If you want your good boy to have a good summer, make sure he catches balls instead of rays. Dogs can get just as sunburned as people, veterinarians warn, and sometimes, it becomes an emergency.
“Especially during the really hot summer months, we see an uptick of pets coming in with sunburns,” says Veronica Villanueva, medical director at VEG Anaheim Hills, which provides emergency veterinary care. “We think of humans with skin getting sunburn, and then with our pets, we think, ‘Oh, they have fur, they like to be outside.’” Most pet owners “aren’t aware of the potential risks of sunburns and the severity with which they can experience them.”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]We asked vets exactly how to tell if your dog is sunburned, what to do about it, and how to prevent future sun damage.
Signs of sunburn in dogs
A dog’s fur provides some built-in protection against UV rays. But all breeds are susceptible to sunburn—and the lighter or thinner the fur, the greater the risk. Short-haired breeds like pit bulls, Dalmatians, boxers, greyhounds, and pugs are especially prone to getting burned, as are hairless canines like the American hairless terrier and Chinese crested dog.
Cliff Redford, owner and director of Wellington Veterinary Hospital in Ontario, often sees sunburn in dogs that were shaved—either due to surgery, because their fur was matted, or for some other reason. “It’s like if someone gets a haircut, and all of a sudden, the back of their neck gets sunburned because they went from a mullet” to a much shorter ‘do, not considering that the change meant more sun exposure.
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Certain spots on a dog are most likely to get burned: the bridge of the nose, the belly and groin (a hazard of sunbathing upside down), and anywhere else without much fur, like the area around the lips. “The biggest one I see is the tip of the ears,” Villanueva says. “Those can get burned really badly because the ears don’t get good blood flow, they don’t have much hair, and it’s a thin piece of skin.”
Sunburn looks much the same whether you have two or four legs. When UV radiation from the sun damages the top layer of skin cells, it causes redness, heat, and pain. If it’s on the milder side, your dog’s skin will turn pink; the redder it gets, the worse the burn. With time, the burn might become dry and flaky, and you may see your dog scratching or chewing on it, since it can become itchy, Villanueva says.
More serious burns, meanwhile, will usually be darker red, and they might develop blisters or start oozing pus—both signs you need to take your dog to the vet. “If you see the skin turning dark red or purple, and they’re lethargic and not wanting to get up, or running a fever, those are signs of severe sunburn,” Villanueva says. “If they’re showing signs of severe pain”—like yelping when you pet or comb them—“we want them to be seen right away.”
Burns requiring emergency care tend to really hurt. “Imagine you getting a burn on your hands,” she says. “It’s an open wound, and it’s very painful. It’s like an ulcer, so we want to be cognizant of not touching them in those areas.”
Treatment options
If your dog has a mild sunburn, you can usually handle treatment at home. Apply a cold, damp cloth to the affected area, or rub a thin layer of pure aloe on it. “Look at the ingredients label, and make sure it only has aloe, and nothing that you don’t recognize,” says Colleen Guilfoyle, a veterinarian with Best Friends Animal Society.
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When Villanueva treats dogs with severe sunburns, she usually starts by assessing the affected area and then starting them on pain medication. If there’s a lot of pus, she and her team clean the wound and properly disinfect it, and may apply topical ointments to reduce inflammation. Some dogs need IV antibiotics. Sunburn also increases the risk of dehydration, which can be serious on its own. “If we can visibly see they’re dehydrated, we may have to hospitalize them on IV fluids to help hydrate them, and get them some electrolytes,” she says.
Even in severe cases, sunburn usually heals within a week or two. Sometimes, dogs have to wear a T-shirt or an Elizabethan collar (better known as the dreaded cone of shame) to ensure they don’t lick their burns, Villanueva adds.
How to protect your dog
Just like in humans, sunburn can lead to skin cancer in dogs. About half the cases of melanoma that Redford treats every year are related to burns. “Every single time there’s cellular damage, even if it doesn’t cause a burn that takes you to the veterinarian clinic, there is a minuscule but not zero risk that melanoma can occur,” he says, though most diagnoses are caused by recurrent burns.
Early detection of skin cancer makes a big difference, so pay close attention to signs like unusual lumps or bumps, slow-healing sores, or changes in the appearance of moles. “If you catch it early, it has an extremely high cure rate,” Redford says. He once treated a 14-year-old beagle who had a tumor the size of a golf ball on the edge of his lip. “We removed all of it successfully,” he says. “He just got a little facelift.”
Still, it’s essential to make preventing sunburn a priority. Here are the steps to take:
Bring your dog inside
Redford advises limiting your dog’s time outside—at least in direct sunlight—during the hottest part of the day, which is usually around 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Apply sunscreen to your dog
Any time you slather sunscreen on yourself, put a pet-safe brand on your dog, too. That’s right: Canine sunscreen exists and is available at most pet stores. (Don’t use human sunblock, Redford warns: Many varieties include ingredients like zinc oxide and salicylates that can be toxic to dogs.) The dog version is made with ingredients like titanium dioxide, benzophenone, octinoxate, and aminobenzoic acid, which provide protection without irritating the skin. It should be applied to high-risk spots without any fur, like the bridge of the nose, tips of the ears, the groin area, the belly, and the skin around the dog’s lips, as well as areas with super-thin hair, where you can easily see the skin, Redford says.
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Doggy sunscreen comes in balms, lotions, and sprays, and the American Kennel Club advises applying it 20 minutes before your dog goes out. “I prefer the lotion, mostly because people are aware of how to apply it—it’s a similar consistency to what you and I would use, so there’s a little better control of determining how much you put on,” Redford says. He’s found sunscreen typically doesn’t bother his four-legged clients. “Unless you’ve got a diva dog, they generally think it’s no big deal,” he says.
“What I recommend is, apply it and then distract them for 5 minutes—maybe play with them, get a toy, feed them.” That way, he says, the sunscreen can get absorbed into the skin without your dog trying to lick it off. Most products are designed so they don’t need to be washed off at the end of the day, but if you want to remove it, just run a damp towel over the areas where you applied the sunscreen.
Dress your dog for the sun
Not all dogs tolerate clothing, but for those that do, UV protective clothing can help. Your dog’s hairstyle matters, too: summer is not the time to try out a hairless or super shaved-down look, even if you think it will keep your pet cool. “It’s so important to collaborate with your groomer and say, ‘I want them to get a shorter clip, but I don’t want to see the skin,’” Villanueva says. “You want it to be short, but not too short, especially on the face.”
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Keep in mind, too, that damage can happen quickly: If a dog is outside in direct sunlight without proper shelter for more than half an hour to an hour, “you run the risk of severe burns, especially on those really tender areas,” Villanueva says. That’s why awareness is so essential. “These sunburns can lead to serious health risks, including skin cancers,” she says. “Be proactive in protecting your pets from sun exposure, so they can remain healthy and safe.”
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