Cat Mouth Cancer

Oral cancers in cats are a type of cancer that is called a squamous cell carcinoma.



A squamous cell is a type of cell that is usually found on the skin and in the areas of the mouth. They are flattened cells that form the epithelium. When these cells start to grow aberrantly, cancers are the eventuality.



Cat oral cancer is fortunately something that can be detected quickly because the cancer affects the epithelial or top most layers of the oral tissues. Cat mouth cancer is something that also has a curious trigger. A cancer is a bunch of aberrantly behaving or reproducing cells in the body.



The instructions for how any cell should function in the world are dictated by its DNA; therefore, when there is a cancer that means that there is an error in the genetic coding. Something has to trigger this error in DNA. Most of the reasons for the erroneous DNA creation lie in a mistake during cell replication or the introduction of a carcinogen.

Cat Oral Cancer Causes

In squamous cell carcinomas, the carcinogens are nearly always externally induced. This finds a mirror in the human occurrence of the condition as well. Humans experience squamous cells carcinomas on their skin due to excessive exposure to carcinogenic material and even excessive sunlight. In the mouth, they are usually caused by carcinogens released from substances like tobacco – one of the leading causes of cat oral cancer. Though cats don’t smoke or chew tobacco, having an owner that does smoke or that introduces carcinogenic materials in the environment is a major health risk for a cat. There is also evidence that was gathered in the previous century that fluorides are a major health risk for mammals to develop squamous cells carcinomas. Fluorides are a regularly added substance in drinking water but there have been no direct implications of this being a health hazard for humans – animals, however, are a different story.

Curing oral cancer in cats is something that is best done with surgery or with radiation therapy. Radiation therapy uses the principles of ionizing the water surrounding cancerous tissue, making the water react with DNA and cellular tissues destroying them. It is important to prevent this type of cancer by taking your pet for regular checkups and insisting on a blood test for tumor markers every six months to ensure that there are no cancers that are budding in the body of the cat.