Oral Papillomatosis in a Dog: Surgical Management and Histopathological Findings

Canine oral papillomatosis is a viral disease that commonly affects young dogs. A six-month-old male German shepherd dog was presented with a history of progressively developed nodular growth in the lip, gingiva and tongue. All physical parameters were found to be normal. The animal was pre-medicated using atropine, butorphanol and diazepam as per the standard pre-anesthetic protocol. General anaesthesia was induced using ketamine hydrochloride. General maintenance was provided using Ketamine-diazepam mixture and the nodular masses were removed using a combination of surgical excision and electrocautery. Post-operatively, the animal was treated with antibiotics for five days and anti-inflammatory drugs for three days. Excised tissue samples were processed and subjected to standard histopathological examination. Histopathologic examination revealed a diffuse epidermal hyperplasia, marked neovascularization, koilocytes with clear perinuclear vacuolization and keratinocytes with keratohyalin granules. The findings were suggestive of canine oral papilloma virus induced papillomatosis. The animal made an uneventful recovery without any recurrence. This paper describes the successful surgical management of canine oral papillomatosis without any recurrence and its peculiar histopathological findings.