Why is my dog getting warts
Everything you Need to Know About Canine Warts
0:00 / 0:00
Timecodes:
I'm dr. Karen Becker and today we're
going to discuss works the medical term
for warts is papillomas because the
papilloma virus which are a group of DNA
viruses are responsible for the
cauliflower looking skin and mouth
lesions that occur on dogs
the viruses affect three types of dogs
young dogs who tend to develop outbreaks
of oral papilloma ptosis
immunosuppressed dogs especially dogs
who have been on corticosteroids like
prednisone but actually any drug that
suppresses the immune system may
encourage the papilloma virus to flare
up and last but not least older dogs who
oftentimes develop warts as they age in
veterinary medicine we assume all dogs
are exposed to papilloma viruses but
these opportunistic viruses tend to
cause warts only in dogs with immune
systems that aren't 100% healthy or that
have been stressed the good news is
canine warts don't affect other species
so there's no need to worry about other
members of your family including kitties
who could pick up the virus so don't
panic about transmission young dogs
usually develop oral papilloma ptosis or
oral warts which on very rare occasions
can actually cause words to grow in the
mucous membranes of the eye these were
clusters often have a fleshy
cauliflower-like appearance the virus is
most commonly spread by direct contact
between dogs such as when they lick each
other or if they're playing together the
mouthing each other or sharing a toy or
acapella mitosis typically occurs in
dogs under two years of age whose immune
systems are still immature or dogs who
are IgA deficient
sometimes a young dog's body isn't yet
capable of mounting and effective immune
response to eliminate papilloma virus
world words often spontaneously regress
after a few months when the dog's immune
system kind of recognizes the virus and
kicks in and then resolves the viral
outbreak
however in severe cases of oral warts in
dogs with congenital immunodeficiency or
IgA deficiency the body may not even
recognize that there is a mute responses
required to clear the virus and so the
virus rages on unchecked and the lesions
of the mouth don't heal
these poor puppies can have literally
hundreds of what's in their mouths
making it nearly impossible to eat or
drink without excruciating pain these
pups or adult dogs that acquire severe
oral papilloma ptosis should absolutely
have their immunoglobulin levels checked
immediately
and begin oral immunotherapy and
specific nutritional therapy to assist
their bodies in fighting off not only
the papilloma virus but other pathogens
in the future
dogs with oral papilloma ptosis should
be separated from other dogs until all
of their lesions have cleared diagnostic
testing isn't necessary in most cases of
papilloma ptosis because most
veterinarians can clearly recognize the
classic appearance of the words in the
mouth so it's nothing that you have to
spend a lot of money on getting a
diagnosis because these girls are benign
they look terrible but they're benign
they are not cancerous my rule of thumb
is to only remove warts regardless of
where they are on the body if it's
causing quality of life issues for the
dog so this means that in situations
where a dog would be repeatedly licking
the wart or chewing at the wart or
scratching it till it bleeds over and
over in those situations I have removed
benign warts sometimes were developed in
between the toes causing a dog to limp
and so in those situations where quality
of life is impinging removal can be
beneficial
fortunately warts only grow to a certain
size and then stop if a skin lesion lump
or bump on your dog seems to be growing
or changing continually it's time to
visit your veterinarian in very rare
cases warts can turn in to cancerous
skin lesions called squamous cell
carcinomas it's rare but it can happen
in these situations the lesions don't
stop growing they get bigger and bigger
and bigger so any skin lesion that can
is continually growing needs to be
monitored by your veterinarian again
this is very very rare if you want a
definitive diagnosis I recommend asking
your veterinarian to perform a fine
needle aspirate on their growth to
confirm that is it that it is indeed a
wart many veterinarians make a lot of
money removing warts and it's not that
that's the problem it's that anesthesia
is unnecessary and because the warts
benign unless it's creating a problem in
terms of quality of life for your dog I
don't
recommend removal we were taught in that
school that we should remove all benign
skin tags that bothering clients of
course veterinarians can make good money
removing these benign warts and the dog
owners can buy themselves peace of mind
this is unnecessary surgery they don't
that I don't automatically recommend
unless of course as I mentioned the work
is impinging the dog's quality of life
so many older dogs in addition to
developing words also develop non-viral
benign skin tumors they can be sebaceous
adenoma Zorin athili Alma's and they're
harmless in most cases in fact I call
them kind of M age spots I prefer taking
dr. Richard Pitcairn's approach towards
which is really using words as a measure
of a dog's immune function because words
are usually painless and only annoying
to us dog owners
I recommend really using them as a
visual monitor of a reflection of what's
happening on the inside of your dog in
terms of Eamonn illogic health it's
important to realize that removing warts
won't remove the virus from your dog's
body unless the immune system is
appropriately addressed usually dogs
will continue to develop more awards
different places but they continue to
pop up the vaccines have been implicated
as a cause of papilloma ptosis and this
is another reason that I constantly
advise against over vaccinating warts
can be an indication that the animal has
received too many vaccines or has had a
negative reaction to vaccines so
eliminating or reducing the number of
unnecessary vaccines so that your dog's
receives is a great first step in
reducing the potential for papilloma
ptosis so tighter instead of
automatically vaccinating since we
assume all dogs have been exposed to the
papilloma virus the goal is to keep your
pets immune system healthy by reducing
vaccines feeding a species appropriate
fresh food diet and providing clean air
and water and a non-toxic living
environment for your dog
[Music]
