Cats are very important subjects in cancer
research. Leukemia is perhaps the most infamous of the diseases shared by cats
and people. In cats, it is caused by an AIDS-like retrovirus. A recently
discovered vaccine against feline leukemia may act as a model for an AIDS
vaccine. Mammary cancer is also common in the cat, and many features of feline
mammary cancer resemble the human breast cancer which, among the human cancers,
is the greatest killer of women.