Few animal owners realise it but, like humans, pets get cancer too – even breast cancer! Cancer is a word most of us dread. We immediately think of pain and suffering and a poor prognosis but, as with all diseases, the sooner cancer is detected, the easier and more successful the treatment.
Here’s what you need to know:
Warning signs
- Lumps or bumps on or under the skin
- Sores that fail to heal
- An unusually strong odour
- Discharge
- Difficulty swallowing
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Bloody urine
- Limping
- Coughing
- Difficulty breathing
- Lethargy
We generally recommend removing all growths. There are many reasons for this:
- It is easier and cheaper to remove a growth when it is small. If you leave it too long it can get very large and invade surrounding tissues or even spread to other areas of the body.
- We can submit the growth to the lab to find out exactly what it is and what the prognosis is. Once we know what the growth is we know if we must look for other growths in the body, if the patient needs chemotherapy or if it is benign.
- Removing the growth early prevents discomfort later on and may mean the difference between life and death if your pet has cancer.
Sometimes small skin growths are an indication of other larger internal growths in the abdomen or chest. Removing the skin growth and finding out what it is often leads us to another growth inside the body. The earlier we know about those growths, the better the chance we can do something about it.
What kinds of cancer are there?
At our practice we see a large number of growths ranging from highly malignant Mast Cell Tumours and Squamous Cell Carcinomas (types of skin cancer) to benign lipomas or fatty growths. We also seem many dogs with mammary cancer (or breast cancer). Unfortunately growths are great mimics and you can’t tell what by just looking at it. You need to do further testing.
What can I do for my pet?
Bring your pet in for a consultation and we will do a general medical check up to determine their state of health and examine the growth in detail. This may include a fine needle aspirate – where some cells are extracted from the growth and evaluated under the microscope to help determine what type of growth it is.
