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Does Cancer Have an Odor? Pet Owners Tell Amazing Stories of Dogs Sniffing Out Disease and Saving Their Lives
Daily Mail ^ | 18 November 2024 | Sadie Whitelocks

Posted on 11/18/2024 11:54:37 AM PST by nickcarraway

Cancer can be a silent deadly killer.

But dozens of pet owners have revealed how their dogs were able to detect different forms of the disease before the doctors did to help save their lives, using their powerful sense of smell.

It's estimated a dog's sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times more powerful than humans, meaning some breeds can detect a substance at a concentration of one-billionth of a teaspoon.

Their supreme sense of smell has been harnessed to detect a range of things, from detecting drugs and explosives to tracking down criminals.

Diabetic alert dogs can even sniff out changes in the blood that occur when blood sugars becomes too low or too high.

In a Quora thread posing the question 'does cancer have an odor?', more than 100 commenters told stories of their dogs sniffing out the disease in both humans and other canine companions.

Kim Reed, a retired accountant at American Airlines from North Carolina, said her dog helped detect her breast cancer.

She wrote: 'I had a three-month-old lab puppy that was going to be trained as my service dog.

'When I would hold her she insisted on facing to the right and would nudge and scratch right under my breast.'

Ms Reed continued: 'Upon examination I noticed a lump but not necessarily in the breast, just below it. I was scheduled for a routine mammogram but I called my doctor and asked about moving it up.

'It turns out that it was cancer but would not have been found in a routine mammogram. It was at the very edge of the breast tissue and it had to be specifically addressed.'

Ms Reed said had her dog not spotted the lump below her breast, it might have 'grown and spread.'

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Pets/Animals; Science
KEYWORDS: cancer; dogs; odor; science
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1 posted on 11/18/2024 11:54:37 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Medical R & D dept. tilts head.


2 posted on 11/18/2024 12:02:09 PM PST by Vaduz
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To: nickcarraway

My father died of leukemia last Thursday and his cat starting acting strangely near the end. She’s not the first cat I have known to do this.

I did get to tell him that Trump won which made him happy.


3 posted on 11/18/2024 12:09:00 PM PST by packagingguy
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To: packagingguy

I’m sorry for your loss. Pretty great that you got to tell him about Trump winning though!


4 posted on 11/18/2024 12:29:31 PM PST by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: nickcarraway

It’s not just animals, there’s a Scottish woman who can smell cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-supersmeller-can-detect-the-scent-of-parkinsons-leading-to-an-experimental-test-for-the-illness/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/super-smeller-helped-scientists-develop-technique-may-be-able-detect-early-stage-parkinsons-180971766/

https://greatergood.com/blogs/news/joy-smell

Her “powers” have been proved in blind tests.


5 posted on 11/18/2024 12:31:15 PM PST by Paal Gulli
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To: nickcarraway

I can tell you personally it does. It smells like real bad BO under your arms even if you shower well. Just recently went through this with my wife. Both of us were trying to figure out why this was happening despite what she did to get rid of it. Not long after she was diagnosed and then we realized the connection. And it is strong, like repulsive strong under the arms and from other pores.


6 posted on 11/18/2024 12:33:41 PM PST by Openurmind
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To: nickcarraway

Cats can do this too, that is why we have Cat scans.

the problem is that they are hard to train and still only work when and if they feel like it


7 posted on 11/18/2024 12:33:42 PM PST by algore
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To: nickcarraway
I worked in a hospital with a nurse who said she could smell breast cancer.

I think it's an accepted thing in nursing circles.

8 posted on 11/18/2024 12:33:59 PM PST by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: packagingguy

Sorry for your loss... Someone’s cat behaved strangely before a diagnosis in our family, too.


9 posted on 11/18/2024 12:34:47 PM PST by Tired of Taxes
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To: nickcarraway
Smells like teen spirit.

10 posted on 11/18/2024 12:36:02 PM PST by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and His mercy endureth forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: Paal Gulli

It is not a power. Now that I know for a fact what it smells like I could recognize that smell from now on.


11 posted on 11/18/2024 12:41:30 PM PST by Openurmind
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To: Openurmind

That is very interesting that you mentioned the armpits. We work with an organization that trains dogs to detect seizures, and they ask epileptics or family members to donate swabs of their armpits post-seizure. We have done this several times. My son also has a seizure service dog and she goes bonkers - she really hates that smell just before a seizure. He knows when she’s like that, he needs to sit down.

He now is fine tuned enough to his body to even taste the chemical change pre-seizure, and has allowed him to get in a safe position.


12 posted on 11/18/2024 12:49:53 PM PST by LilFarmer (Isaiah 54:17)
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To: LilFarmer

Wow, I had never heard of that but it makes sense. But this is a strong repulsive odor that will make you turn over away from it. Kind of like strong BO but with a unique smell of it’s own. I had never smelled anything like it before. And there was no way to cover it up or wash it off. She tried. We asked the doctor about it and got nothing but “bathe well”. Two months later she was diagnosed and we realized the cancer was the source of that unique smell under her arms.


13 posted on 11/18/2024 1:09:51 PM PST by Openurmind
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To: nickcarraway

If you sleep with or get close to your spouse and they develop an unusual strong odor they cannot get rid of go get screened for cancer. Knowing what I know now about that smell we could have caught it two months sooner.


14 posted on 11/18/2024 1:22:03 PM PST by Openurmind
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To: nickcarraway
House MD: "A Cat Predicted My Death!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okpQIqGtchY

15 posted on 11/18/2024 1:26:14 PM PST by TChad
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To: Openurmind
"...this is a strong repulsive odor that will make you turn over away from it."

Maybe the type of cancer makes a difference? Because, among family and friends, many people (including myself) have had many different forms of it, and no one has ever noticed an odor.

16 posted on 11/18/2024 1:47:12 PM PST by Tired of Taxes
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To: Tired of Taxes

My wife had lung cancer that spread to her lymph nodes and then to her brain. Started with lung cancer and that is when we noticed the odor.


17 posted on 11/18/2024 1:50:14 PM PST by Openurmind
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To: Openurmind

I’m very sorry to hear that...


18 posted on 11/18/2024 1:53:12 PM PST by Tired of Taxes
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To: Tired of Taxes

:)


19 posted on 11/18/2024 1:58:39 PM PST by Openurmind
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To: nickcarraway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pksl14CnWDA


20 posted on 11/18/2024 2:10:30 PM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult (“History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes” - Possibly Mark Twain.)
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