We got the results from pathology regarding the growth that was biopsied in Louise’s mouth. It is a fast-growing tumor that destroys the jaw called Canine Acanthamotous Ameloblastoma (CAA).
WARNING: Stop reading now if you will get uncomfortable with the details.
Basically, she has a mass in the lower part of her front jaw that is visible and is around her front teeth. The good news is that CAA has never been reported to spread to other parts of the body (metastasize), so it is often called ‘benign.’ However, it is locally aggressive and her tumor is doubling in size every 10 days or so. Underneath what we see it is destroying the jaw bone. It is life-threatening.
The first option for treatment, due to a large amount of underlying bone involved, is to surgically remove a portion of the jaw, called a mandibulectomy (graphic link), and to take large margins around the tumor to ensure it is all removed. For patients, like Louise, where surgery is not an option because of multiple reasons, the second option would be radiation.
Louise turned 12 last October. The normal life expectance of a dog her size is 10 to 12 years. She has pancreatitis and irritable bowel disease. Figuring out what health intervention is in her best interest is one of the hardest decisions we ever had to make. We do not want to put her through either of these options. The surgery would take her lower jaw, which I think at her age would be a difficult recovery to regain function, and the side-effects of radiation are horrible (if her IBD would even tolerate it.)
I have started a Facebook group dedicated to this journey. It is called Canine Acanthamotous Ameloblastoma – Dog Oral Tumors Please feel free to join if you want to follow what is going on. I am not going to fill DogDaz with her medical stuff because it is graphic and sad, so I will put it there.
Keep us in your prayers as we go through this thing. We are heartbroken.
Please, don’t post any negative comments on the choices we have made for Louise’s care – they will be deleted.
Louise here. Sofie decided that she was too tired to continue on our walk. She laid down in a neighbor’s yard and just would not move. So Mommy left her there and continued on with me. Sofie wasn’t sure if she liked that idea, but I did. I am tired of those other 2 goofballs tagging along on my walks.
Miss Louise had a tumor removed from inside her mouth last week. This one is scary. It seemed to be growing big fast. We are still waiting to find out what the biopsy said, so bang your drum for her!!
She is the most incredible ROCK STAR! She never complains and was hungry almost the minute she got home. Sofie and Charles, both drama queens, would be milking it for all it is worth. But not, Louise.
She is sticking close to Mom right now and her ducky. Bang those drums, please.
Sofie here. It’s fall in Maryland. The Cave Crickets, also known as Spider Crickets or ‘Sprickets,’ are starting to invade the garage, and occasionally the house. The cats love to torture them. We find lots of parts and pieces. V and the kids are afraid of them so they put a little cup over them and then call Mom to remove them to the greater outdoors. Sometimes, they even put a sticky note on the cup that says ‘BUG!’
As you can see, I am not in the least bit bothered by these jumpy funny antennaed buggy things. Lately, it seems like someone is bringing them upstairs to the kitchen because Noel seems to be spending a lot of time staring under the stove.
When I whine too much, which is like every night Mom says, she takes the brush out and starts to brush me. I hate to be brushed, so I move just out of reach. Sometimes Mom will brush Louise, but her coat is so short, that even though she sheds 24/7/365 days a year, the brush doesn’t do much. Me, on the other paw, has so much fur that you could make another dog. The other day when Mom was brushing me I ran away to Lulu. We held paws in solidarity so that Mom would stop this brush abuse. We girls have to stick together.
PS. That little dodo Charles loves to be brushed. He is just so weird. I would never hold hands with him!
The cold wind has started to blow and the sky keeps floating down to the ground. Sofie just wants to lay outside in the cool leaves. Lulu on the other hand says it is sweater weather.
“And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier’s tomb, and beauty weeps the brave.” – Joseph Rodman Drake
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