Vets Somerset - One Serious Illness of your Pet Dog - Cancer

Cancer is such a scary illness that when we hear it we think that only people suffer from this. And just as with humans canine cancer comes in all manner of forms, due to all manner of causes, and with all manner of prognoses. Using simple words cancer is when the process of the original cell division goes astray. There is a damaged cell or atypical DNA that splits up and continues to do so, thereby making an unconstrained and growing occurrence outside the usual needs of the natural cell substitution that holds the body together. The purposeless lump that results is a tumor. The useless lump that is produced is called a tumor.

Similar to human beings there are innumerable sources for the splitting of this atypical cell. Chemical or environmental reasons may be the cause. Dogs, fortunately, don’t tend to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol, but they are exposed to sunlight, and may well come in contact with carcinogenic chemicals in the course of their life. Canine cancer may also be down to an inherited genetic tendency. However the abrasion of the DNA through the years may also be the reason. Older people and older dogs usually suffer from cancers.

Vets Somerset Explains - What are the symptoms?

The most obvious symptom of cancer in a dog is some sort of lump. But then you may observe other signs like decrease in weight and less appetite, fatigue and listlessness. At this point it’s time for the veterinary professionals to step in and make a diagnosis. In case a lump is not seen by the naked eye an x-ray or scan may be required and when a lump is found a biopsy will be needed. Depending on the size and location of the tumor this might be done with a needle, or the whole thing might be removed in a simple operation. Oftentimes the tumor is not malignant. This means that although it will continue growing where it is, it has no tendency to spread elsewhere in the body. A dog will completely recover on the condition that no lasting impairment is done on the surrounding organs.

At times the tumor may be harmful with the possibility of its unusual cell to proliferate or increase in number in other parts of the body. Just as with humans these are the cases that can sadly prove fatal. The treatment for canine cancer has progressed and improved a lot for the past decades and most of what the doctors have acquired and learn have been pass on to the veterinary professionals. Sometimes therapies and other medications may be used on dogs to cure them although these can have unfavorable effects on them.

 

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