WHITE CATS AND THE RISK OF EXPOSURE TO THE SUN
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White cats and all felines with coats of other colors that however have white or light areas in some parts of the body (for example the ends of the ears, the bridge of the nose or the eyelids), have very delicate underlying skin and little hair. to protect them.
What to do to protect them?
The best solution would be to keep our cat indoors during the hottest hours of the day during the summer, to avoid exposing it to harmful UVA and UVB sun rays.
If we do not have this possibility, we can nevertheless apply sunscreen creams on the risk areas, making sure that the cat does not take it off, licking or scratching.
In this way, we will prevent our cat from developing constant inflammation and crusty skin lesions which in the long run could lead to the onset of serious diseases such as actinic squamous carcinoma which always begins as actinic dermatitis.
Squamous carcinoma in cats (acronym CS) is a very common skin cancer in cats (15-20%). It usually develops from the ears and the head, but sometimes also appears on the limbs, back, abdomen, tail or even in the perineal region.
White cats are 5 to 13 times more likely to develop skin cancer than dark cats. In fact, we rarely find this tumor in black cats and Siamese cats.
Squamous carcinoma (usually) is a disease that appears after 10 years of age. It begins as crusty, painless, slow-moving lesions that are evident years before the onset of the tumor.
The skin becomes intense pink, loses its hair and as the situation worsens, thicker and thicker crusts appear which progressively affect and corrode the ear (or the eyelids or the bridge of the nose).
The cat scratching can create bleeding lesions which can lead to further bacterial infections. Once the dermatitis has established itself, there is no way to make it regress, but you can avoid making it increase by preventing the cat from being exposed to the sun continuously.
If we are careful to notice the presence of pre-neoplastic lesions we will be able to intervene promptly, keeping the cat at home avoiding exposure to sunlight and taking it to our veterinarian who will be able to provide us with all the information and solutions to protect its health and his life.
If unfortunately our cat has already developed squamous cell carcinoma, the veterinarian will opt for the amputation of the ears (the same operation is also done on the eyelids and in some cases also on the nose) to prevent the tumor from reaching the head.
In this way our cat has a good chance of survival but VERY IMPORTANT it must be kept indoors to avoid exposing it to harmful solar rays.