Pet Health And Care >> Dog Health >> Warts in dogs

Warts in Canine:

While the presence of warts in humans is rarely contagious, the presence of the same kind of viral warts in dog’s can be highly contagious and can spread from one canine to another through the simplest of physical contact.

The occurrence is mainly a tumor on the epidermis that can be caused by a number of different viral infections. The medical term for the condition is canine viral papilloma and is characterized by the warts appearing to be shaped like small cauliflowers that are present most commonly on the tongue, eyelids, muzzle and lips of the animal.

However, the condition may also appear to be quite prominent on the skin that surrounds the vulva, rectum or some other areas. The warts will usually take a period of about 1 to 2 months to grow to their full size from the initial date of infection.

While the development of a few warts all over the skin can be quite harmless, they tend to have a long shelf life and remain quite prominent on the skin of older dogs while the better immune system of a younger dog can fight the virus properly.

Causes, Symptoms of Canine Warts:

The occurrence of viral warts in dogs is mainly transmitted purely by physical contact with another infected canine and the condition is not generally contagious to other pets and humans. The condition will only have an effect if the immune system of the affected dog is immature or dilapidated. Some of the more common symptoms that you will notice on a dog affected by the condition include oral bleeding, an excessive amount of drool or saliva being emitted from the mouth as well as a severe case of halitosis or bad breath being emitted from the mouth. Some of the inflammations or papillomas may tend to be a little tender and painful as well.

Treatments of Canine Warts:

To get rid of warts in dogs, you rarely require any special medical attention and very few cases have seen the papillomas progress to a state of malignancy. However, this is by no means the natural order of things. In most cases, the wart removal in dogs will take place by itself with the help of an improved or better matured immune system. Under normal circumstances, it may take up to a period of 1 to 5 months for oral growths to regress with a minimally shorter time frame for ocular growths to subside. If the dog suffers from an unusually high amount of tumors, you may need to check the kind of food that it is being fed.

Submitted on January 22, 2010