Help us fight disease and injury in animals

Published: 21/11/2011 16:10:54

KENNEL CLUB JOINS FIGHT AGAINST CANCER

 

The Members of the Kennel Club have agreed to give the AHT an interest-free loan of £1.5 million to help fight cancer in animals.

 

The loan will significantly speed up the building and development of our new cancer centre, which will be known as the Kennel Club Cancer Centre.

 

Sadly, as is the case in humans, cancer is a prevalent disease in dogs and cats and also effects many horses. Currently, cancer is the most common cause of death in dogs and the second most common cause in cats.

 

The Kennel Club Cancer Centre at the AHT will bring together the study of cancers, their causes, and hopefully aid earlier diagnosis, treatment, and the prevention of some forms of the disease.

 

The loan is the latest in a series of link-ups between the Kennel Club and the Animal Health Trust. The Kennel Club Charitable Trust is currently in the third year of a five year £1.2 million grant to the AHT to fund the Kennel Club Genetics Centre at the AHT, which is investigating the genetic cause of several other inherited diseases in dogs and developing DNA tests to check for these. There will be considerable synergy with this work and research into cancer.

 

Steve Dean, Kennel Club Chairman, said: “We are obviously delighted that our Members have agreed to this loan, which should prove invaluable in the fight against canine cancer. We have an excellent relationship with the Animal Health Trust and look forward to continuing this over the coming years.”

 

Dr Peter Webbon, Chief Executive of the Animal Health Trust said: “We are extremely grateful to the Kennel Club for this very generous loan, which will allow us to accelerate our investigations into the causes, diagnosis and treatment of cancer in dogs significantly.

 

“Cancer remains one of the biggest threats to the wellbeing of dogs, but we hope that through the new Kennel Club Cancer Centre at the AHT, we will be able to take major strides towards improving the health and welfare of not just dogs but other animals too.”

 

We hope the Kennel Club Cancer Centre will open in summer 2012.

 

For more information on the Kennel Club Cancer Centre at the AHT, click here