I am sure a lot of questions were going through your mind when you saw a wart on your dog’s face, questions like “Are they dangerous?”, “would they fall off on their own”, and “Are they contagious?”.

When I first saw a wart on my dog’s face, I was worried too but do not panic. Also, it is not your fault if there are warts on your dog’s face because they are caused by things you cannot control.

In this blog post, I would be sharing with you everything you need to know about warts on a dog’s face which is based on the advice I got from vets and Reddit communities when my dog had warts on its face.

Warts

Papilloma virus is a group of DNA viruses responsible for the cauliflower-looking skin and mouth lesions on your dog’s face.

Young dogs tend to develop warts in or around their mouth and face more than any other part of their body.

 Dog Warts do not affect other species, there is no need to worry about other members of your family including the kitties. So, don’t panic about transmission.

Causes of warts on dog’s face

Warts on a dog’s face are common in young dogs because their immune systems are not fully developed.

Old dogs whose immune systems are weak due to aging are also more susceptible to warts on the face.

Immuno-suppressed dogs, especially dogs who have been on corticosteroids like prednisone but any drugs that suppress your puppy’s immune system may encourage the papilloma virus to flare up.

In veterinary medicine, it is assumed that all dogs are exposed to papilloma virus but these opportunistic viruses tend to cause warts only in dogs with immune systems that are not 100 % healthy or that have been stressed.

The virus is most commonly spread by direct contact between dogs such as when they lick each other or when they are playing together, mouthing each other, or sharing toys.

Vaccines have been implicated as a cause of warts and this is one of the reasons I advise not to over-vaccinate.

Warts on your dog’s face can be an indication that it has received too many vaccines or has had a negative reaction to the vaccines.

So, eliminating or reducing the number of unnecessary vaccines that your dogs receive is a great first step in reducing the potential for warts.

Sometimes a young puppy’s body is not yet capable of an effective immune response to eliminate the papilloma virus.

Warts often spontaneously regress after a few months when your puppy’s immune system recognizes the virus and kicks to resolve the viral outbreak.

However, if your dog has congenital immunodeficiency or immunoglobulin A deficiency, their body may not even recognize that there is a response required to clear the virus and the virus rages on unchecked.

Diagnosis of warts on dog’s face

Diagnostic isn’t necessary in most cases of warts because most vets can recognize the classical appearance of warts.

So, diagnosis is nothing you have to spend a lot of money on getting.

But, if you still want a definitive diagnosis, I recommend asking your vet to perform fine needle aspiration on the growth to confirm that it is indeed a wart.

Treatment of warts on dog’s face

Because these growths are benign (no harmful effect), they may look terrible but they are not cancerous. So, I recommend you only remove them if they are in places in your dog’s body, where they cause quality of life issues for them.

When I say quality of life issues, this means situations where a dog would be repeatedly licking the wart or chewing on it or scratching it, till it bleeds over and over. In those cases, you should remove warts.

 If the warts on your dog’s face in around the lips, eyes, or nose then you should get them removed because warts in those areas could make your dog very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, warts only grow to a certain size and then stop. If skin lesions, lumps, or bumps on your dog seem to be growing continually, you should visit your vet.

In very rare cases, warts can turn into cancerous skin lesions called squamous cell carcinomas. It is very rare but it can happen, in these conditions, the lesions don’t stop growing but keep getting bigger and bigger.

So, any lesion that is continually growing needs to be monitored by your vet and again this case is very rear.

Many vets make a lot of money from surgically removing warts and it’s not that it’s a problem, it’s that, anesthesia is unnecessary because the puppy warts are benign unless it is creating a problem in terms of quality of life for your dog, I don’t recommend surgical removal.

I would also like to introduce you to Dr. Karen Becker’s approach to warts, which I use.

This approach involves using warts on a dog’s face and other parts of the body as a measure of your puppy’s immune function because warts are usually painless and only annoying to us dog parents.

Dr. Karen Becker (who is a vet I trust so much), recommends that dog owners should use warts as a visual monitor of a reflection of what is happening on the inside of their dog in terms of immunological health.

It is important to realize that removing warts on a dog’s face will not remove the virus from your dog unless the immune system is properly addressed.

If your dog’s immune system is not properly addressed, it would continue to develop more warts, it could be in different places but warts would continue to pop up.

Natural remedies for warts on dog’s face

Thuja

This is an evergreen coniferous tree whose leaves have been reported to cure warts by most people. This plant is also made into an ointment and palettes that you get can use.

Consult your vet before using them.

To use Thuja pellets:

-Give six to ten pellets daily, orally, and 20 minutes before mealtime

-Must be put directly in the mouth and not the throat (so it can be absorbed by mucus membranes)

-Repeat the process every day for 1 week.

–Give this medication under the advice of your veterinarian

Vitamin E oil

People have also reported that vitamin E helped reduce their puppy’s wart when applied.

Apple cider vinegar(ACV)

Some puppy parents have also reported apple cider vinegar.

But this method won’t be best for you if your puppy has a lot of warts because this method works best when the wart is covered with duck tapes or bandages when applied.

This means you would have to shave the hair around that part so the tape won’t hurt whenever you remove it and if they are a lot of warts you cannot just shave all those areas off.

Also, you have to change the bandage tape in the morning and night when you apply ACV.

Prevention of warts on dog’s face

Since we assume all puppies/ dogs have been exposed to the papilloma virus that causes warts, the goal is to keep your pup’s immune system healthy by reducing vaccines, feeding a species-appropriate diet, and providing clean air and water and a non-toxic environment for your pup.

What do warts on a dog’s face look like?

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