Medical Detection Dogs

Danielle Mills talked about the incredible ability of dogs to ‘diagnose’ people who have various early stage (and previously undetected) cancers. Dogs are used in two distinct ways. 

Firstly they can be used to sniff urine samples on a carousel, looking for the ones that have chemical markers of diseases such as prostate cancer. 

Alternatively they can be paired with a human being in order to ‘advise’ them in plenty of time before an attack such as hypoglycaemia for diabetics or an impending seizure for an epileptic. 

Used in the latter way with young children it can be a huge help to the parents and such dogs will even accompany children to school. 

The science is not totally clear at this stage, but it’s likely that the highly sensitive nose that dogs have, is able to detect trace volatile chemicals that are part of the biochemistry of the disease. 

The Club was pleased to pass on a cheque of £100 to the charity and will consider a further donation in due course.