Can Our Pets Detect Our Illnesses?

With noses far more sensitive than humans, dogs and cats have the potential to smell disease. In some cases, pets have even alerted their owners to the presence of serious health issues like cancer. It seems far-fetched but remember that dogs have been used to sniff out narcotics and explosives. And, it turns out, they've also been trained to detect viruses, cancer, bacteria and more. Both cats and dogs have been known to show signs of distress around an owner who is sick, even if the owner doesn’t know that something is wrong. By harnessing this ability, doctors may be able to train dogs and other animals to help detect signs of poor health in humans

Dogs and Disease Detection

Dogs have been most commonly discussed in research about pets and harnessing their keen sense of smell to detect diseases and illnesses. They have already been known to detect diseases — even when they weren’t trained to do so. But it’s the dogs that are trained that are of particular interest to doctors and other medical professionals.

Cancer, it turns out, leaves an “odor signature” that dogs can detect, and that signature can be found on the skin or the breath, as well as in bodily fluids and waste products. That doesn't mean every dog is right for the job or will know how to tell their owner what’s wrong (that's where training comes in). Some dogs do this instinctively, but overall it's pretty unlikely.

There are a lot of different kinds of cancer that dogs have been trained to detect, including ovarian, colorectal, skin, breast and lung cancers. In some cases, the odor signatures are similar enough that a dog trained to detect one type of cancer can generally detect other ones, as well. For example, dogs that are trained to detect breast cancer have also been able to detect lung cancer and melanoma.

What About a “Cat” Scan? Can Cats Detect Disease, Too?

It’s usually dogs that are discussed where sniffing out cancer is concerned, but cats have some history of being able to do that, as well. Thanks to their uncanny sense of smell and their ability to detect chemical body changes, cats may also notice when something isn’t right with their owner’s health. A cat may be able to detect important changes in their owner's psychological and physical health, along with diseases like cancer. But here again, training is the most likely ay to harness that ability. Maybe one day this ill be included in basic pet training books?

While it’s not often a pet that alerts a human to a health problem, it might be fruitful to pay close attention anytime a pet seems fixated on a particular area of a family member’s body. It could be nothing at all, but consulting with a healthcare provider to check it out might just save a life. Thanks, fido and fluffy!

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