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Canine Cancer: Nasal Adenocarcinoma

KrakenQueen
11 years ago

Our 15 year old lady was diagnosed in March with nasal adenocarcinoma. Initially, for the first few months, it was extremely difficult to deal with the mere idea that our dog, our "kid" and best pal, had the big "C". We opted against chemo, radiation or surgery, mainly for the fact that the location of the tumor was way in back of her sinus' and would be near impossible to remove in any way. So, instead we have switched her over to a cancer-fighting diet and keep her on antibiotics + pain killers (anti inflammatory). So far, so good, but we always keep our fingers crossed that she will go to rainbow bridge on her own and not because of the cancer.

I'm just curious, have any of you had pets with nasal adenocarcinoma? What did you do, or wish you did, or found that helped you and your dog?

Comments (6)

  • lzrddr
    11 years ago

    normally a very slowly progressing tumor... some dogs survive years with it... but it eventually outgrows its location and then you have problems... however, it does tend to respond very favorably to radiation therapy (but $$$$$$) thanks to its slow growth and location. I have treated numerous dogs with this condition, and most eventually start to either bleed from the nose so much the owners give up, or the head swells to gigantic proportions... however, not all grow fast enough for the pet to succumb to that disease, and end up dying of something else instead.

  • KrakenQueen
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I've seen and heard from others how horrific it can get, and then the complete opposite where pets die of old age or succumb to something else entirely. It really is a one way or the other, I just hope for her sake she goes on her own and comfortably.

  • Ninapearl
    11 years ago

    sorry to hear you have had this diagnosis. i lost my corgi girl to nasal cancer a few years ago. because i was getting nowhere fast with the vets around here as far as diagnosing the cause of her nose bleeds, i asked for and got a referral to the university of illinois vet school. i took maggie for a ct scan/biopsy and that is when it was diagnosed. by then it had become quite invasive. the vets told me to expect to lose her in another 1-2 weeks. exactly one week later, i woke to her struggling to breathe so i opted to send her over the bridge that morning. it broke my heart as she was my late husband's dog and i had only recently lost him.

    oddest of things, my husband's kidney cancer had metastisized to his sinuses and he suffered terrible nose bleeds throughout his illness. the day i came home and was greeted by maggie at the door with a bloody nose, i couldn't believe it. sorta deja vu all over again. *sigh*

    i hope you can keep your pup comfortable for a long time. like you, i was floored when i got this diagnosis. at the time maggie was diagnosed with cancer, my little male corgi was in the late stages of degenerative myelopathy. i lost him 5 months later.

  • KrakenQueen
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I am sorry to hear this Ninapearl :C

    We are trying our best to keep her comfortable. She is old, so we are having a difficult time differentiating senility with possible tumor invasion into her brain, whether or not her weird changes are from one or the other. Within the last month and a half she has had this intense desire to sleep in the bathtub or the bathroom or to be outside where she hides in the bushes. She knows who we are and others, so I'm pretty confused.

    Thus far she hasn't experienced any deformation, I am very thankful for that. We have our ups and downs, we try to appreciate the ups as much as possible

  • Ninapearl
    11 years ago

    since maggie's cancer was very aggressive, i noticed some slight behavioral changes, too. when i took her to the university, the ct scan showed that the cancer was only days from getting to her brain.

    one of the things maggie did was to lay in front of the floor fan. she would lay with her nose right up against the front. i think it helped her breathe. *sigh*

    i hope your girl does well and that she won't be in pain. it was such a sad thing to see. maggie seemed confused much of the time.

  • eahamel
    11 years ago

    I had a dog that had that. She also developed a seizure disorder, and was confused a lot, too; and I think the tumor was also in her brain. I kept her comfortable until she had a nasal hemorrhage early one morning, and took her as soon as they opened to have her put down. Because of her age and my lack of money, treatment was never an option. The vet said it would only buy her a few months, anyway.

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