Pet Vet Articles (Published Weekly in the Northern Territory News)

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Sun Protection
Dr Stephen Cutter B.V.Sc(hons)

Slip, slop slapping yourself AND your pet
The UV light from the sun across the Territory is extremely high. We are
all aware of the need to protect ourselves from the sun, but the same need applies to many of our pets. Not surprisingly the Territory has quite high levels of skin cancer amongst pets.

Skin cancer is most common in white or partly white and pale skinnedpets. The pet’s hair does provide a significant amount of protection from the sun’s rays so usually squamous cell carcinomas appear on the areas with less hair to protect them such as the ears, nose, around the eyes or the belly.

They often start off as crusty irritated sores then progress to small bleedingsores or lumps and ultimately end up as large invasive tumours. Be suspicious of any non-healing skin lesions. In both dogs and cats skin cancers rarely spreads to the rest of the body but often reoccurs in the same area and can be difficult to curecompletely. It often develops more than once and so it is not uncommon for skin cancers to reoccur even after complete surgical removal. Early lesions can be removed by freezing or surgery. Larger, more invasive cancers often require very extensive surgery or radiation treatment to control them.

The primary contributors to your pet developing skin cancer are prolonged exposure to the sun’s rays and having pale skin. So the best way to protect your pet from skin
cancer is to limit your pet’s exposure to direct sunlight, especially during the middle of the day. Keep them inside, plant trees or erect shades. There is now a whole range of sun protection available for pets including sunscreens, even sun hats, sunglasses and sun vests. Whilst they may sound silly protecting your pet is worth a
little ridicule.

Copyright © 2005-2008 Dr Stephen M Cutter
May not be reproduced without written permission from the author.