Can dogs really smell cancer?

Wisconsin (USA) - Dogs can smell cancer! Stephanie Herfel from Wisconsin is pretty sure of that. Because her husky Sierra has saved her life several times by sniffing out cancerous tumors. The Mal!

As"People" reports, the husky lady's career began in 2013, shortly after Stephanie was diagnosed with a supposedly benign cyst on her ovary.

Apparently, her husky Sierra didn't agree with the doctor's diagnosis and went to work herself. "She came up and put her nose on my stomach, which I pushed away," recalls Stephanie Herfel. The dog repeated the process again and again.

But that was not enough. She behaved more and more strangely. Finally, she "listened" to her now distraught dog and went to the doctor again. This time to get a second opinion.

The new diagnosis: she actually had stage three ovarian cancer. Fortunately, after an operation and further treatment, she was soon cancer-free again.

Had Sierra smelled the tumor before it became visible during an ultrasound? Stephanie is convinced. Unfortunately, this was not the only time her dog behaved so strangely and she was diagnosed with cancer shortly afterwards. The sad scenario has now been repeated three more times.

Again and again, Sierra's intense sniffing indicated to her owner that something was wrong.

Stephanie is certain that her dog has saved her life several times in this way and will continue to do so, she recently told"ABC 7" in an interview and has relied on her dog's nose ever since.

Several scientists suspect that dogs can smell cancer. A study that looked into this phenomenon and tested dogs came to the conclusion that a dog's sense of smell is not only 10,000 times more accurate than that of humans, but also that they are much better at identifying odors that humans cannot even smell. Apparently also cancerous tumors.

After all, 97 percent of the dogs tested were able to distinguish between a cancer blood sample and a healthy blood sample, according to scientists.

This is not the first case in which a dog has alerted its owner to a cancerous disease. What is special about Sierra, however, is that she also localizes exactly where the cancer is located.