DesertDobes

Bad news The lump was a spindle cell sarcoma. Highly malignant and likely to metastasize to organs. The results also indicated that the sarcoma cells extended to the edge of the biopsy sample so quite likely that they didn't get it all. The Vet surgeon used a burring tool to remove it so thinks there is a small chance that he might have got clear margins but unlikely. So now we watch and wait. Good news is that Sniper is still fit and healthy, very happy and the surgery has definitely improved his quality of life, so I still feel like it was the right decision for him. Please cross all your fingers and toes for him that it doesn't come back.

Haha I know there are LOTS of impoverished dog owners!

Yep money well spent!

I picked Sniper up yesterday afternoon and he was super happy to see me. He was sound asleep when the Vet took me around to the kennels to get him, the Vet said "Sniper, your mums here." and Sniper didn't move and I was worried about how much pain he was in, or that he was really out of it, but once I said hello to him he went crazy! He was crying and all wiggly bummed and he kept looking up at me like "I thought you'd left me forever!". The nurses came out to give him a cuddle good bye and he wasn't very grateful but I think he was worried they were going to take him back. He's on a lot of pain relief but is eating like a horse and seems quite comfortable, and he has pain patches and anti-inflammatories for a while. The Vet did such an awesome job, even though Sniper is missing three teeth and some bone, his profile looks the same as before, not even any swelling really. Almost the best news is that he will be able to have bones again in a few weeks, he hasn't been able to chew anything for a few months so I think he will really enjoy that. Hopefully the pathology is good. Now I am extremely poor and will be living off baked beans for a month while I pay off my credit card!

Thanks for the well wishes, he is still at the vets (he spent the night on IV pain relief) but hopefully he will be discharged soon. The vets have sent me a few photos of him, everyone loves him and has been giving him lots of cuddles there. For anyone who might go through the same thing, we ended up getting a third opinion on Snipers lump and vet no 3 thought that it is a ossifying epulis (benign) and that removal would probably be curative- so I hope that is the case. The surgery was to remove the lump, all of the affected bone, which was mainly tooth sockets, a few teeth around where the lump was including his lower canine on that side, and two pre-molars. The tumor is going to be sent off to pathology to find out exactly what it was. Can't wait to get him home

Sniper is off to have his lump removed today, keep your fingers crossed for him

There is a specialist in Darwin but I think referrals have to go through my vet, is that kind of what you mean? If there was somewhere I could ask for advice that would probably help me decide what to do. I'm happy he's happy too This whole thing has definitely made me a better dog owner because I get off my butt to do things with him and Savannah more often and I really prioritise going for walks and playing with them more than I used to.

Yes you think it would be better to have some illness or disease that isn't making them feel terrible, but then it makes the decision on when to say goodbye so much harder. I've never had to decide on when is the right time to PTS, my two previous dogs- one died in his sleep at fifteen years of age and the other died from a snake bite very suddenly.

It started bleeding a little bit last night and doesn't seem to be stopping so this may force me to make a decision sooner rather than later it's not much blood (just seeping out a bit) but a sign perhaps that things are changing. I have trust issues with the larger vet surgeries in Alice Springs, but major surgery is one situation where I feel that they are at least set up very well and have staff on round the clock which my regular vet doesn't.

Here we are in April now, 4 months with this thing in Snipers mouth. It has gotten a lot bigger but has kept growing up and out and doesn't appear to be spreading into his gums or jaw elsewhere, he doesn't have anything else wrong with him and also the ulcers on the growth seem to have abated. He is still eating well, playful and enjoying his walks. He does drool a lot though, I think his jowls aren't as good as holding everything in as they used to be. My feeling is the growth is some sort of benign growth, he has had a lot of other random lumps pop up in other places. So if it's benign, that is good and also makes him a good candidate to have it removed as it probably won't spread anywhere else. I'm still uncertain about this as there isn't any vets with lots of surgical experience with mandibulectomys where I am.... my regular vet offered to de bulk it but I think that would be a waste of time as it would just grow back I think. I'm not sure I could have him put down just because of this thing in his mouth, and probably the longer I let it go on without making a decision, the more difficult any surgery will be, but I don't want to put him through extreme surgery and ruin his quality of life.

@freewill My two dobies are fantastic with kids, see kids as ball dispensing slaves!! But they were raised with kids and I very carefully supervised all interactions when my son and dogs were young and with any visiting kids to make sure no one (including my dogs) got hurt or scared. Just want to point out - no breed of dog is guaranteed to tolerate children, and all dogs should be supervised around small kids. Case in point, one of my close relatives has a toddler who is very very rough with the family dogs, climbs on them, scruffs them. Their dogs are putting up with it (for now) but the problem is the child therefore has no concept of not doing the same thing to other dogs who wouldn't take it so well. As far as Dobermann health, I have a dog who is seven and a half and has a mouth tumor, but his sister, my other dog, is in perfect health and mother is 12 years and in perfect health, father just passed away recently at the age of 13 , other siblings have no major health issues, so I don't think of them as an unhealthy breed and you could certainly expect a dobe to live into their teens these days. They can be over-represented in veterinary literature, but remember it was a very popular breed in the states where a lot of the literature comes from and unscrupulous breeding certainly occurred to keep up with public demand. Among the dobermanns I know, there are few health problems, and genetic testing for Von Willebrands and Dilated Cardiomyopathy is standard among registered breeders. I would most certainly not pay $900 for a older dobe with no papers! Put that money towards a well bred and healthy puppy (expect to pay ~ 1500- 2000) or get a rescue dobe which are often advertised on dobermann club websites- and either way supervise your kids with any dog. I attached a photo of my beautiful boys at the beach

Yep, it definitely seemed like Snipers tumor got much, much bigger after biopsy. The growth finally seems to have slowed down a bit this week, maybe the Apocaps starting to have an effect but last night he was running in his sleep nearly all night. I don't know what that means, I though he was having seizures because it just went on an on, but every time I touched him he woke up and looked at me like "what do you want?" I took him to the vet just to get weighed and he has put on five kg since we were on holidays. Probably all the extra goodies he's getting now, like slow cooked chicken, lamb necks and liver haha Thanks @Dame Danny's Darling, that's a good idea. Wow 17 years is fantastic, go Jeune!

Sorry to hear that tdierikx, I had never heard of these cancers before but apparently they are very common. Awful stuff.

I do think about that a lot, it would be great for us humans to go through life the same way!

We've had a sad few weeks, it seems this tumor has really taken off. Sniper is still in very good health otherwise (Bugger actually ran off on me a few days ago following a scent while we were bush walking and it took me an hour to find him) but the lump is very big now. He can still close his mouth as normal but there are big ulcers, mainly where the tumor is in contact with something else like his upper lip. I'm just taking it a day at a time, as long as he is happy to eat and still likes going on walks and playing then I think he's not suffering too much. I also don't notice him licking at it or really making any indication it's a problem for him. This is a dog who licks everything so I don't think he would suffer in silence. We started Apocaps and K9 immunity plus to help his immune system fight the tumor, our holistic vet has given us some traditional chinese medicine too. I feel like maybe in the last few days the tumor has become less red, and maybe smaller but that could be wishful thinking. The ulcers have been a problem, I've been putting slippery elm on them before and after food and walks but I'm going to ask the vet for something stronger. I tried putting a cotton bud soaked in Aspirin on it last weekend, Sniper seemed to like it but not sure it did anything. I was trying to remember if Aspirin stings on a normal mouth ulcer? Anyway, that's where we are at. It is about 10 weeks since I first noticed it and seven weeks since he had a biopsy.