I have a 3yr old liver f/c male peter aka peter pan :D.
No - one could understand how much i love him, he is the greatest and such a friendly boy.
He has brightened my life, i take him everywhere!
i could go on forever!

But today i met someone out on my walk, who was admiring peter, we got talking and they said how they used to breed f/c's, but stopped because all hers died quite young from cancer, and that it was a big problem in this breed!!! :(

I dont know what id do if i lost peter!!!! please someone tell me he will be ok!!!!???
He cant die, i couldnt live without him!!

PLEASE TELL ME SHE ISNT TELLING THE TRUTH!! :(

Gina + Peter Pan

Hi Gina,
It is true that flatcoated retrievers have a higher-than-usual incidence of dying young from cancer, but there are plenty that live to a ripe old age. Look after Peter to the very best of your ability, keep him fit and healthy, don't let him get overweight etc and you will maximise his chances of a long and happy life with you.
:)

Hi - I too have a liver FCR who I love very much (sometimes :-D  :-D) but unfortunately as JG has said FCR's do have a lot of cancer in the breed.
It may be of comfort for you to know that some FCR clubs are researching cancer in the breed and are working hard to help the situation.
Best wishes, snoopy1  :)

Hello Gina,
Why join us here? There are several people on here who have flatcoats, myself included. Who ever this person was, all I can say is they must have been very unlucky!
My flatcoats have all lived a long time with two exceptions, both of which died in accidents. I only breed to replace an older dog, and even then I sometimes buy in rather than breed a litter. So the lines I have had have been varied.
So to reassure you here is a small list of my dogs.
Rosebud  9.5.years and still going strong! (Enough to make me tear my hair out from time to time!).
Callum died at 11 years
Lucinda died at 11.5 years
Peggy died at 15.5 years
Charlie died at 15.75 years
Sally died at 16.5 years.
To my knowledge none of the puppies I have bred have died before the age of 10 years, most going on for a year or two after this.
However long you share your life with Peter Pan, just remember that it is up to you to give him the best life you can, so if it is a short life at least you will know that you did the best you could to give him a wonderful time with you.

Polly & Foxpath Flatcoats

HI
I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT TIME WITH HIM,
YES THERE IS A HIGH DEGREE OF CANCER IN THE BREED,THE BREED SEMIAR I WENT STATED THAT UP 50 % OF FCR AT SOMETIME WILL GET THE BIG C WEATHER IT BE BERGIN OR MELEINT NOT SPELLED LIKE THAT)

BUT DONOT WORRY TO MUCH ABOUT IT,JUST ENJOY HIM LOVE HIM AND GIVE HIM THE BEST.

I WOULD NOT BE WITH OUT MY FCR.

TERRI

Hello!
Its Gina and P.P.

Thanks so much for all your replies!!
I got so worried, i love my lad so much.

50%!!! Oh dear, i had no idea!!

Polly, my next flattie is going to be from you! :D

To put that in perspective that is Benign and Malignant tumours.  If the Cancer research adverts on TV are to be beleived then it isn't much worse than figures for humans.  The advert says that 1 in 3 of us will have cancer at some time.

Thats a good point Brainless, the reason many cancers are more prevalent is because people and dogs, are around for so much longer to develop them.  As a cause of death, particularly in dogs where euthansia prevents suffering, I don't think it is any worse than heart failure or loss of mobility - we've all got to go somehow :)

You might have a very long wait! my little lad Arthur is only 7 months, and yet to prove himself on the shoot, before there will be any puppies here. However I think on the whole it is down to luck as all flatcoats go back to the same lines anyway. Perhaps I just pick them right! :-)

As I said Rosebud makes me tear my hair out... well today while out walking by the river she was digging as usual, and flicked something up into the air. My pup caught it and started to eat it. I raced over in time to see the back legs and tail of a field mouse disappear down the pups throat! So it was off to the vet to see if I should be worried by this. The vet seems to think not as where we were there is very little likely hood of there being poison bait the mouse could have consumed.