The Members of the Kennel Club have agreed to give the AHT an interest-free loan of £1.5 million to help fight cancer in animals. The loan will significantly speed up the building and development of our new cancer centre, which will be known as the Kennel Club Cancer Centre.

Sadly, as is the case in humans, cancer is a prevalent disease in dogs and cats and also effects many horses. Currently, cancer is the most common cause of death in dogs and the second most common cause in cats.

The Kennel Club Cancer Centre at the AHT will bring together the study of cancers, their causes, and hopefully aid earlier diagnosis, treatment, and the prevention of some forms of the disease.

The loan is the latest in a series of link-ups between the Kennel Club and the Animal Health Trust. The Kennel Club Charitable Trust is currently in the third year of a five year £1.2 million grant to the AHT to fund the Kennel Club Genetics Centre at the AHT, which is investigating the genetic cause of several other inherited diseases in dogs and developing DNA tests to check for these. There will be considerable synergy with this work and research into cancer.

Steve Dean, Kennel Club Chairman, said: “We are obviously delighted that our Members have agreed to this loan, which should prove invaluable in the fight against canine cancer. We have an excellent relationship with the Animal Health Trust and look forward to continuing this over the coming years.”

Dr Peter Webbon, Chief Executive of the Animal Health Trust said: “We are extremely grateful to the Kennel Club for this very generous loan, which will allow us to accelerate our investigations into the causes, diagnosis and treatment of cancer in dogs significantly.

“Cancer remains one of the biggest threats to the wellbeing of dogs, but we hope that through the new Kennel Club Cancer Centre at the AHT, we will be able to take major strides towards improving the health and welfare of not just dogs but other animals too.”

We hope the Kennel Club Cancer Centre will open in summer 2012.

The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is to award a £15,000 bursary to the Animal Health Trust (AHT). The bursary to the Newmarket based veterinary charity will be used to help fund the development of a rapid result blood test to identify horses infected with Strangles.

The AHT has already developed a test that can detect the disease, however the result is not known for 48 hours. The aim of the new research is to develop the test to produce a result within 10 minutes. The test, which is being developed in conjunction with Forsite Diagnostics Ltd, will be a useful tool for disease screening at sales and competitions.

“As an independent charity we receive no government funding and this bursary is extremely important to us and we are delighted to be working in partnership with The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials on this specific project,” said Dr Richard Newton of the AHT who is carrying out the research in partnership with Professor Andrew Waller. “Without this vital funding to carry out the painstaking work that will give us the confidence to launch the test, it will remain no more than a theoretical possibility.”

The Bursary will be presented at this year’s Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (1- 4 September 2011) – in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the event.

“With increasing horse movement, not only world-wide but closer to home between competitions and livery yards, preventing the spread of disease is an increasingly important challenge facing the horse world,” said Elizabeth Inman Director of the Trials. “We are delighted to be able to play a part in this challenge and hope that this anniversary bursary will help to fast-track this new test out of the laboratory and into the field and thereby help reduce the spread of what is a horrible disease for horses and owners