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Jan,
I am very happy about your new addition. Your name choice was great. Sorry to hear dash isn't doing better. You are of course right to not play the "what if" game. I am really trying not to be a downer on this thread, but the loss is still very hard now. I know time will make it easier, as with all my other dogs. There was a nose spray the vet gave me but you seem to have that covered. It was a cortisone base.
I have gone to a few animal shelters with my son. We have been looking at pitbulls of all things. There reputation is way over blown. They happen to like people, for the most part. Other animals could be another story. But I have seen many pit's playing with other animals as well.
Thank you so much for your reply. I'm sitting here, listening to my dog snore while I am writing, and watching her wake up to slurping noises. I read on your threads that it is bad when it gets in the sinuses where hers is- also very hard to reach. I am so confused about deciding what is the right thing to do.
Jan,
Congratulations on your new addition. I've thought much about wanting to get a puppy while Scout is still around so some of him "rubs off," but unfortunatley we can't handle another pet right now. I'm curious to see a picture of a silken windhound--never heard of it before.
have been reading some of your blogs about dogs with nasal cancer. Our dog did some reverse sneezing and then started sounding congested. We took her to the vet for some tests and noticed some blood coming out of one of her nostrils. We did blood tests, chest xrays, heart xrays, skull xrays and the vet scoped her and did some biopsies and cultures. Everything was negative, but she did not get better with meds, so we were sent to a vet specialists. After MRI, more advanced rhinoscopies, and additional biopsies and cultures, we found out that she had nasal cancer which has started invading her soft and hard palate and is blocking one nostril in the back. After spending $3000 to diagnose her, we were told that radiation therapy would be an additional $6000. She is a 10 year old lab mix and we could not bear to put her through all that, but I am heartbroken every time I look at her. She sounds OK in the day, but makes a lot of licking and gagging sounds at night when she is sleeping with her head down. I have been reading on the internet about feeding her an all protein diet and I came home armed with a lot of things yesterday. She ate the treats and food willingly yesterday, but today she is turning her nose up at food, although she anxiously goes for a walk. She has the long treads of blood tinged congestion coming out of her nose, but it is not too bad. She has osteosarcoma of the nose, which is supposed to be uncommon. We have decided to do everything to keep her comfortably alive until the point comes that she doesn't want to go on........except I don't know when that will be or if I will be able to tell. I am terribly afraid that she doesn't want to eat today and that this tumor is causing her problems with breathing and making it hard to eat. She no longer is interested in eating doggie bones which she used to love. I read about Neoplasene therapy that some of you were using, but don't know if my vet will do that or if it is possible to reach the tumor which is way back in her nose. Any guidance will be greatly appreciated.
Jan, I am so happy to read about Dazzle, and hope things turn out well for Dash. I inadvertently put my problem under your posting when I received a message to post on this thread. I did not know what I was doing and ended up replying to your message. I will read all your postings for guidance on what to do with my dog and meanwhile am very happy for you and your loving dogs.
Rod, Having lost dogs in the past I know how hard it is to get past that loss as it just leaves a big empty hole in your heart. As for Pitbulls, I actually like the breed alot and have met so many that were wonderful dogs and played very well with other dogs. They tended to be a bit on the goofy side when playing which makes it fun to watch. A couple years ago my sisters and I went to volunteer at Best Friends up in Utah for a week and one of my all time favorite dogs was Artie. He was a pitbull that we took on an outing into town and he was by far the best behaved and sweetest dog of any we met there. You will know when you find the right dog as there is just something that clicks between you and the dog.
Virginia, Sorry to hear about yor dog. What is her name? Sorry you also had to go through so much just to get the diagnosis. I have heard that sometimes it just is not obvious and takes alot of testing to find it.
A few post back someone mentioned a vet in Southern California, I know he is into nutrition as cancer treatment as he was one of my vets instructors years ago . He might offer phone consultations. I can not get back to that post without loosing this so I can not remember if she posted the phone # or not but if you would like it I am sure I can get it for you. My mom died of Lung cancer and I read a book about beating cancer with nutrition and I do believe it can really help. Dash gets Calcium oxalate stones so he is not suppose to eat alot of protein but last October that was all he would eat and he seemed to feel so much younger but his BUN went up so once he would eat his regular food we had to go back to that. Bears dad seems to like the Flax/cottage cheese and I know others feel it does help.
We did do palliative radiation which is 1/2 the cost and only 5 days verses about 20 days of treatment. He had it done with IMRT so really had no side effects except dry eye. It gave him almost 6 months of great life where no one even knew he was sick.So if I had to do it over again with a dog that could tolerate it I would do it.
Dash gets metronomic therapy which is piroxicam everyday and low dose cytoxan every other day. Both are pills that he tolerates well and they are inexpensive. It is antiangiogenic meaning it stops the tumor from developing new blood supplies so it starves. I think there is a product that some people have used called Vascustatin that is suppose to be antiangiogenic too . The problem with the two pills we use is he does have monthly blood tests as they can be hard on kidneys and liver. So far he shows no sign of either. But blood tests are not cheap.
The neoplasene might help. Problem most people have is finding a vet willing to use it. The holistic vets seems to be using it more frequently and seeing good results with many cancers. For the nasal cancer many are getting it orally but Dash gets it as a nose drop that his holistic vet mixes up and gives me a bottle of. The oral can cause stomach issues and to be honest most of the nasal cancer dogs that I have heard of that got it orally did not do as well as Dash has done and are dead now.It can also be very difficult to get down their nose as they do not like it. I sort of have a love hate feeling towards it. Dash's cancer may now be too high for it to reach as the swelling is growing again up near his left eye.
I know it is hard to listen to their breathing but I have gotten use to it so when Dash is quiet I have to go check on him! It has become a comforting sound to me weird as that may sound. As for eating when Dash gets a nasal infection he stops eating and he is my #1 chow hound so that is always a red flag for me. Chicken baby food is something he has eaten during such times and only with the really bad infection last Oct did he not want that so I just let him be. It is hard but I do believe our bodies know what they need and sometimes that is to not eat.
I am here to answer any more questions you might have as I have been in this battle for over a year now. I will send some postive thought and prayers your way.
I will post some Dazzle photos soon. My nephew is suppose to come help me take some as on my own I get close up shots of his nose as he does not yet know "STAY". Dash is being the best baby sitter and let Dazzle eat out of his bowl this morning as he ate. If you knew Dash this is something he has never allowed in the past as he loves his food too much.
Dash's swelling looks a bit larger this AM could be the cancer, could be swelling from the neoplasene, time will tell. He seems happy with his new job to do and that makes me happy too. Jazz is another story as her nose is out of joint abit about this goofy pup, he likes her toys and despite her soon to be 13 ( May 8th) she does not share toys! She is a grumpy old girl. We are currently at my dad's for easter and much to my surprize even Phoenix is being abit grumpy towards Dazzle. She seems to feel like she has to follow Jazz's lead.Go figure!
Thank-you so much for your detailed answers to my concerns. Our dog's name is Ally. She is 10 years old and is a lab mix. Yesterday she refused to eat and that had me very worried, but she anxiously wanted to go out for a walk. I read that your dog does this when he has a nasal infection. She does have one and is taking antibiotics for it. I googled the meds and found out they can cause loss of appetite. I am, however, worried that it hurts her to eat. her MRI showed that the cancer was growing near her hard and soft palate. I will try the babyfood. Actually tonight I got her to eat some ham and then she came in the kitchen wanting something. I could not figure out what it was. Every time I offered something, she shook her head "no", until she stood by the refrigerator and I opened it up and finally offered a piece of cheese which she ate, so I gave her 2 more. She walked around to everyone and seemed like our "girl". But then I noticed when she was laying down that she had some more blood coming out of her nose, and my heart sank as reality sank back in. I intend to ask the vet about the metronomic therapy Dash is on. They did offer to do palliative radiation instead of the full treatment for $3500 instead of the $5500-6000 to reduce the size of the tumor. They claim the full treatment is a cure but I don't know how they can say that since they said it gives the dog about 18 months more of life. I thought about doing that, but then I thought if I was going down that road, I should probably go for the full treatment, although it sounds like the palliative worked well for you. I am just so confused about what to do for her- it was terrifying reading that this condition has spread to some dog's brains or that they have bled to death. Ally has an osteosarcoma which the vet says spreads aggresively in other parts of the dog's body, but not so in the nose. I too have gotten used to the snoring at night and don't mind that- it is when I hear her making slurping and gagging type noises when something is coming out of her nose. I'm constantly getting up to check her, so neither of us gets a good night's sleep. Thanks again- you were a great help!
I lost my dog last year, he had cushings disease, he had excessive nose bleeding, it started out about 1 yr before he passed, first it was a little then a bit more as time went by, finally I had to use a huge towel, it stopped for about 2 months then it was bad. The COD was a tumor.
I am sorry for the losses of all the pets in this topic, I know it had to be hard at times to post, Dashdog please know that your topic brought nasal bleeding to attention and perhaps now will help other pets. This post was sad but also very informative and a credit to this board. Thank you
ruralt lady I am sorry for your loss. My Hogan was put down because of excessive bleeding, but only from one nostril. Hogan had no other symptoms but bleeding. He started out with a major bleed after diving in some snow. It stopped. Then about 5 weeks latter it happened again. The bleeds got closer and closer. Then it never stopped...The guess at first was nasal cancer, maybe a fungus. All blood work and xray's came back negative. He also had a small scoping done,negative as well. Time ran out for Hogan as his bleeding finally wouldn't stop. So he died with healthy bloodwork negative xrays, and no breathing problems...
After your post I looked up cushing disease. From what I read it didn't look like bleeding was one of the first symptoms. He had none of the symptoms listed. I was really hoping his symptoms would have matched. Some closure here would have helped. Wouldn't have made the pain now less,but would have helped.
To Virginia10..I am real sorry about ally. There is a nose spray you might ask your vet about for the bleeding. It is a cortisone spray used on humans. I believe it is called flownase. Something like that.
Does Ally bleed from only one nostril..?..
The people here are great, and very supportive. I have only been on this thread for a short time but found it helpfull. Dashdog,Jan, seems to know her stuff, as others here as well.
To my other friends here, are you ready for the weird. My wife has a picture of Hogan, me and her on her desk. After Hogan passed 10 days ago she put the picture of him in her desk as looking at it now is too painful. I have also put all his stuff with his ashes in my basement. Now mind you, my wife is not prone to hysteria. My wife also told me and a friend at work a couple of days ago that she put the picture away. I get a call from her at work today and she tells me the picture is back on her desk. Not the same spot it was before...And she did not do it...People I kid you not. She decided to keep the picture there now. I really don't know what to make of it.
Rod
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nasal cancer
.Go figure!
