Posted on 10/01/2016 11:40:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In the late 1980s in the UK, a border collie-Doberman mix began paying extreme attention to a mole on his owner’s left thigh. The 44-year-old woman noticed that the dog would sniff there for minutes on end, trying to bite it off whenever she wore shorts.
The dog’s fixation wasn’t random. What the dog was smelling wasn’t just the mole, but the melanoma causing it — and its subsequent removal might just have saved the woman’s life.
In this new book, author Horowitz shows how canines, whose sense of smell is anywhere between 10,000 and 100,000 times more acute than ours, might turn out to be an essential weapon in the fight against cancer and other diseases.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Me ping
:-P
Crazy thing. I have a BRUTAL scab from falling down cement stairs. Months old and healed. Cat sniffs it and makes a face like he’s smelled death.
I dont smell a thing.
Wonder what that’s about?
perhaps a cat from long ago similar to this cat is the origin of the myth about cat stealing the last breath of the dying.
If it’s months old, and there’s still a scab, maybe you should have a doc see it.
Cats SMART!!. Ask doctor.
That is awesome.
Think I’ll make molds of my dogs’ noses.
Disclaimer: he made the flemings response, I think it’s called, while the scab was still on. Scab is gone and itches every now and then but that’s about it.
I didn’t smell a thing on the scab. I didn’t know cats had strong senses of smell too.
Cats have much better sense of smell than humans, but not as good as dogs.
100,000 at its peak? That’s almost unfathomable.
They should give a real life example of such an extreme difference.
Gives “Lab test” a whole new meaning...
That is a supposition based entirely upon brain volume devoted to smell. Cats have a more complex mechanism for smells and use those mechanisms for the same purposes as dogs. So, its hard to say. Dogs can be trained better to demonstrate smelling for human purposes such as tracking.
But, it is impossible to actually test cats vs. dogs since they are both smart enough to disregard really faint smells when not in a life threatening situation.
Read Cat Sense by Bradshaw for an eye opening view of this.
How lovely! Thanks for posting, nick.
Hi, ya’ll! I love this. What a sweet gift dogs are to us, and I’m more a cat person!
Article is good, wish I could post the photo of dog in dr coat. The book is: Being a Dog: Following the dog into a world of smell by Alexandra Horowitz
JoeBob sez check it out.
// Gives “Lab test” a whole new meaning... //
Lol! I’m thinkin’, I’m thinkin’... I’ll collie some other wags for responses :-)
Yes, a myth. I heard that one about cats will suck the breath from infants.
Kitty has “Hillary” eyes:) Won’t comment on the tongue.
He had some nerve. I dont go around sniffing his. :)
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