Cancer in cows

[manhill]

One in two humans get cancer so how come cows don't?
Don't think they get alzheimers either cos they remember how to open gates and escape!

 

[Adeptandy]

Dogs do

 

[primmiemoo]

Had a ewe with a tumour in her udder years ago. Don't light skinned cattle get skin cancers, similar to horses?

 

[Lazy Eric]

Probably something to do with how long lived humans are compared to domesticated animals?

 

[Wesley]

Are you asking how come cows don’t get cancer or how come its not as common as in humans?

 

[Happy]

Occasionally get an older cow with a growth beneath their lower eyelid which I’ve always been let to believe was a carcinoma.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Bound to get more they just don't live long enough to get them or they aren't detected as cancer? That being said, some species of animal I understand have genetics that are so well honed they don't get much in the way of cancers. Wasn't it sharks -which have been around a while- who are immune to virtually all cancers?

 

[manhill]

I was exaggerating a bit in that post maybe but does cancer in cows really come proportionally close to 1in 2?

 

[deleted user 837354]

I was exaggerating a bit in that post maybe but does cancer in cows really come proportionally close to 1in 2?

It is something like more than 1 in 3 people will have cancer in their lifetimes but the word 'cancer' is a very broad term- it isn't really a single disease but is in fact many many types- certainly into the hundreds.

If you took 100 random people who had died and examined their bodies closely enough using a variety of methods, I bet you would find a lot of them had cancer of some sort, only they had no symptoms and it wasn't a contributor to their deaths. Some of them might not even have shown up in diagnostic tests had you performed them in life.

 

[manhill]

It is something like more than 1 in 3 people will have cancer in their lifetimes but the word 'cancer' is a very broad term- it isn't really a single disease but is in fact many many types- certainly into the hundreds.

If you took 100 random people who had died and examined their bodies closely enough using a variety of methods, I bet you would find a lot of them had cancer of some sort, only they had no symptoms and it wasn't a contributor to their deaths. Some of them might not even have shown up in diagnostic tests had you performed them in life.

Abattoirs would likely see tumours regularly if they were butchering I would imagine.

 

[Flatlander]

I know and older retired nurse from Australia. She worked along side a flying doctor in the outback for most of here working life. She said she saw every imaginable health issue in the aboriginal people but only once saw anyone with cancer. She put it down to processed meats as they typically only ate what they caught. I’ve seen cancer in cattle. Eye cancer a few times

 

[Bobby Spray]

Years ago I saw an interview with a long retired eminent doctor. In summary he linked the rise in cancers amongst humans with the uptake in various vaccines. This was long before covid..

I know and older retired nurse from Australia. She worked along side a flying doctor in the outback for most of here working life. She said she saw every imaginable health issue in the aboriginal people but only once saw anyone with cancer. She put it down to processed meats as they typically only ate what they caught. I’ve seen cancer in cattle. Eye cancer a few times

 

[primmiemoo]

Years ago I saw an interview with a long retired eminent doctor. In summary he linked the rise in cancers amongst humans with the uptake in various vaccines. This was long before covid..

What quackery was he selling?

 

[deleted user 837354]

Years ago I saw an interview with a long retired eminent doctor. In summary he linked the rise in cancers amongst humans with the uptake in various vaccines. This was long before covid..

If vaccines cause cancer it is because they cause people to live a lot longer rather than dying of relatively common infections.

 

[Princess Pooper]

We lost a cow about 3 years ago - not particularly old, a 3rd calver I think, vet thought she had a brain tumour, obviously not going to check if its cancer but a high probability it was. Even if they get cancer we can't long term medicate a food animal and not cost-effective to operate in most cases.

 

[Princess Pooper]

I was exaggerating a bit in that post maybe but does cancer in cows really come proportionally close to 1in 2?

I think the fact that most cattle are slaughtered at relatively young ages (relative to their natural lifespan) has a lot to do with it. Most cancers are in people 65+.

 

[David.]

Bound to get more they just don't live long enough to get them or they aren't detected as cancer? That being said, some species of animal I understand have genetics that are so well honed they don't get much in the way of cancers. Wasn't it sharks -which have been around a while- who are immune to virtually all cancers?

So no car dealer or land agent ever died of cancer, yeah right.

 

[manhill]

I think the fact that most cattle are slaughtered at relatively young ages (relative to their natural lifespan) has a lot to do with it. Most cancers are in people 65+.

I wonder if many elderly cows develop cancers in the proportions humans do.

 

[deleted user 837354]

I wonder if many elderly cows develop cancers in the proportions humans do.

I don't know if that kind of work has been done. Some species may well have a better genome than humans and simply don't get the sort of cancers we do. Simpler species, like some fish, have the ability to repair their own heart muscles. Humans can't do this. Others can completely regrow limbs or other structures from scratch. Understanding how they do this may give benefit to human health in future.

As with most things- you can learn these things about biology if you are prepared to finance the research first.

 

[Guleesh]

Dogs do

Have you noticed that those dogs tend to have lived indoors?