Nasal cancer in a Chihuahua-anybody? Please help? (how much, lab, tumors)

[OlivesMom]

TL/DR VERSION: is there anyone who's been through nasal cancer with a Chihuahua that can tell me how this disease progresses on such a small snout? It's been 4 weeks At All & it's taken over the right side of her muzzle, completely, working on her left.

My Chihuahua has nasal cancer. I'm so sorry this is so long, but while she's resting comfortably next to me, I need to get it out. I've been lost and blank and depressed and staring at her, sobbing, since August 31st. Even if this never gets read by anyone, it's good for me to get it out. Who knows-maybe in 5 years, someone will run across this thread & feel less alone, like I did with others here.

My little Ollie Lily went to the vet about 2 months ago (at this point) to check on some mammary tumors she had. Her wonderful vet ran blood work, urinalisys & liver/kidney panels, of course. He eventually said yes, they Should be removed for her comfort regardless of the lab results, but he said he'd seen many such cases and Olive's Probably were benign. Later, I received her lab results, and he was correct. This made me happy-she didn't have cancer, of course, and I could take a couple of weeks to build up an income for her little mammary surgery. Complete destruction of Rt. side Turbinates at diagnoses.

A little back history on why I wasn't Too worried about my dog...other than maybe needing some little tumors removed-or that Teensy Tiny spot of Melanoma I see on her inside back left thigh...so very small, so very the same for the past 3 years, and at 13 years, 3 months-I figured she'd die of old age well before that spot grew at all... She's an absolutely indestructible dog! Of course, intellectually, I know better, but she's Always been such a fighter. She only comes back better, with every issue. Aside from the normal bumps & mishaps & learning experiences of being a tiny chihuahua-Not a Teacup, thank you...and being the First and only Dog and/or Real Pet of a woman who'd suddenly become a single mother & was trying to find her way in the world while raising 2 children-a woman who'd never really Been around a dog before...or been an Adult On Her Own before, either, previously, she'd had intermittent seizures-about 1 per year for about 8 years-full rigor grand mal...FULL rigor. So scary. The first lasted Far longer than 5 minutes. I had time to have Olive wobble blindly to me, collapse in my arms, begin her seizure, go into said full rigor-wow-Full-as I've only ever seen in rigor mortise, panic, call a friend for help & stay on the Phone for 6 minutes, until she begun to release); she had dental issues leading all of her bottom front teeth to be removed-13 teeth in 1 day (and we Brushed! and we Only ate good quality dry dog food! Her stupid little Hair got wrapped around her stupid little teeth-and her wonderful little tongue has poked out for the last 7 years); in 2012 she was sitting on the couch with my daughter, lunged for her sandwich, fell off the couch & broke her little back right leg. She sat in a big red ice bucket for 6 weeks because I had no idea I was supposed to crate train her, way back in 2002. The week after she got her healthy dog leg checkup, my daughter opened the front door to come home from school, Olive ran out of my house, and Somehow found that, when at full run, she could duck Under the railing (I'd fenced the area in, of course. It was a space so small i actually felt overprotective by keeping her inside, unless monitored. My children had always laughed at me and swore she was perfectly safe outside-the space was Smaller than her head is tall, and Very tightly covered. That day, Olive fell off my 2nd story balcony, while yapping at & trying to kill passers-by. My daughter said she opened the front door, put her bag down, heard Olive bark and some man's voice say "um. Your dog just landed in the dirt down here". Thank god for that dirt. The People she aimed for were on a sidewalk. That day, she fell 2 floors & broke One Little Toenail! It didn't even bleed. Seven weeks before, she'd broken her leg aiming for a sandwich next to her on a Couch With No Legs (my darling son...said couch still sits about 18" off the ground); sheaq had a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in December '13 (I woke up to my lovely, loving man screaming for me that my dog was not okay-came downstairs to find her pretty much once again in full friggin rigor-but it lasted far longer & was far uglier-involuntary bowel & bladder & everything-And it was a Sunday, so I sat with her in my arms to let her die as peacefully as possible and hoped against hope that she was in automatic response and not feeling what she appeared to be feeling-she didn't die in my arms that day. She was weak, but tough when the Vet's office opened the following Day. We still just...don't know why that happened, but it never has again. Last Feb (2014), she survived Pyometra (Again, all curled up, unable to move-I rushed her Back to her vet and he poked & asked if she was spayed. Her ultrasound showed a nasty uterine infection-a good 5 years after I thought she'd hit "Dog-o-pause". Throughout her life, vets had always told me she'd probably get uterine cancer if I didn't get her spayed, and my response was always that she should stay as intact throughout her life as possible-be as natural as a domesticated little 5.6 lb dog could be. She was perfect as nature designed her & I intended to keep her that way. I said, over and over again that nature cannot be That wrong. They all just shrugged their shoulders & I hadn't done my research, go figure. Boy, was I the wrong one). She didn't die in my arms that day either. Once again, Olive Lilith was weak but still determined to be alive. And, of course, the Horrible incident that day with the stupid ex-roommate's left-behind bunny. The bunny and Olive Really loved to play. The bunny Really loved Olive. And then, the bunny Really wanted to Love Olive. She got away. Stitches & her first stint, but she got away, and that's the important part. The bunny went into a cage, onto my front porch and the then-ex-roommate came to pick him up. Oh-and when she was a puppy, she fell off my lap so hard I heard her little skull hit. I rushed her to the vet and made sure she was okay, then told him I was worried & needed to know if my new puppy was mentally retarded, being that I'd been sitting flat on the ground with her squarely in the center crook of my legs when she'd fallen. I got laughed out of the office, that day-I was told "dogs generally take after their owners". The vet was right. She Does take after me. Neither of us are mentally different in any way than anybody/dog else in this world, but we both do laughable things, at times.
So-as one (hypothetical reader/empathizer) might see, my little 5.6 lb. Chihuahua Really has had her share of issues-and she's come through every one. Like a prize fighter. In fact, after the Pyometra scare/surgery, she Gained 2.3 Pounds in 2 months! It was insane. And I've grown to be a real grown adult woman, all on my own-unless you count ALL the help I've had from my children & my Olive Lilith. We really Have grown up together. I just got a Far later start than she.

The day after her vet visit, I saw a tiny bump on the right side of her little snout. I thought it was a mosquito bite, because I, for one, am covered in them. I gave it a couple of days to go down on it's own, as mosquito bites welt up pretty good, on some folk I've seen. Three days later, I was getting worried. By this time, it was Friday & I had no way to take her to the vet until Monday (working is necessary for me, sadly-I needed the money to afford to take her Monday). So we made it through the weekend & I just watched her-attributing her symptoms to human ones & deciding, like me, she probably had a sinus infection. From Friday to Monday, her demeanor was Perfect. She just sneezed. And snotted. And made snot bubbles with her right nostril. But that little bump didn't seem to go down. In fact, I was kinda convinced it'd gotten bigger. By Monday morning, I was Worried. Sinus infections Hurt, after all. And they're so close to blood vessels & the brain-I didn't want Olive to be deathly ill or in pain from a stupid sinus infection! So I called her wonderful vet again, explaining the problem & begging to be seen That Day-as soon as possible. But her vet was out of town & wouldn't be back until Wednesday. So I called a different animal hospital, made an immediate appointment & took her in. This vet looked at her and told me they would run x-Rays first, plus labs, but she had a tooth abscess and needed immediate surgical removal of the tooth. But it was too late In the day for them to do surgery. We had to be back at 7AM, come morning. I signed the papers & told the tech-look, I want my dog to be okay, so you do whatever you have to for her mouth-and yes, I'll pay for teeth cleaning & nail trimming too-but I don't have a lot of money, so Please write down that I don't want anything else done that isn't Medically necessary at that moment. She gave me some blank stare/answer about how the paperwork I was "electronically signing" was a release telling them what I would/not allow. I re read it, agreeing to certain things and not to others. I asked her what surgery like this generally costs. She was, again...stupid and totally unhelpful. Wishing I'd read their yelp reviews Before, not After service. So I left, went home & looked up Carnassial Tooth removal surgical costs online-knowing that this was only part 1 of a 2 part surgery for her-the wound was to be left open to drain out the infection for a few days, prior to closure. I estimated, while other people in the country seemed to quote $400-$460, with my locale, I should be paying about $700-$780 for the Full procedure. Chances seemed good that they'd charge me $750 or so for the first, then ding me with anesthesia, O2 and all other costs, plus vet visit, for the second part-probably another $220-$250-but that wouldn't be until later in the week.
Olive & I arrived on time, the next morning. I kissed her, then left her with them. I called every couple of hours to check in on her progress. At noon when I called, they said she'd come through the surgery perfectly (of course! Always does...she's a professional at this!). I could pick her up at 5PM. They could give me no Front Office information (pricing). I gathered my funds as well as possible, figuring I would be fine paying the $800 top quote I found. I finally got in touch with the front office at 4:30 to ask how much I was being billed. And I literally started to hyperventilate, when the girl said $1587. And fourteen cents-she made sure to repeat. I cried & screamed & begged on the phone. What happens if you have a procedure done & cannot pay the bill afterward? What happens to your post-op dog? The girl asked me why I hadn't tried to make a payment plan with the vet before surgery. I didn't think that was the Doctor's Job? I thought he was supposed to be good at Operating, not finance? I had no idea I was supposed to. Never, in the past 13+ years, have I ever been blindsided by a vet bill. And, by this time, the banks were closed-I couldn't even cash my paycheck to pay the full amount. I quickly found a friend who let me borrow $600 for 24 hours & ran to get my dog, hoping I wouldn't be too late and she wouldn't have to spend the night alone in a cage.
I waited a bit & they called me to a room, quickly bringing Olive to me. The vet came in and I started rambling about money. I told him I'd borrowed 6, expected to pay the 8 I had, which left me almost $200 short. I told him I could bring him the money the following day, when the bank was open.
The vet stared at me for a few minutes-coldly-oddly-I hated him, quite frankly...and if youre ever in my area & need to know Who it was, I'll happily spill it in Private. He kinda flapped his hand at me in a dismissing way and told me that my little Olive Lilith has cancer. And it's Terminal.
He'd removed her belly tumors too. When I told him not to. I'd said she would be going to her regular vet for that. He made some noise and told me he thought they were malignant too-and I understood why he'd stayed in the other doorway, having me hold my sick dog, and looked at me funny through the visit. He was expecting outrage & outburst. I asked questions instead.
He said squamous cell carcinoma or sarcoma. Carcinoma? I smoke sometimes, but Only outside-and Never when my children or dog are Anywhere near me. Doesn't make sense. He said it didn't make a difference. second hand smoke may have caused this, if I was an indoor chain-smoker, but really, it didn't matter because he was going to send the samples all in for biopsy & we'd see, but really, he said, both are equally as bad, totally deadly & nothing can be done anyhow. He said, if I couldn't afford His visit, I Certainly never could afford chemo & radiation-and also, she's over 13 years old.
But really, I would never put my little girl through that hell-especially knowing it would only delay the inevitable-maybe 3 sick, incapacitated, painful doggy months. I decided I don't care which cancer type she has. I don't care if the mammary tumors were malignant. I wanted to know, generally speaking, how long we would have left. I care that my dog has stitches and needs to be careful right now, rather than running & playing & going to Dog Beach and doing fun, silly things. He said taking the lab work off would subtract $500 from the bill. I made a payment plan with the office and took my dog home, dropping off my friend's credit card on the way (really, she's an employee of mine-how sad is that? She saw the look on my face and just threw me her available balance to help me in my time of need. So sweet). I decided that, as soon as the stitches came out, we were going to Bucket List it.
When I got home, I realized he never told me how long to keep the stitches in. I called, asked half my question, and the desk girl snapped "2 weeks" and hung up. Do I have 3 months? Or less than 2 weeks? Is that why he didn't make a follow-up for more money?
I called her vet the next morning to get a records transfer, and make her stitch removal/cancer consult appointment. In the meantime, the antibiotic they gave her after surgery shrunk the bump a bit-or it released pressure from the inside, without having that tooth there. It stayed small until the 10 day antibiotic was gone, and 4 days later, at her Real Vet appt/cancer consult, it was already about 3 times larger than it'd begun.
The operating vet sent Me her charts-not to her vet. Also, her x-Rays, but in a type of doc even her vet couldn't open. Written on her chart, it says removed Rt tooth, portion of tumor along with it (probably why it was smaller). And then it says "total destruction of rt. turbinates". Total. Destruction. Already.
Her real vet listened to my story, asked me why I opted against fighting lab work, of all the other things I probably should have fought over, since it would only amount to $160-200 of the bill. I told him they'd quoted me $500. My vet opened Ollie's x-rays and just stared...and then he turned back around, with tears welled in his eyes, and he said "I'm sorry. It's cancer. And you are right-the type doesn't matter. Take her home and love her-and when she stops wanting to eat, you'll know you're near the end. I asked if he would make a house call-whatever the fee-when the time came, and he told me he doesn't ever do that procedure at all. He won't touch the drugs. He'll hold the animal, or he'll hold my hand, but he says he can't bring himself to end an animal's life. And then referred me to Laps of Love. He said he didn't want to give her Anything but food, water, whatever she wants & love. No meds. He just said to take her home and love her. He didn't charge me for removal of stitches or the 45 minutes we sat in his office together. He just cuddled Ollie one last time.
I love him a little more for that, I think. He's true to himself. His office will euthanize, but he will not. And he loves my little dog.
She ate that night. The next day was a Wednesday & I left her at home, while I went to work. She wouldn't eat anyone. Lots of water-absolutely no food, no matter what her beloved Daddy Person did. He was distraught,when I came home from work-you cannot do this to her, he said-she's suffering so much-please be good to her. I began my mantra, "I can stop her life, but I cannot take her life away from her. She's not done yet." She didn't eat anything for 5 days. Just drank. She wasted down to near nothing, while a week prior, she was 5 lb, 5 oz. at her visit. I lied to my man & told him I'd seen her eat the first day, so he still (and always can) believe it was 4 days instead of 5. On the next day, he made me an omelet with some andouille sausage (oddly mild). I asked her if she wanted a bite, and she ate nearly half of my omelet. Almost 1full egg! The next morning, I made another & she ate it happily. A few hours later, I made another. She wouldn't touch it. The next day, she wouldn't eat again. And I met with the vet from Laps of Love. She suggested that we may be coming closer, but she didn't feel Olive was finished yet, either-although I'd been carrying her for 5 days straight because she was too weak to walk-suddenly, she was quite interested in her visitor. But she hasn't cared about the Mailman Ina week! Interested in something. I told her about the egg-she suggested a few other things-which I immediately with bought-and were immediately denied. And she called in a prescripTion for prednisone & buprenorphine. That was Monday. The next day, she wouLdnt eat, but I'd managed to squeeze some puppy formula In her mouth with a syringe (she's such a brat-she'll stop lapping and just keep her mouth closed & still so it falls out the hole on the other side of her mouth onto my arm/lap-I love that about her). That was yesterday. Meanwhile the tumor grows every day. It's taken up her whole little right muzzle & her left is So bubbly with snot.
The hospice vet did give me a bit of grounding-and she was worth the money for the initial visit-although not cheap. She said, if Olive decides to stop eating right now, there is nothing we can do. she reminded me of a hospice saying I knew when I worked in that field-something like "a body won't eat to feed a life it knows it won't have". She also said that Olive didn't seem ready to go. I told her the second part of my mantra as of late "she'll be ready to go when she stops trying to take care of me".
No matter what anyone says, that's the one I'm sticking to.
I just started her own the prednisone this morning-the pharmacy took 2 friggin days to compound it. I haven't started the pain meds yet because...I want her to feel like herself-for as long as she wants to. And she seems to want to. And that pain med-I looked into it-for Humans, it's Suboxone or Subutex-which is used to get people off heroin. Like Methadone used to generally be, although, in hospice, we used Methadone for the Worst pain patients. This makes me wonder about Ollie's pain level now, and what it will be in the near future.
I've read prednisone has a tendency to aid appetite-which is awesome, thirst-also awesome, and slightly inhibit new growth for a bit-Super Awesome.
I was so worried and saddened that I was never going to be able to take her to the final places she would enjoy. I truly thought this past weekend would be her last. Every night, I curled up in bed with her and thanked her for pushing through 1 more day to take care of me. I know she will until she's ready to go. And then, she won't want to anymore. Last night, she ate chicken & brown rice for the first time. Probably 2-3 tbsp. full at about 9PM, and I made her more when I got home from work at 4AM. She ate a full 3 tbsp and then had seconds of about the same darn amount! At 11AM today, she ate about 1.5 tbsp, then looked sad. So we went & picked up the prescriptions. I never thought I'd have Olive Lilith on hospice. I never really thoug she would get truly sick. I thought I'd just come downstairs one day, in about 5 years, and she wouldn't have woken up in the morning. And I feel better today, since she's eaten. She's gaining vigor, for the moment-but I don't know what changed things-and that tumor is bigger and different every day. Yesterday, it started oozing out of her mouth. Still nothing but snot on one nostril, other's gone.

Has anyone had a chihuahua with this? Hospice vet said because she has such a small nose to begin with, it's very quick to take over and inhibit breathing. It'd ruined one side completely, before I even knew it was there. How quickly does this happen on such a tiny dog? What is my future going to be like, with her, over the next few days/weeks (I can't dare hope for anything longer than that. We're living each day-trying to get stronger and hate the mailman again, so we can go play at Dog Beach just ONE time in her little life. I've never taken her because she's so small and all the other dogs are off leashes-and that's a Lot of water. Now is the perfect time to take fun risks like that. I don't know how much time I'll have, and I've been preparing for the worst for weeks now-I Stopped Living. And I won't be any help to her, if I do that, I know. I'm grieving my future loss of my best friend & I really need to pull it together. Today is the first day I feel strong enough-and I think it's because she's decided to fight just a tiny bit more. She's just Such a Fighter (although a lover, for a chihuahua, actually). We'll fight together, I guess, until she doesn't want to, anymore.
But I think, when she needs to be on Buprinorphine TID, sleeping her life away to stave off pain, she'll be ready to stop. We'll keep going until that point, I guess. But I Really Hope somebody has been in my shoes and can share their story with me-no matter how silly and long and pointless and rambling it seems. It's helping me tremendously. Thank you!

[Rowan123]

I wasn't able to read all of this but I'm sorry to hear you're going through this.

I know you want to do the best thing for her but I don't think taking her to the dog beach is a good idea now. All it will do is stress her because it's unfamiliar and she's never been. I don't think it will be fun for her. Also her immune system is compromised and who knows what's out there.

It's always hard when a pet is close to the end. All we can do is make them comfortable and not let them suffer when they are in this stage.

[cheesenugget]

I stopped reading after a few sentences. Sorry, the wall of texts became a blur to me. From what I was able to comprehend, I am sorry this is happening to you and your dog. You are seeking answers about a medical condition a veterinarian/oncologist would be the best person to ask. Even if my dog had the same diagnosis, I wouldn't want to compare experiences as each dog is different and give you false hope. What I can tell after losing a young dog to cancer and my mother herself diagnosed with leukaemia, you have to take it day by day. Just enjoy what you got and do your best for that dog. If she likes her treats, give her extra. If she likes to run in the yard, let her. Enjoy her.