Symptoms of cancer in dogs include lumps, weight loss and a change in appetite. READ MORE: The popular dog breedsA new study reveals the dog breeds with the highest risk of dying from cancer – and it's not good news for owners of medium-sized pups.
Meanwhile, breeds with the lowest risk of cancer include Pomeranian, Miniature Pinscher, Shih tzu and Chihuahua. For the results, he considered dog breeds that appeared in at least two of the three datasets – 85 breeds in total. Despite the general trend of small breeds having lower risk, the Scottish Terrier is one small breed with an unusually high cancer death risk, compared with other small breeds.The flat-coated retriever has a significantly elevated rate of death due to cancer . Bernese mountain dog has around 50 per cent risk, while bulmastiff has around 45 per cent and Staffordshire bull terrier and Scottish terrier about 40 per cent.
Advertisement Much like humans, dogs develop cancer due to genetic factors and environmental stressors. This is because of an as-yet unexplained phenomenon – the life expectancy of dogs gets lower with increased body size. In other words, larger dogs may not die from cancer as much as medium-sized dogs, but they're likely to live shorter lifespans anyway.