If you don’t love dogs, its because you’ve never had one. I believe that everyone that has had a dog can’t help but fall in love with them. They are called man’s best friend for a reason, and the title does indeed fit well. People treat their dogs just like another member of the family, and that means that you have to think about protecting them. Remember, a dog is just like a small child in that sense. They can’t make the decisions to protect and care for themselves, so the responsibility falls on their owners.
It might not be the first thing that you think about, but dogs do indeed get skin cancer as well. You might think that they have plenty of protection from the sun due to all that hair they have, but that is not necessarily the case. Skin tumors do occur in dogs, and these may become cancerous. Skin cancer is the most common cancer among dogs.
Just like with humans, light colored dogs are most susceptible to damage from the sun’s rays. Dogs also have areas that you don’t think about such as their noses and pads of their feet that are not protected by hair.
There are three types of skin cancer that can affect dogs; malignant melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and mast cell tumors. For dogs the most common form is the mast cell tumors. These occur in the mast cells of the immune system.
The good news is that when caught early, skin cancer in dogs is very treatable. With dogs its more about what to do after the fact than all the preventive measures that we take as humans. Yes, they do have sunscreens for dogs and I guess you could get a dog to wear some sort of hat to protect itself from the sun. However, the more practical approach is to just check out your dog to make sure you can catch the skin cancer early if it does develop.
You can check out your dog the same as you would your child. Just take a close look all over their body every once in awhile and see if you notice anything that is different than last time. Much like with children, you can make a game out of it to try and keep your pooch entertained as you do the examine. If you do notice anything new, or something that’s changed since the last time you checked, then I would consult your veterinarian about it.
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