5 Facts About Dog Health

Dogs and humans may have lived together since the Stone Age, but does that mean we know everything there is to know about our furry little friends? Here are a few little health facts about dogs.

Dogs and humans have the same illnesses

Dogs and humans aren't quite alike when it comes to illnesses. Although there are some illnesses, like degenerative myelopathy, that are exclusive to dogs, they can also get affected with common human illnesses.

Every year, about 5 million dogs are diagnosed with cancer. Dog also have their own version of a few rare human illnesses like neuronal ceroidlipofuscinosis, a disease that affects the muscles. Many vets and animal health experts look at this as a positive thing since human models of cures can be modified to help cure canines.

They smell our illnesses

This might sound odd, but some medical experts believe that dog can sniff out illnesses like diabetes, cancer, and epilepsy. Dog can actually be trained by specialists to detect prostate, bladder, breast, lung and even skin cancer. Dog have one of the most sensitive senses of smell so you'd think that this ability would be natural to them, but no one can really give a scientific explanation to how dog can actually sniff out cancer cells.

 

Dogs do feel envy

Research showed that dogs that were given less attention or reward compared to another dog when performing became less interactive and even stopped doing tricks, even if they were given a treat. Although a dog's concept of jealousy is not the same as humans, like whether they got bread while the other dog got sausage for a treat, the experiment showed that envy is also present in other animals and not exclusively a primate emotion.

Obedient and docile dogs tend to live longer

You might think that you should just let your dog be and give it freedom to play, run around and get dirty, but dogs who actually stay home and become less active tend to live longer. There's less possibility for them to pick up any illnesses if they just stay home, plus, you can easily monitor them.

Smart pup

Dogs can have the same intelligence level as a 2-year-old child, according to the American Psychological Association. Some breeds however, are actually smarter compared to other. The smartest breeds are Poodles, Golden retrievers, Labradors, German shepherds, and Dobermans. However, you need to watch out for these breeds since many of them are prone to certain illnesses like degenerative myelopathy.