Freckles develop only on certain cats, and they don't
follow the same rules as human freckles.
Does your cat have freckles on his nose? Some actually get
them running down the middle of their nose.
If you have a cat with freckles, it’s good to know a little
more about the phenomenon, so here are things you should know about your cat’s
freckles:
They’re called lentigo
Lentigo is a genetic condition in your cat that results in
dark, freckle-like spots. The spots are either black or brown, and if your
kitty will let you touch them, you’ll find that they are either flat or
slightly raised. The freckles have clearly defined edges. Each one is as small
as 1 millimeter and as big as 10 millimeter. The skin around them is the normal
color.
If your cat just has a few freckles, the condition is
called lentigo simplex. If he has lots of freckles that crowd together so much
that they merge together into larger patches of big freckles, it is called
lentignosis profusa (multiple lentigines syndrome). It’s a lot easier to just
call it lentigo … or, easier yet, just freckles.
Your cat is probably a redhead
Because lentigo is a genetic condition, it appears to be
linked to the genes that make cats have red or orange colors. Freckles can be
found on orange, calico, tortoiseshell, or flame point cats, possibly because
these varieties all have the orange coloration. Cream and silver colored cats
also occasionally have lentigo, though it’s less common in those colors.
Your cat probably has freckles elsewhere
Lentigines (the fancy word for multiple lentigo freckles)
usually don’t start on your cat’s nose, but rather on his lips and gums. If you
don’t have to give your cat pills or don’t brush his teeth, you might not
notice them when the melanocytes started to produce additional pigment on his
lips, even though it often starts as early as one year of age.
As your cat ages, the freckles become more widespread,
often getting more numerous and larger on his lips and gums. You might even see
freckles on the roof of your cat’s mouth. Freckles also spread to other parts
of the body, including the nose, where you are most likely to notice them
because they’re literally front and center.
As they spread, lentigo freckles might also appear around
the edges of your cat’s eyes or on his eyelids. Sometimes you will find them
inside his ears and even on the pads of his feet
Newton, now seven years old, has only a handful of very
small freckles on his lips in addition to the one on his philtrum. At his age,
he probably won’t develop a lot more.
These freckles don’t grow with sun exposure
Redheaded humans quickly learn that their freckles will
grow and spread when they spend time in the sun. Lentigo doesn’t work that way,
and the freckles don’t appear or grow because of your cat’s exposure to the
sunshine. That’s a good thing, because how would you explain to your sunbeam-loving
cat that sunbathing is going to give him freckles?
This doesn’t mean you should hand your cat a beach towel
and some coconut oil and tell him to go lounge poolside. While sun exposure
doesn’t make lentigo any worse, cats can suffer from sunburn. If your cat has
freckles on his ears, don’t let him get sunburned ears that can lead to
melanoma, because the freckles might prevent your spotting the melanoma lesion
immediately.
The freckles don’t hurt
You might wonder whether those spots itch, but unless your
cat spends time looking in the mirror admiring himself, he will never know
they’re there. As any redheaded human can tell you, freckles don’t itch or
hurt. Lentigo is just a cosmetic condition, and it doesn’t require any
treatment from your vet.
Lentigo freckles don’t later become melanoma, so you don’t
have to worry about it being an early warning sign of anything. If you’re ever
concerned about a spot on your cat, especially if it changes in size or becomes
raised or tender, see your vet to be safe. To differentiate between lentigo and
other conditions such as melanoma, the vet takes a biopsy with a small needle
and then sends the sample to a laboratory for analysis.
