Skin Cancer in Dogs

Skin cancer in dogs is the most common cause of cancer in your pet. In most cases there is no known actual cause, although long periods of sun exposure is thought to be the cause of one of the types of these cancers.

All dog breeds and ages are at risk of developing skin cancer. However, it is most prevalent in middle aged to older dogs. Light colored or white dogs also seem to be at a greater risk, and some breeds also seem more prone.

Examining your dog:

Examine your dog at least once every couple of weeks.

Carefully separate their hair with your hands and look closely over their entire body including their tail. Look for any type of growth, scaling or crusty lesions, or any areas of colour or size change. Also look for any tumor that bleeds easily or does not seem to be healing. If your dog has an area of their skin that they are continually licking or scratching, check that area more frequently.

Types of Skin Cancer:

Skin cancer in dogs primarily includes any type of uncontrolled growth of cells in the skin or associated structures. These structures include glands, hair follicles, fat, and connective tissues. There are four major categories:

Epithelial tumors:

This form of skin cancer in your dog involves the skin, the glands in their skin or hair follicles. This group includes papillomas, squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell tumors, sebaceous gland, sweat gland, and perianal tumors. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common, almost always developing in non-pigmented or hairless sections of the skin simply because it has less protection.

Mesenchymal tumors:

This form of skin cancer derives from the cells in your dog that surrounds and supports their skin. This includes their fatty tissues, connective tissue, and blood vessels and nerves. The most common form of this tumor are Lipomas (benign fatty tumors).

Round Cell tumors:

This includes a wide range of tumors-, the most common is the mast cell tumor. Mast cells in your dog are highly specialized cells, found throughout their body that help your dog respond to inflammation and allergies.

These cells release chemicals when stimulated such as antihistamine. They are critical to your dogs immune system; however, they can also be extremely damaging to their body if the release becomes chronic.

Melanomas:

Perhaps the best known of all the skin cancers, this form of cancer is derived from melanocytes (cells that provide the pigmentation in their skin). These cells can very easily metastasize to any part of your dogs body.

Hope you found this as interesting as I did.

Please email me at ian.katz@southernsun.com.au with any suggestions about how I can improve this communication.

Regards

Dr Ian Katz, Director.