In summer, your light-skinned dogs need nontoxic sunscreen

Q: My English bulldog has a pink nose. Do you have any recommendations for dog sunscreens?

A: If you have a bulldog, sunscreens are the least of your hot weather worries. As you probably already know, bulldogs and other short-headed, snub-nosed breeds (like Pugs, French bulldogs, Pekinese, etc.) have trouble breathing.

Since dogs cool themselves primarily through their respiratory tract, the compressed tissues in the airways of bulldog breeds limit air exchange and reduce their cooling ability dramatically.

A new study, however, found that overweight dogs suffer just as much — or more — in their ability to cool themselves. This means that many more dogs are susceptible to cooling difficulties than just bully breeds.

During hot weather, these dogs need to be able to cool themselves to survive the heat — death by heat stroke is not uncommon. Early morning and evening walks are recommended but, even so, some dogs may not be able to handle anything beyond short walks during summer months.

But now on to sunscreens: As you’ve implied, light-colored dogs are more susceptible to sunburn than darker dogs. Apart from painful burns, cancers like squamous cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma, hemangioma or hemangiosarcoma can be caused by excessive exposure to UV radiation.

To mitigate these risks, sunscreens are strongly recommended for dogs with light-colored skin, hairless areas and for areas with sparse fur. Applying sunscreen to the entire area predisposed to sunburn is strongly recommended.

For white dogs who don’t have heavy coats, this means they may need to be sprayed liberally with sunscreen. Especially sensitive areas like noses, lips, ear tips, belly and groin may need to receive special attention (and frequent re-application).

Which sunscreen to choose? Any dog sunscreen is typically recommended. In a pinch, however, sunscreen made for babies can be just as effective as long as the SPF is greater than 30. Crucially, however, these baby sunscreens must contain non-toxic ingredients since dogs are more likely to lick them off than kids are.

What ingredients to avoid?

Zinc oxide is chief among these since zinc can lead to anemia if enough of it is ingested. A little isn’t a big deal, but over time, this kind of sunscreen can pose a serious problem if ingested. Para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) is also to be avoided as it too can be toxic to dogs.

This story was originally published May 3, 2018 at 6:29 PM with the headline "In summer, your light-skinned dogs need nontoxic sunscreen."