I got some bad news yesterday regarding my newly adopted German Shepherd....am pretty upset. She’s had a terrible odor coming out her mouth for about a month as well as that side of her mouth was tender to touch. I didn’t think anything was terribly wrong other than maybe an abscessed tooth but couldn’t get her in til this week.  She would not let me open her mouth for anything so I couldn’t take a look myself.
 
When the vet opened her mouth and looked in....he saw a tumor inside her upper right jaw, about the size of a golf ball....ran through her teeth, gums and over into the roof of her mouth. At first I didn’t understand what that meant, but as he went on to explain what it was...that it is more than likely cancer and not something that is very treatable unless you want to spend a lot of money and even then, results are not usually very favorable. My eyes teared up right there...and I could hardly say a word...I was devastated. He told me that he has had SOME good results from Cryosurgery, which is a freezing technique using liquid nitrogen. He asked if I’d like to try that treatment for now, and once we get the lab report back telling us what form of cancer this is, we’ll decide what do to next, if anything. If this is an aggressive, malignant form of cancer, it often spreads quickly to their organs and they die within months.
 
I am trying to remain optimistic in that this isn’t that form of it...and that we can stop the growth of the tumor with a few Cryosurgery treatments. The main thing is that she is comfortable and not in pain, we just won’t let her go through that. After the procedure (they kept her for 2.5 hours as they had to sedate her), he sent her home with some pain meds and said to just keep an eye on her jaw for any additional swelling or excessive blood oozing out. We’ll have the lab results back mid week....for now, we have her scheduled to go back in two weeks for another freezing treatment. She’s doing pretty well at he moment, sleeping a lot because of the pain meds. This just rips my heart out. I have gotten so attached to her in just a few short months...and its not fair that she has to go through this, after coming here to live a happy life on the farm. On a positive note, she has gained about 10 lbs since she’s been here so that was a good thing as she was way too thin. And the fact she is gaining weight & not losing...is also good.
 
Soooo....please hold good thoughts for my girl.

(1st pic is of her sleeping a little while ago...pain meds make her pretty drowsy.  2nd pic is taken when she & I went for a ride to town one day)

Ohhhh    I am so sorry.  HUGS

I'm having trouble typing this through my tears... hymacaw all my best wishes and finest hopes are with you and your girl. She is a beauty.

katt

She is beautiful. I understand your pain and heartbreak as one who, like you, loves my dog.

Your girl is blessed to have you as her shepard/guardian angel- the love, compassion and commitment you have for her is so strong in your words.

You will both be in my thoughts and prayers.

a little humor: Not knowing how much you know about dogs; when I read you say that she had a horrible smell coming out of her mouth for about a month, my first thought was: .. are you sure you're checking the correct end of the dog?

surfer76

Aww hymacaw, I am so sorry. It's definitely a good sign that she's gaining weight. She's a gorgeous girl and I hope she gets well. 

She is a gorgeous pup, sweetly sleeping and those loving eyes, i would be an emotional wreck with this news. Our pets are miracles more then what meets our eyes and hearts. In any event i'm sure she is cherished by you and has all the love and care she needs, you give her the best as much as she gives you. All hopes and best of thoughts in her treatments, healing and recovery.

Do keep us updated Hymacaw.  I hope you can post some good news soon.

blue
 

Heard back from the vet yesterday on Millie. She has squamous cell carcinoma (ironically, the same form I had removed from my leg a couple months ago). He said this form of cancer has the capability of metastasizing quickly through the body, often with fatal results. This is the most common one of the cancers dog get. These tumors grow very rapidly and typically invade nearby bone and tissue but they do not usually spread to other organs. He asked how she was doing and whether there was still a lot of swelling. I told him her energy level was actually pretty good, she was eating normally (if not even more) and that the swelling looked like it had reduced some. In addition, she let me lift her lip to look inside a little, which she’s never done before so that tells me the pain is a bit less for her too. We are going to proceed with the next freezing treatment for now. He said on a scale of 1 –10 for being a pretty serious tumor, she is a 7. I’m hopeful that the freezing will kill off the cancer cells but it will likely regrow, maybe elsewhere in her mouth, and we’ll just deal with that situation if it arises. As long as she is not in pain and can live a fairly normal doggy life, for now, we’ll do these treatments.
 
Soooo, that is where we’re at.  Just don’t know any long-term prognosis at this time, will just be one of those wait & see kinda things while we hope & pray for the best for her.
 
Thanks so much for all the concern, thoughts & well wishes for Millie.