# looking for a healthy Cancer free breeder



## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Cancer is found throughout our breed ( and all other breeds for that matter). There is no honest breeder that can say they are cancer free. I'm so sorry you are going through this with your boy. I hope the friendship you find here can give you comfort and support. There are many threads and info on breeder and how to check clearances and know what to look for. A cancer free guarantee is not possible though.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Penny & Maggie's Mom said:


> Cancer is found throughout our breed ( and all other breeds for that matter). There is no honest breeder that can say they are cancer free. I'm so sorry you are going through this with your boy. I hope the friendship you find here can give you comfort and support. There are many threads and info on breeder and how to check clearances and know what to look for. A cancer free guarantee is not possible though.


I couldn't put it any better than Penny & Maggie's mom just did... I'm so sorry that you are having to go through this with Bailey... it's so painful. I hope you will accept support here. It will help.
Kristy


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## Rainheart (Nov 28, 2010)

-hugs- to you... It is always hard to go through this with our beloved pets. Like those who have said above, there is no such thing as a cancer-free line. Goldens have a lot of cancer in the breed, unfortunately. The best thing you can do is find a reputable breeder who also breeds for longevity. Even reputable breeders do lose their dogs sometimes at ages younger than the breed average. Good luck with your pup.


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

I am so sad to hear your beautiful, sweet boy is sick. Unfortunately, as others have said, there is no cancer free line. No one can guarantee any dog will be cancer free.

I love the first picture. His eyes are so expressive. Good luck in your search.


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## vcm5 (Apr 20, 2011)

I'm so sorry to hear about your boy. I will send prayers your way. I only wish a cancer free line existed...


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm sorry to hear about your boy.

There's no such thing as a cancer free breeder of any dogs. All dogs get cancer, just like people. It doesn't mean your breeder wasn't a good one. It's the luck of the draw.

There's no real evidence that natural products, organic food, avoiding pesticides, or limiting shots reduces the chance of cancer. The most definitive protection you can give a dog, based on the evidence we have now, is keeping him at a healthy weight.

Good luck with your breeder search. Take a look at the Golden Retriever Club of America's page on finding a good breeder.


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

coldair said:


>


 Now that's a face! I am so sorry you are facing these terrible circumstances! I don't think there is any breeder that is 100% cancer free, but just reduced risk of cancer. My breeder claims to have reduced risk of cancer. I see you live in Naples FL. I am not familiar with the Florida area when it comes to Goldens, but based on my research, I would recommend Softwood Goldens, which has ancestry in common with my breeder's dogs or Crescent Goldens.


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## Kmullen (Feb 17, 2010)

I have never heard of softwood goldens. If you need any help finding a breeder, I am willing to help you. Like others have mentioned, NO Breeder is cancer free. I wish that existed!


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

Where are you located geographically? 

The http://www.goldenbreedersresource.org/ is very useful. 

You can use the data base K9DATA.COM Home Page to see some longevity statistics for a litter, but it is by no means complete.


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## coldair (Oct 6, 2012)

Ljilly28 said:


> Where are you located geographically?
> 
> The Golden Breeders Resource is very useful.
> 
> You can use the data base K9DATA.COM Home Page to see some longevity statistics for a litter, but it is by no means complete.


south west florida but we can or will go anywhere we need to in order to get a good health friend


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## coldair (Oct 6, 2012)

kfayard said:


> I have never heard of softwood goldens. If you need any help finding a breeder, I am willing to help you. Like others have mentioned, NO Breeder is cancer free. I wish that existed!


I am looking for a big male like this









i really could use all the help i can get. thank you all so very much


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I am so sorry you are going through this.

I once read that some believe that the cancer gene in goldens originates from the foundation dogs of the breed. It is thought that if the cancer gene is eliminated, so will some of the genes that give the golden the qualities is now possesses. The best we can do is look for a breeder that has long lived dogs, and some lines will have less cancer than others.


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## coldair (Oct 6, 2012)

we tried everything we were told to keep our bailey Cancer free. Mom makes his food from organic veggies, brown rice, organic beef and chicken. heck we don't even use commercial cleaning products in our home or business. 
I should have listened to the small voice of God telling me a while ago to get him a buddy. he loves other dogs even jumping the fence to spend time with his neighbors dogs on their last days as they died from old age.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

cubbysan said:


> I once read that some believe that the cancer gene in goldens originates from the foundation dogs of the breed.


Given that the cancers that are major killers in Goldens (hemangiosarcoma, lymphoma, and osteosarcoma) are found routinely in other dogs, I really don't think we're going to find that Goldenness and cancer are tied together.

I doubt cancer is something that we're going to be able to breed away the way you can breed some other simple inheritance factors (PRA, for example).


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## coldair (Oct 6, 2012)

well I know GRs are not cancer free but there must be good breeders that have dogs that have a long life


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## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

I am sorry about your Bailey. It is never easy. 
Even the very best breeders, who do EVERYthing "right", can not possibly breed "cancer free" dogs. There are so many variables, and even those breeders who painstakingly research pedigrees for health and longevity are not immune to the heartbreak of cancers.
Looking for a particulaly large dog limits your chances of good health and longevity even more, as dogs bred outside of the standard are somewhat less likely to have a solid genetic health history. I'm sorry, but there is so much more to breeding than producing a particular look or style. Being sincerely committed to purchasing as healthy a dog as possible means looking at genetic health history (not to mention temperament) for generations and putting that before a style or size.

My thoughts are with you as you care for your Bailey during this time.


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## BayBeams (Jan 3, 2010)

I have a very dear friend who spent months pouring over k9data info and evaluating various breeders to find one with longevity. She thought she had really done her homework and she picked a Golden from an awesome breeder. Yet, despite her efforts, her dog died suddenly at the age of 8, which we suspect was from hemangiosarcoma.
Now she is dogless because she is terrified to go through the process again only to suffer another terrible loss.
If we want to share the joys of being a Golden owner we have to realize that our Goldens, as do other breeds, may die from a variety of ailments. All we can do is enjoy the time we have with them each and everyday.
If you find a Golden breeder that claims they have cancer free Goldens I woud run fast because no one can make that kind of guarantee.
I love my Golden boy Baxter. He is beautiful and happy and he is from a breeder with integrity. I can only hope that I have him for a very long time....


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## coldair (Oct 6, 2012)

3 out of these four died for cancer all before they were eight, our previous golden was a big girl that lived till 13 she weighed in a 112 pounds









the sweet fatty died from rat poison. the skinny female is her mother Samantha and she had a habit of running off and it would make our daughter cry and the dandelion hated to see her cry so she would run and grab her collar and bring her back. Goldens are so funny


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## gold4me (Mar 12, 2006)

Our Emmy, who died of intramuscular hemangiosarcoma, came from a wonderful breeder who had many dogs who lived to be 12, 13, 14. Emmy's father was 12 when he died and her mother was 13. We lost Emmy at 10 1/2. We have lost 5 goldens to cancer (hemangiosarcoma) we had 2 different and wonderful breeders over the years, we fed the best, did everything we could to protect them and yet it still happened. Years ago we decided our love for goldens was so great that we continued to have goldens in our lives, we did the best we could for them, loved them each and everyday and cherished the time we had. It has been worth every moment!


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## MikaTallulah (Jul 19, 2006)

So sorry for your loss.

Any breeder that says their line are cancer free are lying IMO and should be avoided.


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## Maverick James (Feb 27, 2012)

I'm so sorry for your loss. For us it has been 8 months since we lost our beloved golden, Maverick and just last night my wife had a good cry about it. Not a day goes by without both of us thinking of him.

Just to add....When we were going through cancer treatment with our late golden, his oncologist opined that the reason goldens appear to have a higher rate is simply because of the combining of two facts, the golden community is much larger and more organized than any other breed. So by the sheer numbers, golden owners are willing to do more to diagnose and treat, therefore the cancer rate appears higher even though in reality it probably isn't. In short, golden owners as a group do more for their goldens than others.

As other have said, I don't think you can find a cancer free line and I would be very very cautious and avoid anyone claiming such. Nonetheless, a responsibile breeder will try their best to avoid a line that appear to have a high incident rate.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Maverick James said:


> When we were going through cancer treatment with our late golden, his oncologist opined that the reason goldens appear to have a higher rate is simply because of the combining of two facts, the golden community is much larger and more organized than any other breed. So by the sheer numbers, golden owners are willing to do more to diagnose and treat, therefore the cancer rate appears higher even though in reality it probably isn't. In short, golden owners as a group do more for their goldens than others.


Thanks for this. I've long made a similar point that we can't tease out the difference between actual elevated risk in Goldens and an elevation in the number of diagnoses that are made. When my Golden died in 1993, the diagnosis was 'cancer,' but that's only because my parents paid a rather large amount of money to have him x-rayed and diagnosed. Even so, there were no biopsies sent out to fancypants labs, and treatments like chemo were definitely not the norm. In retrospect, since it was an internal organ cancer, my best guess is that it was hemangiosarcoma.

If we had a Golden with the same symptoms ten or twenty years before that 1993 diagnosis, we might just have said the dog "took sick" and he might never have made it to a vet. And even if he did, he would have been a lot less likely to get an x-ray that even made a firm cancer diagnosis. Nowadays, a dog with the same symptoms would almost certainly have been diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma. We might even have had an oncologist consultation and pursued surgery and chemo.

As more and more people spend more on their dogs' healthcare and as the costs for complex diagnostic and treatment tools come down, we're going to see a huge rise in the diagnosis of things like cancer. If Golden people are simply slightly above average in their willingness to seek out more substantial medical interventions or in their ability to pay for them, Goldens are going to see artificially high cancer numbers in the statistics. It's basic reporting bias.

Now, there _may_ be real elevated risks for Goldens. But right now it's very difficult to tease out how much of the rise in Golden cancer is due to reporting and how much is due to that actual elevated risk. Since Goldens have longevity that's right on par with other breeds of their size, I'm inclined to say that the risk isn't all that elevated.

And the last thing to throw in the mix, which I've said many times, so forgive me if I already said it in this very thread, is that if Goldens are living slightly longer than other dogs their size, or if they're slightly healthier in old age, they're going to see a lot more of the geriatric cancers, which would also inflate their cancer numbers. 

If a dog makes it to 12, but from 10-12 he got more and more arthritic and seemed to enjoy life less and less, and then around 12 he develops congestive heart failure, what owner is going to bother diagnosing hemangiosarcoma? He'll start to fail, and they'll let him go.

If a Golden makes it to 12, but was still moving well from 10-12 and didn't have a heart issue, he's going to be enjoying life a lot more, so he's a lot more likely to receive more diagnosis and treatment options when he gets sick.


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## Mac'sdad (Dec 5, 2009)

@ tippykayak and Maverick James .... in my uneducated opinion .... you are spot on !!! and I have my 3rd golden in Mac and I have had to deal with cancer as well but even though I have there will always be a golden in my life no matter what !!! I just love this breed !


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## MGMF (May 13, 2009)

I have been very fortunate with my golden's having long healthy lives and passing of old age. It is because of this I worry about the ones I have now knowing the odd of cancer cannot be escaped no matter how great of a line. Mine have passed at 14 1/2, 14 and 13. All were very healthy without issues and moving well. My one girl was even swimming a week before she passed. I wish this could be the results of each and every one of them. Never having to make a heart breaking decision to help them or put them down before their time. There are lines out their that work hard for longevity and good health but even with that there is no cancer free golden's or other breeds. Good luck with your search and when you get a new puppy just enjoy the time you have with them.


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## Otter (Feb 23, 2011)

The three Golden's we've had die in the past 4 or so years were all due to cancers; bone cancer, lymphoma, and nasal.

They were all from reputable breeders and we always tried to provide the best environments for them.

It's a sad reality that approximately 60% of Golden's die from some sort of cancer. 57% females, 66% males. Source

I don't know, but I suspect those numbers are similar for most breads. Just a guess.

We realize the odds are stacked against our current two Goldens. All we can do is make sure they are healthy, have a good quality of life, provide the best we can for them, and enjoy them while they are with us.

Sorry about Bailey.


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