Unusual tumor is contagious in dogs
A type of cancer in dogs is transferred from animal to animal by the exchange of cancer cells, a new study suggests. The results add credence to unusual reports that certain cancers can pass between animals within a species, most notably in Tasmanian devils (SN: 2/4/06, p. 67: Poor Devils: Critters’ fights transmit cancer).
Canine transmissible venereal tumor (CTVT) appears most often in stray dogs. As the name implies, it’s considered contagious. However, because cancer generally isn’t transmissible, scientists puzzled over the identity of the infectious agent. Some researchers have suspected that a cancer-causing virus plays a role.