Cancer in Bichon Frises: The Monthly Check That a Curly Coat Makes Necessary

You cannot inspect a Bichon Frise visually. A curly, dense double coat that sheds very little conceals a lump the size of a grape until it is the size of a plum. This is a hands job, and it works best as a fixed monthly routine rather than an occasional worry.

Sit with your dog on your lap or beside you and work in the same order every time, so nothing gets skipped. Start at the muzzle and work back over the head, then the neck and throat. Move down each front leg to the toes, checking between the pads.

Work along the chest and ribs with flat palms, then the belly, then the groin. Do the back and both sides, then each hind leg. Finish with the tail and the area beneath it.

What you are feeling for is anything raised, firm or different from the surrounding tissue, and anything that has changed since last month. Write down what you find with a rough size and location. A note saying pea-sized, left ribcage, third rib is worth far more at an appointment than a memory of a lump somewhere on that side.

Do the same for the lymph nodes under the jaw, in front of the shoulders and behind the knees. Symmetrical firm swellings in those places are a specific finding worth reporting.

Most lumps on an older dog are not cancer. Fatty lumps, cysts and warty growths are all common. The problem is that you cannot tell which is which by feel, and neither can your vet without sampling. These features raise the priority.

If you think your Bichon has cancer, the plan is three steps: write down what you have seen and when it started, book a veterinary appointment rather than waiting for the next flare, and take video of the behaviour or symptom before you go — the thing you are worried about rarely happens in the consulting room. Screening in the parents covers skin allergies, patellar luxation, bladder stones.

What the vet visit should produce is a diagnosis and a written plan, not just reassurance: what is being ruled out, what the monitoring interval is, and which signs mean you come back sooner. Ask what the treatment costs across a year rather than per visit, because that is the number that decides whether you are managing this condition or reacting to it.

Between appointments, keep a short log — dates, what you saw, what changed. It is the single most useful thing an owner brings to a follow-up, and for cancer it is often what separates a clear pattern from a guess.