Anyone who’s been told their pet has cancer experiences two emotions: fear for the dog’s life and hope for a treatment. As pets live longer, more cancers are being diagnosed, but advances in preventative health and the ability to detect some types of tumors at earlier stages have helped them beat the disease. Still, the disease is a major killer of humans and pets alike.
Because dogs have such a unique ancestry that led to the creation of so many different breeds, selective breeding has also made some of them predisposed to certain diseases. For example, lymphoma is more likely to affect golden retrievers, and glioma, a brain cancer, occurs more often in Boston terriers, boxers, and bulldogs. Those genetic differences can help researchers study how particular mutations contribute to cancer and, hopefully, find useful strategies that might be used in humans as well.
One controversial claim involves a drug commonly used in animals to treat gastrointestinal parasites, called fenbendazole. A series of videos circulating on TikTok and Facebook have claimed that this dewormer cures human cancer, but the claims are not backed by medical research or regulatory bodies.
One of the patients featured in the viral videos, Joe Tippens, says he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of his lungs and prostate and given three months to live. He cured his cancer with a regimen that includes fenbendazole, CBD oil, and vitamin E. He is now cancer free and he continues to take the treatment, which he calls the Joe Tippens Cancer Protocol. dog dewormer cancer