We have thought of all that. Not only do we feed healthy food to them, but my three dogs were on three different foods. They are large dogs (all over 75 pounds), and Chip was 10, Nubi almost 10, and Fern is 11. While we think it is very strange that Nubi and Fern would get cancer at the same time, apparently dogs over 8 get cancer of some sort and larger dogs age faster. And Simon has FeLV. We definitely have not ruled out environmental causes, though, and have looked into testing. Apparently there is no basic test that tests for all possible cancer-causing agents. You have to figure out what you want to test for and test for those particular substances. We have lived here for 4 1/2 years, and we know the guy who lived here before us used to spray an insecticide for ants which was later taken off the market for causing cancer, we think. When we moved in we disposed of it and never used any chemicals again and so thought no more of it, but now wonder if residues have been left on the ground outside where the dogs walk (Simon does not go out there though).
Anyway, it is a horrible conundrum, but apparently harder to solve than one would think. Michelle In a message dated 12/30/04 10:45:01 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << Michelle, I'll be keeping Fern, you, and the rest of your family in my prayers. I'm so sorry for your loss a few weeks ago. You have an inordinant amount of cancer in your family - it sounds like it could be environmental. Check with the local health dept. and the EPA and see if you can find out what the cancer rate in your area is (also check with the local hospitals and if there is a cancer specialist for humans and/or animals in the area, check with them about what kind of cancer's they're seeing and how many are from your end of town). Also, try to research the food you've fed the crrtters who've gotten cancer - I saw something a year or so ago about a book called "Food Pets Die For" that tells some deep dark secrets about what you don't want to know about some well known brands of food. Cancers have a cause. If it's not their food and is something in the ground water or air, their cancers can save your life by alerting you to the problem so you can protect yourselves and your critters. >>
