EXPRESS: The distribution of neoplasia in Danish cats - data from the Danish Veterinary Cancer Registry. 2025

Betina Børresen, and Martin Anker Heden, and Annemarie T Kristensen
Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark.

OBJECTIVE The Danish Veterinary Cancer Registry (DVCR) was founded at the University of Copenhagen in 2005 (then the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University) and has collected data from feline neoplastic cases since. So far only canine data has been published. The objective of the current publication was to describe the distribution of neoplasms in Danish cats based on data from the DVCR. METHODS Feline DVCR data (2005-2023) was extracted in December 2023. Study parameters were age, gender, breed, tumor type, tumor biological behavior, anatomical location and method for obtaining the diagnosis. Standard morbidity ratios (SMRs) were calculated using breed data from the Danish Cat Registry (DCR) as the denominator. RESULTS A total of 767 neoplasms were registered. More neoplasms were malignant (561, 73.1%) compared to benign (175, 22.8%). More neoplasms were registered in females (423, 55.8%) than in males (335, 44.2%). The mean cat age was 10.4 years (SD 3.8). Malignant epithelial tumors were the most common type (259, 33.8%), followed by malignant lymphoma (141, 18.4%), benign epithelial (120, 15.6%) and soft tissue sarcomas (79, 10.3%). The most common anatomical location was skin incl. adnexal tissue (213, 27.8%), followed by hemolymphatic tissue (152, 19.48%) and mammary tissue (151, 19.7%). Domestic/European shorthaired cats had a SMR < 1.0, while all purebred cats with more than 15 registrations had SMR > 2.0. The relative risk (RR) for having a mammary tumor was 2.08 for intact vs. neutered females. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, it was shown that Danish cats mainly get malignant tumors, and that skin- and epithelial tumors were most commonly occurring. Overall, the results from the DVCR fits well with data from other recent European publications and will be helpful for informing owners and veterinarians about the occurrence of feline cancer in Denmark and comparable countries.

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