Medium-Sized Dogs and Cancer Risk: What New Yorkers Should Know

I love dogs. My dad had a few rabbit dogs while I was growing up and at one time, I adopted a dog named CJ from a Humane Shelter. But here is something that I didn't know about our furry four-legged friend.

There's a new study from UC Riverside that's all about medium-sized dogs and their risk of getting cancer. It turns out they have a higher chance of developing cancer compared to the really big or really small breeds.

The study was published in the Royal Society Open Science and it looked at how cancer starts in different stages. They found that size plays a big role in the dogs getting cancer, especially within the same kind of dogs. It all comes down to the number of cells and how they divide, which can increase the chances of getting cancer.

However, this doesn't apply across the different species. So when they looked at dogs of different sizes, like little Chihuahuas and giant Great Danes, they found that the smaller dogs only have a 10% chance of dying from cancer, while larger breeds saw more than a 40% chance!

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Here is what else they learned. Some medium-sized breeds, like Burmese mountain dogs, flat-coated retrievers and Scottish terriers also have higher odds of getting cancer. It seems that size really does matter when it comes to cancer risk in dogs.

You might be wondering why bigger breeds are less likely to get cancer. Apparently, it has more to do with their shorter lifespan. Larger dogs tend not to live as long to live, so they have a lower risk of cancer because it's mostly a disease of old age.

So, if you have a medium-sized dog, you may want to keep an eye out for any signs of cancer.