Pets get breast cancer yet few owners are aware of the risk. In fact, mammary cancer is one of the most common ailments affecting dogs.
How to reduce the risk of breast cancer
Pets get breast cancer primarily because they haven’t been spayed. The best way to reduce your pet’s chances of contracting this potentially fatal disease is to spay her before her first heat. The risk of mammary tumours developing increases dramatically after each heat (oestrus) cycle that the pet goes through: from virtually 0 if she is spayed BEFORE her first heat to 8% if spayed AFTER her first but before her second heat, to 26% AFTER her second and before her 3rd heat.
If only spayed thereafter, her chances are greatly increased.
This is why veterinarians normally recommend sterilisation of females before their first oestrus.
What is a mammary tumour exactly?
There are a number of tumour types affecting the mammary tissue, of which about 50% are malignant and can spread to lymph nodes and even the lungs before the owner realises there are nodules or ulcerated masses in the mammary tissue.
Treatment is usually surgical removal of the obvious lumps or nodules, but also usually the entire ‘strip’ of mammary tissue on the one side in which the nodules occur, as the mammary glands on each side are connected to one another and spread can occur along this entire length.
X-rays and scans can be done before surgery to establish if spread has occurred to other tissues, but is not always 100% clear.
For the 50% of tumour types that are classified as benign, surgery normally has a good outcome as the masses can be removed and if the pet is spayed at the same time, it will reduce further growth and development of more tumours.
What causes tumours?
The cause of mammary gland tumours is mostly due to hormonal stimulation of the tissue during every oestrus cycle, as well as possibly some genetic predisposition in certain dog breeds.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance to have one’s female dog spayed before significant hormonal stimulation can take place (as soon as her 1st heat) and why one has to seriously consider the risks involved in breeding with a beloved female pet, because each time she goes through oestrus increases her chances of developing mammary tumours later on in life.
