Dog has sarcoma cancer and has had an operation

moneysaver12

Hi two and half weeks ago i took our 8 and half year old dog to the vet as his mouth was bleeding when he picked up a ball.

The vet found two growths in his mouth, he went in for an operation to remove the growths and was put on painkillers and anti biotitics, a sample of tissue and the tooth they removed was send off to a lab, they were hoping it was a bad infection.]]

Last week we found out that our darling dog has cancer, sarcoma. Today he had an operation to remove the bottom part of his jaw on the left side.

Our darling dog is now home, he has a lampshade on his head, his mouth on the poorly side is stitched up and he is wobbly on his feet and looks very sad.


I feel so bad for putting him through the operation but we didn't want to loose him. We are waiting for tests to be done to check that it hasn't spread.

Has anyone else pet had this cancer

teddysmum

I'm sorry to read this, but have had a dog with a 'head' cancer.


Benji was a 7 year-old collie cross and grew a huge lump on his forehead. It grew so quickly that we assumed had had bumped his head while running past the shed, but a biopsy showed it was cancer.


As it was just above and between his eyes, it was inoperable, so he had steroids, which gave him six months. The vet assured me that he felt no pain,but we had to let him go when the size of the tumour was causing his his eyelid to lift and would have made closing the eye impossible , causing discomfort.


I was very sad to lose him ,but so pleased that he was pain free to the end.

moneysaver12

Sorry to hear about your dog Teddysmum. I had to take him back to the vets today as he wasn't eating which meant he didn't have his medicines. The vet checked his temp and gave hiim a injection for his pain relief and ani biotics. Vet said we can give him his normal pedigree wet food blended. We have given him a tin of pedigree and he has eaten it, looks like he didn't like the food the vet gave him. Taken him out for a short walk too which he liked.

jrtfan

Hi moneysaver12. I'm sorry to hear your dog has been so poorly recently. It must have been a terrible shock for you.

I haven't had a dog with the same type of tumour as your dog's, but my last dog did have a mouth cancer. It was a squamous cell carcinoma and it was located at the very back of his tongue. The Vet said it was a type of locally very aggressive growth and it was already well-established by the time it was picked up. My dog was 14 years old and had had liver dysfunction for several years by this time, so the Vet said No to surgery, basically, because he wasn't a good candidate for it (plus it would have required some extensive reconstructive facial surgery afterwards, if I understood correctly what they explained to me).

Things sound very much more hopeful for your dog, from what you've said. For what it's worth, I think absolutely you have done the right thing for him, you've given him a chance. Dogs (animals, generally) really amaze me because of how quickly they seem to adapt to things which, I'm sure, would floor the majority of people, if they were facing the same challenges.

I don't know if this might be suitable for your dog while his mouth is still sore and when he goes off his food, but my Vet suggested that I try mine on several small helpings each day of plain cottage cheese, to which I added some finely-minced, boiled, skinless chicken breast (I saved the chicken broth and gave it to him cooled, to encourage him to drink). The cottage cheese also helped to settle his stomach a little if he was feeling queasy.

I do hope the tests come back with some good news for you.

UKTigerlily

So sorry to hear about your dog. I may be going through it now, today I took my almost 12 year old in for surgery to remove what the Vet thought was a Lipoma, but the operating Vet doesn't think it is. She thinks it's cancerous and I now wait 5-10 days to find out if it is or not. And this comes just 2 weeks after the 17.5yr old cat was diagnosed with CKD! They are nothing if not competitive! Hope all goes well for you and your dog x

moneysaver12

Update Ryder has been doing well. Then the past couple of weeks he has been barking more than he normally does. On Thursday afternoon I found a lump where the jaw had been removed. My dh took him to the vets yesterday and the tumour has grown back. The vet has given us pain killers for him and anti biotics and we have to take him back on Friday to see if it was just a tissue infection.

Ryder is still eating ok and going for walls and playing. He does look a bit sad , think it might be the pain he is in.
Vet mentioned chemo and said nearest one is in Liverpool. We are in west Yorkshire. Vet doesn't seem to recommened chemo.

If it's not an infection I don't know what to do for best. He will not be nine on Monday and we don't want to lose him. We don't want h to suffer. Has anyone else experienced this please

Katiehound

So sorry to hear about your dog.

Not quite the same situation but I had a beautiful hound (the original Katie) who developed lymphoma with a large lump behind/below ear. She was only 9 years old and a very very special dog (my loveliest dog ever with whom I did loads of charity work.).
I did not want to use strong chemicals - there was no guarantee after all. I did try cv247 (google for info) which is a holistic approach. Unfortunately the growth was very aggressive and I lost her within a few weeks- decided to pts before she choked........ she wasn't in any pain.

I think you sadly have to think about quality of life for your beloved pet. Are you doing this for him, or for you?
Sometimes we have to make utterly heart breaking decisions.
Take care

teddysmum

On a rescue forum I use, a number of dogs have had chemo, but mainly for leg amputations, where the tumour has clearly been removed. They say that dogs tolerate chemo better than humans,but,if Benji, mentioned above, had it as an option, I don't think I would have risked it.


It's hard, but I was happy to let him go while he was still happy and never suffered. On his last day he ate well, went for a walk in the woods and was allowed to chew a small branch (usually forbidden). It was a little upsetting to see the chomped branch still where he left it, (for a while) ,though.

HappyMJ

moneysaver12 wrote: »

Update Ryder has been doing well. Then the past couple of weeks he has been barking more than he normally does. On Thursday afternoon I found a lump where the jaw had been removed. My dh took him to the vets yesterday and the tumour has grown back. The vet has given us pain killers for him and anti biotics and we have to take him back on Friday to see if it was just a tissue infection.

Ryder is still eating ok and going for walls and playing. He does look a bit sad , think it might be the pain he is in.
Vet mentioned chemo and said nearest one is in Liverpool. We are in west Yorkshire. Vet doesn't seem to recommened chemo.

If it's not an infection I don't know what to do for best. He will not be nine on Monday and we don't want to lose him. We don't want h to suffer. Has anyone else experienced this please

No-one ever wants to lose a pet. It's very hard saying goodbye. Chemo isn't a nice treatment and travelling so far isn't worth it. Even if I had full insurance I personally wouldn't put a pet through it. I don't really know what to say... Just enjoy the time you've got left with him and you'll know when the time is right.

moneysaver12

Hi thank you for your replies. I want to do the best for him .

*Robin*

http://www.turmericlife.com.au/

Have a read, OP.
..Helps to maximise quality of life, may extend life, and sometimes can be the miracle you're hoping for.

Good luck.

(My Clever Dog had either kidney or bladder cancer last summer - didn't scan then to get a definitive diagnosis due to cost; no insurance. Over a couple of weeks I increased the GP dose to double what I'd been giving her to keep arthritis at bay, and five weeks later our home vet did the scans, and repeated blood & urine tests - all NED. It's likely the cancer was picked up very early though in CD's case.
CD will be on GP for life; she's 15 and I still have trouble keeping up with her even though I take it too!).

GP - Golden Paste
NED - no evidence of disease
CD - Clever Dog