the case, I recommend prompt excision of the mass and a full biopsy. Sometimes early diagnostics can miss important cells, leading to an inaccurate diagnosis. Other times, another type of tumor develops on the surface or nearby. As with any condition, the best advice is to have a close working relationship with your veterinarian and to have any new problem checked promptly.

Animal Naturopath, Sar Rooney’s, View on Canine Lipomas:            

Even though Lipomas are benign, as an animal naturopath, they always concern me as they are a sign that the body is out of balance. In my opinion, whenever you see the body ‘growing things’ such as lipomas, excessive moles, or other so-called harmless, benign growths (whether it is in dogs, humans or other animals), in my clinical experience these have often been signals that the dog or person may be at higher risk of cancer down the track if they don’t take measures to improve their health.

In my view, as an animal naturopath, Lipomas are the sign of a congested lymphatic system which requires dietary and lifestyle changes to allow the lymph system to function better. An example of this is “Kia” a little mixed-breed dog we rescued many years ago. “Kia” was kept with another dog in a small wired enclosure that had a sandy, dusty floor. Every time one of them moved, there was a big cloud of sand dust that filled their lungs (and congested their lymph system). In addition, she was being fed canned pet food and dry food. When we rescued her, Kia had a massive lipoma on her side and 2 smaller ones.

Once at our place, Kia was fed an all-natural diet; was given some lymph-clearing herbs and nutrients and was not exposed to any excessive dust or sand or any toxic chemicals – which allowed her lymphatic system to clear on its own. Her lipomas disappeared within around 12 months. That was about 11 or 12 years ago and Kia is still with us – running around our backyard as happy as Larry! Even though she’s quite old now she doesn’t have any arthritis or other so-called ‘age-related’ conditions that many older dogs have. My belief is that the body will heal itself when it has the right tools to do so: Correct diet, nutrients, herbal medicines, sunlight, filtered water, exercise, low stress, etc and Kia (and the vast number of other dogs I’ve helped around the world) are great examples of this.

If you find a lump on your dog, seek veterinarian advice as soon as possible to gain a diagnosis. If your veterinarian diagnoses a lipoma, you may want to consult a well-qualified animal naturopath for advice about which nutrients and herbs would be best for your pet, to help increase their lymphatic and immune system function and help their body to heal.