Adenocarcinoma is a cancer that originates from your dog’s glandular tissue and can occur in many areas of your dog’s body. How aggressively malignant the adenocarcinoma behaves depends on the individual tumor impacting your dog.

Adenocarcinoma can develop in many regions of the body including your dog’s mammary glands, mouth, nasal passages, biliary tract, anal sacs, colon, ear, esophagus, pancreas, stomach, rectum, ovaries, skin, thyroid, small intestines, prostate and kidneys. Symptoms depend on the location of the cancer.

It is not known definitively what causes your dog to develop adenocarcinoma. In mammary gland adenocarcinoma, however, there appears to be a link between estrogen from the ovaries and the cancer’s development.

A diagnosis will be made after cells from the tumor have been evaluated, bloodwork has been taken to assess organ function, and, perhaps, diagnostic imaging techniques such as x-rays, ultrasound or MRIs have been taken.

Usually, if possible, your vet will recommend surgical removal of the entire tumor. Chemotherapy and radiation treatment have been used with only a limited amount of success

There are no known prevention methods. However, if your dog is female, spaying her prior to her first heat seems to drastically reduce her chances of developing mammary adenocarcinoma.

No, you cannot get adenocarcinoma from your dog.