Wonder Pets Gave Their Owners A Second Chance Towards A Wonderful Life!

The dog who sniffed a tumor, the cat who called for help and the horse who detected cancer: Meet the wonder pets who spotted their owners were ill before the doctors

• Small trial found that specially trained dogs can sniff out prostate cancer
• Dogs can also detect diabetic sugar lows and pending epileptic seizures

Using animals to help detect illness may sound like quackery, but it’s gaining the backing of scientists.

After a small trial found that specially trained dogs can sniff out prostate cancer in 93 per cent of cases, last month it was announced that Milton Keynes University Hospital had given approval for dogs to be used in an NHS trial.

Currently, men suspected of having prostate cancer are given tests that detect levels of a protein called prostate specific antigen (PSA) to see if they require further tests.

Tests have shown dogs can sniff out tumours with far greater accuracy. One Italian study, involving two Alsatians trained to sniff out cancer, sniffed urine samples from 900 men – 360 with prostate cancer and 540 without – and detected which was which in 97 per cent of cases.

It’s not just cancer. Studies have found dogs can detect other illnesses, from diabetic sugar lows to pending epileptic seizures.

The reason dogs can do this is that they have astonishingly sensitive noses containing 300 million smell receptors. Humans, by comparison, have only five million.

And it’s not just dogs who seem to be able to pick up on illness. Here, we talk to four people whose pets have helped save their lives.

View the full article at dailymail.co.uk
I also recommend you watch the amazing short video by the BBC called Dogs Can Smell Cancer – Secret Life of Dogs – BBC (see next)
Source: dailymail.co.uk