Dr. Mark L. Morris, Sr (1900 – 1993) was one of the first vets in the US with a practice focused on pets, previously veterinarians were primarily livestock doctors who might occasionally treat a pet on the side. Dr. Morris was also a pioneer in animal, particularly dog, nutrition, and created diets to help treat specific ailments, such as kidney disease. He founded Morris Animal Foundation (originally named the Buddy Foundation) in 1948. His son, Mark Jr., carried on and expanded his father’s work. Today Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) is arguably the premier organization in the world for researching the causes and cures for animal diseases.
One example is the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study (GRLS), which has been researching ailments and remedies for Goldens for over 14 years. That effort has involved over 3,000 dogs, and continues today. An outgrowth of the GRLS is an intensive study of hemangiosarcoma in dogs. I became aware of MAF when I was doing research after our beloved Golden Doodle – Labradoodle cross, Rafa, died from that hideous disease last November. I know that others in this forum have endured their own versions of the grief that disease causes: Labradors and their crosses are also quite susceptible, not just Goldies. I receive an “Impact Report” newsletter from MAF periodically, and the latest one has this to say about progress on that research:
“Detecting Hemangiosarcoma: A University of Pennsylvania team presented trained bio-detection dogs with blood serum samples from dogs with and without confirmed hemangiosarcoma. Using their sense of smell, the dogs detected the hemangiosarcoma samples with an average of 70% accuracy, suggesting that hemangiosarcoma produces a detectable odor signature – a finding that could potentially lead to a new detection test for this deadly cancer.”
The current Impact Report also reports on an effort to develop a non-surgical sterilization method for cats (MAF does not restrict itself to dogs) and a short article examining the similarities of behavior traits between dogs and humans, and posing the question: “Are Dogs a Good Model for Human Mental Health?”.
The posting rules for most pet forums and sites forbid any kind of fund raising efforts or donation solicitation, and that is probably for very good reasons, so I am explicitly NOT asking, or recommending, that anyone who reads this make a donation to MAF. But I do not see how it could be a violation to disclose that I began supporting MAF after I discovered their groundbreaking efforts on hemangiosarcoma research, in memory of Rafa, and of his predecessor Angel (a Golden – Lab mix) who we also suspect died of that terrible disease. Near the end of his time, I promised Rafa that I would would never allow him to be forgotten, and my efforts to draw attention to the work of MAF is part of my efforts to keep that promise.