The charity fighting disease and injury in animals

Published: 27/11/2012 16:36:17

HRH the princess royal opens the kennel club cancer centre at the animal health trust

Our brand new state-of-the-art cancer treatment and research facility for animals has been opened by our President, HRH The Princess Royal.

The facility has been purpose-built to treat horses, dogs and cats with cancer. It will also assist in furthering understanding of the disease in animals.

Peter Webbon, Chief Executive of the AHT, said: “2012 marks 70years of the AHT fighting disease and injury in animals, and the addition of the Cancer Centre is a landmark achievement in our history. We believe this is the first facility of its kind in Europe, purpose-built to treat horses, dogs and cats with cancer. We now have a short commissioning process to undertake but anticipate welcoming the first patients through the doors in early 2013.”

The Kennel Club Cancer Centre at the AHT houses a linear accelerator and brachytherapy machine used in radiotherapy treatment, along with a 16-slice CT scanner to aid radiotherapy planning.

The new facility complements our existing cancer treatment options of surgery and chemotherapy meaning we will be able to offer each and every patient the very best options for their specific case, whatever the diagnosis.  With one in four dogs and one in six cats developing cancer at some time in their life the new centre will help many more animals fight cancer.

Peter Webbon, added: “It was thanks to a generous donation from the late Tom Scott, a long-term supporter of the AHT, that we were able to start this development. His donation, along with that from many other AHT supporters, and an interest-free loan of £1.5 million from the Kennel Club has meant this ambitious project has come to fruition so quickly.”

It has taken just over a year to build the Cancer Centre which contains more than 2,600 tonnes of concrete and has eight-feet wide solid concrete walls.

On opening the facility, HRH The Princess Royal, President of the AHT, said: “This Cancer Centre is an exciting development at the AHT and will make a real difference for animals with cancer, here and now. It will improve the chances, for many animals, of beating this pernicious disease.

“Countless other horses, dogs and cats across the world with cancer, who will never be seen by an AHT clinician, will also benefit from knowledge gained from research in The Kennel Club Cancer Centre at the AHT.”

The AHT has a strong history in cancer research and the Kennel Club Cancer Centre will enhance the charity’s well established cancer research programme. Knowledge gained through the treatment of animals in the facility will contribute to the study of cancers, their causes, early diagnosis and treatment, and ultimately hopefully the prevention of some forms of the disease.

Steve Dean, Kennel Club Chairman, said: ““I am very proud to be here today to celebrate the opening of the Kennel Club Cancer Centre. Thanks to the expertise available here at the Animal Health Trust, the Cancer Centre will provide advanced techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, to the benefit of many animals.  It is exciting to consider how synergy between the Kennel Club Cancer Centre and the Kennel Club Genetics Centre can help to further the understanding of the inheritance factors that influence the development of cancer.”

To read more about the AHT’s cancer treatment and research work, please visit www.aht.org.uk/cancer

You can also watch all the highlights of the Cancer Centre opening, including HRH The Princess Royal's unveiling of the new plaque, on our AHTTV YouTube channel.