Ballarat Base Hospital kidney cancer patient credits dog with incidental find leading to CT and diagnosis

He credits Shar Pei-Husky cross 'Abby' with saving his life, saying he "would've been dead in six months" if not for her.

Bob was walking Abby on a farm at Yandoit when her hunting instincts uncovered something nobody could have anticipated.

With all her strength, Abby pulled against her lead trying to chase an echidna, and on about her third try, she knocked Bob off his feet, causing him to fall sideways and land on a rock.

When the pain didn't go away after a few days, Bob went to hospital where it was confirmed he had three broken ribs.

But something else came up on the CT scans that was of much more concern: a mass on Bob's kidney that would later be confirmed as cancerous.

Bob was understandably shocked at the discovery.

The sales representative had shown no signs of ill-health, except for some unexplained weight loss.

It was quickly decided that the best course of action, to avoid the need for chemotherapy, would be to remove the entire kidney.

Bob went under the knife at Ballarat Base Hospital and in about three hours, the kidney and cancer were gone.

Regular check ups have confirmed Bob is now cancer-free - all thanks to Abby's "incidental find" .

Bob is now "fighting-fit" and forever indebted to Abby as "the dog who saved [his] life".

"I love Abby," he said.

"If she didn't bowl me over, I wouldn't have had any idea [about the cancer] - I wouldn't be here to tell the story.

"They [the doctors] said it was that close to my renal vein, it was about to go everywhere: my liver, my lungs, my brain.

"That's just the breed though - she's a Chinese hunting dog.

"If she see kangaroos, she just chases them; she got a snake in her mouth once at the same farm and didn't get bitten for some reason.

"But I think the echidna lived to tell the tale too!"

The causes of kidney cancer are not known, but factors that put some people at higher risk are:

Source: Cancer Council

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