Dog Saves Owner’s Life by Detecting Breast Cancer

A nine-year old dog has reportedly saved the life of his owner by detecting her breast cancer even though two mammograms had turned up negative, according to a new report by BBC Earth. Max, a 9-year-old collie cross, started acting strange around his owner Maureen Burns. According to the video, Max would touch her breast with his nose and would immediately pull back with a sad look in his eyes. Maureen thought that Max was sick but also decided to go through a second mammogram which also turned out to be negative.

However when Max continued to behave strangely around her, Maureen decided to go through a surgical biopsy that revealed that presence of cancer. She underwent surgery to remove the cancer and told that Max was back to his ‘old, hyper self again’ which assured her that the cancer was now gone.

According to the report, titled ‘Secret Life of Dogs’, dogs are able to smell the chemicals given off by tumors and this could be the reason why Max was able to detect cancer when multiple mammograms did not. “Dogs watch us all the time and read our body language like a sixth sense. They also smell our bodies for changes. Max smelled cancer in Maureen before any medical scans could pick it up. Dogs do this naturally and can be trained to pick up on tiny volatile chemicals given off by cancerous tumors. They can even be taught to alert diabetics to low blood sugar levels”, the report said.



Source-Medindia