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Old October 17th, 2012, 08:04 AM
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soft palate mass

I wanted to ask if anyone else has experienced a soft palate mass. Our 12 year old husky X had an endoscope yesterday to reveal a soft palate mass that was very inflamed. It was difficult to determine how extensive it was with all the swelling and so needle biopsies were taken through the roof of the mouth and should get results in 5 days. X-rays showed some pneumonia in the left lung as well. The mass is on the left side so probably related. Our dog is not breathing well, especially at night. Her nose sounds stuffy but she is eating well and on antibiotics now. We were hoping that this was just a simple polyp that could be easily removed but are so sad to learn it is likely a tumor. We hope to learn in the next few days if there are any treatment options? If anyone has experience or advice about this I am just trying to learn more.
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Old October 17th, 2012, 09:14 AM
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No experience or advice, SuperWanda, but I did want to send along some for your girl.
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Old October 19th, 2012, 06:46 PM
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Thank you hazelrunpack,

After everything she went through with the tick disease I was hoping her senior years would be free of any major ailments. Still no results back on the needle biopsy. I've started giving her krill oil and turmeric to see if that will reduce the inflammation and help her breathing. She is on doxycycline to address the pneumonia and has stopped wheezing so that has helped but the mass makes her breathing very noisy and she doesn't sleep very well. I don't think she is in pain because she seems happy - still plays with her toys and goes on walks but gets winded easily. She must also feel pressure where the mass is as it is the size of a golf ball.
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Old October 19th, 2012, 07:16 PM
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Aw, poor girl. Still praying!
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Old October 19th, 2012, 09:34 PM
MaxaLisa MaxaLisa is offline
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Well crap, I am so very sorry, this makes my heart sink

In any cancer dog with a history of tick disease, i would treat aggressively with doxy, since there seems to be a relationship between chronic underlying infection and cancer. PLUS, doxy itself has a couple of different anti-cancer properties.

There is a weak connection between the lyme vaccine and certain tumors. Weak in the sense it was mentioned by a vet at a teaching university and then I could never track any details after that.

Anyway, this dog: http://cinnamondog.com/ had a tumor similar to what you are describing, I think. Sander the Sheltie did suffer from lyme vaccine damage. No definitive proof they are related, but speculation.

Regardless of cause though, Sander was treated holistically and lived with that mouth tumor for many many years and died of old age (liver). If you have quetions, you can email via that site.

I like tumeric a lot, but there are a couple curcumin products that might be better absorbed. I'm a big fan of IP6 (enzymatic therapy, cell forte brand). Proteolytic enzymes too, like wobenzym or the like.

This really really sucks.
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Old October 21st, 2012, 09:36 PM
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Thank you hazelrunpack and MaxaLisa,

Glad to see some familiar forum dwellers still here!

Hopefully we will know more about what kind of tumor this is soon. She has never had a lyme vaccine so no correlation there and she hasn't been vaccinated at all since she was sick with the anaplasmosis.

I am giving turmeric capsules which contain 95% curcumin. 300mg twice a day. Have no idea if it will help? I don't think it will hurt. It comforts me to know that a dog like Sander can survive with cancer to the age of 15. I'll have to look at the enzyme therapy you suggested Maxalisa, I'm not familiar with them.

The other thing that is bugging her is itchy female bits which started before the antibiotics. I have anti-bacterial, antifungal cream but it drives her crazy and she licks herself until it is red. Her vulva is slightly inverted. Her urine was tested and no infection so I think it is just external infection and I am having trouble getting that under control. Worried that the antibiotic will make matters worse so she is taking probiotics as well. Poor girl!

Thanks for your kind words, I will keep you posted.
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Old October 22nd, 2012, 09:23 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperWanda View Post
I wanted to ask if anyone else has experienced a soft palate mass. Our 12 year old husky X had an endoscope yesterday to reveal a soft palate mass that was very inflamed. It was difficult to determine how extensive it was with all the swelling and so needle biopsies were taken through the roof of the mouth and should get results in 5 days. X-rays showed some pneumonia in the left lung as well. The mass is on the left side so probably related. Our dog is not breathing well, especially at night. Her nose sounds stuffy but she is eating well and on antibiotics now. We were hoping that this was just a simple polyp that could be easily removed but are so sad to learn it is likely a tumor. We hope to learn in the next few days if there are any treatment options? If anyone has experience or advice about this I am just trying to learn more.
Hi SuperWanda! I'm sorry you're having more issues with beautiful Timber. I don't have any advice on this particular tumor, but I do know what you're going through. Thorin's tumor was in his lung. We drove him down to Washington and had it removed, then went through a couple rounds of Chemo and another surgery to remove a couple of masses from the back of his neck/shoulder area. We had him for a little over a year after the diagnosis (he was 12, so he lived a pretty long life for a Malamute). People always ask why we would put him through chemo, and my answer is easy... we loved him. I hope and pray that Timbers is benign. But if not, please consider all your options and do some research. A lot of people rule chemo out at the first mention of it, and I was one of those... until our vet explained how it works in dogs. I don't regret anything we did for Thorin. It gave us more than a year with our sweet baby. If you have questions on the chemo, please ask

Robyn
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R.I.P. my sweet, handsome Thorin. You are missed dearly Dec. 25, 1999 - Mar. 4, 2012
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Old October 22nd, 2012, 11:08 AM
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Thank you growler and rgeurts,

It is nice to have support here when you are feeling down.

I'm sorry about Thorin Rgeurts. Yes, 12 is a very good age for a dog that size. There is a malamute here that we often see on our walks and he is 9 but really slowing down. His owner mentioned that he hopes he makes it to 10. I hope he does! Timber has more siberian but she is not a pure breed. They say for a siberian the lifespan is between 12 and 15.

I just want both our dogs to have happy senior years. I'm one of those people who always likes to try and prevent things and have been especially watchful so it is hard to feel that I didn't catch this sooner. I always thought Timber would have more trouble because she has always struggled with allergies, arthritis and the tick disease didn't help. I think she generally has a lower immune system than our other dog who is two years older.

As long as they happy and not in pain we will do our best to carry on. It is hard to imagine my life without them though.
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Old October 27th, 2012, 04:56 PM
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We got our results today. The cancer is a basil carcinoma. It is in the nasal area and is glandular in origin so they were calling it a nasoadenocarcinoma. It is on the left side and x-rays showed something in the left lung. They did flush some fluid into the lung to see if they could get any cells but there were none. It could be some pnuemonia or cancer that has spread to the lung but they are not 100% certain. The doxycycline has really helped I think. At this point she is not wheezing and can eat and drink without making terrible sounds. She is also sleeping better so I think some of the inflammation has subsided. At this point, she just has what sounds like a stuffy nose.

We could travel to take her for radiation but the odds of that doing much were pretty low. Chemotherapy is another option but I think that sounded even less likely to improve the situation.

We can think about those options but for right now our main goal is continue with a good diet and add in the supplements and vitamins I think might help.

Right now she is still happy so I am thankful for that. She doesn't appear to be in any pain and has bursts of energy where she grabs all her toys and howls at us to play.

It's just hard to think about this type of thing in her nose. Not the kind of cancer I would have ever imagined one of my dogs to get.
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Old October 27th, 2012, 05:38 PM
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Old October 28th, 2012, 11:51 AM
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So sorry that Timber has cancer.
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