Oral Tumors - Tough decision

[Makovach]

Annie is seven almost eight years old. She has had oral tumors (elipus?) and her gums growing over her teeth since she was 3. At three they extracted several. At four, they extracted more, along with all of her bottom incisors as her gums had compleatly covered them. When she has her last tumors removed, she reacted very badly to the anistetic. It took her over 36 hours to come compleatly out of it and she wasnt the same for days after.

Well, I was looking at her mouth, and knoticed that they have almost compleatly covered her molars, carnasials, about 1/3 of her premolars and her upper incisors (she has no bottom). I feel terrible that i havent checked and caught this sooner :( But now comes the question. What should i do? The vet that did her last surgery said he would not suggest putting her under again unless it was life and death situation. With age not being on her side, and knowing that it was very hard on her four years ago, I'm beyond scared to put her under anistetic again. She has about 10+ tumors and her gums have grown over most of her teeth. Her mouth bleeds when she eats RMBs or kibble or chews on ropes or other toys. I feel so terrible for her.

I hope someone can offer some advice? I'm at a loss... :'(

[xellil]

I am so, so sorry. I also have a dog that can't go under anesthesia, and a previous dog who reacted as Annie did when he was put under.

I wonder - is there maybe another kind of anesthesia? Would it help just to pull all over her teeth out? i never heard of tumors that grow over teeth. That's just awful. i feel for both of you.

[Makovach]

Her tumors are just another oral problem. They get big and cover her teeth, but they dont attach to her teeth. Her gums grow over her teeth, the vet made it sound like it was two different problems, not one in the same.

I know that a lot of boxers have problems with acepromizine. So I always tell me vets not to use it on her and it is marked in her file not to be used. I'm not sure if there is more than the one they used (i dont know the name), but over all i am still scared to try it. I dont want to loose my baby :(

[Makovach]

I got some pictures so you can see what im talking about. They are not the best as they were taken on my phone and she wasnt wanting to work with me.

Top Incisors


Left Side



Right Side


I feel so bad for my baby girl :( I dont know what to do. I was reading on line about lazer gum removal surgery, but they still have to be put to sleep to do it. I'm hopeing i will find something soon.

[xellil]

Oh my goodness. That's just awful, and I can't imagine that she's not miserable. Or maybe it doesn't hurt? what an awful position for you to be in when you can't do what it takes to fix it.

Granted, I'm not in the animal field but I've never heard of anything like that. I can't give any good advice at all.

I suspect that anything to do with working in a dog's mouth requires some kind of sedation. Maybe a consult with a surgeon to talk about your options - I know in Indiana my vet did surgery but she was not a specialist who did it all the time.

[DaneMama]

I've seen cases 100X worse than Annie's. There's really nothing you can do, from what I know it's an autoimmune issue.

Does it seem to dampen her mood or cause her pain?

[Makovach]

I've seen cases 100X worse than Annie's. There's really nothing you can do, from what I know it's an autoimmune issue.

That makes me feel a little better that its not the worst thing in the world. Everything i have read reccomends lazer removal and says that it will only grow back.

Does it seem to dampen her mood or cause her pain?

It really doesnt seem to bother here. Chewing on RMBs or bully sticks or eating chicken quarters actually seems to sooth it. (maybe its the cold, soft meat?) She bleeds (Maybe the bones are pushing the gums back?), but it doesnt seem to bother her, she seems like she likes it. She never refuses it and never stops eating.

The worse it gets, the less she wants to eat kibble. She is already a hard dog to get to eat kibble. And i think it might bother her because she constantly spits it out and stops eating. So i wonder if the kibble isnt bothering her teeth/tumors?

[Unosmom]

I'm sorry, thats a tough situation, can you feed her soft food like canned or dehydrated?

[DaneMama]

I would feed her just raw then, cut out kibble completely for her.

And it does come back, almost with a vengeance if you just have some removed. I would leave it alone for now as its not that bad in all honesty. There's a dog that comes here that can't even close his mouth because his gingival tissue is so huge and protruding.

[Makovach]

She has alot of food problems, and I cant afford the high quality canned food at nearly $2 per can. But i worry if i baby her by giving her soft food, the teeth that are exposed will go bad?