Oral cancer in dogs

pruney

Hi
A couple of weeks ago our little Molly had an anal gland abscess rupture. She had it lanced at the vets and it's now being treated appropriately but at the time they were sedating her they found an ulcerated area in her mouth. Today I've taken her back for her second check up to see how her bum is healing up and also her mouth and they think it might possibly be early signs of a tumour in her mouth as in addition to the ulcerated area near the palate, there is a small lump/mass near her left tonsil.
I know this board is for moneysaving issues to do with pets but I just wondered if anyone had any experience of oral cancer in dogs.
I should stress that he only said it might be a tumour and that he'd be surprised if it was as she's quite young to get cancer (she's 7.5 years old and a CKC spaniel). I have to take her back next week and if it still isn't responding to the antibiotics they're going to do a biopsy.
I have googled it but most of the treatment information I've found seems to be in the States and I wonder if they'd go to the same lengths here that they would there. I've read that if it is a tumour, it's not in the best place and some dogs have to have part of their jaw removed.
If anyone has any experiences they can share to give me some insight (good or bad) I'd be grateful. I'm telling DH not to worry about it as it might not be cancer but I'm worrying about it and the only way I know how to deal with my worry is to be as well informed as I can be.
Any insight/advice/experience would be gratefully received.
Pruney x

Mayflower10cat

Well, I know of a condition called stomatitis which causes lesions & ulcers in the mouth. I'm a cat owner so didn't know if dogs could get it, just googled and found an article here; http://http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/Medicine/Dental-Corner-Diagnosing-and-treating-chronic-ulce/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/141738
and spotted this "...Cavalier King Charles spaniels also seem to be genetically predisposed..." I'm hoping & praying for you that it isn't an oral cancer - we lost our very special diabetic cat to S.C.C. in his mouth, lower jaw, and it was a fast decline from diagnosis. I really do hope this isn't the case with your Molly. And one more little bit of advice; please don't upset yourself unneccesarily until you know for certain what is amiss - I joined numerous Feline Cancer Support Boards and spent hours crying & sympathising with other people and their beloved cats, at a time when I really needed to keep my mental strength up for the sake of my own sick cat and my poor husband who was even more upset than I was. I really don't mean that to sound heartless, please make your own mind up if do feel the need to join a support group/forum - everyone is different. Please let us know the outcome? My very best wishes to you and to Molly.

pruney

Mayflower10cat wrote: »

Well, I know of a condition called stomatitis which causes lesions & ulcers in the mouth. I'm a cat owner so didn't know if dogs could get it, just googled and found an article here; http://http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/Medicine/Dental-Corner-Diagnosing-and-treating-chronic-ulce/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/141738
and spotted this "...Cavalier King Charles spaniels also seem to be genetically predisposed..." I'm hoping & praying for you that it isn't an oral cancer - we lost our very special diabetic cat to S.C.C. in his mouth, lower jaw, and it was a fast decline from diagnosis. I really do hope this isn't the case with your Molly. And one more little bit of advice; please don't upset yourself unneccesarily until you know for certain what is amiss - I joined numerous Feline Cancer Support Boards and spent hours crying & sympathising with other people and their beloved cats, at a time when I really needed to keep my mental strength up for the sake of my own sick cat and my poor husband who was even more upset than I was. I really don't mean that to sound heartless, please make your own mind up if do feel the need to join a support group/forum - everyone is different. Please let us know the outcome? My very best wishes to you and to Molly.

Thanks Mayflower for your post and I'm very sorry about your cat, it's the worst thing losing a beloved member of the family. Looking at the symptoms for stomatitis, it looks like a horrible disease but the only symptom she has is the ulcerated area. She isn't in pain, her appetite hasn't changed (still trying to steal everyone else's food lol) and there's no halitosis or drooling. She doesn't have great teeth and only has a few left now but the only time she's had bad breath is when she had to have some teeth removed.

My husband was also telling me to stop reading about it when he came home yesterday to find me a bit teared up reading the blog of a lady and her dog who had oral cancer. He's quite right that we don't know what it is but I'm one of these people that needs to know possibilities of what could happen so I'm prepared, it makes me feel better and allows me to rationalise otherwise I can get myself quite worked up about these things.
I think it stems back my experience with Tess, our first dog. She had a heart murmur which didn't require medication and we were at the vets with her all the time with one thing or another so it was checked very regularly. Then she ballooned up and I couldn't understand why she was putting on so much weight and it turned out her heart murmur had got a lot worse very quickly. It was such a shock to us as we'd only had her for a few months (she was an adult when she came to us, her previous owners we found out later hadn't treated her well at all) and they let us try some meds for her. In hindsight, I think they did that to allow us some time to come to terms with the fact we were going to lose her, I don't think they ever expected them to work. But that day at the vets when we found out there was no way on earth I was ready to part with her. But when we took her back 2 weeks later, I had allowed myself to consider that she might not be well enough to continue and although she showed a bit of improvement for a few days, it didn't continue.
I am a bit of a control freak and although I know that knowing some the possibilities doesn't really give me any control over her outcome, it gives me control over myself in that I have some understanding when the vet suggests certain things so I can make an informed decision about what is best for my girl.
It's quite silly really that all these years I've been waiting with baited breath for the vet to tell us Molly has a heart murmur as CKC spaniels practically all get one and we've been lucky that Molly has reached 7 and she still isn't showing signs. But she does have other health issues like allergies, problem anal glands, bad teeth etc.

Raksha

When I was in my early 20's, my Dad's rough Collie had oral cancer - it started with a swelling under his tongue, which was removed and biopsied - he then had radio or chemo therapy at Cambridge. this kept it at bay for 18 months - 2 years, but it returned and this time it grew very quickly. The treatment didn't seem to affect him at all, most dogs seem to cope with it quite well.

undaunted

Try a look at

http://www.animalcancertrust.org.uk/

Good luck.

buddys_mum

Buddy has been getting mouth ulcers, but this is down to his diabeties. I used IGLOO mouth ulcer gel on them and it works great, i did consult with the vet before giving it to him and they looked at ingrediants and siad that it was ok.

Hope your pooch is ok.

pruney

buddys_mum wrote: »

Buddy has been getting mouth ulcers, but this is down to his diabeties. I used IGLOO mouth ulcer gel on them and it works great, i did consult with the vet before giving it to him and they looked at ingrediants and siad that it was ok.

Hope your pooch is ok.

I did wonder about whether she might be diabetic actually as she's always been overweight and we were warned about it before. She is on a low fat food and has been for ages but she's just a lazy dog who likes to lie around sleeping. I think when I take her back next Tuesday I'm going to ask if it looks like the ulcers that dogs can get with diabetes although that still wouldn't explain the lump.

buddys_mum

Definatley worth asking about the diabeties. Take in an urine sample, the fresher the better. If you donty have a empty jar to put sample in, then (providing its not to far) get a sample container from doctors, saying it for you (not the dog) for free and use that.

Buddy always slept all day and still does (at present curled up on my bed snoring quite happily).

lowis

well, not a dog...but my cat Timmy had oral cancer. i did loads of research and dogs have a MUCH better prognosis than cats when it comes to this illness. obviously a lot depends on the location of the tumour. the jaw removal operation is not really an option for a cat i don't think - they don't have enough jaw bone to remove and cats are notoriously 'funny' about their mouths, washing, eating etc. dogs (depending on breed) have longer jaw bones so can usually live fairly well with a bit of jaw missing - they recover from the op better and can manage much better that a cat after this operation.

and yes, the technology available to treat cancers in pets in definitely here in the UK. there is a specialist oncologist centre in Essex called the 'VRCC' (and i believe two others of similar standard elsewhere). your vet would need to referr you to such a centre. they can do all sorts (radiotherapy, chemo, MRS scans, CAT scans etc), but you have to weigh up what is best for your pet - your vet can advise and guide you accordingly. plus there is loads of stuff on the internet about cancer treatment for pets and what to expect in terms of side effects etc.

Timmy was diagnosed with oral cancer in early September last year - we were very lucky with regards to the position of the tumour and we had it removed, not many oral cancers are operable - he eventually went on for 6 months in the end and died in march this year - sadly the cancer returned, cats don't have a great success rate with oral cancer treatments. Unfortunately it was the actual size of the tumour that caused us to have him put to sleep, he was so normal in every other way - but the tumour had started to break the skin on his cheek and once that happens things go downhill very quickly (literally days). I decided to let him go a few days early rather than wait til he felt pain or got sick. It was tough putting what appeared to be a healthy cat to sleep - but I realise I saved him a lot of agony and distress.

i'll keep my fingers crossed this is just ulcers though, but please let us know how things are progressing.

pruney

Hi
Just to let you all know that Molly thankfully doesn't have a tumour. The area in her mouth is finally starting to heal and go down so the vet says she's probably caught it on something at some point. I took a water sample with me (that was fun catching it on a saucer when she crouched down) and got it tested for diabetes and she doesn't have it, everything seems normal. Her bum is also finally on the mend after her 3rd different course of antibiotic.
She's going back again next Tuesday hopefully to be signed off and I think he'll check it again then but we're now out of the worry zone and I can go back to worrying about when her inevitable heart murmur will appear lol

Mayflower10cat

Thats such great news! Thank you for sharing it with us.