In This Issue: Last Week to Register and Vote in our PuppyUp Canine Cancer Calendar Contest; Plan Ahead — Upcoming Walks in September; Promising Research — Synchronization Immunotherapy; PuppyUp Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Committee Meets; Pup of the Month — Camden Rose; Please follow us on Facebook to keep up with all the current news.
Only a Few More Days To Enter And Vote
There’s less than a week left to join the fun and excitement of the Ninth Annual PuppyUp Foundation’s “Cancer Can’t Keep a Good Dog Down” canine cancer calendar contest. (Contest ends August 11 at 12 midnight EDT.) We have many dogs in the running, but there is still time to enter your dog and plenty of time remaining to vote for your favorites. We hope you’ll visit the calendar contest, read the stories, enjoy the photos of all the beautiful dogs, and find a champion (or several) to support.
You can find the calendar contest by following this link.There you’ll find out how to enter and how to vote.
Please remember, each entry and each of your votes counts towards funding comparative oncology research, and we appreciate each and every vote.
Thank you!
Still not sure you understand how comparative oncology works to benefit dogs and people? Here is an excellent overview of the subject presented by Land of Pure Gold.
Plan Ahead — Upcoming PuppyUp Walks in September
We have four PuppyUp Walks coming up in September: New Paltz, NY; Wheaton, IL; Anchorage, AK; and Des Moines, IA. For details on dates, registration, and sponsoring these events, please follow the links below.
September 11 PuppyUp New Paltz, NY Details here.
September 17 PuppyUp Wheaton, IL Details here.
September 23 PuppyUp Anchorage, AK Details here.
September 25 PuppyUp Des Moines, IA Details here.
Not only are the walks lots of fun for you and your dogs, but they’re an opportunity to join with others who are also passionate about learning more about canine cancer and helping raise money for canine cancer research. Our walks are also a great way to learn from others about their cancer journeys, and an occasion to share what you have learned as well. Our nation-wide PuppyUp Walks are the Foundation’s biggest outreach and fund-raising events, and new walks are springing up all over the country as more and more people learn about the research that they are able to support through their participation. Each walk is unique, and offers a host of activities besides the main walk. We hope you’ll find a walk in your area to join.
For a complete list of upcoming walks this year, please follow this link.
Promising Research — Synchronization Immunotherapy To Treat Cancer In Dogs
(Pictured from L to R: Michael and Diane Swigonski of Bainbridge Township, and their St. Bernard, Poo Bear; Barbara Erdelack of Moreland Hills, and her golden retriever, Sophie; and Sarah Waldman of Auburn Township, and her chocolate lab, Lashes. They are participating in an exclusive clinical trial at Chagrin Falls Pet Clinic for cancer treatment in dogs. The results could change how cancer is treated in canines in the U.S. as well as humans.)
Bainbridge residents Diane and Michael Swigonski’s St. Bernard, Poo Bear, should have passed away by now.
The dog, a rescue estimated to be between 6 and 8 years old, was diagnosed with bone cancer in early April and given a four- to six-week prognosis, Diane said.
However, after trying an alternative cancer treatment currently being offered exclusively at Chagrin Falls Pet Clinic, Poo Bear is not only walking on his back paw again, he is running around like his old self, the Swigonskis said during a recent interview at the clinic, 530 East Washington Street.
“It is amazing because he used to walk with that back leg up, it was in a lot of pain, but — Bear hopped like a bronco, prior to having this — he is hopping like a bronco again,” Diane said. “He can run, he actually puts more weight on the leg that has cancer than the one that has arthritis. His appetite is excellent, his spirits are up, he’s like my baby again.”
The Research
In conducting this study, veterinarian Dr. Carol Osborne and her staff could be paving the way for a new kind of cancer treatment in the U.S. for dogs and one day, possibly humans.
Her pet clinic — which is working with Biotempus Limited, an independent life sciences company based in Melbourne, Australia — is the first and only in the nation to be involved with this clinical trial using synchronization immunotherapy to treat cancer in dogs.
Biotempus is developing and commercializing technologies for leveraging immune system responses against disease, according to the company.
The clinical trial seeks to investigate the effects of accurately timing therapy with the newly discovered immune cycle, Osborne said in a statement.
“Researchers at Biotempus discovered the fact that a dog’s immune system oscillates or cycles somewhere between every five or 14 days,” Osborne explained, adding this means the immune system is repeatedly turning on and then off in a cyclical manner.
“So their theory is that when you are able to map the dog’s immune cycle and, therefore, you know the exact day and exact time when the immune cycle is functioning at its optimum level, if one oral dose of a chemotherapy agent is administered … at that specific time, then the dog’s body will be able to eliminate (the cancer cells) naturally,” Osborne said.
For the full article, please follow this link.
PuppyUp Scientific Advisory Committee Meets
In attendance this year were– (pictured from L to R): Dr. Kai Shiu; Ginger Morgan, Executive Director; Luke Robinson, Founder of the PuppyUp Foundation; Dr. Susan Ettinger; Dr. Heather Wilson-Robles.
Members of the PuppyUp Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Committee met for two days this past month in New York City to discuss the research proposals before them this year. Each year, members of the Committee meet to discuss, review, and prepare recommendations for the Foundation’s Board of Directors (who also review the several research proposals presented to them), and offer their professional opinions on those research projects that they think best align with the goals of the Foundation.
Pup of the Month — Camden Rose
Camden Rose Corell
Camden Rose Corell
(Camden Rose was a contestant in our 2011 Calendar Contest)
(Cindy Corell) Camden Rose was 10 when we learned that she had bone cancer. Almost immediately, the vet took her left front leg. Not long after that she started chemotherapy. And through it all, we lived as well and happily as we could. Our motto was: “Today, we live.” I promised Cammie the night she was diagnosed that wherever she wanted to go, I would help get her there. Cammie visited friends, rode in the car with her head out the window, swam, coerced strangers into rubbing her belly and loved every minute of life for 19 months, 20 days after her diagnosis. When she was 12 years, four months old, she pulled a muscle along her chest wall and could no longer walk. We tried to help her heal, but it didn’t work. She was in pain, and she let me know she had to go, alone this time. She left us with her tail still softly wagging, appreciating belly rubs and telling us all to live — every day.
Other Ways to Help
Please stop by and shop at our PuppyUp Store. You can also help by designating us as your non-profit charity of choice when you shop on Amazon, using Amazon Smile. If you follow this link every time you shop on Amazon, they will donate a percentage of your order to 2 Million Dogs/The PuppyUp Foundation. Thank you.
Disclaimer
The PuppyUp Foundation does not endorse nor recommend any particular product, service, or treatment. We offer information strictly for educational and/or informational purposes. We believe it is the pet owner’s responsibility to do the research and draw his or her own conclusions.
Would you like to receive a copy of our monthly newsletter? Please email Ginger at ginger@puppyup.org and she will add you to the list.
