Oscar the schnauzer sniffs out cancer

Fran Mills of Bendigo said she went for a mammogram X-ray after Oscar continually pawed at the right side of her chest. 

“I thought he was trying to tell me something,” she said.

“So before I started my new job, I checked in to have a mammogram.”

Mrs Mills received a call to return for more scans on her first day at Golden Square Healthworks medical clinic last year.

A biopsy revealed she was at risk of cancer cells developing in her right breast.

“I was pretty devastated. I felt like my whole world was crashing down,” she said.

“They weren’t quite sure what to do with me because everything appeared to be OK, but it was showing some abnormal cell activity.

“They decided to remove the area to get rid of the risk of the cells.”

The results of the tissue removed revealed two cancers.

Mrs Mills said she was left with nothing more than a three-centimetre scar.

“I was extremely lucky,” she said. “I walked away without any treatment.” 

Mrs Mills said Oscar’s intervention had changed her life.

She said she believed Oscar was sensitive to the fact that she was developing cancer at its early stages.

“I’ve got a very close bond with him. I think there’s no doubt he was trying to alert me and warn me,” she said. 

Fran’s husband Rob said Oscar was always by his wife’s side.

“He’s a pretty special dog,” he said. 

“They’ve got that inner smell and that sense for picking up smells on the body, and he’s really in tune to Fran. People are amazed at what this dog has done and he loves the attention.”

Mrs Mills said she couldn’t imagine life without Oscar.

She said her pet’s sixth birthday was coming up next month and that she would be spoiling him.

“We usually get a little cupcake with a candle for the dogs. He’ll probably get an extra cupcake.”