Chase Away K9 Cancer Fund in the O.C.!!

[Linda Hettich]

The speed gun will be out and the speeding tickets will be handed out in the O.C.! Remember, it's only a $1 donation for each speeding ticket, and it all goes to a great cause -- to start research into this insidious disease that is taking the lives of more and more of our beloved pets.

Every dollar donated goes straight to the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Foundation (ACVIM). And, a trial on osteosarcoma -- the most common form of cancer in large dogs -- is underway, funded in part by the Chase Away K9 Cancer Fund!

For those of you who don't know, the Chase Away K9 Cancer Fund was started by our dear friend Cera Reusser of Warren, Oregon. She lost her beloved Chase last summer to nasal carcinoma, just weeks after Chase recorded a personal best jump of 25-feet.

Let's do what we can to Chase Away K9 Cancer!!

[runamuck]

So....

Will Cera be joining us in the OC for the first Splash Dogs Speeding Ticket event????

Inquiring minds want to know :D

C'mon Cera!!! This is a great event, and we would love to see you down south again!!!!!

[Linda Hettich]

You never know what surprises await you!

[need2getalife]

Splashdog Family Please come prepared to support this genuine cause.

My wife and I lost our little Sammy (Sheltie) to lymphatic cancer 4 years ago. He was an anniversary gift for her. Tough even today.

And today three Labs. Had to have one to many Margaritas!! Yes sure

Lets wipe out K9 cancer!!!!!!!!!

Greg "The Voice of Splashdogs"

and all the kids
2 and 4 legged :roll:

[Chase]

Linda:

I think one of the problems is that the the cancer treament for dogs has made some big strides, but cancer cures have made none. They are interested in treating cancer, not curing it or preventing it. They seem to be only concerned with trying to keep your dog alive a little longer, rather than stopping it in the first place.

I feel this way, because as you recall, when I went into your cancer doctor's office and asked which food is best to keep my dog from getting cancer, they were totally dumbfounded by my question and had absolutely NO answer. By the way, this is one of the TOP cancer specialists in California.

And as I also recall, they did not have you fill out an extensive questionaire as they often do for humans to try to pinpoint the cause. So, I hope that when you and Cera send your money to your research group, perhaps some of it could go to educating cancer specialists to start asking questions and gathering ionformation, so that we can start finding out the similarities involved with these cancers and these dogs and be able to start determining the cause and thus prevent it rather than just treat it after it has already happened!

It seems to me there may be a great deal of info out there that could help, but is nopt available because no doctor is asking for it or gathering it and then sending it to some central place to analyze.

Brooke & Chase

[runamuck]

Hi Brooke,

Here is a small copy of part of the ACVIM bylaws

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF VETERINARY INTERNAL MEDICINE CONSTITUTION

The primary objectives of the College shall be to advance veterinary internal medicine and increase the competence of those who practice in this field by:

a)
establishing requirements for post-doctoral education and experience prerequisite to certification in the specialties of veterinary internal medicine;
b)
examining and certifying veterinarians as specialists in veterinary internal medicine;
c)
encouraging research and other contributions to knowledge relating to diagnosis, therapy, prevention and control of animal diseases, and promoting communication and dissemination of this knowledge.
d)
promoting continued professional development as an obligation of membership.

Does this answer some of your questions and concerns?
Anyone can go check out their website to see what they are all about.

I think Cera has picked a very good organization for which to partner with in her cause. She did the one thing that most people don't....and that is to get involved somehow and try to make a difference for our dogs future generations. :D

If we don't start somewhere........then what?

I can't wait for next week!
After a full year of rehad from back surgery, I'm gonna give Ida her first place and send from 40' out and see what she has for the radar cops! :P Hopefully she can outrun officer Brian!!!

[legallyblonde]

Lisa, I take it the ACVIM regulates or is involved with all the vet schools right? Well, I know Michigan State has just completed Phase I of their comparative oncology department, where they are not only treating but will be conducting cancer research. I would think the ACVIM has a part in that somehow wouldn't they? So research is definitely being done. Here's the link if anyone's interested:
http://cvm.msu.edu/vth/cco/index.htm
It's not updated for some reason, b/c Phase I is complete, the building is open. It's also where they house the canine sports rehab.
Go Spartans! (That's for Wendy :wink: )

[Linda Hettich]

There is the ACVIM, and the ACVIM Foundation, which are two different things. What Chase Away K9 Cancer is affiliated with is the ACVIM Foundation. I'm not sure exactly how the affiliation stretches to the veterinary medical schools. I know there are great veterinary programs at universities in Michigan, Texas and here in California at UC Davis. It's great to see they're getting rolling on not only treating but curing cancer. But, I guess the point is, are they communicating with each other -- and with working veterinarians -- about what they've discovered? I don't know the answer to that, but I would hope so.

[runamuck]

Linda,

If you go to the ACVIM Foundation webpage you will read :

<<The ACVIM Foundation is a non-profit organization created in 2000 to support and advance the work of specialists in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM): >>

They work together.....

Everyone who donates to the cause should go to their website and read about them....it's all good stuff :D

http://www.acvimfoundation.org/AboutUs/WhoWeAre/tabid/181/Default.aspx

[Chase]

Just to clarify, I am not suggesting or in the least bit worried that the group Cera has chosen will not use the money wisely. I am sure they are great.

What I was getting at is that there are thousands of vets who are treating dogs with cancer all over this country. And yet, they are not actively gathering information from all of their patients and then passing that info along to the research groups. Since I assume that the answer is most likely something that we are feeding our dogs or exposing them to environmentally, I would think that data from all the vets in the country regarding such info as age, breed, shots, no shots, flea medicine, no flea medicine, type of food, bottled water versus tap water, indoor dog, outdoor dog, pesticides used in the house, region of country, etc etc etc would help the researchers get a better handle on the specific facts of thousands of cases. But, if the vets are not even bothering to gather the info in the first place, let alone sharing it with researchers, it makes it MUCH harder for the researchers to determine what is the cause.

I was suggesting that perhaps Cera could also encourage the researchers to set up some kind of national feedback system with all vets so that we can determine the cure faster. The vets are mostly trying to just treat the dogs, and yet they are the ones with the opportunity to ask dog owners tyhe questions and thus supply the researchers with pertinent information and thus a chance at a quicker cure.

From what I have heard thus far, the vets are not even asking these questions let alone passing the info on. Just an idea to get more info.

Brooke & Chase

[Labpaw]

As a veterinarian, I can tell you that it is unfair to say that no doctor is asking, nor wanting that type of information. I know you weren't saying that as an absolute statement, but there are many of us out there that are doing the best that we can. Having come from Colorado State University, I can say that we have one of the leading cancer research programs in the country and it is ABSOLUTLEY enforced, and taught, to get a very thorough history from every patient. An average appointment through the onoclogy service would be 3-4 HOURS( :!: ), and that is because students are in the room for at least 30-45 minutes, then comes the resident to go over all that, and then the boarded oncologist. If some veterinarians have got lax about histories, it is probably no fault but their own. It is not that way across the board.

It would be very difficult to know what to do with all that information going into a large "data bank", or even several data banks, so to speak. First of all, not all of those enviromental factors are available in every area. For example, dogs get cancer that come from an area that has no fleas (therefore no flea products) and others where it is heavily used. Does that say that flea prducts are discarded as a cause for cancer? Of course not. Some dogs who get cancer were rescues, and history can become a bit hard to obtain. What do we do with that? My point is that vets are going to get varrying degrees of complete histories, not only because the not all vets are going to ask the same questions, but not all owners are going to know all the answers or are going to want to provide all the answers. And that makes comparison EXTREMELY difficult. One thing that we can do as veterinarians is to contact local oncology centers and see if there are any on-going studies relating to either the type of cancer, or to a potential cause for cancer. I probably call the local oncolgy groups 4-5 times a week for different cases.

Secondly, who is going to sort through all that history? I personally would rather someone be spending their time towards a literature search for past studies (what worked , what didn't, how can we change that, what can we do differently in the future, what study can be started next, who is going to fund that study, etc), or what is new in human reseach (as many of our medical advances have obviously come from human models). I know that environment has a lot to do with cancer, and I would never disagree with that. But, there is absolutely no denying that there are other factors that must be considered, one of which is genetics. That has a tremendous amount to do with who is and who is not going to suffer from cancer. Everytime I euthanize a 6 month or 1 year old animal because if cancer, I KNOW that genetics had a HUGE role in their demise. That is incredibly heart wrenching because so many of our pets have no genetic history. There are no genetic tests readily available to "test" for cancer anyway. Cancer is a multifactorial disease, and even the experts across the world do not have a good understanding as to how those all interact. It isn't all environment, and it isn't all genetics.

I agree. I would LOVE to have my money go towards a cure for cancer. Problem is that, just like in humans, there are so many factors that go in to why an individual GETS cancer, it is a long and expensive process THAT WE ARE INVESTIGATING AND RESEARCHING AS WE SPEAK! :lol: What we learn from treatment of cancer is how to kill the cancer cells. From that, we can hopefully advance medicine a step further to cure it. There are no cures for humans either, and people have been working at that for decades longer than we have for pets. It isn't easy, nor is it fair, but we need time and great people like you to be advocates and encourage awareness.

We do get questionaires from cancer research groups all the time asking us about our cases, and such. And those of us who are advocates for our patients take the time and do what we can. It is a horrible and devastating disease. But we are only going to continue to learn from treatment. I don't know one decent, caring veterinarian that is not interested in preventing cancer (but I do know some veterinarians that are not that way, and that is a whole other issue :evil: ). Whether that be cutting down the amount of vaccinations we give, or the amount of products we endorse and use. And there are some great ideas on the horizon... I just got notice that there is a new vaccine available for oral melanoma in dogs (don't know if it works, but at least it is a start in the right direction of a cure :D ).

The ACIVM and it's associated groups are outstanding. For every pet we euthanize, we send money to Morris Animal Foundation, who does strictly animal related research to help ANIMALS. I applaude anyone who is working for treatment AND a cure for cancer.

[all4sadie]

As far as the speeding tickets go I think this is an awesome way to raise money for the cancer research....There are never any answers to how, why, when and where and there really should be....Somehow....

I lost my Rott to cancer a year ago last October and still do not know why... :(

Lets just all keep this donation going the best we can and hope for the best outcome....

[daftershock]

OK guys.... This is why I am Chasing Away k-9 Cancer.....

Hunter Lelaps Mortiz ~ German for Hurricane dark in color 5-1-95 to 6-16-05
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r49/daftershock/hunter073.jpg
This photo was taken 2 days before having to put him down. Tumor was size of a baseball causing edema on right rear leg. How do you put to sleep a dog when they act healthy. Looking into those eyes and saying I am sorry your body has failed.

From time of 1st surgery to remove tumor. I had a wonderful 8 months. In that time Hunter was able to help raise Bubbles puppies
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r49/daftershock/hunter-1.jpg

[Labpaw]

I think that is the best reason to Chase Away Cancer, Melissa! What a beautiful dog!!! :wink:

[all4sadie]

Oh Melissa,

I can't even go there. I totaly know what your saying....It was pretty much the same, looking into the eyes of my Rott.....I'm so sorry. You really know your making the right decision, but it still is not easy. It's never easy.

See you this weekend.

[ssejrnv]

Here are some of my little man, Squirt. He was diagnosed with oral melanoma and given only 3 months, 16 months later I decided although the cancer never spread the aggressive nature of his tumor was affecting his quality of life. Squirt December 3, 1993- November 7, 2005
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t270/ssejrnv/squirt.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t270/ssejrnv/Picture002.jpg
This one was taken just days before he went to the brigde. As you can see he still felt well enough to steal page's toys. He was the boss man until the end.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t270/ssejrnv/Picture005.jpg