Pet Cancer: What Can We Learn From It?

Every year, approximately four million cats and dogs develop cancer in the United States. While no one knows the specific causes of pet cancer, we do know that chemical, hormonal, dietary and lifestyle issues, such as time outdoors and exposure to sunlight, are contributing factors. In addition, certain breeds are predisposed to specific types of cancer.
 
Pets develop many of the same cancers people do because we all share the same environment. At the National Veterinary Cancer Registry we hope to develop a more predictive model for the causes of cancer so we can increase the rate at which we can treat - and one day cure - this terrible disease.

Below are 10 reasons why researching cancer in pets provides a more predictive model:

1. Cancers in pets develop naturally or spontaneously, as opposed to being experimentally induced, as in lab mice.

2.  In many cases, pets develop the same types of cancers as their human caregivers.

3.  Animal tumors are similar to human tumors in terms of size and cell kinetics.  Dogs and cats also possess physiology and metabolism characteristics similar to humans, enabling us to compare treatments such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

4.  Most pets are large enough for high-resolution imaging studies, as well as surgical intervention.

5.  Dogs and cats have intact immune systems, as opposed to many rodent model systems, enabling immunologic treatment approaches to be explored.

6.  Most animal cancers progress more quickly than their human counterparts, permitting more rapid outcome determinations, such as time to metastasis, local recurrence and survival rates.

7.  Animal trials are more economical to perform than human trials.

8.  Because fewer gold-standard treatments exist in veterinary medicine, it is ethically acceptable to attempt new forms of therapy, rather than wait until all known treatments have failed.

9.  Companion animals live long enough to allow us to determine the potential late effects of treatment.

10. The recent elucidation of the cancer genome and its resemblance to the human genome provides unparalleled opportunities to study comparative oncology from a genetic perspective.   
 
The National Veterinary Cancer Registry (NVCR) wants to identify pets with cancer and make them available in large numbers to participate in trials as they are initiated nationwide.  We also need veterinarians and pet owners to register pets that have been diagnosed with cancer.  To register your pet, simply click here.