Spontaneous squamous cell carcinomas of the oral region in domestic animals: a review and consideration of their relevance to human research.

Spontaneous squamous cell carcinomas of the oral region in domestic animals have the potential of providing additional information about the pathology of oral cancer and may be useful in therapeutic research. Moreover, they exhibit definite advantages over chemically induced tumors in rodents. This article provides background information on spontaneous oral squamous cell carcinomas in dogs, cats, cattle, horses and sheep and then discusses the use in research of such tumors in dogs and cats. These two species are potentially the most useful because they are numerous, suffer quite commonly from squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx, and are usually allowed to live approximately normal life spans. Moreover, they are being treated routinely in veterinary hospitals.