Lots of people love their dogs. But when you have fibromyalgia, you really start to appreciate how much having a sympathetic animal around can improve the way you feel. And there’s lots of evidence that having an animal for emotional support can help improve your symptoms. But it’s also worth remembering that your animals can suffer from medical problems of their own, like a histiocytoma.
A histiocytoma is a condition caused by a growth in immune cells. They can occur anywhere on your pet’s body and while they might give you cause for alarm at first sight, most aren’t dangerous. So, what exactly is a histiocytoma? And what should you do if your pet has one?
What Is A Histiocytoma?
A histiocytoma is formed from a specific type of cell in a dog’s body called Langerhans cells that are formed in the skin. These cells interact with another type of cell called macrophages. Macrophages are produced in the immune system and function to destroy foreign bodies in the skin. These cells sometimes begin reproducing rapidly, and so they form into a solid mass of tissues called a tumor.
And histiocytomas are a type of tumor that often affect dogs. Any dog can suffer from a tumor like this, but larger breeds, like Great Danes, seem to be affected more often than other breeds.
These tumors tend to be very noticeable on the skin. Usually, they are large enough to peek out of a dog’s fur and are a bright red color. The tumors form most often on younger dogs and on the head, ears, or eyebrows.
The good news is that these tumors tend to be benign, which means that they’re not dangerous and likely aren’t a sign of cancer as is the case in many tumors. But if you do find one on your dog, it may be worth having checked out.
What Can You Do About It?
If you find a histiocytoma on your dog, you may not need to do anything. Most cases tend to go away within a week or two. But in some cases, it may persist or grow larger. In these cases, you may wish to take your pet to a vet.
While histiocytomas usually aren’t dangerous, they can be confused with other forms of tumor that are. A vet can perform a procedure called a biopsy, where they remove some of the tissue from the tumor so that they can examine it under a microscope. By examining the cellular structure of the tumor, they can judge whether or not it is dangerous.
If the tumor presents a medical risk to the dog, a vet can usually remove the tumor surgically. Usually, this can be performed with local anesthesia and takes just a few minutes. Usually, this procedure is done by cryosurgery, where the vet will use liquid nitrogen to freeze the tissue. This causes the cells to die and eventually the tumor will fall off and scar over.
In addition, vets can use a laser to destroy the tissue in a process called laser ablation. Either surgery is effective in removing the tumor. And if the tumor is completely removed, it prevents it from recurring.
Typically, this is enough to solve the issue and odds are very good that your dog will be fine.
But there is also a rarer, related condition called malignant histiocytosis. This is a condition that usually only affects certain breeds of dog, like the Bernese Mountain Dog. It’s caused by cells called histiocytes that are formed inside the body’s connective tissue. Normally, these cells work as part of the immune system to attack foreign viruses and bacteria. But in cases of malignant histiocytosis, these cells begin to multiply rapidly, destroying cells throughout the body.
This leads to a range of symptoms including poor appetite, weight loss, and fatigue. In most cases, this condition leads to death within a few weeks. Usually, that’s because by the time the condition begins to cause symptoms, it’s already progressed to the point that it is too late to treat.
If your dog is showing these symptoms, it’s probably a good sign that something is wrong and you should take your dog to the vet to get a biopsy performed. While there isn’t yet an effective treatment for this condition, detecting it early can help improve the odds of a positive outcome.
So, has your dog had a tumor? Did you know what it was? What did you do about it? Let us know in the comments.
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