To coincide with World Diabetes Day on Saturday 14th November, Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs highlighted the work of its specially trained Hypo Alert dogs at London’s leading dog event, Discover Dogs at Earls Court. The Kennel Club Charitable Trust has helped fund the training of this new type of assistance dog with a substantial donation.Kimberly Cox and her Hypo Alert dog, a Golden Retriever called Rory, were on the Kennel Club Charitable Trust stand at the show to demonstrate how assistance dogs like these can change lives.
Kimberly was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was nine years old. She became a dog trainer when she was 22, and three years later landed a dream job at Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs. Kimberly started training Rory and he was soon reliably alerting her to drops in her blood sugar levels. Within five months she was able to live on her own for the first time with the reassurance that Rory would look after her.
For people living with hard to control diabetes and low awareness of changes in blood sugar level, living an independent life seems like an impossible dream. Fluctuations in blood sugar level can occur rapidly without warning and, in the case of dangerously low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia), can lead to collapse and coma.
Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs founder, Claire Guest, is able to teach dogs to detect changes in blood sugar level using their noses (estimated to be 100,000 times more sensitive than our own). These guardian angels with waggy tails have already transformed lives as they act as an early warning system for owners with no warning symptoms to their impending life threatening hypo/hyper attacks. In just over a year the charity has five fully-qualified Hypo Alert dogs and a further eight in training.
According to a 2008 report by Diabetes UK, the NHS is spending £1m an hour – that’s 10 per cent of its annual budget – on treating diabetes and its complications. For people with particularly difficult to control diabetes or low awareness, Hypo Alert dogs can prompt them to check their blood sugar levels and take action before they suffer a hypoglycaemic episode, avoiding the need for medical assistance.
Diabetes is on the rise in the UK. From 1997 to 2003 there was a 97 per cent increase in new cases, and by 2005 more than 4 per cent of the population was classed as diabetic.
Thanks to generous donations, like that made by the Kennel Club Charitable Trust, Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs is able to offer its services to diabetes sufferers who have a frequency of about three hypoglycaemic episodes a week and who have low awareness of changes in their blood sugar. There is currently a waiting list for Hypo Alert dogs and the charity needs to keep raising funds to meet the demand for its dogs.
For more information about Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs, visit www.cancerdogs.co.uk.
ENDS
Notes to the editor
Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs’ first groundbreaking achievement was when it trained dogs to successfully sniff out bladder cancer in human urine samples. The results of this first ground-breaking study were published in the BMJ in 2004. The work Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs has been doing within the medical profession, thanks to the support of The Amerderm Trust and NHS Buck Trust, offers the potential to provide earlier diagnosis of cancer and therefore earlier commencement of treatment with greater chance of success.
The Kennel Club Charitable Trust was established in 1987 with the objective of making a difference for dogs, and in the 22 years it has been operating has given over £4m in grants. The Trust helped fund the training of Hypo Alert dogs by donating £25,000 to Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs.
World Diabetes Day is held every year on 14th November. To find out more, visit www.worlddiabetesday.org.
For further information contact Claire Guest at Cancer & Bio-detection Dogs:
Tel: 01296 655888 Email: guest.cook@btinternet.com
For Press information contact Anna Webb at Paws PR:
Tel: 020 7249 5345 Email: anna@pawspr.biz
For further press information, images or interview requests please contact:
The Kennel Club Press Office (at Earls Court)
020 7518 1008
press.office@thekennelclub.org.uk
www.thekennelclub.org.uk
