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I have a 12 year old golden, Bentley. Long story short, he was "diagnosed" with squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal passage. But I have just now read the biopsy report and this term is not mentioned. What the biopsy showed is "severe epidermal yperplasia and orthokeratoic hyperkeratosis." So my question is - if anyone out there understands any of this - is: is what he has cancer or not and is it treatable of not? Thanks for anything any of you might be able to offer.
I just found out my 4 year old Yorkie has nasal cancer. I am devastated. I am debating if I should proceed with treatment because of the cost and the fact that there isn't really a cure. I want to do what is best for him and make him as comfortable as possible.
I am a little confused about the biopsy that was taken. The vet was not able to get enough of a sample to get an accurate reading as to if the mass is fungus or cancer. They are certain that it is cancer because of the x-rays and MRI, but they are not 100% sure. I am thinking of treating him with the fungus medications just to be safe.
He has had no symptoms that if I have read about. He is having trouble breathing, but no nose bleeds or mucus. He doesn't sneeze or have the reverse sneezing problems. Apparently, the mucus and blood are present, but are flowing through the back of his throat.
Other than the breathing, he is a very happy dog. He goes with me everywhere and loves to be out. He still has all the energy of a healthy dog. He is so lovable and makes the saddest person happy.
I don't know what I am going to do without him. He is my family and the thought of losing him makes me cry. I will see the specialist Monday and am hoping for the best possible scenario.
Ruckus33, I would go ahead and treat for a fungus if they really are not sure. The first time I mentioned that reverse sneeze to my vet he thought it might be nasal mites so we treated Dash for that and for a few weeks it seemed like he was right but then the reverse sneeze returned and one day just a few drops of blood as he sneezed then the vet suggested further testing and we found the cancer. It breaks my heart to come to this thread and see all the new dogs with nasal cancer especially when they are as young as your dog is. I hope one day it can not only be cured but we can find out what s causing it and then help prevent it. I am sorry you may be dealing with this as even with any type of treatment it is a roller coaster ride which seem to be true of most cancers
Ruckus mom,
So sorry to hear about your pup and especially at such a young age. My Sheldon first became sick at 5 1/2 years old. If you go pretty far back you can read all my posts about my struggles, they may be helpful. He had a very similar presentation, and the vet could not definitely determine if it was the cancer or the fungus. To this day I still dont know what it was but after doing my own reasearch I believe it was cancer. Either way its a terrible thing. You do what you think is best and Ruckus trusts your decision so dont doubt yourself. As for the fungal treatment, a couple things to keep in mind: 1) the medication is expensive. I cant remember exactly and keep in mind I had a 100lb rottweiler and I believe it goes by weight so maybe it wont be too bad for Ruckus. 2) When on fungal meds the vet will most likely want you to have regular blood work (I believe monthly) to monitor liver function when on the meds. These two factors are important to keep in mind. If the docs are pretty sure its cancer then you will have to explore other options like chemo and radiation which are also expensive. Ruckus is young and if caught early maybe has a chance to overcome. I chose to just treat Sheldon with the fungal meds. He also had a part of his critoform plate eaten away by the infection or the cancer (this was shown a surgical test) which I was told would not get better and could eventually lead to seizures. Sheldon never got that far as I chose to free him of his suffering in April 2010. For months I struggled with guilt and regret but looking back I now know that I did what I could and that is all that mattered to him. I am finally at peace even though it it was hard peace to find.
Good luck with your choices and I hope there are options that will benefit both you and Ruckus. You are a great Mom!
Joyce (And Sheldon from above)
My beautiful corgi x stumpi tail cattle dog, who looks like a corgi, has nasal cancer, she is only 7 years old and it is breaking my heart. I have put her on the Budwig diet and I am giving her high vitamin C plus I mix Manuka honey 18+ into her flaxseed and cottage cheese mix. She has only been on this for a week so it is early days. I would prefer to go down this track than send her off for radiation which would mean being away from home for 4 nights a week over 4 to 8 weeks, Pixie would hate that, she is next to me almost 24/7 and has her own seat next to me when I am on the computer. I have some shark liver oil capsules coming, hopefully they will help also and I have read great things about Hydrogen peroxide 3% food grade killing cancer tumors, I will continue to look into this. I wont let her suffer but if I can extend her time without causing her discomfort I will try anything. We initially had an xray after she had a sneezing fit with lots of blood, that showed something in her nasal cavity and she then had a CAT scan and it showed it was also in her sinus area. So far she is still interacting with the our other dogs (We have 7) and she is still eating well so hopefully we will have her for a long time yet.
One more thing that I found extreemly good, was to give Pixie a childs anti-histamine tablet (non drowsy) when she first started sneezing, I checked with my vet and she said it would be ok. I have now given her one a week and she has only had one sneezing fit in the past month and that was when she was due for another pill. I think they help to dry up the sinusus and stop the irritation.
Dash use to take benadryl when he did a lot of sneezing.Pixie sounds like a real cutie. Using diet as treatment may do some good as I think diet plays a roll in may diseases and can be used to control many too. Best of luck will send some prayers Pixies way too. Let us know how she does.
For those of you who tried Neoplasene for your dogs' nasal cancer, would you use it again?
Dash got Neoplasene when we thought his cancer was active again. He had palliative IMRT that held it at bay for quite awhile but the day came that I thought it might be active again.
I would be willing to try neoplasene on a tumor on the outside of the body or a tumor that was not internal but could fall off after it died . But I would not try it on nasal cancer or a cancer deep inside the body.
Neoplasene causes inflammation in the cancer cells and that causes apoptosis to occur ( cellular suicide) so you get alot of swelling and in the nasal passages there is not a lot of room so he would get very stuffed up. Yes he did sneeze out chunks of tissue that may be chunks of tumor and some were rather large so we were all very encouraged by it .He was also on the antiangiogeneses protocol from his oncologist which cuts off the blood supply to a tumor and his oncologist was a bit hesitant to doing both as neither he nor the holoistic vet had done both at the same time but after they talked they thought maybe just maybe hitting a tumor at the blood supply and then from the surface with a drug that might cause apoptosis might just work. It may have been working but we will never know for sure or maybe it was working too fast or maybe it was not working and this was just the natural progression of the cancer but eventully Dash did develop swelling on his muzzle and for several months it did not grow but suddenly it got huge, swelled his eye shut and then it ruptured and when it did two large pieces of tissues popped up out of the wound I was right there when it happened and went to get a towel so I could clean him up and in the mean time they popped out and either he or Jazz ate them The two were forever cleaning up any blood he sneezed out so I will never know was that tumor and was it dead? Did the neoplasene do its job and then this had to happen to expell it from the body? A tumor say on a leg will fall off and leave a huge crater of a wound well what happens when this all occurs inside?? Does it do what happened too Dash? Does it get trapped in there and cause an infection that eventually comes to a head and ruptures opening up a huge wound? I will never know as I said it could just have been the cancer eating its way out by taking the path of least resistance rather then eating through bone to get into the brain. All I know is Dash now had an open crater of a wound on his face and it was infected so we tried antibiotics but it soon became obvious we were never going to get it healed and I had him put down.
He never really seemed bothered by it but he was getting meds that would have controlled any pain, but it was nasty looking so hard to look at it and it oozed 24/7/ One day he just walked in and looked at me and his expression said " hey you tried but if it is OK I am ready to move on" And I called an animal communicator who is fantastic as she only asked name, breed , age and how long you have owned the pet. She zeroed in on the fact he was afraid of having a large nose bleed we could not stop and did not want to die like that so was OK with me doing what I had to do as she claims he knew I had done everyting for him and was thankful but ready to go" ( we talked on phone so no she did not see him nor did I say more then what I told you she asked) Because I was unsure what had caused the crater I had that what if the cancer is dead and this exspelled the dead tissue isn't that what we wanted verses the what if the cancer ate its way out and is still very active battle going on in my head.My talk with her eased my thoughts and made me more at ease making that decision to call it quits.
All the other dogs I got to know on here or via another site that had nasal cancer treated with neoplasene also died and one thing we all seemed to have in common was the difficult act of even getting it down the nose as many of us used it via nose drops and it was a battle. Some gave it orally but I know it can then cause GI issues such as bleeds so Dash's doctor did nose drops instead.
So NO If I have to ever deal with nasal cancer again I woud not try it. I am not sorry I did as I do feel that the only way we may find cures for this or other cancers if someone tries different treatments and as long as there is quality to life and control of pain during it to me it is worth it. If I had a cancer that was a certain death sentence yes I would be willing to be in clinical trials as even if they did not save me perhaps they will lead to what will one day be a cure.I started this post years ago in hopes that what I tried and learned with Dash would one day help someone to a path that might actually cure cancer . My feelings were you will not learn unless some one tries and since Dash was looking at a death sentence in the cancer alone after I got the time I wanted with the IMRT I was open to trying alternatives as long as he did not get sick or act like he was in pain when it reached that point I would end it so that face crater wound was the end point .
Dash was also the first dog of his oncologist to get Palliatve IMRT for nasal cancer so with the good results he got from that the oncologist was hoping more people would go that route verses definitive radiation as except for a mild dry eye Dash had no side effects.
All of this is why I am glad to see people using this thread and still sharing info and why I still check it out as you might not save your dog but maybe something you tried will help someone else and maybe just maybe one of the nasal cancer dogs will die from some old age realted issues rather then nasal cancer
Thank you, Dash, for your thoughtful reply. Our Ziggy (a brittany) is presently finishing cephalexin antibiotic and has started a dose of Prednisone every day (10 mg. tablet twice a day for 20 mg. total right now). Ziggy is full of lumps: one under his chin, one round one on one hock, one lump on the other hock, lumps on his chest, and a lump of a couple years' existence under his chin. He had a toe removed last year with a tumor on it that caused him a good deal of pain. We started him on the Prednisone for 3 full days so far, and already the lumps are noticeably smaller and softer, his breathing is better, and the eye drainage is drying up--the bleeding has stopped although there is some very minimal drainage that is mostly clear. Interesting, yes? Our vet looked into the Neoplasene and is willing to try, but with the present lumps diminishing in size, we are probably going to hold off on anything new. I will ask the vet if after a week or two I can decrease the Prednisone dosage by half to see if the results hold with fewer side effects. Ziggy presented with abnormal cells on a piece of tissue he snorted out, and that is how we know something is going on in his bleeding nose. He is between 11 and 12 years old (we think, he is a rescue dog), and we don't want to subject him to any more invasive procedures than we have to. We adopted him when he was heartworm positive, so he has already been through a lot. Again, thank you, and I will update as I know more. This thread has been the most helpful thing I've found on the 'net.
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Ruckus's mom
The two were forever cleaning up any blood he sneezed out so I will never know was that tumor and was it dead? Did the neoplasene do its job and then this had to happen to expell it from the body? A tumor say on a leg will fall off and leave a huge crater of a wound well what happens when this all occurs inside?? Does it do what happened too Dash? Does it get trapped in there and cause an infection that eventually comes to a head and ruptures opening up a huge wound? I will never know as I said it could just have been the cancer eating its way out by taking the path of least resistance rather then eating through bone to get into the brain. All I know is Dash now had an open crater of a wound on his face and it was infected so we tried antibiotics but it soon became obvious we were never going to get it healed and I had him put down. 
