For years I’ve written about two issues that, on the floor, look fully unrelated.
One is fatty lumps — lipomas — the mushy, seemingly harmless-looking bumps that present up on so many canine as they become old and why I do not rush to surgically take away them.
The opposite is one thing larger and extra severe: the connection I’ve watched for 20 years between collar strain on the neck and most cancers.
I by no means deliberate to place these two matters facet by facet. However the extra I sat with each, the extra I spotted they are not two tales. They’re the identical story, instructed at two completely different volumes.
Each Lump is a Message. Most Folks Simply Hear Noise
When a canine develops a fatty lump, the intuition is to think about it as random. Unhealthy luck. One thing to take away and overlook about.
However after 1000’s of canine and 1000’s of lumps, I ended believing in random.
I observed one thing easy: lipomas do not scatter throughout the physique evenly. They cluster. And most of the time, they cluster close to a vertebra that’s out of alignment and surrounding muscle that is tight, injured, infected.
I consider an injured a part of the backbone like a black gap of the physique. It sucks up the physique’s power and reduces blood circulation. Nerve alerts get congested. Native cells and tissue are weakened.
And over time, that congestion exhibits up as a lump.
When you take away the lump however depart the congestion, you have not solved something. You’ve got simply turned off the warning mild. And in my expertise, that is precisely when canine come again with two lumps the place there was once one as a result of the physique is attempting even more durable to get your consideration.
That is why my strategy has by no means been “reduce first, ask questions later.” It is: discover out what the lump truly is with a easy high quality needle aspirate, after which go on the lookout for why it is there — normally beginning with the backbone.
Why I Saved Taking a look at Collars
Across the similar time I used to be mapping lumps to vertebrae, I observed a second sample that disturbed me much more.
Canine with tumors, not fatty lipomas, however actual aggressive most cancers, saved sharing the story, simply extra extreme.
A neck harm. A pulling drawback. Years on a collar, particularly the robust pullers: Labs, Goldens, Shepherds, Rottweilers, the canine that lean arduous into each stroll.
I began noticing toe tumors that lined up virtually completely with nerve pathways working from the collar space, down the entrance leg, to the foot. Head, neck, and inside cancers that traced again to previous cervical accidents. It wasn’t one or two instances. It was a sample I noticed for twenty years.
I talked about this publicly greater than as soon as however there was no scientific proof of what I witnessed till 2025!
In 2025 and 2026, three separate items of analysis landed that made my twenty years of pattern-watching all of the sudden look lots much less like hypothesis:
- One examine by Giampietri et al., printed within the Worldwide Journal of Molecular Sciences, confirmed that tumors actively recruit nerve fibers, and that probably the most aggressive tumors have the heaviest nerve infiltration.
- One other examine Fu et al., in MedComm, laid out how peripheral nerves actively regulate tumor progress, not simply sit close to it passively.
- Analysis at MD Anderson Most cancers Middle, printed in Nature, confirmed that cancer-induced nerve harm truly helps tumors resist immune remedy.
Put plainly: the nervous system is not a bystander in most cancers. It is an energetic participant!
This is the mechanism I imagine connects a good collar to that terrain.
Repeated pulling compresses the cervical vertebrae. Compressed vertebrae irritate nerve roots. Irritated nerves launch inflammatory alerts creating low-grade systemic irritation. That irritation, mixed with diminished blood move to the encircling tissue, weakens native immune surveillance. Immune cells that must be patrolling and clearing irregular cells merely do not attain the tissue the way in which they need to.
Irritation. Disrupted nerve signalling. Weakened native immunity. That mixture is strictly what trendy most cancers analysis identifies as fertile floor for a tumor to take maintain.
Apparently, this correlates virtually completely to one thing Conventional Chinese language Drugs described 1000’s of years in the past: Qi and Blood stagnation within the physique.
Totally different language, similar remark.
Connecting the Two Rigorously
I wish to be exact right here, as a result of this issues: a fatty lipoma is just not most cancers, and I’m not telling you that one turns into the opposite. That’s uncommon.
What I’m telling you is that each circumstances can develop out of the identical soil. A lipoma is usually the physique’s early, benign method of signalling {that a} part of the backbone and its nerve provide are beneath continual stress.
A tumor, in a small variety of instances with a for much longer runway of nerve compression and irritation, could also be what occurs when that very same terrain is left undisturbed for years.
One is a whisper. The opposite is a shout. However they’ll begin in the identical place – low-grade continual irritation, undetected accidents.
That is why I not have a look at a brand new lump on a canine and assume solely, “what’s it?” I additionally assume, “what’s it close to, and what spinal section wants consideration?”
What I might Truly do About it
In case your canine has a lump, or pulls arduous on leash, or has a historical past of neck and again ache and irritation, this is the order I might work by means of it in:
1. Get any new lump correctly assessed. A high quality needle aspirate is fast, low-stress, and tells you whether or not you are coping with a benign fatty lipoma or one thing that wants nearer consideration — with out the chance of surgically disturbing one thing that should not be disturbed.
2. Change to a well-fitted front-clip harness. That is the one most actionable change on this entire story. A very good harness removes compressive strain from the neck completely. I like to recommend the Perfect Fit Harness particularly due to the way it distributes strain throughout the chest as a substitute of the throat. Based mostly on the brand new analysis, a superb harness is really a cancer-prevention gadget.
Consequently, I at all times use a harness for Pax, and by no means connect the leash to the collar.
3. Get your canine’s backbone correctly assessed. A veterinary chiropractor, bodily therapist, or osteopath can discover cervical misalignment that will not appropriate itself. In my expertise, combining chiropractic care or IMS with physiotherapy will get higher and longer-lasting outcomes than anybody strategy alone. For canine vulnerable to lumps, month-to-month upkeep classes matter greater than individuals count on.
4. Help the nervous system and immune system nutritionally. A recent, species-appropriate weight loss plan is the inspiration.
I lean on GreenMin for whole-food mineral assist of immune perform, FeelGood Omega for its anti-inflammatory impact on nervous tissue, and MitoBoost to assist mobile power in tissue that is been beneath continual stress. JointPowder and a superb probiotic spherical out the image for canine already carrying lumps or spinal tightness.
5. Reduce the toxic load around your dog. Pesticide-treated lawns, chemical flea and tick products, and heavily processed food all add to the inflammatory burden your dog’s nervous system is already managing. Cleaning that up isn’t dramatic, but it adds up.
The Part I Keep Coming Back to
The body rarely does anything without a reason. A lump isn’t bad luck. A pattern of tumors along the same nerve pathways isn’t coincidence.
I myself experienced an example of what I am writing about today. After three severe neck injuries, a lump showed up on my salivary gland – adjacent to the cervical spine. I was lucky, it was benign but who knows what it would be if I didn’t pay attention to eating healthy, nourishing and detoxing my body… I was lucky.
It took the scientific world a long time to catch up to what dogs were showing me in the exam room but in 2025, it finally did.
Now you have the info, now you can act. Don’t ignore the pain and inflammation, get your dog treated, get a harness and FAB4.
Your canine will thanks for it with what I hope can be many comfortable moments collectively.
Take care, and provides your canine a hug for me.
PS: As you could have already figured, the identical rules apply to individuals too.
References:
Giampietri, C. et al. “Roles of Peripheral Nerves in Tumor Initiation and Development.” Worldwide Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2025.
Fu, X. et al. “Peripheral Nerves in Most cancers: Regulatory Roles and Therapeutic Methods.” MedComm, 2026.
MD Anderson Most cancers Middle. “Most cancers-Induced Nerve Damage Promotes Resistance to Anti-PD-1 Remedy.” Nature, 2025.
