During my lifetime I have lost two loving Basset Hounds to cancer and recently had a scare with my five year old Basset, Beany. I have heard that Basset Hounds have a propensity towards cancer. Is this true? Are there any early warning signs? Marley (4.5 years old) died last year of lympho-sarcoma within 7 weeks of diagnosis even with chemo treatments. Is cancer more common in some breeds than others (especially Basset Hounds)?

Hi doc. I'm so very sorry to hear about your basset hounds' troubles.

I don't know about bassets, but I recently learned that female scottish and west highland terriers and samoyeds are susceptible to t-cell carcinoma (bladder cancer) in their mid to later years.

Hi I'm really not sure whether any particular breeds are more likely to get cancer,I look after dogs for a living and several of them all diferent breeds have had it. I think the best way to save the dogs is to check them every day, (i'm now talking about lymph cancer which is treated very successfully if caught early) I have a little Westie called Daisy, she was diagnosed with this 15 months ago and is still going strong. I checked her over one day and found her glands were up in her neck so got onto the vet who said bring her right in for a blood test. the results came in the next day, she had lymph cancer. She was then started on chemo and has been on it ever since. she is now in complete remission and is on what they call a maintenance dose once a fortnight and the vet has high hopes for her even though she is 14 years old. The vet told me that if caught early, this is one of the more treatable types of cancer and the oncologist who treated daisy said she had treated over 400 dogs with chemo for this cancer and only 7 didnt make it because the vets had put them on steroids first and not sent them straight to an oncologist. What I'm getting at in all this is check your dogs glands every day (they are in the neck, under the shoulders, in the groin and at the back of the hind legs)and if they are swollen demand a blood test, dont be fobbed off with drugs before you really know what is wrong ,My vet was good he found what was wrong first. By the way Daisy has had virtually no side effects at all except for losing her hair for about a month (she looked really cute and didn't seem to notice it at all) Just check them every day! Daisy is still like a puppy she goes for 2 long walks every day and still chases rabbits! If you want any further advice feel free to email me.

[This message was edited by WolvesRule on 07-15-02 at 10:44 PM.]

i am really sorry to hear about poor beany and your other dogs.
my parents have had bassett hounds since before i was born and i have lived so far through 3 bassetts. each one was always really healthy and never had cancer at early ages. i have also never known that bassetts have a tendency toward cancer. our dogs have all lived until at least 13 year old. our current bassett is 14 maybe 15, and although my dad yells at her all the time, she is completely deaf. it´s pretty funny. i mean my dad and the dog, not that she´s deaf...
btw, all three were females and had been fixed

Well, the good, good news is that Beany's tumor was benign -- no Cancer --- yeah! Thanks for everyone's concern.