Canine Oral Melanoma | Give Cancer the Paw

Spanky was a victim of oral melanoma.

 Ignorance can reap a bitter harvest.

That's the alternate title of this blog post about my Spanky and his death from canine oral cancer.   

This is not the post I planned to write.  However, I decided to leave out the pathos because what is really important is to make checking inside your dog's mouth a normal weekly activity.

Know what normal looks like and head to the vet immediately if something just doesn't seem right.

At a routine health checkup when he was almost 9 years old, the vet recommended a dental cleaning for my black Lab mix, Spanky.  We were preparing to make a cross country move, so after some discussion about the anesthesia and procedure, I agreed.  We decided that it would be best if his regular vet took care of this instead of having to worry about it after the move when we were getting settled.

Spanky did fine with the cleaning.  When I came to pick him up, he was already out of anesthesia, walking around and charming everyone in the vet clinic.

A few months later we made our move and we soon realized that something was wrong.  Spanky's breath had become killer.  We needed a vet.  ASAP.

There were only two small animal veterinarians in our immediate area.  Note: when you live in a rural area, choices (in many things) are quite limited.  Anyway, one vet came highly recommended by many. 

We told Dr. L about the bad breath and recent dental cleaning.  Spanky had no other symptoms.  So, imagine our shock when we got the diagnosis:  malignant melanoma.    Dr. L called our previous vet who told her that she'd also removed a small "skin tag" from one side of Spanky's upper gum almost on the roof of his mouth.  She not only did not do a biopsy, she did not inform us.

Now Spanky had cancerous growth on the roof of his mouth.  Spanky was scheduled for surgery the next day. Though the surgery appeared successful, the cancerous growth came back with a vengeance.  At the time, chemo and radiation therapies were not recommended.  The cancer was far too aggressive.  

Within five months of diagnosis, Spanky's quality of life was such that we made the very hard decision to let him go.

Even if Spanky's original vet had biopsied the growth and he'd had surgery much sooner, he probably would have only lived a few more months at best.  Canine oral melanoma can be a very fast killer.

The most common oral melanomas are found on the lips, gums, palate and tongue.  They may be pigmented or unpigmented lesions.  As they grow they spread to the jaw, neck and head, plus can metastasize to any part of the dog's body.  The life expectancy of a dog with advanced canine oral melanoma can be as little as five months.

Canine oral melanomas occurs more often in:

• Black or dark dogs 
• Male dogs
• Dogs aged between 9 - 12 years 

Symptoms include:

• Severe halitosis or bad breath
• Excessive drooling
• Bleeding from the mouth
• Facial swelling
• Preference for soft food over hard food
• Chewing changes or difficulties
• Swallowing difficulties
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Chronic cough
• Depression and dementia due to neurological changes

Spanky was black, male and nearly 10 years old.  The only symptom Spanky had was the first:  terribly bad breath.  Otherwise he seemed to be in perfect health and spirits.

Standard treatment is surgery to remove the cancerous legion(s) and surrounding tissue.  This sometimes means removal of part of the jaw or face.  Radiation may be prescribed, as well as chemotherapy.  Early research results of a new oral melanoma vaccine may extend life expectancy from five months to about a year. Recurrence of oral melanoma is very common.

I learned the hard way to regularly check my dogs' mouths for signs of anything at all unusual, to make sure my vet checks and keeps me informed.

Since Spanky's ordeal, there have been major developments in fighting cancer.  When caught in time, cancer does not mean a death sentence.

Talking Dogs is participating in the Give Cancer the Paw blog hop, hosted by Pooch Smooches and Peggy's Pet Place.  Join us with a  tribute to a lost pet, personal experiences, tips, research - anything related to pet cancer.

Talking Dogs is the official blog of For Love of a Dog Jewelry.

Help Keep Golden Retrievers (and Other Dogs) Happy, Healthy and Cancer-Free!

Cancer is something no one wants to talk about, but it is the number one cause of death for dogs older than two years of age.  Morris Animal Foundation has launched the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study to find out more about how to stop the cancer epidemic.  

This study will focus on Golden Retrievers, but its findings should apply to other dog breeds.  Additional major diseases will also be looked at through this study.  Questionnaires and annual exams will make up a large part of the discovery process of what causes cancer and other diseases in dogs.   

Morris needs dogs and their owners to sign up to be a part of this initiative.  We would really appreciate any help along the way in this quest to prevent cancer!

Qualifications to Sign up for the Study:

•  Golden Retriever owners must be over 18 years old and reside in the contiguous United States in order to participate.
•  Golden Retrievers must be healthy and less than two years old. 
•  Golden Retrievers also must have a three-generation pedigree.

For more information about this study, visit the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study.

Author Bio: This is a guest post by Katie F. on behalf of Morris Animal Foundation. Visit morrisanimalfoundation.org/ to learn more about the animal health research that Morris Animal Foundation participates in.

Talking Dogs is the official blog of For Love of a Dog Jewelry.

Follow-up Friday:: Tears and Laughter

 I'm happy to be joining Heart Like a Dog in the follow-up Friday blog hop this week.  This is the blog hop that lets you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.  Hosted by FUF creator, Jodi at Heart Like a Dog and co-hosted today by Emma at My GBGV Life.

What a week of emotion.  First, I had a heck of a time writing my post for the new Give Cancer the Paw blog hop sponsored by Pooch Smooches and Peggy's Pet Place.   It timed perfectly with the anniversary of Tucker's death.  I can't believe that was two years ago; it seems like yesterday.  Then I read JoAnn's heartbreaking news about Norman.  You'll need lots of tissues to read it, but you shouldn't miss JoAnn's tribute to her beautiful boy.

On the other end of the emotional spectrum, we've been having lots of fun celebrating Rosie's first birthday.  Though I'll report on festivities this coming week, suffice to say, Rosie didn't let me spend the whole week crying!  There was a whole lot of laughing when she made her trip to Tractor Supply and picked out her birthdays gifts.  That blur is her tail wagging - LOL.

Rosie shopping for her birthday gifts.

A Puppy Meant For Me
Thanks to everyone for your comments!  I do believe that Rosie and I were meant to be together and I'll tell you more about that in another post.  Here's a teaser:   it has to do with contacting an animal communicator.

Rhyme for Rosie
Like Mary, I lost count long ago of the number of times my grandma said this rhyme to me!  Nope, Flea, her name is definitely Rosie :-)

My Tripawd Dog
Jana says:  "I can just feel how hard this must have been to write."  You are so right.  I wrote a little, cried a lot, then wrote a bit more.  Though this happened a long time ago, not a day goes by that I don't think of Benji.  He was a character and maybe, now that I've told this part of his story, I can tell some of the funny stuff.  A number of you referred to my love for him, like Jen who said: "...I could feel your love for Benji shining through:)"  Thank you.  

Mel noted: "I am so glad you went for that second opinion and had him for so long."  There is more to that part of the story, but I wanted to focus on "the big C," rather than the whole vet issue.   However, I'll note here that Dr. H is Wayne Hunthausen and, among many other honors, he was chosen 2013 Kansas City's Best Veterinarian.  Of course, in my own mind he's "the vet who saved my Bennie."

My Benji

The next Give Cancer the Paw blog hop date is February 6.  I'll be sharing the story of my black Lab, Spanky, and his battle with mouth cancer.  Even if you've not lost a furry family member to "the big C," I hope you'll join the hop and help spread awareness.