Many pup parents don’t give much thought to dog skin cancer. Look for unusual lumps or bumps on your pup’s skin, and call a vet if you find anything unusual. Limit sunlight exposure to short-haired or light-colored breeds to help prevent dog skin cancer. Malignant melanomas, mast cell tumors, and fibrosarcoma are three common types. Genetic history and excessive sun exposure are the most common causes of dog skin cancer. Here’s what you need to know about important warning signs, symptoms, and treatments. Meet his team here.Dog skin cancer is more common than people realize, and skin tumors are the most common tumor. Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.īy Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Related: Common Pet Emergencies Of The Summer Holidays The main message is (of course) to get those small lesions checked before they become large ones. This is a reminder to be especially careful if you’ve shaved your dog for summer. If you can fit one that covers the groin but still allows for urination and doesn’t just ride up each time they lie down, then go for it.Ī normal hair coat protects the skin almost as well as a shirt. Personally, I think these are very hard to do well, as the highest risk area is the hardest to cover. However, if you’re prepared to bath your dog each time, it’s fine there too. He also has a lot of pink skin underneath, but it’s not very practical to put creams there due to the way it picks up dirt. What ends up causing the death of many dogs is the unsustainable financial burden of repeated operations. It’s not only smart, it’s cost-effective to build a shady fenced area if your dog is a sunbather. You can’t trust dogs to do the right thing, especially on those cool, sunny days in late spring and early summer. This is when susceptible dogs should be kept in the shade or inside. Whenever the UV index is at 3 or greater, skin damage is likely. Much more important is preventing skin cancer. Once skin cancer appears, there is no good alternative to speedy removal, so I won’t discuss this further. Other skin lump pictures can be found here. You can read here about melanomas in the mouth of dogs, which have very different behaviour. Most should still be removed, especially on sensitive places like the head or legs. They are also far less likely to spread or metastasise. Unlike in people, a melanoma on a dog’s skin is rarely caused by sun exposure. They mainly occur in areas with little or no hair coverage, mostly on the belly and inner thighs. There are only two common types of skin cancer caused by the sun. If the pink skin is thicker, it’s telling you your dog’s skin is being damaged. Lightly pinch an area of pink skin, and compare the width of the fold to an area of black skin. The picture above shows a simple guide to see if your dog is at high risk. That means skin cancer is rare in dogs in the UK and northern Europe, and common in dogs allowed to sunbathe throughout the Americas, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The second crucial factor is the amount of ultraviolet exposure. Dogs Breeds Prone To Skin CancerĪny dog with areas of pink skin lacking pigment is at risk. Visit this page if you want to see a larger list of lumps on dogs’ skin. Here I will help you decide three things:īy ‘skin cancer’ I mean only those tumours caused by sun exposure. In places like Australia, we all know how dangerous the sun can be.
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