Please pray for my dog Belle

[snorzzz]

She is at the vet's right now getting major surgery.:( My husband is with her, and I am at home trying to stay calm.

Belle is 13 years old. She might have cancer, I don't know yet, but she has a large tumor in her mouth.:(

[Doberluv]

Oh......I'm so very sorry. She is an old gal and this might just be her time or getting close. My thoughts are with you. I hope she doesn't have a hard time with the surgery and recovery. Sending my best vibes your way.

[dr2little]

(((((((hugs))))))), such a worry. I'll be praying that it isn't cancer. Please keep us posted.:(

[Fruit bat]

Sorry to hear that. will send good wishes her way. You need to try to relax too though.:) keep us posted .:)

[bubbatd]

Prayers and fingers Xed for your Belle . Let us know ...........

[Charliesmommy]

It's soooo hard. Try to stay positive until you hear something. Sending good vibes Belle's way.....

[snorzzz]

Thanks so much for well wishes, kind thoughts and prayers!

Belle is home and is doing okay. I have calmed down some. I hate that I get so stressed out.

The good news is that the tumor wasn't cancer. So that's a relief.

Here's a brief history of her problem:
Quite a few years ago, Belle had a growth on her gum. The growth was hard pink gum tissue, and not cancer. The vet cut it out, and said it would probably grow back slowly. It did grow back, and about two years later it had to be cut out again. Over the years, it has been cut out 3 times.

Last week, I noticed her mouth looked swollen on the side where the tumor is. So my hubby & I were saying we needed to take her in for surgery again, but we always try to put it off as long as possible. As long as she could eat and seemed to feel okay.

But then things took a turn for the worse over the weekend. She began to have trouble eating, seemed feverish, was sneezing a lot, and over-all didn't feel good. I looked inside her mouth and was shocked to see a huge dark gray tumor, about the size of a ping-pong ball. It looked like it was full of blood. Because it was the weekend, it took me about 2 hours to get in touch with the vet. During that time, the gray tumor busted open and bled for a long time, about 30 minutes or longer. When I talked to the vet, he said the bleeding would stop, and to bring her in today for surgery.

Now this is the gross part of the story, and I guess the bad news. The dark gray tumor was not a tumor. It was massive infection coming out of Belle's sinuses. :( The real tumor, the hard pink gum tissue tumor, had grown throughout her sinuses. The root to her canine tooth was dissolved from the infection. The vet removed the tooth, then cut away the tumor from her sinus cavities. Because the tumor was so extensive, he wasn't able to remove all of it without damaging her sinuses. He said the tumor will eventually grow back again, and that it will be impossible to ever cut it out again.

Belle is resting now, and occassionally she will sneeze out blood, and pawing at her nose. The danger now would be if the sutures came out, and food got up in her sinuses. I need to call the vet and get more information about that, but I plan on feeding her only soft food.

Have any of you been through anything like this? Wow, it's exhausting.:(

Sorry this is so long.

[squirtsmom]

Wow, that is terrible. I have only ever heard of that with people. Good luck. Sounds like you have done everything that you could.

[Charliesmommy]

Poor girl. Glad it's not cancer!!!

[bubbatd]

Never heard of it either !! So glad it wasn't malignant !

[Denaluvscorgis]

I'm so happy that Belle is ok.:)

[shadowfacedanes]

Wow, that sounds almost identical to what happened to my dear Shelby....hers was cancer though. :(

I'm happy that Belle will be okay. Best wishes for a smooth recovery.

[Momof2Pups]

I'm glad Belle is okay and home with you now. I will continue to have you and Belle in my thoughts.

[snorzzz]

I wrote a long reply, but I lost it because it said I had too many smilies. I hit the back button, and my reply was gone. :(

The main thing is this: I can't get Belle to eat anything. She is drinking some water, not much, and drank some milk with sugar. Anything else causes her to go into a sneezing spell. She wants to eat, but just can't. I'm going to call the vet about this tomorrow. She's not getting enough fluids for her size. She's about 100 pounds. I've tried chicken broth and beef broth. She turns her head away from it.:(

[Lizmo]

Do you think she's just not eatting from pain? Or she just doesn't want to eat?

Maybe try making a very soft homecooked food for her. I know that a member on here, Gempress, made this for her dogs when the dog had stitches in it's mouth and was very sore. I would give her a PM for the recipe. :)

((((((((( hugs )))))))))) to you both, I hope and pray for a very fast recovery for Belle!

BTW, I would contact your vet about this ASAP.

[snorzzz]

Thanks again to all of you who replied. Your words gave me much comfort and encouragement when I was so worried about Belle. :)

She is doing a lot better now. Belle still has some healing to do, but has come a long way in the last week.

I am so proud of the way I got her to eat again! What I did was out of desparation, but it worked! I was eating a sandwich, and she was laying next to me. I thought about how momma wolves will regurgitate their food for the pups. I thoroughly chewed a bite of my sandwich, formed it into a little soft ball with my mouth, and put it in my hand. I offered it to Belle, and she swallowed it! :lol-sign: I fed her the whole sandwich, by doing her chewing for her!

I did that for a couple of days, and then she was finally able to eat some soft food. Last night she was able to eat some small pieces of grilled pork chop, so I think we are just about back to normal. She still has some sneezing spells, but over all, she seems to be a lot better. :)


(((((hugs to all)))))

[bubbatd]

That was a smart thing to do !!!

[Doberluv]

A-h-h...poor Belle. You've done wonderfully by her. I hope she continues to improve and that thing doesn't grow back too fast. My thoughts are with you.

[Renee750il]

Snorzz, there is something you can get at health food stores called Essiac tea. Brew a decoction according to the directions and give Belle at least a quarter cup three or four times a day. I have seen this stuff do near-miraculous things with tumors. I used it on my Bear, who had a tumor that couldn't be completely excised growing in his haunch. The vet was astounded when it was gone completely a couple of months after I started giving him the Essiac. It's an old Obijway Indian remedy.

[snorzzz]

Renee, thanks for the tip about the Essiac tea. I wonder, do you think it would work on fatty tumors? She has lots of fatty tumors, throughout her body. A really big one on the side of her abdomen. She has had them for most of her adult life, but the vet says not to worry about them. However, I tend to think they would cause some pressure to her organs.

Also, how many days do you give the tea?

[Renee750il]

You keep giving the tea. After you can tell the tumors have subsided, you can cut the dosage down, but keep doing it. It's an excellent immune booster and all round tonic, especially for the elders, and it can't hurt at all :)

[snorzzz]

Okay, thanks. :)