Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We had a fair sized setback a few days ago. I was thinking that Ginger was responding to her medication well and seemed to be in good spirits. Later that day I heard her sneezing and licking so I went to find her and there was quite a bit of blood on her, her bed, the floor, the walls, which seems to upset her when it happens. As I was cleaning her up I found that the majority of the blood was coming from her good nostril. It was an unhappy turn of events.
We try to remain calm and help her through the bleeds but it seems to take it out of her. She looked rough, eyes glassy for a few days. Today she looks about normal though maybe sleeping a bit more.
We were hoping that Ginger would keep her one good nostril and we were hoping that this thing would move slower but it might not be in the cards.
Hi Cathy. What type of nasal cancer does your dog have? Boomer has squamous cell carcinoma. Boomer also gets upset about the bloody mess and tries so hard to clean it all up. He has always been the sort of dog that will lick his paws before he comes in the house after going to the bathroom as he doesn't want to dirty the carpet.you can imagine how upset he is by this whole ordeal!I just tell him to leave it and i clean it up later. I am sorry about your set back.I am afraid we may have to put our boo to sleep very soon. He has started to growl when you touch him. the weird thing is he wags his tail while he is growling.He didn't finish his breakfast this am(that is a first) I told him hey you didn't eat it all and he went back and finished it reluctantly.I feel that he is still hungry but the pain in his nose isn't worth it anymore. I will hand feed him dinner and see what happens. We will also give him his pain meds more frequently.Every 8 hrs instead of every 12 hrs.He seems to be deaf most of the time anymore as well.Boy this is really hard.If he growls again tomorrow we will have to make our decison as i read that dogs will growl when they are in pain. right now he is napping comfortably next to me.We don't want him to suffer and I am beginning to see signs of suffering.We are taking it day by day now.I wish I had better news or more comforting words but this cancer is so aggressive and messy. Just hold on to your baby while you can and try to make them comfortable. My heart goes out to all of you and my prayers too.
I have tried to read every post through this thread and there are just too many. I have a question about nasal cancer.....
Mic has developed discoloration on his nose. It is very small, under his left nostril and along the split to the left side. It looks more like a scratch to me or like he has rubbed it raw. It has only been a few days, but he is rubbing the side of his face on the carpet and using his paw to scratch. My question is What are the warning signs/symptoms of nasal cancer? Does anyone have an idea on what it might be?
My plan is to watch it and see if it becomes bigger or more discolored. I also plan on going to the vet for his flea meds. and heart guard this weekend. I will bring him with me so I can ask a vet tech to look at it, but I was just wanting to get all of your opinions.
LostNJax, while dogs can and do get cancer on the nostril which I believe is more of a skin cancer most of the dogs here have cancer up in the nasal cavity/sinus. Changes in color on the nose can be cancer but also Discoid Lupus ( which tends to itch too as Henry my parents dog was forever rubbing his nose on everything and the lupus lesion ate right up his muzzle to his eyes before we got it under control but it did start out as a small lesion and change in color on his nose).My Jazz had black pigment on her nose and lips then years ago she developed some pink spots on her nose and on her lips! The vet never knew what caused it, suspected lupus at first but ruled that out.A couple years later she was back to all black. Phoenix had bubble gum pink nose and lips and now at about age 8 I would say over 1/2 of her nose is now black and the same for her lips.
The nasal cancer most of the dogs here have has symptoms like reverse sneezing or regular sneezing ,bloody noses, difficulty breathing through the nose. restlessness at night because they can not pant and sleep at the same time. I hope this helps.
I am sorry to read that Boomer is having more trouble as well as Ginger. Dash has bled out both sides of his nose since OCT. I am not sure if the cancer is in the right or if the lesions were up so high that the blood comes out both sides. I venture on the second as the right side is not at all swollen.
AS for the cleaning up after a bleed Dash does try but he also has his maid Jazz who does a great job cleaning up after him. With the nasal flushes I have been giving Dash I am once again seeing a little bleeding...hurray!!!call me crazy but with him I would rather see some bleeding because when it stopped was when the swelling got large as the blood is trapped in there. His swelling is a bit smaller so he is opening his left eye a bit again and while I would think it would be uncomfortable he seems to not be bothered by it..go figure.
Dashdog - Thank you so much for your response. It makes me feel better. I will research the Discoid Lupus and see what symptoms it has with it. Again, thank you and I wish you the best with Dash...
Ginger has adenocarcinoma. From the pathology report it is supposed to not be very aggressive as it was well defined and had not advanced into the turbinate bones as of mid-May. I thought we caught it fairly soon but maybe not because as we went tracking back to her first bleed and we think it was probably late in October last year when the two dogs were rough housing and we thought that Pepper (who is really rough) took her sister down too hard. We had reverse sneezing episodes before that but I didn't know what it was and thought that she ate something that didn't agree with her.
Both yesterday and today she seems much better. Still I can tell that she isn't feeling well. She was getting killed by the heat (70's, I guess it's all relative) and unfortunately our local U-wash grooming place closed that operation this spring much to our dismay so we've been on a groomer's wait list for months. We finally found a pair of clippers that could do the job at a pawn shop last week and we clipped her (and her sister) down in a summer haircut and gave them a bath. That really helped with her night panting. Even though we had a fan aimed straight at her bed for the last month, it was becoming increasingly ineffective. Now she doesn't need the fan. It has been a pure pleasure seeing her curled up in a ball or half circle at night like she used to sleep rather than all splayed out across her bed in an attempt to cool down. She has always been a heat intolerant girl, now it's just that much worse.
I hate this. We have been through this before and the line between having quality of life and not is a fine one and the bad days followed by the good days seem to cloud the issue. We aren't close to having to choose euthanasia for Ginger yet but we see it coming and it's a hard road having been down it before. Boomer's Mom, I am thinking of you. Yet we all choose to love dogs who have life spans that are far too short for their merits.
Jan, thank you for starting this thread and giving people like us a place to share information and our struggles with this disease. I'm praying for you all.
I saw the photos of the dogs. They are so darn cute!
Dash has a love affair with the fan. I think the cancer makes him run on the hot side.I have a tower fan that he is always in front of. A few weeks ago it died so I had to hurry and get a new one as he was so upset!
I think I have posted that in the past when Dash starts to act like he does not feel well it has always been due to infection so just keep an eye out and keep that in mind. An infection just does him in and there have been times when I thought that was it and the antibiotics have turned him a round .
Dash has been feeling real good the past couple days everyone at the dog park has even commented on how great he seems to be feeling despite that large swelling. I would l think the swelling would bother him but with his piroxicam and tramadol he seems to be pain free. I also think that the Palliative radiation he had probably deadened the nerves in that area.He is happy enjoying his life so right now quality of life seems good so I am happy too.
Erica, I am not sure what to say about the doxcycline. Dash did 2 weeks of it and did Ok with it yet this time right now where he has not had any antibiotics for a couple weeks he seems to be doing great and seems to be infection free so I have not pushed for more of it . We did consider pulsing him with it 2 weeks on 1 week off to try for the antiangiogenic effects but seeing how great he feels I don't want to mess that up so am holding on that for now.At this point I think his comfort and over all well being is more important then fighting the cancer in other words he is in the hospice mode now.I just don't want to do anything that might rob him of this good time he seems to be having.
I did just find a new growth on Jazz back by her anus so will have to have the vet look at it. Found it because Dazzle has been so fasinated with Jazz's butt!.As if her nerve sheath sarcoma of last year was not enough! The fun just never ends here!
Sending prayers out to all of you and big hugs to all of you as I feel we all could use a few of those! Jan
I'm happy to hear that Dash is feeling so well. He is the original "energizer dog" for sure. And I'm sorry to hear about Jazz. With older dogs if it rains, it seems to pour. Pepper has been sneezing and it upsets me but I don't want to put her through the trauma of a scoping without more to go on. Could be allergies, they've always been itchy girls, so we are taking it one day at a time with both of them.
Hello all. We have decided to put boomer to sleep tomorrow first thing in the am.He has started to bleed out of the top of his tumor on his muzzle. He paced around last night and continually panted.He hasn't been able to rest all day today even though i gave him tramadol and metacam.We haven't been giving him the metacam because of the bleeding but he seemed so painful this am that I gave it to him anyway.I gave him his favorite dinner and thank goodness no sneezing. We are so afraid that the tumor on his muzzle is going to pop open w/ any quick movement.I am completely numb right now after a day of sobbing.Thanks for the kind support here.Please pray that he has a peaceful ending.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. With the nasal flushes I have been giving Dash I am once again seeing a little bleeding...hurray!!!call me crazy but with him I would rather see some bleeding because when it stopped was when the swelling got large as the blood is trapped in there. His swelling is a bit smaller so he is opening his left eye a bit again and while I would think it would be uncomfortable he seems to not be bothered by it..go figure. 
Jan
