Nasal cancers in dogs, when detected, are generally advanced. Hence, surgery is usually ruled out.
Unlike other caregivers of street dogs who feed the animals or play with them, Chitrita Majumdar and Roxan D’souza, who work for street animals in Bandra, have not only given a cancer-stricken stray dog a new lease of life but also initiated research ideas in pollution and cancer in some cancer researchers.
Nearly two months ago while feeding street dogs near Pali Naka, D’souza realised that one of the dogs was lethargic.
She noticed an unusual swelling over his nose. There was blood oozing out from the nose and a mixture of tears and blood from one eye. With Majumdar’s help, D’souza took the dog to a vet clinic where they were told that it may be a cancer of the nose and sinuses.
They were referred to the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Tata Memorial Centre, at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai. ACTREC is the only facility in the country where cancer-stricken animals can be treated on similar lines as humans. The doctors in ACTREC named him Sheru for the poise he showed during his fight with cancer.
Dr Pradip Chaudhari, a veterinary oncologist, ACTREC, confirmed the diagnosis after doing a CT scan. The same week radiotherapy was started under the guidance of Dr Rajiv Sarin, director of ACTREC. They monitored Sheru during his four weeks of radiotherapy. To everyone’s delight, the tumour disappeared within weeks and the side effects of radiotherapy also settled down in two weeks. Most people are not aware that cancers or tumours are common in dogs, said Chaudhari.
However, tumours of the nose and sinuses are quite rare. This type of cancer is more common in male dogs and dogs with longer noses. The cause of nasal cancer in dogs is yet unknown. But some link has been found with household or environmental pollution, especially burning fossil fuel or second-hand smoke, said Sarin.
He agreed that it’s possible that many more dogs in highly polluted Indian cities may have developed nasal cancer, which may not be diagnosed.
Nasal cancers in dogs, when detected, are generally advanced. Hence, surgery is usually ruled out. Like human cancers, they are treated with radiotherapy. Careful treatment planning reduces the radiation damage to the surrounding normal tissues.
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