Signs of Cancer in Dogs
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
Updated: June 30th, 2021
Summary
Many people ask me what to look for to tell if their dogs have cancer. I thought I should give you a little summary of some of the biggies.
Many people ask me what to look for to tell if their dogs have cancer. Well, I must confess it is a tough question since there are so many cancers, and they all can present a little differently. I thought I should give you a little summary of some of the biggies.
First, statistically, cancer TENDS to affect older dogs. So, more lumps and bumps on a young dog are benign than cancerous. One hallmark of a cancer is it worsens over time. Cancers you can see usually get bigger. A growth that stays very small for years is not likely to be a true cancer. Again, this is on average and is not a guarantee.
Some cancers are visible, while others are internal. The visible ones can be blackish (melanomas), purplish (hemangiosarcomas), fleshy, inflamed and red (histiocytomas), look like a non-healing open sore (squamous cell carcinomas), be firm, hard and deeply attached (fibrosarcomas), or have any appearance (mast cell tumor, the great imitator).
The internal ones are invisible, so we have to look for overall signs in the dog. When they are far along, cancers usually cause weight loss (cancer cachexia) without an obvious external reason. They often will cause less appetite. Many times dog owners will tell me they think their dog got tired of his or her food. They can cause low energy, where the dog will just lay around a lot.
NOTE: If you are reading this article and worried about your dog, do yourself and your dog a favor and get Dr. Dressler’s The Dog Cancer Survival Guide. It’s the best-selling animal health book for a good reason: it’s helped thousands and thousands of dogs just like yours face and cope — and even beat — cancer. And if you really want to help your dog, get the Dog Cancer Kit we put together for you, based on what’s been most helpful for other people who have faced this terrible illness.
-The Dog Cancer Vet Support Team
(The Team of Dog Lovers Behind This Site Who Understand What It Means to Have a Dog with Cancer)
Internal cancer signs also depend on where the cancer is happening. For example, a bone tumor (osteosarcoma) might cause a limp, or a bladder tumor (transitional cell carcinoma) might cause straining to urinate, blood in urine, or urinating small amounts frequently. A tumor found in the wall of the stomach might cause vomiting, and in the intestine, diarrhea.
Some cancers cause internal bleeding, like hemangiosarcoma of the spleen. This bleeding causes sudden weakness and wobbly legs. A nasal tumor like a squamous cell carcinoma might cause discharge or bleeding from a nostril, or sneezing that won’t go away. Lung cancers (bronchial adenocarcima) or tumors of the heart can cause coughing. Lumps in the breast with discharge from teats could be mammary carcinomas.
The good news is, not all of these signs point to cancer. Lots of other things can cause each and every one of these signs. The important thing to remember is to get it checked out by someone who knows what they are doing. If we are dealing with cancer, moving early is the way to go.
For more information on all the ways cancer can come about and what you can do, you will definitely want to read the Dog Cancer Suvival Guide.
Best to all,
Dr Dressler
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
If you find a lump on your dog (and you should be checking) make sure your vet aspirates it and looks at the cells. That is the ONLY way they can tell if it is benign, or a mast cell tumor. My beloved beagle had a lump and the vet did not aspirate. Three months later, a different vet checked it and it was stage 2 mast cell tumor (cancer). I was dumbfounded. Once this is diagnosed, see a specialist if you can. I was lucky to have an oncologist available in the Houston, TX area. The prognosis can be good, if it is found and fully removed (with large margins) as early as possible. I stress: No vet can look at a lump and tell if it is benign or malignant. Be the best pet parent you can and follow through with a diagnosis after an aspiration of the cells. I do not normally write on blogs, but if this helps just one person save their beloved cat or dog, it will have been worth it.
I have a 10 year old Chihuahua she’s coughing and can’t breath well my husband smoking. Worries me.He now has copd and his dad does to from second hand smoke do ya think dogs can get cancer from second hand smoke
.I’m so worried about her she’s always with me when my husband smoke’s around her she gets under the cover. He’s going out side instead of the Dog. Please tell me what I can do to help her besides him going out side to smoke. She coughing and can’t breath good now she’s snessing a. A lot like 5 times in a row and her eye has some junk in it. What do yall think?
Hello Angie, Yes, dogs can get health problems, including cancer from being around smoke. Second hand smoke, and even third-hand smoke, which is something scientists are only recently talking about. We posted a blog about this subject a few months ago, and you can find it here: https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/smoking-second-hand-smoke-third-hand-smoke-and-dog-cancer/#.U0Lnca1dUnI Of course your little one may not have cancer, but it’s really worth getting her checked at the vets. She’s bound to have some reaction to being around the smokey environment, and your vet can run the tests and give her some help for her symptoms. It’s better to know for sure than to worry away, so before you get upset with your husband, please make an appt with your vet. Read the blog to get some more information first, that you can take to your vet so you’ll be ready with questions. Good luck, and to your lovely little Chihiahia, and your husband too.
check out http://bassethoundcancer.wordpress.com and do you think this is legit?
Hi James, We really couldn’t comment on a product or treatment plan that someone else is using. We are always happy to hear that dogs are feeling better though. With all the information available on the internet, it’s important to look for the source of the ingredients (the more natural and organic, the better) the research proving that the ingredients are effective inside a living body, not just in the laboratory, and that there is some method of getting those ingredients inside a dog so they are ‘bioavailable’… i.e. that the goodness can get to the parts of the body where needed.
I did
I need some advise I notice my dog has been losing weight and so I started feed her with dog food mix. Now she eats just fine. Last nite I found where she had went pee and there was blood in it. Then today they something when she went pee. I called the vet. The blood is just in spots not all of her pee. Then I found to large lumps in her thout. I need to no what it could be ? She is still eating fine. She sleeps a lot tho. Please help me.
i got this dog she lost all her hair and is starting to get black specks all over also she has this realy terrible odor like a rotting smell shes also having problems peeing and yelps and cries for no reason and gets a tooth infection every so manny months wat dose this sound ike
Yolanda, I don’t like how this sounds.
To be perfectly honest with you, this sounds like the dog is victim of neglect. This dog MUST get medical care by a licensed vet.
Please, please take your dog in for proper, humane treatment at the vet.
Dr D
Hello,
My dog Twilight is a 2 3/4 old black Labrador bitch (working stock), who’s puppies have recently left home. She very successfully gave birth to 7 pups – 1 girl 6 boys – on the 11th of October with out any help from us (though were were there of course to help, watch & reassure her). After they were weaned they still always wanted milk but as they were developing teeth they were damaging Twilight’s nipples & surrounding area, because of this we had to keep the her & the puppies apart. All the pups were healthy & ideal weight & they sometimes met their mother through the bars of their crate.
When the first pups left she was very shocked as to why the people were taking him out the door with him but after he left she didn’t even get up when the others left.
Ever since her late pregnancy one of her back nipples was 1/2 black & slightly hard, I noticed that later when the last pup was staying with us & they were both together all the time as he finally stopped suckling on her that the nipple had gone completely black, dry & hard. Also i know that all dogs looze there fur but she has lost an HUGE amount a fur after the pups had left which i think is to stress & has not grown ANY of it back especially round her stomach, chest & oddly round her back legs/bottom & a little on her legs & paws.
We are going to get an appointment at our vets I am not sure what the cause is but I was told by the vet to keep an eye on her nipples when she was pregnant as a procautonal thing to all pregnant dogs.
Sorry about all the information if there was too much you didn’t need to know, she is my first dog we got her when i was 10 & we have been on the BBC and she means the world to me & I don’t want her to be in any unnessersery pain or any danger.
Thank you so much for reading to this point!
Best wishes
Kate & Twilight
Dear Kate,
my guess is that the odds of this being a cancer are not that high. But get it checked out to be safe!
Dr D
Also he looses alot of hair which probably is normal but I never seen this on him before or just never noticed. Again don’t have the money to get him examined by a vet and I am very scared.
I have a dog that is about 8 years old maybe 9, he is a tan chuihana(sp). I was just normally petting him when I went over a lump like a golf ball. My dog just got attacked by another dog and I thought was the problem then I read this and got curious my question is how can I tell if it is a mass or just from the attack. My dog does not eat alot and is very lazy, but likes to go on walks and car rides but tires out easily. I don’t know what to do because my family and I don’t have the money to get him to a vet to check it out. The lump is on his right side near his leg. Please if anyone can tell me what I can do it will help me. My dog is my best friend and I can’t loose him yet.
Erica,
perhaps this post will help you get proper care for your dog:
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/the-cost-of-my-dogs-life-part-1/
Do get it checked. It could be infection, a fluid pocket, a blood pocket, a benign tumor, a dangerous cancer…or other things too
I hope this helps
Dr D
My dods name is Baby Girl she is a boxer and a big sweetherat and has a huge appetite to match lately she has begun a rapid weight loss to the point were her ribs and spine are clearly visible, there has also been dischage coming from her butt and we now need to put a towel under her wherever she sits, we have a sceduled vet appointment that we hope will tell us but they are not top rate, does my dog have cancer?