Skin and Coat: Wart Symptoms and Treatment

Symptoms Associated with Dog Warts:

Canine warts and papillomas are singular papule (small, circumscribed, solid, elevated lesion of the skin) like growths, which occur in isolated parts of the body. There can be one wart or there can be many. Normally, they do not cause any harm to an affected dog, but if in cases where oral or cutaneous dog warts are injured, they are hard to heal and secondary infections are common. Symptoms such as generalized illness along with local tissue damage are common.

In case the canine warts develop into cancer, they can cause severe damage to the health of the affected dog. Weakness and death may occur months after the maturation of cancerous tissues.

Dog warts start as small papules that then form into warts. Canine warts are generally found when you are grooming or petting your dog. Different from a tumor or cyst, warts are on the surface of the dog’s skin. They tend to take on a cauliflower shape, can be the same color as the dog’s skin or have a yellowish or whitish color. Sometimes they occur in clusters. Dog warts can be present on any part of a dog’s body, but are most often found on the face near the eyes, inside the mouth or nose or on or near the dog’s reproductive organs.  

Dogs older than 2 years of age usually have an immunity to oral warts (dog mouth warts).

Treatment of Warts in Dogs:

Common warts, including viral papillomas are usually not treated. Congenital dog warts may remain on the surface of the skin and do not cause any damage to the dog, on the other hand viral papillomas resolve on their own in days or weeks.

Most warts do not bother the dog and in many cases, go away naturally on their own. Furthermore, since dog wart removal is a surgical procedure, most vets will only remove warts as part of another surgical procedure. However, if you notice your dog licking or chewing the wart or the wart is bleeding or infected, then the wart should be removed.

A veterinarian can perform a surgical procedure to freeze and remove the wart called cryosurgery or perform electrosurgery, which consists of burning off the wart with an electric current, such as a laser.

If necessary, in cases where the warts cause discomfort to the dog, cryosurgery (freezing) or electrosurgery are the preferred removal method. Cancerous dog warts are usually treated with radiation therapy and some additional drugs.

Natural tonics such as Skin and Coat Tonic , if used regularly, can help to prevent the chance of the dog forming viral papillomas and will help to maintain skin strength, thus common warts will be restricted since these types of products help to boost and maintain the immune status of the body.