Mouth tumor in a senior dog (how much, shepherd, lab, tumors)
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Our resident 15-year old Shiba Inu had his annual checkup a week and a half ago. The Vet discovered a tumor the size of a grape that wasn't present only a week before when my wife did a mouth inspection. A crazy week ensued finding a Veterinarian Dentist who had a opening in their schedule for removal. Luckily we discovered one of the top Veterinarian Dentists in the US is only 15 miles away, AND they deliberately keep a few openings in their schedule for Service Dogs and emergency cases of dogs/cats with Bloody Tumors.
Non-emergency appointment dates given us by Veterinarian Dentists were Late September and November, one to three months in the future!
The tumor was the second best scenario - removed in it entirety but requiring extraction of three teeth and some jaw bone removal. We were told pre-surgery that his condition may be terminal, requiring radiation treatments to hold the cancer at bay and provide him with 6-months to a couple more years. Nothing is certain until the soft tissue pathology reports arrive in a week and the bone pathology report arrives in two weeks, but for now it looks like he will be with us till the natural end of his life.
I am so sorry to hear this! We had a similar situation with our 14 year old rescue terrier. In January, I knew something was very wrong. I could “smell” the cancer. Took her to vet and she ran blood work and could find nothing on examinations. Sent us home. In early March, i noticed two major things: she would show her teeth at me when I hugged her, and she was chewing her food odd- like in the side of her mouth.
Back to the vet and she immediately found a grape- sized tumor in her upper mouth. We opted for no surgery per our vet’s recommendation and our gut feelings. Our dog was in pain and we did want to put her through major surgery. The loss was huge for us. Hoping the best for your dog!
I haven't dealt with it but someone in my neighborhood has. Her dog developed a melanoma in her lower jaw. Initially it was misdiagnosed as a blood blister. She did have it excised in the beginning with the knowledge that it would probably return, which it did. She also did immunotherapy - I don't know the details but the cost, just for reference, was $2500 for, I think, four or six sessions. It made no difference. I don't know why radiation wasn't done. At that point the vet said that the only thing left to do was to remove her lower jaw (or at least a goodly portion of it) but due to the dog's age (13 if I remember correctly) and preexisting conditions such as a kidney issue and a liver problem, he didn't recommend it.
She went with "comfort care" at that point. The dog did fairly well - soft food only - for a few months and then one night the tumor ruptured causing a hemorrhage which led to the dog being euthanized that night.
I'm terribly sorry you are dealing with this but I think your perspective about the tumor and your dog's age are spot on. I applaud you for doing your best to keep his quality of life as high as possible. You are fortunate to have access to such excellent veterinary care and your dog is really fortunate to have you and your wife as his owners.
Thank you both. The Vet who performed the surgery has "quality of life" for the animal as his major focus. Surgery if the tumor shows in a Cat-Scan or X-ray that it can be removed with healthy margins (good surrounding tissue). Limited radiation to keep the cancer from growing of surgery is not possible.. Palliative care for the pet until it becomes ineffective.
His quote to us was, "I don't go for the Hail Mary of treatments, I aim for quality of life."
The dog's appetite has returned in full, even with now missing teeth and a tender jaw. We hope the Pathology Reports are as positive as the Vet is expecting.
I once had a German Shepherd who developed a bloody tumor in his mouth. He lived for nine additional months with a combination of chemo and surgical removal of part of his lower jaw.
He was a happy and active boy who adjusted very well to the loss of part of his jaw, plus the chemo treatments. People were also always shocked to discover that he was battling cancer.
We are having to make a gut wrenching decision now. Two weeks ago we sent our 11 year old pit mix in to have a tooth pulled and it turned out he has stage one oral cancer in his upper left jaw.
The CT scan showed he didn’t have much jaw left. They also drained a fluid sack in his throat.
And I thought I had a healthy dog going in!
Saw the surgeon, but since the tumor is so far back, she doesn’t think she can get the whole thing. So he would need radiation and then chemo. She warned about a possible infection in his nasal passage from the surgery also. It made me sick just thinking about it.
Then we spoke to the oncologist about radiation and chemo. But palliative radiation didn’t seem to prolong his life much longer and the possible side effects were also mentioned.
He has basically stopped drinking in a matter of two weeks. He is very hungry so we grind up his food and I add a lot of water to it. He loves going for walks, which he never did before. And he’s smelling everything. I almost feel like I have a different dog. He has changed so much over the last few weeks.
We are leaning towards not doing anything but keeping him comfortable. He has been a great friend to us and we will miss him terribly. All of this does not even seem real. We had been planning for our first grandchild who is due at the beginning of December. Now I feel like we are running a hospice here. It’s really sad and we feel so helpless.
Last edited by SkyNSea55; 10-10-2019 at 06:52 PM..
Reason: Wrong word
We are having to make a gut wrenching decision now. Two weeks ago we sent our 11 year old pit mix in to have a tooth pulled and it turned out he has stage one oral cancer in his upper left jaw.
The CT scan showed he didn’t have much jaw left. They also drained a fluid sack in his throat.
And I thought I had a healthy dog going in!
Saw the surgeon, but since the tumor is so far back, she doesn’t think she can get the whole thing. So he would need radiation and then chemo. She warned about a possible infection in his nasal passage from the surgery also. It made me sick just thinking about it.
Then we spoke to the oncologist about radiation and chemo. But palliative radiation didn’t seem to prolong his life much longer and the possible side effects were also mentioned.
He has basically stopped drinking in a matter of two weeks. He is very hungry so we grind up his food and I add a lot of water to it. He loves going for walks, which he never did before. And he’s smelling everything. I almost feel like I have a different dog. He has changed so much over the last few weeks.
We are leaning towards not doing anything but keeping him comfortable. He has been a great friend to us and we will miss him terribly. All of this does not even seem real. We had been planning for our first grandchild who is due at the beginning of December. Now I feel like we are running a hospice here. It’s really sad and we feel so helpless.
This is so hard, I know. We had a 10-year-old Lab whom we brought in to the vet to learn if she could see anything wrong with his teeth because he was eating so slowly. She discovered a huge tumor back on his soft palate - that had not been there when he had his teeth cleaned 6 months earlier. It was Stage 4 cancer, with nothing realistically to be done, and I know what you mean about reeling from the totally unexpected news. We chose the "keep him comfortable" route, too. We put him to sleep about a month later -- nine years ago tomorrow, in fact. In that time, we loved him in every way we could, including taking him for a final trip to the beach, to play fetch with his beloved bumper in the waves. He was exhausted by it, but SO happy. He, too, had a harder and harder time eating (just the physical act of it), but was very hungry. He was able to get down: fresh eggs (from our chickens), vanilla ice cream, and beef brisket, chopped up small (we lived in Austin at the time). Sweet boy. It's a very hard time you're going through. Take good care of him and of yourselves.
We've had all of our dogs put to sleep by a mobile vet at home. I recommend it, when the time comes. (There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing it at the vet's office - I'm just saying that we find it peaceful to be able to sit with them in our home, one last time, rather than make a final trip to the vet's.)
There is an upside and a down side. Ten years ago our well loved German Spitz suddenly had a big sack in the top of his mouth. Blood. turns out he had an anal sac carcinoma. A cancer that was metasazing through his body. Only known treatment is a particle accelerator knife to clean up the area.
We sent him off to Carlsbad CA to one of the two available Vet Hospitals with suitable equipment. Something over $20,000 and 3 months later we got him back. It did work. But a year later the cancer recurred. Same blood pocket in the mouth.
Went throgh the options. Only thing that might work for a while was blood transfusions monthly. A few thousand a month for as long as he would last. Which would not be very long.
We looked at it hard and decided it was not a workable outcome. He should go in peace. He walked into the Vet very happily and passed quietly.
I do not think we would do the accelerator on another animal unless given much better odds on a good outcome. We love our animals but for 10s of thousands of dollars we want more than a year.
Sprite did not mind the whole deal. He actually lived under the desk of a very nice lady Vet in Carlsbad. He I think enjoyed this as much as living at home. Bit of pain but nothing significant and the Vet worshiped him which he loved.
This is so hard, I know. We had a 10-year-old Lab whom we brought in to the vet to learn if she could see anything wrong with his teeth because he was eating so slowly. She discovered a huge tumor back on his soft palate - that had not been there when he had his teeth cleaned 6 months earlier. It was Stage 4 cancer, with nothing realistically to be done, and I know what you mean about reeling from the totally unexpected news. We chose the "keep him comfortable" route, too. We put him to sleep about a month later -- nine years ago tomorrow, in fact. In that time, we loved him in every way we could, including taking him for a final trip to the beach, to play fetch with his beloved bumper in the waves. He was exhausted by it, but SO happy. He, too, had a harder and harder time eating (just the physical act of it), but was very hungry. He was able to get down: fresh eggs (from our chickens), vanilla ice cream, and beef brisket, chopped up small (we lived in Austin at the time). Sweet boy. It's a very hard time you're going through. Take good care of him and of yourselves.
We've had all of our dogs put to sleep by a mobile vet at home. I recommend it, when the time comes. (There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing it at the vet's office - I'm just saying that we find it peaceful to be able to sit with them in our home, one last time, rather than make a final trip to the vet's.)
You are so kind for sharing your story with me. I am finding that reading these posts are very helpful. For the first two weeks, I couldn’t read anything. But now that we know what he has and have heard the alternatives, I guess we are slowly coming to accept Jake may not be with us much longer. He’s laying right next to me now dreaming and has no idea how much we are hurting.
We were thinking about having the mobile vet also. We are going to talk to his vet on Saturday so we know what signs to look for. When she diagnosed the cancer, she warned us not to wait too long. I guess because these tumors can rupture.
You sound like you did all you could do for your pup and he had a wonderful life with you. Jake was a rescue and fear aggressive with other dogs, so we tried to protect him all his life. We never have given up on him and we never will <3
You are so kind for sharing your story with me. I am finding that reading these posts are very helpful. For the first two weeks, I couldn’t read anything. But now that we know what he has and have heard the alternatives, I guess we are slowly coming to accept Jake may not be with us much longer. He’s laying right next to me now dreaming and has no idea how much we are hurting.
We were thinking about having the mobile vet also. We are going to talk to his vet on Saturday so we know what signs to look for. When she diagnosed the cancer, she warned us not to wait too long. I guess because these tumors can rupture.
You sound like you did all you could do for your pup and he had a wonderful life with you. Jake was a rescue and fear aggressive with other dogs, so we tried to protect him all his life. We never have given up on him and we never will <3
So sorry to hear of Jake's condition. Our first dog, a Cocker Spaniel, had to be euthanized in 1998 at age 14 after years of cardiac drugs and declining strength/abilities. Eventually he refused to even lap his water. Kaneda, our 15-year old resident Shiba Inu, is actually our son's dog but has lived with us for 7 years due to our son's Med School and now Pathology Residency.
I know the pain you are feeling. We will be experiencing it a second time soon ourselves, maybe from the Cancer, maybe from Kaneda's advanced age.
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