Animal News: Contagious Dog Cancer

Yesterday I was up in the loft writing when out of no where Bebe comes up and says, "I don't want you letting Casper sniff other dogs butts anymore. Actually, I don't want you letting Casper sniffing any dogs at all anymore." For future reference, Casper, is her dog and, since we live together and will be married soon, my dog too.

Now, I had a few issues with her statement. For one, it implies that only I let Casper sniff other dogs butts. This couldn't be further from the truth. When I am taking Casper out on walks I rarely stop to let him even aknowledge other dogs, let alone the dogs in out neighborhood. In reality, its rare that I'm even the one taking him out on a walk. Second, this implies that she never lets him sniff dogs butts, which is also a fabrication of lies. She stops quite often to chat with other dog owners. Naturally, this incolves butt sniffing between the dogs and perhaps light rough housing. Finally, I couldn't for the life of me, figure out why on Earth this long held practice of dogs was now outlawed in our pets life.

Bebe has a habit of only needing to hear a perfect stranger (either in print, on television, or in real life) mention something once and she takes it as the unwavering truth. However, if I tell her something I need to back up my statement with charts, facts, figures, various scientific studies, and the like before she asks someone else the same thing, they give the same answer I did, and she takes their word for it without even asking. I had my ideas as to where she got this littel tidbit of info from. So I gingerly asked, "Babe, why would you all of the sudden not allow Casper to sniff another dogs butt?"

"I just read that dogs can contract cancer by sniffing other dogs," she said. Bingo.

"Where the hell did you read that?" I asked.

"It's on MSNBC. Vets are really worried about it. It's quite a big deal."

Naturally, I didn't believe her. Not so much because she said it, but because it sounded so asinine that it couldn't possibly be true. You don't just catch cancer, it's not contagious. Something causes cancer. Maybe she left something out, maybe there is a virus dogs can catch that can possibly cause cancer, and it's caught from sniffing butts. That had to be it.

"Are you sure they just catch cancer? It's not a virus they catch that can cause cancer?" I ask.

"No," she said adamantly. "They just catch it from sniffing each other. So, no more sniffing butts for Casper."

I should have dropped everything and immediatly asked to see the article online but I was busy, and I had other things to get done before bed. I left the conversation where it stood and decided to follow up on the next morning.

Well, here I am the next morning, and so far I haven't found anything on MSNBC. Sure, there are articles on MSNBC.COM that have to do with dogs, cats, and other animals and cancer, but nothing that can be transmitted from dog to dog by sniffing each other. I turned to Google. Not much their either. I did find something that was sort of close to what she said. The Texas A & M College of Veterinary Medicine has an "article" on this website that describes somethign similar.

It says, "In cats and dogs, the most common "contagious" cancer we know of that can be spread from animal to animal is caused by the feline leukemia virus (FeLV). FeLV can cause lymphoma and several kinds of leukemia in affected animals and is transmitted between cats in saliva.
The only known contagious, virally-induced neoplasm in dogs is the papilloma (wart) commonly seen in young dogs and caused by the canine papillomavirus. Multiple, small, cauliflower-like growths may occur in the mouth or on the skin after infection with this virus, usually 4-8 months after exposure. As many as 50-100 tumors may be present at one time. The dog's body mounts an antibody response to this virus, however, and the tumors usually regress spontaneously in a few months. Transmissible venereal tumor is a tumor that can be spread from dog to dog by implantation of tumor cells onto a mucous membrane (vaginal lining, penile surface, oral cavity, rectal lining, etc.), but actual tumor cells are required---no virus has been implicated in this tumor's spread, and the tumor cannot be transmitted to any other species."

Okay, the first paragraph mentions cats. I already knew about feline lukemia, but that wasn't the topic of discussion, so that couldn't have been what she "read." Nothing there.

The second paragraph mentions dogs. Although virally-induced neoplasm sounded bad, I realized it was just a form of herpes that can cause tumors on a dogs mouth. Wow, she was right...or was she. The paragraph states, "The dog's body mounts an antibody response to this virus, however, and the tumors usually regress spontaneously in a few months." So this doens't appear to big a very big deal. The dogs get rid of the tumors themselves.

Then I got to this sentence, "Transmissible venereal tumor is a tumor that can be spread from dog to dog by implantation of tumor cells onto a mucous membrane (vaginal lining, penile surface, oral cavity, rectal lining, etc.), but actual tumor cells are required---no virus has been implicated in this tumor's spread." So it IS true. Your dog can technically get caner by sniffing another dogs butt that has cancer on it, only if some of the cancer cells flake off, get into their throat, implant, and then cause their own cancer. I would be concerned about this but I think I'd notice if a dogs ass has tumors falling off it.

I'll have to ask Bebe if she can find this article on MSBNC again. The Texas A&M piece didn't make it sound like this was a big deal. Hell, the dogs get rid of some of the cancer themselves. If I can find anything else out I'll keep you posted.

-Steve