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.