A melanoma is a growth that arises from pigment cells called melanocytes. These cells can be found on the skin (cutaneous), mouth or eye (uveal). Melanocytes produce a dark brown pigment known as melanin. Thus, tumors associated with melanoma are often, but not always, dark-colored. Melanomas may be benign or malignant.

Cutaneous melanomas are generally dark brown growths that can appear almost anywhere on the skin. Oral melanomas are growths inside the mouth or lips. Oral melanomas are quite often found surrounding a tooth, but they can also appear in other areas of your dog's mouth. A uveal melanoma often appears as a dark growth on your dog’s iris, although sometimes the tumors are not darkly pigmented. The tumor can also be located in a portion of your dog’s eye that you may not be able to observe. If the melanoma travels to another organ, it will cause symptoms specific to the organ impacted.

It is not known how or why a melanoma may develop.

Your vet will perform a biopsy of the growth. Further testing, such as bloodwork, ultrasound and x-rays, will be used to determine whether the growth has spread to other places in your dog's body.

If the melanoma is detected early and has not spread, treatment is the surgical removal of the growth and a certain amount of normal tissue surrounding it. Radiation therapy may be used after surgery to kill off the remaining cancerous cells. If the tumor cannot be surgically removed, or if it has metastasized (spread) to other parts of the body, chemotherapy will be required.

Recently, a melanoma vaccine has been used to treat to treat malignant melanomas occurring in your dog’s mouth. The vaccine is used in conjunction with surgery and/or radiation treatments to increase an impacted dog’s survival time. The vaccine works by causing your dog’s immune system to recognize the cancer cells and mount a targeted attack against these cells while ignoring the healthy tissue cells surrounding the cancer cells. Although this sounds perfect, the vaccine does not work in all cases and research is still active.

The melanoma vaccine is what is known as a therapeutic vaccine, which means that it has been used to treat dogs that already have oral melanomas. This is opposed to a preventative vaccine that would be used to prevent the formation of oral melanomas.

The vaccine is given by an injection into your dog’s inner thigh muscle. Your dog will first need four doses of the vaccine, which are given every two weeks. After this initial series, your dog will get a booster shot of the vaccine every six months. The Animal Medical Center (AMC) in New York City is one of a few veterinary hospitals working on this immunotherapy against oral melanomas.

There is no prevention for a melanoma.

No, you cannot get a melanoma from your dog.