October 24, 2013
We are posting this information to share with others who may be experiencing the same type of cancer and surgery options for their dogs as well as to share Beamer’s status with his many friends.
It was a little over a week ago (October 15th) when Beamer had part of his lower jaw surgically removed to excise a Hemangiopericytoma (Soft Tissue Sarcoma) located on his lower gum. The surgery was done at the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital. We took Beamer home the very next day with instructions to give him 75mg of Tramadol every eight hours for pain.
We have to admit that seeing Beamer after surgery with part of his jaw removed was startling. We only had two choices in this situation: leave the cancer to grow and spread until such time as it was too painful and then put Beamer down; or surgically remove the section of the jaw and take as much of the jaw as necessary to assure “clean margins,” meaning that they believe they cut out all remnants of the cancer. Now, after seeing the affects of the surgery, it caused us to question, did we do the right thing?
We did our homework prior to making this decision. Around the world various dog owners online spoke of the fact that their dog did well after the surgery. The vets and surgeon assured us of the same thing. They adjust. The question was more about us adjusting than Beamer, or so it seemed.
At home, Beamer was obviously in pain. He was withdrawn and you felt as though he was asking, “What happened and why did this happen?” He looked depressed, and he wouldn’t raise his head or look at us.
The first day we hand fed Beamer. Small bites. He was hungry. We felt that his appetite was a good sign. He struggled with drinking water from his bowl, but we held his bowl up to his mouth to make it easier.
The second day home the effects of the anesthesia from surgery, shock of the situation, and pain meds really kicked in. He was very lethargic and withdrawn. His eyes were sunken and hollow. It was if the life had been taken out of him. His face was obviously very tender. We accidentally brushed it as we dried his face to keep his sutures dry and he yelped in pain. What was even more concerning is that he refused food and water. Despite trying many times, and cutting his food in to very small bites, he refused everything we gave him. We thought baby food might be the answer, given his sore jaw, but he would have no part of that either.
The third day was more of the same. No food, no water. We were becoming very concerned. It looked as if he was saying, “I’ve had enough.” We began to think that he was telling us that he wanted to go. Dogs have a way of telling you their ultimate decision. The trouble was, we weren’t ready. So, with consultation from our vets we continued to try to feed him and give him water off our fingers to keep him going. We did manage to feed him small pieces of dehydrated chicken breast that was purchased at the local pet store. We rehydrated the pieces to make them moist and shredded them so he could manipulate them with his tongue to swallow. He refused everything else. Most of all, we showered him with love and affection.
On day four there was only a modest improvement. He began to drink a little water out of a bowl and we were able to get him to eat a few bites of cut-up meat (bison is his favorite). We supplemented with fresh cooked salmon. At this point, it was five days since he last had a bowel movement. His urine was very concentrated and had a strong odor. He was obviously not getting enough water or food. The anesthesia and meds had constipated him as well. We had thought of returning to the veterinary hospital but decided to wait another day. We knew the trauma of traveling an hour and a half away and seeing the hospital could be even more distressing to him.
Day 5. Beamer woke up after a very long night’s sleep. Sleep heals, so we let him sleep as long as possible. To be honest, it was hard to watch him while awake. For four days he hung his head, wanted to be left alone and hid in very unusual spots in the house (corners, behind doors, etc.). But today, when he woke up, he was different. He began to follow more of his old routine. He asked for a treat, went outdoors, went to the bathroom, and came back inside asking for more treats. He even ran and jumped while outside. It seemed as if he had turned the corner.
It was nice to see a full belly and the TT pose
With encouragement and persistence, he began drinking water out of his bowl and is now actively looking for food (and treats). It’s almost fair to say, Beamer lives for his treats. Unfortunately, his normal treats are very hard and he cannot possibly chew them with his jaw. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want them. We have substituted very soft treats (Buddy Biscuits and some homemade pumpkin cookies). We have also been soaking the harder biscuits in water and broth and breaking them into tiny pieces so he can basically swallow them once they’re softened.
So, at just a little over one week after surgery, Beamer is beginning to return to normal. He enjoys lying out on the deck or sitting in the grass at night and smelling the fall air. He is alert and is somewhat back on his schedule.
His hair was shaved from his neck and chin for the surgery. It will take some time for his long locks to return, but we have a feeling that with a little more time we will hardly notice the reconstructed jaw and he will learn to eat without his lower front teeth and canines.
We want to thank Dr. Amy Mathews at Village Vets in Buckhead for her constant support and concern throughout this ordeal. She has been extraordinary. Her care and guidance was as much for us at it was for Beamer. Also, thanks goes out to the doctors and interns at the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Lastly, to Dr. Susan Wynn for her assistance on a second opinion for the surgery and help with Beamer’s diet once he’s able to eat more normally.
We will keep you posted as we now expect a full recovery and many more years with our sweet and truly remarkable boy, Beamer.
Lots of sleep and time heal almost anything
Beamer's Corner 
Our Smudge had the same surgery. We found it more distressing than he did and it was a very short time after that he was able to pick his treats up from the floor.(I cried the first time!) His coat hid the deformity of his shortened jaw and few people realised that the bundle of life had had cancer at all. We had him for many happy years after it.
I hope Beamer has the same rapid recovery.
Our Abby is two weeks post op. My husband thinks she isn’t a happy dog. I’m reassuring him that it takes time. Abby can pick up a foam ball and fetch, but not a tennis ball anymore. I’m still poking food to the back of her mouth. She c@nt lick anything off the floor. When can I start trying food in a dish? Gave her a much loved Heartgard today but she couldn’t get it off the floor. One lady we talked to, a name from the vet, said her king ch cavalier ate in ten days. Other sites say 8-10 weeks. How do I start her food in a dish for her to re learn eating?
Hi Connie, The recovery does take time and it will be months before Abby is more of her old self. I would imagine a tennis ball is hard to pick up as the jaw is still sore, and it may be that she won’t be able to do that going forward. When you mentioned the Heartguard, I was surprised that you would give that pill to her since she’s just two weeks post op. Those medications can have side effects (our current dog has had a problem twice, so we don’t give it at all), and I would guess you’re still on pain or nerve medications? I personally would have waited with everything going on right now. For teaching them to eat again, I used a large bowl so that Beamer could scoop his food. I made soft foods like homemade meatloaf and veggies and had to help at times. It takes patience, a lot of love, encouragement, and help to get them back to where they can eat on their own. Good luck with everything and keep us posted. Best, Gwen
Thank you for the encouragement. I’ll stick with hand feeding a while. Abby isn’t on any pain med since she had two gabapentin on the day of her one week post op visit. The fentanyl patch was removed that same day. She sticks by me a lot and I massage her and love her. She adores company, gets tired of the same old same old! We see the vet in a week and I know he will tell us what he’s said before, that she has to relearn eating. We’ve never had a problem with heartgard and it’s very necessary inHouston. I enjoy hearing from you, need the boost! We are determined and devoted so I think we will have the best possible outcome. Connie
Does Beamer need chemo also? My husband asked. My two nieces live in Buckhead. My son just flew there for a wedding. He is at Microsoft Research in Seattle and did a tri flight. One niece is OB GYN and husband head of ER at Grady. WE live in the Palm Beach area. Give him time. If he goes down hill some do accept fate. Pauline’s dog did well. It’s a stressful operation. Again good luck.
Hi Dianne,
No, Beamer does not need chemo after this surgery. That was actually one of the determining factors in deciding whether to have surgery or not. We do not want to put the dog and ourselves through that. It’s also not proven to really prolong most dog’s lives.
Thank you for your well wishes and we do believe that Beamer will be with us for quite some time. 🙂
Gwen
Thank you for posting this. Our little girl, Sissy, goes in for this same surgery this week and it really helps to know that Beamer is back to his old self. Have you heard of any reconstructive surgery for the jaw in dogs? Thanks again, Camille
Hi Camille,
I hope that Sissy is doing well after her surgery.
Beamer made it three more years before having another type of cancer show up on jis paw. We had a toe removed and he did well after that as well.
Unfortunately, we lost him in December shortly after that, due to bladder stones, so it was totally unrelated. He was a tough boy and almost made it to 15 years of age.
Please let me know how Sissy is doing post op.
Best,
Gwen
All the best to you and brave Beamer. I cannot imagine how hard this must be for all of you.
Thank you, Olwen. Yes, it has been hard, but I hope the worst of all of this has passed now and that Beamer can live out his years happy and healthy.
Gwen
Eggs are also a good option for treats. An well-cooked omelet with some chicken bits and cheese in it would be a good protein option. Just cut it into bite-size pieces and it will be gentle on his front teeth when he takes it. Hoping for a speedy recovery.
We just had a massive tumor removed from my son’s dog last week. It was on her belly, she is also 12 and is recovering nicely.
Hi Susan,
I’m sorry to hear about your son’s dog, but glad she’s doing well. There are too many incidents of cancer in our pets these days.:-( Beamer does enjoy eggs and I will often scramble him one with a bit of cheese. Whatever he will eat is what he gets these days.
Gwen
Hi– How big was the tumor? I have a dog with a tumor coming out of his upper gum that is about 1 inch across. Will be seeing surgeon soon. Don’t know if it’s malignant or what will be recommended, but regular vet thinks it may be.
So they think your dog may be able to live out a regular life span?
Hi Sara,
Beamer’s tumor was probably close to that size. They first did a biopsy at UGA and then based on the type of tumor it was, recommended the aggressive jaw surgery.
Of course, nobody knows what will happen, but if Beamer doesn’t have another tumor, then his life expectancy is about what it was before the tumor. He has a number of other medical issues, so all things considered, he is doing well.
Best of luck to you!
Gwen
Dear Gwen, thank you so much for sharing this story about Beamer! I’m from the Netherlands and am looking for similar stories and tips for our Jack Russell dog, but could not find any in Dutch.
A week ago our dog Riffy was diagnosed with the same tumor in his left lower jaw as Beamer and as it was so aggressive he has been operated last Monday. It’s very hard to see how much pain he is experiencing and is missing half a jaw which makes it almost impossible for him to eat. Yesterday he ate like he hadn’t eaten in days or weeks, but today he stopped eating, which makes it also impossible to give him his pain medication. When we try to help him, he starts to panic and runs off.
Your story gave us some hope and learned us that Riffy just needs his rest and sleep to get better! And will have to get confident with his new mouth.
Thank you again and should you have any other tips regarding feeding him, please let me know.
Best regards,
Daniëlle
Hi Danielle,
I’m glad that you found my post and I hope the advice I can offer helps with your dog’s recovery.
The process of recovery with this surgery was slow. It was as if Beamer had given up and didn’t want to live for a number of weeks following his surgery. I literally had to hand feed him soft foods and his water, oftentimes from the tip of my finger.
Beamer still needs encouragement to eat much of the time. It is a challenge for him to eat from a bowl and he scoops his food, but many of the pieces are pushed out of the bowl, so I feed him from a large vegetable bowl with high sides. Since he has become even fussier with what he will eat now, I’ve found that meatloaf made with either ground bison, chicken, or turkey is a good choice. I can sneak in other things that are good for him since he won’t eat most of the homecooked food I have always made him. I add organic whole oats, eggs, cottage cheese, and grated carrots or broccoli, bake it and then slice and freeze the individual pieces so they can be thawed for meals one at a time.
I’ve also found a good freeze-dried food that comes in a round biscuit-like shape that I use as a supplement and a snack. that way, when it’s hard to get him to eat, I at least know he’s getting additional nourishment.
Hang in there and I promise, it will get better. It takes time and I know it’s a big adjustment for everyone.
Please leave me a comment sometime soon with an update. Good luck and hugs from Beamer.
Gwen
I am still feeding him sometimes by hand as I do think he gets frustrated with trying to eat, although at about 8 week,s he was able to enjoy hard treats again and that makes him happy. I do have a recipe for pumpkin treats that are soft that I fed him in tiny pieces after the surgery. they were a big hit. Here’s the recipe
Our 7 yr old Aussie, Neyo had this surgery today.
He was supposed to have a less invasive procedure to remove teeth and scrape the bone and the tumor was much worse.
He ( and we) are pretty shocked and scared. He’s home. On drugs but in pain.
I’m happy to hear of your dogs recovery and will happily hand feed him.
I’m nervous about the next week.
Hi Karin,
I wish you the best of luck with Neyo’s recovery. It’s a long process, but it does get better every day. I promise.
Gwen
Our Dog Toby has a tumor on his lower jaw. We have been advised that he neefs his left side lower jaw removed. He is a irish kerry blue , my husband thinks its unfair to toby to have this operation .we just dont know what to do?
Hi, I’m so sorry to read this about Toby. I would say that is he’s in good health and at a reasonable age you go ahead with the surgery. There is another dog that recently had a huge mass removed and part of the jaw and she was 12 and is doing very well. It sounds like a terrible surgery and it’s hard to make the decision, but the dogs do really well post-op once they’re through the worst of the pain and adjustment period. We’d be happy to chat with you if you want to talk. Good luck! Gwen
Dear Nora, sorry to hear about Toby. For our dog it was hard the first couple of weeks after removing his left lower jaw, but once he was healed and adjusted to only eating soft and mashed foods we got back our happy and naughty doggie. Since we’ve experienced this I think it’s our human perception of finding things like this very sad and hard to cope with, but the dog doesn’t experience it this way, dog’s live in the moment and do not worry about their looks or if something is unfair. It is a very hard decision to make, but remember they will be the happiest with your unconditional love and attention. All the best and follow your heart, Daniëlle – The Netherlands
My dog didn’t eat for 4 days post-surgery but when he started eating again he was like a shark in a feeding frenzy. I devised a way to sort of drop/push food into his mouth. I make him sit and hold the food slightly over his head and tell him to “Look up”. That makes him open his mouth so gravity can help the food go back into his mouth, where when he tries picking it up himself, gravity makes it fall right out again. This has made feeding him easier and he’s more focused because it makes him look at me and pay attention to his food in a way that’s not as frustrating to him as trying to pick it up out of a bowl himself only to have it drop out of his mouth.
It may take your dog a few days to decide to eat because he’s been through a lot. See if the vet will give you pain medication for him as well because having any kind of serious surgery HURTS!
Karin,
We did this surgery three and a half weeks ago for my lover dog and are starting radiation tomorrow. I wish I would have offered this consolation before, but here it ts late.
We live in Columbus, Ohio. We are blessed with one of this country’s premier veterinary hospitals at Ohio State and by MedVet. Experts at both said we could do nothing else than do this surgery. You have done the right thing.
Sloppy eating and wild drinking you are used to by now. But today, on a lovely, rainy afternoon, I got to doze quietly with my best friend. Actually thanked my surgeon for the gift today.
Best of luck,
Dee
“Wild drinking”!! I love it! I laughed out loud!!! 😀
Gwen, Hello. Our 11 year old sheltie, Misty, had her lower jaw removed a few days ago due to a malignant tumor. We think they got it all so should be fine now. Fortunately, she seems to have recovered amazingly well. She is active and alert and does not seem to be in pain (she is on pain meds). She can only eat canned very soft dog food – slurping with her tongue. Drinking water fine but is having trouble learning to eat on her own again. Probably more me having trouble watching. I hand feed her when she starts to struggle. I want to be able to help her along in the learning how to eat on her own process. She clearly wants to do on her own. Any advice on types of food that are easiest for your dog to pick up? Treats? We have always given hard treats and I’m not sure she will ever be able to eat those or learn how to grab onto them. Our other dog isn’t getting treats either unless we sneak to him. He’s a bit upset over that! I’m going to try your pumpkin cookies (although I’m not much of a cook). Thanks for posting – searched the web to try and find someone who has been through and can talk about more than just the immediate impact of the surgery. Our best wishes to Beamer. Thank You, lisa
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for leaving a message and I hope Misty continues to improve. It’s amazing how resilient these dogs are!
Beamer is able to eat his hard chew treats and biscuits. We waited about 10 or 12 weeks before trying them, but he manages to chew them in the back of his mouth. He loves them and it’s good for his teeth. There are some soft chew treats from Buddy Biscuits and a few other brands that are natural, so look for those, in. You may have to order them online. In the meantime, the pumpkin ones will be perfect. I even broke those up into tiny pieces at first since he couldn’t chew at all.
It is hard for Beamer to grab things when they fall on the floor, especially on the hardwood floor. Carpet is easier. Since I cook his food, he gets a soft diet anyway, so it wasn’t a big transition. There are things he will no longer eat, but I think that’s by choice and unfortunately, rice is too small to scoop up, so I can’t give him that for an upset tummy. One thing I still do is make bison, chicken, or turkey meatloaf and load it up with eggs, organic oatmeal, grated carrots and broccoli, and cottage cheese, so I can sneak good stuff in.
Let me know how Misty does down the road and good luck!
Gwen
Pumpkin cookies sound good. Our 11yo sheltie will have partial mandibulectomy on oct 5, 21. I’m scared, worried, crying. Reading your comments has helped. The comment about the dog not understanding rings true here. I wish I could explain to her. Recipe for cookies?
Hi Connie, I’m sorry to hear that your dog has to go through this surgery, too, but I’m glad you found our site and are receiving some comfort hearing other people’s stories. Here is the recipe for the pumpkin cookies. https://beamerscorner.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/homemade-soft-pumpkin-treats-for-dogs/ Good luck and I hope all goes well with the surgery. Gwen
I hope Beamer is still doing well. My wife and I were recently thrust into a similar situation with our almost 9 year old German Shepherd Max. She felt a lump on his jaw on February 1st and was at the vet’s office with him the next day. As with Beamer, we got a referral to UGAs Veterinary Teaching Hospital. After 2 days of testing we’re both numb with the feeling of impending loss. Max is back home with us now. My wife has always cooked for him so he’s eating a little and drinking some water so we’re hopeful that we’ll have more time with him. I can’t see him going through the surgery though. We will keep him comfortable and enjoy every minute we have with him until such a time come when we can’t stand it any longer.
Hi,
Yes, Beamer is still doing well and hanging in there. He’s slowed down, but he’s also past 13 years (December was his birthday). He has actually been quite perky with the cold weather and eating nonstop!
I would highly recommend the surgery if cost is not an option and the surgery is. Beamer recovered well from it and apparently, most dogs do. It’s better than watching them suffer while the tumor grows and we were told, it also is very painful when it grows into the bone. Dogs are resilient and Beamer has proven that again and again.
Good luck with your decision and I wish the best for Max.
Gwen
Thanks for your reply Gwen! In Max’s case his jaw bone is very much affected all ready and one or two lymph nodes as well, although we won’t know the specific form of cancer until next week. Until then we’re weighing Max’s options. We love him so much but we can already see how the illness has changed him. We’ve got our fingers crossed. As my mother said shortly before she died from cancer years ago “cookie crumbles”. Neil
I felt the same. My dog’s tumor would bleed for a couple days as it grew and while it didn’t bother him while it was still fairly small, as it grew bigger, he seemed to be more aware of it and I suspected it was bothering him. I knew it wasn’t going to go away and would eventually hurt his quality of life.
I was very scared and sad but he’s a week after surgery now and is wagging his tail again and when he sees I have treats for him, he comes running. He LOVES Milk Bones so I soak them in hot water till they get soft and puff up. I break swallowing-sized pieces off and drop them into his mouth/throat when we do the “Look up” thing where gravity can help him keep the food from falling out of his mouth until he learns his own technique. Even if I have to hand-feed him the rest of his days, I love this dog so much, it’s all worth it to me.
Hi, Please let Beamer know that his experience has been inspriational to others. My little girl Savanah, 10 year old Boxer, was diagnosed as having a jaw eating tumor. When I noticed the red bump under her lower canine the first vet said she needs to have a teeth cleaning. I knew something else was wrong since she was a pawing at it and trying to rub her face all the time plus I get Savanah’s teeth cleaned every 3 years. After consulting with a different vet a biopsy was done and the conclusion was either she would need to have 1/3 of her lower jaw removed to stop the bone from being destroyed or to do nothing that would eventual cause her more pain and eventually she would stop eating. I wanted to make sure I did the right thing that would cease any pain and still allow her to be functional. I had never heard about jaw removals on dogs so that went google was my best friend. I read stories and thought about the options day and night. Having an older dog comes with a lot more complications under surgery so I decided I would go to one of the best places in Florida. I drove 5 hours to Unviersity of Florida small animal hospital. I wanted to go to the place that trained the surgeons and that had the most advanced equipment. When we got there I knew I made the right choice, the place was great and Dr. Vincent, oncology surgeon, could not be any more patient and informative and yes I am a control freak when it comes to my little girl and well almost anything in life.
Savanh had the surgery 5 days ago. They treated her and me with some kindness, even sending me pictures of her the night she had to stay over. They said she ate within hours after surgery and the next moring the same thing. I picked her up on Wed and we made the 5 hour drive home.
When I got home I think I had more of an issue with her inability to eat and how helpless she looked. My heart broke every time I looked at her and still does. I thought ….how cruel of me and what did I do to her…second guessing my decision. The first time I had to feed her was so hard, I tried to have her eat her soft food by herself but she couldn’t since she used to scoop her food now she would have to learn how to eat all over again. I fed her by hand for the first 3 days but yesterday I made sweet potato mashed with water’d rice and canned dog food. I made a nice little pile on a plate and she ate it, yes it was very messey but she tried. Savanah did look at me like what did you do and why did you do this to me. I even told my friends that she is mad at me and I know she could pick up on my difficulty in dealing with her post surgical look and helplessness. She is coping at the same time I am coping. She did stop drinking water and I was concerned so I put a little cashew milk in water and she drank it. I like your meatloaf idea and I think I will do the same plus pumpkin cookies will be a good snack.
I think it is important for others to read the stories to know what to expect. Even though it WILL STILL be a shock when they see the baby for the first time but they will know they are not alone.
Thank you Beamer…..Hopefully savanah will do as good as you 🙂
Hi Michelle and Savanah,
Beamer says hello and sends his wishes for a full and speedy recovery! 🙂 I can promise you that with time you all will almost forget this happened. Beamer has adjusted really well to the way he now has to eat and is a proud member of the clean bowl club for almost every meal.
He still loves his meatloaf, chicken and rice or veggie pasta, and scrambled eggs. He’s not a lover of veggies when I cook them, but will eat them when they’re in his chicken, turkey, or bison meatloaf. He also really loves his snacks and the hard ones are great to hep clean his teeth since he can’t chew quite like he did before.
While it’s a tough decision and really rough for awhile, it is the right decision if your dog is otherwise healthy. We’re so happy we did it, although it was very hard to see him like that right after the surgery. Hus surgery was in the fall of 2013 and he’s still here with us. I know that would not have been the case had we not done it.
I’m glad that you were pleased with the University of Florida vet school. We were happy with UGA, although during the surgery, the head surgeon called to tell us they would have to take his lower canines since their jaw blade was not small enough. That was a little upsetting since the surgery was booked for a week before, but there wasn’t much we could do about it as he was already under anesthesia. 😦
Each day gets better, so I know things will improve. Good luck to you both!
Beamer & Gwen
Hi Gwen and Beamer,
I just wanted to say thank you for posting your story. Our dog just had this surgery yesterday and we still haven’t gotten him home or gotten to see him.
Reading your story really helped my husband and I feel some sort of comfort in this crazy situation. I just wanted you to know that you’ve helped a lot of people cope with a very difficult decision.
Thank you,
Sara
Hi Sara,
Thank you for your kind words. I hope all goes well with your pup. It’s hard, but it does get easier. We’re thankful every day for the additional time we’ve had with Beamer. It would not have been possible without the surgery, even though it wasn’t easy.
Please send me a message and let me know how things go once your dog is home and settled.
Best of luck to you all!
Gwen & Beamer
HI,
A follow up to Savanah …4 months post surgery.
She is doing so good it is amazing. She is still a messy eater…but nothing stops her from eating. Her bottom jaw droops a little but she is still as cute as ever.
Beamer’s storry helped me and I would be happy to help others.
Hi Michelle,
I’m so happy to hear that Savannah is doing well. We’re also glad to know how much Beamer’s blog has helped others going through the same surgery. We wish you the best going forward!
Gwen
I am so glad I found this site because I was looking for information and have found that and more. Hearing how other people and their dogs have coped is very helpful to me. It’s was such a scary thing to have my beloved malamute undergo such a drastic operation but knowing other people have done the same and their dogs are doing well afterwards is exactly what I was needing when I found this site.
Thank you for creating this and thank you to everyone else for being here and sharing your stories. It’s a brand new situation to each of us individually but having this community helps me realize that I and my dog are not in it alone.
Hi Beamer, Gwen and everyone. An update on Misty the Sheltie, 10 months after her surgery. Doing well, eats great. She takes more time to drink her water and can not pick up food off the bare floor (or other dog is happy about that). I have to aim her cookie treats to the back of her mouth where she can grab on to it. She still seems to think she should take at the front of her mouth. Her little tongue hangs out which is really adorable. Misty has aged since the surgery, although considering she is over 12 years old that is probably to be expected. I worry about her arthritis but no longer about cancer. Starting Light Therapy next week – has anyone had a dog that has received that? Wish I could post a picture, would love to see the photos of the trooper dogs who have recovered from surgery. I am amazed by how well Misty adjusted. Best Wishes to all. Misty & Lisa
Hi Lisa,
It’s so nice to hear that Mystie the Sheltie is doing so well at almost a year after the surgery. Beamer has some challenges with eating, too. I feed him in a large deep bowl so that he has plenty of room to scoop up his food. He has no trouble eating hard chew treats, but does struggle with regular meals a bit.
Beamer is 13 1/2 years old so we also have some typical old-age issues combined with the compromised immune situation from the surgery and his earlier paralysis, but he is an amazing boy. We enjoy every day we have with him.
If you’d like to see recent photos of Beamer, you can see some on my Instragram account https://instagram.com/bunkycooks/ or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Bunkycooks.
I hope all continues to go well for you and Mystie!
Gwen
Hi Gwen, With Misty I found that a flatter bowl with slightly curved edges works best for her to eat her meals. I use the cover to a Japanese soup bowl. That way she can put the top of her nose across the plate and has an easier time getting the food into the back bottom part of her mouth. A couple bites fall on to the bathmat towel we use to easily clean up after her messy eating but she seems to have an easier time this way than with a bowl. Beamer looks great, the food looks awesome as well. Best, lisa
So it’s 3 years later– will you email me and tell me your opinion of the surgery (and the cost) now? Would you do it again? My 6.5 year old boxer/American bulldog/hound has Acanthomatous ameliblastoma
And if they can even do a jaw removal (it’s at the very back of his lower jaw) that would be our only choice. We are leaning toward palliative care/euthanizing… Thanks
Hi Jennifer,
We would definitely do it again. Beamer recovered well and it still with us three years later and he’ll be 15 years old next month. The cost at UGA was about $1200. Dogs adjust better than we do in most cases, so if you can do the surgery, your pup probably has a lot of life left, as long as it’s nowhere else.
If you’re near a veterinary teaching hospital (like UGA), the cost will probably be less than a specialty vet clinic.
Good luck with everything.
Gwen
Yes, LSU vet school would do it. I forgot to mention that most of the type of tumor he has are benign, but his is malignant.
My vet is working on getting me a consult there. I was thinking the surgery would cost much more. 1200 isn’t bad (assuming under 1800). I would consider it for that price.
But like I said, it was far back in his mouth and while the vet thought she got wide enough margins to be on the safe side, the margins weren’t clear. His path report says his prognosis is “guarded”.
Because of the location, I’m not sure they can remove it all, but that would be what the consult is for. Thanks so much for responding.
Our dog is going through this surgery on Tuesday. It will be pretty extensive from what we’re told, so of course I’m going online (always a bad idea) for any details and photos. I appreciate your day-by-day account, because I genuinely want to know what to expect (vs. the dr’s he’ll be good after 1-2 weeks, etc). And we too are struggling with whether or not it is the right decision. We just want him to be happy. Waaaaaaaah! Thanks again for your post!
I’m glad this was of help to you. It is a hard decision, but Beamer did well after he adjusted to his new normal. I would say it was more like 8 or 10 weeks before he was able to chew hard treats again. One to two weeks is pretty early in the process as it is a major surgery. Beamer did not have anything else show up for three years and then he had a different type of cancer on one of his toes, which we had to remove. We haven’t had the heart to update this blog, but, we sadly lost him December 5 to something totally unrelated – he had bladder stones and blockages in his urinary tract. We lost him very quickly and unexpectedly from something bizarre. He almost made it to his 15th birthday.
I’m sure your pup will do fine with this surgery. Just be patient, love him, and help him with staying hydrated and eating soft foods. They do seem to adjust really well over time following this surgery and can live very normal and healthy lives post op.
Good luck.
Gwen
Wow, 15! That is great. So sorry to hear, though. Our English lab just turned 11, so although we know he is up there in years, we still feel like, if he did have a voice, that he would want to live at this point (that’s how my husband gauges our decision – what would Sam want?) Good to know about the 8-10 weeks. We are going out of town at the 3rd week and will have a gal here watching him, who is well aware of what is going on, but it will be good to give her an extra heads up. We haven’t told our 5 and 8-year-old yet that he will look differently (the surgeon also mention atrophy in his skull as a result!?!!) , as they are already so sad about the surgery, but we will prep them before he comes home. Thank you again for the details, they are very helpful!
I appreciate all your words of encouragement. My dog Katie, (black border collie mix) is now facing this surgery. We are waiting on the biopsy and have some consults next week. We are very upset but don’t want to stand by and do nothing. So your story about Beamer helps many with this hard situation. We are so worried.Any more advice would be great. (her tumor is on lower jaw line and ner teeth about in the middle)
Thank you! Cyndy Fowler
Hi Cyndy,
I’m glad that you found Beamer’s Corner and are able to talk through and ask others about this surgery. That was our hope when we decided to start the site.
If Katie is in good health and at a reasonable age, I think you should go with what you think is best. If the vets say they can have a successful outcome removing what they have to of the jaw, as I have mentioned earlier, the worst of this surgery is the first part of the recovery process. It is difficult for a while, but we never regretted our decision and had Beamer for three more years before he had another type of cancer and had a digit removed. We lost him to bladder stones at age 15, so that type of cancer was never an issue again.
I hope that helps and good luck with your decision and the surgery, if you opt to do it. Please let me know how it goes and we’ll be thinking of you.
Best,
Gwen
I’m so sorry for your loss of your Beamer. He was a guiding light to the rest of us who are scared about how things can turn out for our dogs. I’m glad Beamer did so well and that you have shared your journey with him so the rest of us don’t feel like we’re the only ones going through this with our dogs.
As an update to my November 4 post, we chose not to do this surgery for our dog and while we were told he has 6 months to live, he is so far happy and healthy. Totally normal. I believe he has malignant cancer and his end will come at some point. But for now, everything is good…
Update: we lost our boy in mid April 😦 we are sorry to hear you lost your Beamer too.
Jennifer, I am reading through all these posts about cancer myself. I am trying to make the best decision for my Boxer that has a large mass on his bottom front canine. The surgery here is 2k and I have already spent $1,000. Money aside I am just concerned that he is already almost 10 and I don’t want to just extend his life, it almost seems selfish and I am afraid the quality of his life will be different. He is a major PUPPY right now running up 3 flights of stairs and silly! A complete Boxer! Can you tell me more about your story please? Jennie
Hi Jennifer,
I would be more than happy to tell you about my Savanah’s story. She was a boxer and also 10 years old when diagnosed with a jaw tumor on her lower jaw. I drove about 5 hours and had the surgery at University of Florida Animal hospital. This is the best place I found for excellence in handling this type of cancer.
The decision was tough but I didn’t want to give up on her since she was still very active. After the surgery I was sad for her however after a short time she was back to her normal self. She didn’t look the same but she was still as cute as ever. I had to feed her differently but since she loved to eat it wasn’t an issue. Every case is different but I would do it again if my newly adopted boxer had the same issue.
Savanah lived a good life for 2.5 more years. She died at 12.5 yrs old on Oct 27 2016 and I adopted my new girl one year later..to the date.
If you need more information or need to talk, please feel to reach out to me and I will give you more details.
Beamer’s corner helped me get thru the after surgery process. His story was an inspiration to me and helped me get thru the early post surgery days.
Michelle
Hi Michelle,
I’m so glad we were able to help others with this blog and as you, we are happy we made the decision to have this surgery and keep Beamer in our lives for several more years. We need to update the site and finish his story, but I haven’t had the heart to do it.
We hope to get another Tibetan Terrier later this year. The new dog will not be able to replace our sweet boy (and we don’t expect them to), but we look forward to loving another TT and having that special companionship.
Gwen
Jennifer,
We didn’t do the consult at LSU where they had offered radiation as an option (through correspondence with my vet). I wouldn’t have been able to handle the back and forth plus the extra care needed.
My boy pulled a muscle in his leg bad in early April and it wasn’t healing. He declined pretty quickly from the start of April. The vet was very comfortable with our decision to put hom down when we did. I do not and have not regretted our decision.
We lost our rescue 15 year old hound boy that December, my boxer/bully boy to cancer that April and our old man rescue bulldog in June. It was a rough 6 months.
We now have two English Bulldogs who are two years old, the boy adopted in July as a re home.
I miss our motley crew, but as I said, I feel one hundred percent content with our decision and I do not regret it.
Good luck and hugs.
@tdiym Thank you. I’m so glad that this site has been a place to connect with others and look for guidance about mandibular jaw surgery for our beloved dogs. We couldn’t find any reliable information on either Beamer’s paralysis or this type of surgery, so we started this site. I hate that there are so many pups and families that have to go through this terrible surgery, but at least we can all be here for each other.
I know this is an old post and see that you have now sadly lost Beamer but wanted to let you know that his story is still helping people and doggies. My dog, Tilly, is 13 and because of an aggressive squamous cell carcinoma she underwent the surgery on Wednesday. We get to bring her home today and she is not eating at the vet but because of your post I am ready and prepared for the next few days/weeks/months and have a plan. I know it is going to be rough but we are hopeful she will have a few more years and cannot thank you enough. I had actually found this post a couple of weeks ago when we were first confronted with this and couldn’t find it again at first last night when I was getting everything ready for her to come home but I am so glad I finally did!
My malamute had surgery a week ago followed by some severe complications. He didn’t eat or drink for four days and even the emergency vet was getting concerned. With an appetite stimulant and soft food to encourage him, he started eating a little bit. For his medications, i first wrapped each pill in cream cheese and then wrapped that in soft canned food, like a miniature Scottish egg. I discovered a trick to help him swallow the pills, too. I’d tell him to sit and then hold the disguised pill over his head and tell him to “Look up” so he would tip his head back. Then I would put the pill as far back on his tongue/into his throat as I could and he could easily swallow it down. He tries to pick things up to eat but with his head tipped forward, gravity usually wins, which is what gave me the idea to use gravity to help instead. So now that he’s eating hungrily after 4 days, I make him sit and “Look up” and there is a lot less mess and meals are eaten quicker. I thought I’d post this as an idea that other people might want to try to see if that technique helps them feed their dogs, too.
I wish someone could develop an implant/prosthesis so that their mouths could feel more normal to them and their tongues could be directed to the front of their mouths instead of out the side. It makes it much harder for them to drink or lick up anything. When I broke my wrist several years ago, I had pins and bolts installed so I would imagine something similar might be possible in dogs to give their jaw more stability and balance and make it easier for them to eat and drink more normally.
Hi, I’m sorry to hear about another dog having to undergo this surgery and then the following complications, but I’m glad to know that things are improving and that your boy is eating now. It would make sense that someone could come up with an implant following this surgery, but I’m afraid it would be cost-prohibitive for most dog owners. I already know of several people who have opted not to have the surgery because of the expense. I hope things continue to get better. Please keep us posted on the recovery process. Best, Gwen
It’s 5 months post op now. Abby still gets fed meatballs enhanced with your meatloaf recipe. She prefers my dropping food in her mouth.
We are supposed to take her back for tooth extraction but can’t tolerate her being anaesthetized again. We are committed to her care, loving her and getting her love back!
I don’t know if this page is still open but if it is I can use help. I could not read all of these posts to see if my questions would have been answered because of crying. My daughter’s service dog is four years old and he has been diagnosed with Squama Cell Carcinoma. We are taking him to a hospital in Gainsville, Florida for a second opinion. They are talking about his jaw being removed but we are not sure of how much yet. Can the dogs pick up things at all? This is one of the things he does for her. Will the quality of life be good? He loves a favorite toy a ball will he be able to hold this? Do you have to be careful of infections? I know the doctor will answer these but would like to hear from people who have been through it.
Hi Beth,
Yes, Beamer did really well and resumed a mostly normal life after about 8-10 weeks. I had to help him eat soft foods initially and you may need to change your dog’s diet a bit, but they do really well after recovering from this surgery. It allowed Beamer to live over 3 more years and he had a wonderful ife. As for infections, we did not have a problem. They will, of course, give antibiotics post op.
Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Gwen
I did not see this until our Maui had his surgery. He had his surgery on December 14th. We had to leave him there because he had a very swollen tongue. He also had to have a feeding tube and is throwing up. We are just beside ourselves that we had to leave him because we live five hours away. We are going back tomorrow in hopes of bringing him home. Good to know about his recovery.
Hi Gwen, my diva is 12 yrs and had her lower jaw removed. She is doing well very picky eater so they put a feeding tube in she had surgery 2 weeks ago she can’t feed herself yet . She seems very depressed. She wants to feed her self gets frustrated . Didn’t like begs. Can you give the recipe for meatloaf and pumpkin cookies thank you, sandy
Hi Sandy,
You left a comment on another post, so I hope you see this. I’m sorry to hear about your sweet girl. It will take some time for her to recover, so be patient. The time when they feed themselves is quite a bit out and by 8 or 10 weeks Beamer could chew a hard snack.
I fed him by hand quite often, even after the recovery period. I think they always have a weird feeling scooping food and you need to get a large and deep bowl (like a vegetable serving bowl) that allows them the room to scoop their food. They don’t have the same motion allowing them to eat after this surgery.
You asked about the pumpkin cookies. The recipe is on this site. Here’s the link https://wordpress.com/view/beamerscorner.wordpress.com.
For the meatloaf, I mixed either ground turkey or bison (2 pounds or either) with several beaten eggs, about 1 cup of cottage cheese, 1/2 – 1 cups organic rolled oats and mixed that with 1 or more cups of grated veggies (broccoli and carrots). It was never the same recipe twice. I baked it at 350 or 375 until it was 160 degrees for turkey or bison and then let it rest. I sliced it and put it in the freezer in individual bags.
I suggest using the ground bison right now. We are convinced bison aided in Beamer’s recovery since the meat is so much better than beef and aids in recovery with all the protein, nutrients, etc.
Good luck and I hope everything improve soon.
Gwen
I am having problems with my dog Maui that is very frustrating. He has thick mucus and it is hindering his eating. The doctors have really not been helpful. We have tried the meatballs, chicken and bread and it just comes back out. He loves licking food off my finger and within minutes it’s back out because of the mucus. I am hoping someone has dealt with this to give us pointers. He is on a feeding tube because he can not get the nutrition he needs.Thanks Beth
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I hope Maui is doing well. Keep me posted on his recovery.
Maui came home yesterday. He had to stay 3 extra days due to an issue with his tongue. He came home with a feeding tube for now. He seems to be very happy being back home. The other dogs we have are leaving him alone. He keeps going to the water bowl don’t think he can figure out what is going on.
Hi Beth,
I personally have not had to deal with this situation. I think it’s best to check with your vet or surgeon about this. There has to be a reason for the mucus and maybe they can get it until control. Good luck with everything and let us know what they find. Best, Gwen
Thank you for your post, so happy Beamer adjusted well after surgery. I am going through this with my 14 yr old lab Sadie. But I chose not to do surgery. Her tumor is growing and is uncomfortable for her. Not sure if I made right decision though in not doing surgery.
Hi Janis,
How is Sadie doing? I am thinking about declining surgery as well for my Boxer boy. I am trying to do as much research and get feedback on what I should/shouldn’t do but it is hard. I feel like by boy is almost 10 and has had a really great life and is still full of energy, he is pretty goofy. Thinks he can run a marathon but then 10 minutes into his run he is like ok lets go to bed Momma! He has a huge mass on his lower jaw, on the canine tooth actually. it was removed by his vet in November 2017 but it came right back (we kind of knew it would) The surgeon looked at the cancer last week and basically spoke of removing the jaw to prolong his life and I just don’t know if I can go through with it. It feels selfish to buy time and not allow him the quality of life he has now but I am sure he will start to have pain. I know the other day he hit his jaw on my knee and he yelped like I never heard before. I am very confused on making the right decision for him and not me and my Son.
Hi Janis, I’m so sorry to hear about Sadie. With her age, you probably made the right decision not to put her through the surgery. I hope you are able to keep her comfortable and we wish you all the best of luck with this. It’s never easy. Gwen
Gwen, Thank you for sharing and starting this thread about your boy. May he rest in peace. they are truly angels aren’t they 🙂
Hello. Can I ask how old your dog is? My dog has resently had a growth taken out of her mouth and we are waiting for results of it. Doesn’t look the best as the vet said it had eaten away at some of her lip and may of decayed one of her teeth. She has already mentioned about maybe taking part of her jaw out in the future. I find this very distressing and I don’t know if I could put my Tia through it. She is a 9 year old Stafford bull terrier. There’s a huge chance of this growth growing back as they wasn’t able to take all of he growth out as it was fused onto her gum. I just don’t know what to do. I don’t want to have to put her through lots of operations and I don’t want her to be in pain. I know we have to put the option of putting her down on the table to which is the hardest. And we will always put her first before our feeling. Would really appreciate it if someone could get back to me on this. Thanks Georgia
Hi Georgia, Beamer was almost 12 when he had this surgery. We had several opinions before going through this and were advised that we should do it as he was otherwise happy and healthy. The tumors are incredibly painful, so you need to decide whether to do the surgery or not let the dog suffer in pain. Here is a link to another dog that just had the surgery. https://www.gofundme.com/help-gracie-live-out-her-life Gracie is doing well after several tough days, but more of her jaw was taken and she had a feeding tube, so it was an even harder situation. These dogs are resilient and do recover with love and time. Good luck and let us know what happens. Best, Gwen
Hi there. I recently noticed a growth on our pup’s lower gum. In about a month, it grew pretty quickly, so I took her to the vet on Friday. They did bloodwork that came back pretty good (just a slightly elevated kidney number) so they don’t think it’s cancer, thankfully. But, I do think we need to have the mass removed because it will continue to grow and affect her ability to eat. So, we’re scheduling her for the procedure this week, which will include the removal of a few teeth too. After that they can test to confirm for sure that it’s (hopefully) benign. The vet asked about removal of part of the jaw, and right now I’m totally against it, considering we haven’t gotten a diagnosis of cancer. If we did, I’m still not sure I’d do it since she’s a senior dog (12 years, 3 mos.) and is also a large breed (very large female Golden). Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but in the meantime it’s nice to find some info on other owners and pets who have gone through it and come out successfully. I didn’t read every comment, but all that I read seem to be positive. BTW, our big girl’s name is Saoirse (seer – SHA), like the Irish actress. 🙂
Hi Mary, How did everything go with your girl? I hope the procedure went well. Gwen
My malamute is 12 and just had the surgery. His was a soft tissue sarcoma and at first it was small but seemed to be growing quickly to where it started bothering him. The only option I had aside from waiting until it was miserable for him and having to euthanize him, was having his lower left jaw removed. I was so scared and when he had the surgery, he had complications so it was doubly stressful. He spent a couple nights in the emergency vet service. They were SO outstanding I wish they could be his vet full time! His early recovery was rough. I could hear him yelling and yowling in the background when the vet called me with a progress report. He didn’t eat anything for four days and when his appetite came back IT CAME BACK. He was eating like a shark. I still have all my fingers, tho. I counted. I am feeding him by hand with soft canned food and waterlogged kibble and waterlogged Milk Bones. He would really suffer if he had to miss his Milk Bones. He’s just a week past his surgery and I’m hand-feeding him and even though it takes a while to get a meal into him if I had to do it for the rest of his life, I’d do it gladly to have him otherwise healthy. He has started wagging his tail again and being his usual stubborn malamute self. He’s still wearing the cone collar which we both hate, but it’s keeping him safe until the vet says he’s ok to go without it (and I’ll be scared for him at first).
This site has been so helpful to me because I found out I’m not alone in my fears, doubts and worries and I can see how other people have coped and how their dogs have gradually recovered.
His surgery was just one week ago today and I can say already that I’m not sorry I had it done. He is one of my all-time favorite dogs and giving him a few more years of healthy life where he can enjoy getting older and being loved seems like the right decision for him and for me.
This blog was very helpful – our dog had the surgery about 2.5 weeks ago and we are still doing hand feeding – though showing some signs of being able to get small bits of food up from plate – will try the large bowl. He does seem happy and active. We are wondering about what type of toy to give him since he so loved to chew on his hard rubber toy. He had half of his bottom jaw removed due to a malignant tumor. He is our 93 year old father’s companion.
Hi Iris,
I’m glad you found this information helpful and that your pup is doing well. Our breeder (we now have another Tibetan Terrier as of July this year) says she believes there is a relationship between plastic and rubber toys and mouth cancer in dogs. She’s seen it many times and has advised us not to give our new boy any of those to play with. He does enjoy rope tug toys and I would try basic soft squeaky toys for your dog. I hope those work.
Tried the large bowl and it worked!
I’m glad that worked!
so grateful for this post and information. i dropped off my almost 7 year old bernese mountain dog Breeze this morning for a lower jaw tumor removal. they will be taking the left canine tooth and probably 3 more of the front lower teeth, i am a nervous wreck and overloaded with thoughts and emotions. anxious to hear from the dr and so worried how it will be when we see her. we know it was a non- invasive papillary cancer so this was really the best… but most difficult decisoin to help her. your honest explanation and all of the previous comments have helped me feel a bit better. thanks for taking the time to do this :o) chrissie
Hi Chrissie, Thank you for your comments and we wish you the best with Breeze. Fingers and paws crossed for a speedy and easy recovery. Gwen
I am new to the comments. Thank you for sharing your experiences, both positive and frightening. Today we had our first consult with a dental surgeon for our 11 1/2 year old female Rottweiler mix Lacy. We had found a small lump under her chin and had it quickly checked out. Our vet did xrays and a needle biopsy. She quickly set us up for the consult because she found tumor cells and she recognized the urgency from experience. Today the results were not what we had hoped for. The dental vet said she was not sure what cancer it was (but it looked very aggressive and had spread to the very back of her jaw) and the only way to find out was to have her surgically biopsy and remove some bone, send it off and wait. Once the tumor was identified we could have the entire lower left jaw removed at another appointment. The second choice was to remove the entire jaw TODAY and hope for a good recovery and an undetermineable quality and length of life. It was emotionally impossible for us to decide today so we are on the schedule for Tuesday, March, 19, 2019. I have read all the above posts, consulted with other dog world people and googled until I’m exhausted. Our Lacy is in otherwise excellent health and since we adopted her exactly 10 years ago has had a queen’s life so it weighs heavy on us to risk surgery and her mental/physical quality for what could result in precious little extra time. While I have had extensive dog experience I’m not sure how I could handle the recovery period. We had lost two male Rotts to osteosarcoma 11 years ago but neither had any surgery as they showed no signs until it was too late. I have nursed knee replacements but not something as critical as this.
At this moment, and my mind changes frequently, I think we will continue to baby her and manage the pain when it comes. I would greatly appreciate some feedback from anyone that chose not to pursue surgery but basically, hospice care. I want to know what indications, if any, their loved friend showed and how they were cared for and sadly any kind of timeline. Please, if you feel this isn’t a thread for this conversation, please let me know if there is another that may help me. I am so happy that Beamer and others had success and I am truly sad for those that didn’t or have left for other reasons.
Again, thank you for sharing and caring.
April
Hi April,
I’m very sorry to hear your situation and I hope someone can respond to your questions.
We felt it necessary to go ahead with the surgery since Beamer was in such good health. We had over three very happy and loving years with him post-op, so it was worth it to all of us.
This type of cancer is aggressive and painful growing into the bone so we could not do that to him and watch him suffer. Most dogs don’t even express pain (Beamer didn’t), so I think it would be hard to know how much is too much for them.
This is our opinion and while it was tough for weeks after the surgery, I know we made the right decision for our family and for Beamer.
If you do decide to have the surgery, we had a general surgeon at the veterinary hospital do it. I’m not familiar with a dental surgeon performing the operation so I would look at your options to be sure.
Good luck with everything.
Gwen
Had same surgery done for cancer on13 year old Sheltie mix. Had a great dental doctor surgeon ( a real doctor, not a teaching hospital)
no pain, if you hadn’t known her lower jaw up to.the third molar with clear margins you would not have known there was anything done.
2019 amazing results from an amazing doctor in Florida. Cancer free!
That’s great news. Thank you for posting your experience.
Hi Bonnie Would love to hear more about your dogs situation. We are currently facing this situation-lower left (about in the middle) aggressive cancer. (will get the biopsy results tomorrow) Sounds like your story is a success. Wanting to do the best for our Katie.
I have a 4 year old hound mix named Guillermo. He was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma this week, which was absolutely devastating to learn. At 4 years old you just don’t expect something like that to be happening.
The lump is in the front of his mouth behind his canine tooth, but does spread over past the mid-line of the mouth.
So far it doesn’t appear to be on his bone according to an x-ray last Friday, but one vet has told us Bilateral Rostral Mandibulectomy is the best for his survival.
However, because of Coronavirus, we’ll be seeing a different vet who was able to take us next Wednesday. I assume they’re going to suggest the same thing.
I was really freaking out about it earlier today,just a mess, and was afraid it would destroy his quality of life. I was contemplating whether or not I should move forward with it or just try to rely on something like radiation alone, which doesn’t have as long term results as the mandibulectomy.
But Beamer’s story has really given me hope that Guillermo could live another few years (hopefully) and be relatively happy and normal with part of his jaw removed.
I am so glad I saw this, and I am hoping Guillermo is able to recover like Beamer.
I am also sorry for your loss, but I am glad you were able to get a few good years with him following the surgery.
Hi,
Thank you for leaving a message and I’m so glad that you found our site, too.
I’m very sorry to hear about your Guillermo. This is a really terrible thing to have happen and I understand how you are feeling. It’s a difficult decision to make about the surgery, but if your boy is young (which he is) and otherwise healthy, I think he should do fine.
As you know from reading about Beamer, it is not an easy recovery, but dogs seem to rebound and adjust over time, as Beamer did. We were so thankful to have him with us for several more years and were glad we went through with the surgery.
If your new vet thinks he can have a good recovery, then I would find a good surgeon that you can trust with the operation.
Good luck and let us know how things go.
Best,
Gwen
Our little boy does not like baby food either your story gives me hope I have shed tears it is only been 2 days his lower jaw is gone and he having very difficult time trying to eat just because his lower jaw is gone. Today was the first day he actually tried to eat and his frustration you can see it in his eyes and his attitude it’s so hard to put anything in his mouth He’s such a little dog but you have given us hope thank you
Hi Andrea, As you have read here, it does take time, but your boy will come around. Are you making him homemade food or buying soft food? Maybe try something different that will get him interested in eating again. Stella & Chewy makes a bone broth that dogs really like. You might try putting some of that in his food. Please keep me posted on his progress and good luck. Gwen
We have an 11 year old Blue pit, Ozzy. He has a heart murmur and is on daily medication. We found a tumor on the lower part of his jaw about a year ago. They did not want to do surgery because of his heart condition. The tumor got bigger and we took him in for a biopsy last month. We had to have an anesthesiologist come from out of town to help. The diagnosis was acanthomatous ameloblastoma, which fortunately is only locally aggressive. We have struggled with the decision to have the tumor removed because it will require the removal of a portion of his lower jaw. Ozzy has been through his fair share of surgeries, having had both knees operated on for torn ligaments. He is otherwise very healthy and happy. However, this surgery on his jaw has me and my wife really, really nervous. Ozzy has been such a big part of our lives, we dont have kids, and we would do anything to ensure he is happy. We are scheduled for tomorrow and I am an emotional wreck at the moment.
Hi James, I understand your concerns and I’m sorry you all are having to go through this. 😦 It sounds like Ozzy has been through quite a bit already. The recovery is tough from the surgery, but it certainly is doable with lots of love and time. I would say that if you
Hi James, I’m so sorry to hear about Ozzy and I certainly understand your concerns. It sounds like he has already been through quite a lot of surgeries. 😦 This one, as I’m sure you know, is not easy and requires a lot of love, time, and care to get through it, but it sounds like you are both very dedicated to Ozzy, so I’m sure you can do it. I would say that if your vets think he’s in good enough condition to go through the surgery and he’s otherwise healthy, then go into it with positive thoughts tomorrow. I know this is a hard decision and we wish you the best. Please let us know how the surgery goes. Best, Gwen
Thanks, Gwen. I did not sleep much last night. Looking at the poor guy knowing he is going to be mad at me for putting him through this has been tough. I am sure that it will be a difficult recovery, which we are used to at this point given his knee surgeries. We take him in in a couple of hours.
Hi James, I’m sure you didn’t sleep well. It’s a tough decision to go through this surgery. We’ll be thinking of you all today. Good luck and keep us posted. Best, Gwen
Ozzy is home. Surgery went well and the surgeon was happy. Ozzy has some on and off bleeding, which the surgeon says is expected. His appetite is still strong and he ate a couple of small meals since he has been home. He is also drinking. He seems really tired but only manages to sleep for 5 minutes at a time before waking up. The anesthesiologist said this sometimes happens but he will eventually fall sound asleep.
As far as how he looks, when his mouth is closed you can’t even tell anything is different. When he opens his mouth it looks kind of like a person who doesn’t have their dentures in.
Thank you for the update. I’m so happy that the surgery went well. It all sounds very promising that he is eating and drinking right away. Good luck with the healing process and please keep us posted on how Ozzy is doing in the coming weeks.
Pitties are so forgiving. It is also really hard to judge whether they are in pain. I think Ozzy is having some pain but still seems to be comfortable with the pain meds. He finally went to sleep last night but it took a while. He is having much less blood in his drool and much less drooling. He also doesn’t want to leave mine or my wife’s side, despite what we did to him. This is just such an incredible dog. Despite all he has been through, he just love his mom and dad.
I also wanted to thank you for creating this blog. I read all of the comments and it really helped us make this tough decision.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for this post. My dog, Roscoe is having a mandibulectomy tomorrow and I’m really struggling. He has oral spindle cell Squamous Cell Carcinoma and this surgery is the only way to possibly beat the cancer. He’s a 6.5-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog and he is my heart. Your post gives me hope that he will be ok. I hope he will return to his goofy self.
Hi Stephanie, I’m so sorry to hear about Roscoe and very upset that another family and beloved pup has to go through this surgery. We love Bernese Mountain Dogs and I am sure Roscoe is a sweetheart. 🙂 He is young and should do fine with the surgery. Just be patient as it will take time to recover and give him lots of love, as I’m sure you will. Read through some of the other comments and you will see that dogs recover amazingly well from this surgery. Please let me know how it goes. Best, Gwen
Thank you, Gwen. Your blog and comments have really helped. I feel better prepared for what’s to come.
Hi Gwen,
Roscoe is doing very well after his surgery. He ate and drank the first night he was home. It took him about a week to eat well on his own. Thank you again for this blog. It has helped me so much through this process. Everyone’s stories gave me strength in such an uncertain time. Ths only thing I’ve noticed is that he is super tired. He is not getting up for his morning walk which he used to love! He is walking in the afternoon but It’s been 3 weeks since his surgery and his lethargy concerns me a bit. Did Beamer ever experience this?
Thanks,
Steph
Hi Stephanie,
I’m so happy to hear that Roscoe is doing well post-op. That is very encouraging. To answer your question about Beamer, I don’t remember exactly how tired he was and for how long. I know that it definitely took some time for him to become very active again and after the paralysis and the jaw surgery, he was never quite the same dog. He took two big hits several years apart. My advice would be to ask your vet and see what they say or suggest. Maybe vitamins or a different food would be a good idea. Check with them. I hope that things continue to go well. Best, Gwen
Thank you so much. I’m sorry to hear about Beamer. I wish they could stay with us forever. I will call the Vet in the morning.
Thank you!
Steph
I’m so glad I found this page. I’ve done research for days on this topic. My 11 year old (almost 12) beagle callie just had her lower jaw removed due to squamous cell carcinoma. I brought her home yesterday and she was a little hyper and restless but I assumed she was just happy to be home and she didnt like being left alone. She slept all night and most of the day today. Come night time though she was restless for a while and absolutely hates the cone. I feel the cone is half the battle. She keeps turning her head to one side and I dont know if something is irritating her or if the cone is bugging me. I broke down tonight because she seems to be so uncomfortable and I feel so guilty doing this to her. I just hope it gets easier and she feels better. Thank you for starting this blog and sharing your story. I read through every comment and it gives me a little piece of mind.
Hi Caitlin, I’m so sorry to hear about Callie. I am glad, however, that you found this site and were able gain knowledge and the process reading my posts and through other’s comments. It will take some time, as you have read, but things will improve. It is a tough and heartbreaking surgery, but most dogs do recover quite well. It just takes a lot of patience and love. Please keep me posted on her progress. Best, Gwen
I have to take my dog’s cone off in order to put him outside or bring him inside. He will not walk through the house with the cone. One night early after he came home from the surgery, I must have gone inside and outside with him and putting on and taking off that cone at least 30 times. I was exhausted and so stressed out, I was crying over it. But he got that cone put on and taken off every.single.time. I have to do it to keep him safe and allow him to heal. It’s gotten easier to get him to stand still while I thread that closure thing into the slots in the collar. And Murphy’s Law, this had to happen right when temperatures dropped to near zero and wind chills of 20+ below zero. I can’t feed him with gloves on or get that cone on or off him with gloves, but there’s no way after all this that I’m going to take any chances and have him hurt himself because I am sick of dealing with the cone! I talk to him while I’m putting it on or taking it off, telling him I know he doesn’t like it and I don’t either. One of the great thing about dogs is that they are so adaptable. He has gotten with the program and stands still while I get him collared up. He’s a big guy with a 30″ collar so wrestling that thing on and off him every time he goes out or comes back in has been a real “experience” for us, but he’s doing ok. He’s started wagging his tail again, too, even with that collar on!
Good luck with your Callie. It’s hardest at first but have no fear – gradually you and Callie will adjust.
So glad I found this post. My 9yr old lab Sadie just had her surgery today, and I have to say, it was pretty jarring to see her jaw like that. I just want to cry every time I look at her now. She slept for several hours once she got home but is kind of wandering around, unsure of everything. It’s been hard trying to get her to take the pain meds and she won’t drink anything. I feel so helpless.
Hi Amalia, I’m so sorry to hear about Sadie. I can tell you that things will get better with time. It takes awhile, but she will recover and start to eat and drink. The pain medications are very important in the healing process, and for her comfort, so you need to make sure she takes them. As you can imagine, this is an incredibly painful surgery, so contact your vet to get IV meds and a shot if you can’t get her to take the pills. As with people, you need to get ahead of the pain and manage it. If you don’t the pain medications won’t work effectively and she’ll continue to be in pain. If you read Beamer’s story and some of the comments on this site, you will find that the experience is similar for most everyone. It is very difficult to see your dog like that and in pain and yes, they act so confused – like why and how could you do this to me? We just had our 2 plus year old new Tibetan Terrier neutered two weeks ago and even after that simple surgery, he was looking at me with those same sad eyes wondering what had happened to him and why. Please stay in touch and let me know how Sadie is doing. Just be patient, hand feed her, and give her lots of love during this time. I wish you the best. Gwen
Hi Amalia,
My 11yr old wheaten Barack, had a mandibulectomy on Wednesday 7/8. We brought him home yesterday. He has been walking around with his cone bumping into everything. I feel so bad for him. He has been eating and drinking off and on. The meds are super hard to get in. We’ve tried the pill pockets and as long as we can pop them close to the back of his mouth he can get them. But it takes a lot of tries because I’m afraid of hurting him when I come near the site. How are things going with Sadie? Do you have any tricks for eating that you can share yet? I know this is a trial and error. I’m trying to be encouraging because he does seem very frustrated.
Hey Debra! I spent a lot of time in tears, so frustrated that she was in pain and I couldn’t get her to take the pills. She learned quickly that all the yummy treats had hidden bitter bombs in them and just refused everything. I ended up taking her back to the vet for a pain injection and swapped out the pills for some liquid meds instead. Maybe talk to your vet about that? The liquid isn’t as strong as the pills but at least I could squirt it with a syringe into the good side of her mouth. The first few days have definitely been rough. Each day is a tiny bit better than the last.
Also, I didn’t get a cone for Sadie. Maybe talk to your vet about removing it? It’ll make your pup a smidge more comfortable. As long as he’s not pawing at his face and can leave the stitches in place
Thanks for the info! What meds is Sadie on? Mine has gabapentin, Tylenol w/Codeine, and an antibiotic. We asked about liquid and were told he would have to take so much to get the doses needed. He is definitely on to the hidden meds in the pill pockets. He just turns and walks away quickly. What are you doing with his regular diet? I made meatballs but the novelty wore off very quickly. This is so weird for him to have almost have his lower jaw gone. But he definitely WANTS to eat.
We’re on Gabapentin and Metacam; both are liquids. If you can’t liquid, maybe crush the pills (if doc allows) and mix in with peanut butter? Maybe the PB will help mask the flavor.
I’ve been soaking her regular kibble in water or chicken broth for at least an hour so it’s super soft. I also got some “homemade” dog food from Just For Dogs, it’s all fresh and soft. You can also get canned soft wet food. The meatballs have definitely been a hit; today it’s all she’ll eat. At this point, as long as she’s eating SOMETHING, I’m happy. it’s hard for her pick food up with her teeth missing and the jaw shape changed. You could also try lightly blending some food and let him just slurp it up. Hang in there.
Hi Debra and Amalia, I made turkey meatloaf for Beamer and it was a big hit. It had eggs, veggies, cottage cheese, and oatmeal, so it was packed with nutritious ingredients. Here’s a basic recipe https://patchpuppy.com/recipes/doggie-meat-loaf/. He also loved these soft treats https://beamerscorner.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/a-beamer-update-and-fall-pumpkin-bites-for-the-holidays/#more-121. For a long time, I hand fed him very small bites of everything and even put water on my fingers and into his mouth when he wouldn’t drink. He eventually did adapt to eating and drinking on his own and learned to scoop the food with his mouth and jaw. I put all of his meals in a large vegetable serving-type bowl so that when he did scoop the contents, his food didn’t fall out of the bowl.
Thanks for the reply in reference to Beamer and the recipes. The meds from surgery definitely wore off yesterday and Barack stopped eating because he realized that we were putting meds in things. It has been so difficult with the meds. They are all in pill form and it has basically been impossible to try to put them down his throat knowing that it will be painful for him. When the vet checked in on him yesterday we inquired about liquid meds and were told that he would have to take so much of it to equal his dose. Well we googled it ourselves and realized that was not true and plus my husband is a pharmacist. We called again today to request liquid meds. I just don’t know how they expect us to get pain meds down when we are not supposed to manipulate his lower jaw! Anyway they said they would give us the gabapentin in liquid form. We made a slurry out of his meds this morning and tried putting it in a syringe and that was a disaster! We managed to get some of it in there but it was obvious that he was in pain because he kept trying to eat and then putting his head down and twisting it to the side and cowering away. So sad. He is resting now because soon after what we did get in him kicked in.
Amelia thanks for the tip on the liquid meds because they were basically making it seem impossible to do that. Go figure? We are waiting for them to call back to pick up the liquid gabapentin but from what we went through this morning it seems like that is just as bad as trying to stuff it down his throat.
Now he won’t eat because he thinks that everything has medicine in it. I’ve tried several options: day 1 at home: meatballs that I basically hand fed and pushed up into the roof of his mouth so that he could then catch it on his tongue. When he stopped eating that I bought a chicken breast and rice and put it in a food processor and added it to a slurry of his regular food that I had softened and processed. Work for a second.
Day 2 Went to the vet hospital and purchased the Purina CN (critical nutrition) since they said he loved it after surgery. I made a slurry similar to a milk shake consistency and he lapped it all up. I only added his regular famotidine to that which he is used to in his food. He seemed to enjoy it.
Day 3 today: we mixed his meds in the CN slurry and he started eating until he realized what was up and stopped cold turkey! Now he basically won’t come near us when we offer food. I also mixed a new can of food with whitefish and sweet potatoes. But I have to remember that he basically had a major surgery and needs time. I am just fearful of him losing too much wait and become if weak.
However we did remove the collar this morning and that seemed to make him more comfortable as long as you are watching to make sure he does not scratch.
You guys don’t know how much it means to have this site. I did a plethora of research prior to the surgery to get to the decision but somehow found this one after. When I read the beginning of Beamers story I was like oh boy we made a mistake but then quickly realized there was a rainbow at the end. I did tap into a Facebook group that was very helpful but they were all owners whose dogs had the procedure in the past and there was t anyone going through it right now. I have a soft coated wheaten and they have their own special issues especially with diet and allergies so I wanted to get a take from that perspective. That is the other thing with trying all of these different diets because wheatens have GI issues anyway so I am waiting for him to explode from having so many different foods in the past two days. Sorry for the long rant. I’m just trying to figure this all out. I will look at the recipes that were linked. Thanks
I’m so glad to have this too— it’s great to have support from people going through the same thing. I will say that when we stopped hiding things in her food, it really helped everything. Just remember, it’ll get better once you get through the first week. Sadies surgery was Monday and today she’s much perkier. The first 2 days were real bad. I would strongly suggest NOT mixing the Gabapentin liquid in Baracks food because it’s flavored for humans in a cherry flavor and he won’t like it either— it’ll just turn him off from eating. I gently pressed the tip of the syringe on to the back end of the good side of her mouth until she opened and then squirt it quickly. Sometimes you have to do it 2-3 times to get it all in. I give it to her in the AM and she’s usually ready to eat 2-3 hours later. Sadie loves scrambled eggs too, it’s really soft. Keep me posted, I’m rooting for you guys
Early when my malamute was first getting his diagnosis, a vet told me that dogs pick up on how we act around them, so for me to not be maudlin around my dog or he would start to feel my sadness. I made an extra effort to talk to him as normal, be excited when he would do something new, encourage him to eat, etc. Sometimes I would cry from fear and frustration, but not while i was around him. Yesterday he was out in the yard, wearing his gigantic cone collar and when I went out to see him, he came to me wagging his tail. It was the first time that tail had moved since last Friday when the surgery was done. He’s always been a sort of subtle, understated kind of guy, so that wagging tail meant the world to me and made my whole day.
I was having trouble with meds too the first couple days. I had gotten liverwurst (he hated it and refused everything about it), cream cheese (nope again), and a friend suggested soft bread. That worked sort-of, but soft canned dog food “meatballs” like he was willing to eat with no meds in them went pretty well. Then I tried putting cream cheese around the pill to keep the water from the soft dog food from melting the capsule casings of his pills. Then around the cream cheese, I would wrap a layer of canned dog food. It looked like a little miniature Scottish egg when I was done. Then I have him sit and I hold the treat with the hidden pill slightly above his head to make him look up and open his mouth slightly. I’d tell him to “Look up” and then place the meatball-covered pill towards the back of his tongue so he could just swallow it down. This has worked the best of what I’ve tried so far and once the little balls/Scottish eggs are made up, I can get his pills down him on the first try, which is great when the wind chill is -20 and it’s 12;30 at night and I can’t finger-feed him with gloves on.
Keep in mind that doing new things is always hardest when you first start doing them and as you and your dog get used to the new procedures, it will get easier. There is trial and error involved, but when you love your dog, it’s just all worth it. Even if I have to feed my Nali by hand for the rest of his life, I’d do it because he’s such a sweet dog and keeping him healthy and happy as long as I can benefits both of us.
Hi Gwen. Thank you for this. Our 7 month old Pomchi was attacked by the neighbours German Shepherd when myself and the owner dog’s owner were trying to introduce the two dogs to try to stop them from continually going after one another. It obviously devolved into a nightmare in front of us, and I am unsure how our puppy escaped with his life. However, the first surgery on his mandible failed, and he is facing either a hemi or a full rostral mandibulectomy tomorrow. It is killing me, and my wife might never forgive me for trying to broker the meeting bwtween the dogs.
I have been searching non-stop for the potential to build out a fake jaw, or a bridge, like human dentists use, to try to repair his jaw. I am desperate for any good news right now about saving his appearance. I know this is shallow when wver3y other comment is about saving their dog’s life, but I don’t know where else to turn right now…the guilt is killing me.
Thanks.
Hi Ian, I’m very sorry to hear about your poor Pomchi puppy. That is very disturbing and I’m sure you are distraught over the situation. I don’t know anything about the ability to build out a new jaw in dogs or if they even do that. I’m sure almost anything is possible, but they don’t give that as an option when they do mandibular surgery for tumors/cancer in dogs. At least they didn’t at UGA’s veterinary hospital and at another specialty clinic in Atlanta that we went to for a second opinion with Beamer’s situation. I can tell you that dogs do eventually adapt to these surgeries and can go on to have a normal life. Since your Pomchi is so young I am sure it is very difficult, but the good news is that your dog has age in its favor. So many dogs that get this cancer on their jaws are older and it’s harder on them to recover. Why don’t you contact one of the top veterinary schools in the the U.S. and speak with someone there about rebuilding the jaw? Maybe they can refer you to someone that does that type of procedure. I don’t know where you live, but here is a list of top vet schools across the country. https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-schools/veterinarian-rankings Please let me know how everything goes and I wish you all the best of luck. Gwen
Thank you. Looks like he will lose about half of his lower jaw. We are in Michigan, so there is a school at MSU, but it looks like it is beyond saving, per the surgeons and dentists we have spoken with. Very depressing. Appreciate your response. Take care.
Hi Deborah, I’m so glad our site is of help to people trying to decide on having the surgery as well as dealing with the situation post-op. There wasn’t anything out there at all when we went through it and that’s why we decided to continue Beamer’s journey after the paralysis. Tibetan Terriers also have sensitive stomachs, but at this point, I would give him whatever he will eat. I know eggs were mentioned earlier and that was always a hit with Beamer. Stella & Chewy makes a bone broth that is a really good option. I give it to our new TT when he has an upset tummy. You could try that with rice and small pieces of chicken. Bone broth is really nutritious and this one is made especially for dogs and without the ingredients that can be problematic.
Thank you Gwen. This morning we mixed his meds by opening the caps and mixing with water and made a slurry. He didn’t like it but they got in. Later he got up and was hungry. He ate all of his food. I boiled a chicken breast and the mixed it in my vitamix into a slurry and he loved it! Then I took it a step further and offered a piece of the chicken pill pocket. I fed it into the back side of his mouth and he took it. So I then took a small piece of the pill pocket and put the antibiotic in it and topped it with chicken slurry. He took it!!!!! I’m so happy! Now we have crossed that bridge! So thankful for this site!
I have wished for some type of prosthesis as well. When I broke my wrist the surgeon put in pins and then a metal plate that is bolted to my forearm. If they can do that for humans, I hope somebody can invent something like that for dogs. Of course, their recovery would be a pain at first but dogs are quite resilient and can cope well in a shorter time than I was able to after my wrist surgery. Having a prosthetic jaw could make their eating easier and maybe less messy (bonus) and help them eat more normally again. Meanwhile, I finger-feed and he is figuring out the new procedures now so it’s getting a little easier for him and for me.
Hi Ian, I’m so sorry to hear this news. I have been thinking about you all and feel so bad that you have to go through this. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I wish you the best. Gwen
Did anyone experience their dog walking with their head down twisted to one side? I’m just trying to figure out if this is normal. I’m thinking it it the stress on the tongue because he is constantly having to kick in order to eat and then that causes pain.? It seems to happen after eating and laying down for a while.
I haven’t experienced that.
So this weekend I noticed that Sadie’s jaw didn’t look so disfigures anymore and when she moved her tongue, I thought I could see the crater in her jaw. Turns out her sutures have probably come undone. Vet said they don’t typically redo any surgery for this and it’ll just heal that way. She seems fine, eating every day. I have a vet check tomorrow just to make sure it’s all good.
Oh wow! It is good that it does not seem to bother her. The vet said that Barack is probably having sharp pain. So they said to try to give more gabapentin to sedate him and hopefully that will help. Barack is eating great now as well.
Hi Amelia
Just wondering how Sadie is doing? Do you feel like she is getting back to herself? I feel like Barack goes back and forth. His meds make him pretty loopy sometimes. He is eating great! The vet put him on Methocarbamol for the neck pain he seems to be experiencing. I am hoping that he will feel better in time.
Oh good!! I’m glad Barack seems to have turned a corner. Sadie’s doing SO much better; she’s back to her perky self. We had a check up yesterday and the vet said it’s healing well; started her on some antibiotics just in case because her sutures opened up. She’s off the pain meds now and we finally found a food mix she likes and eats happily (her kibble soaked in chicken broth with a scoop of Blue Buffalo filet minon pate—she’s a diva!)
Hang in there, another week and Barack will be good as new!
Hey Debra, just checking on your pup! How’s he doing?
Hi!
He is doing great! He seems more like himself now. He has a check up next week. We are at the two week mark and I can see that he feels much better and is adjusting well. Thanks for all of your support! Hope Sadie is still doing well!
We don’t recall that type of behavior with Beamer. Perhaps you can check with your vet and explain what’s happening.
Thank you so much for posting this, the comments are so helpful! Our golden retriever Sugar is 7 and just had partial mandibulectomy on Monday! It was definitely a little jarring to see her after, and see her so lethargic and sad looking. Everyday she seems to be getting a little better and a little perkier and she’s learning to eat and drink with her new jaw ( she has always been on a raw diet so her meat is soft and requires no chewing. We have noticed an excessive amount of drool, her cone is always wet, along with her neck and the bottom of her ears. I am sure it’s partially the drugs and partially her adjusting to her no longer having the front of her jaw. Did others experience the same problem? We’re hoping it’s a temporary thing!
Hi, I’m very sorry to hear about Sugar. Things will improve as time goes by, but I’m glad to hear that she’s already getting better. Beamer did have a wet face after the surgery and his mouth smelled more than it did before due to the drooling and the way he had to eat by putting his face down into the bowl to scoop food. His tongue also hung out and I’m sure that dried his mouth out. I tried to wipe his face after eating and drinking to keep it dry. I would think once Sugar has adjusted to the situation that this should improve. Good luck with everything. Gwen
Thank you so much Gwen! We’re lucky we caught it quickly and she only needed a quarter of her jaw removed. Her mouth definitely doesn’t smell great, and she’s drooling so much that we dry her off and then she’s wet again five minutes later. We did find some bandana like bibs that help keep her neck a little dry. Hopefully in a couple more weeks we’ll see that improve.
Wow! Thank you to everyone who has shared their stories. They were all incredibly helpful, and heartbreaking, as we made our decision. Our Wilson Grove is having is right lower jaw removed tomorrow and I am beside myself. My heart is broken. Wilson is an 8 year old English springer spaniel. We found a growth over the summer and didn’t think much of it. It never bothered him, and now we are prepping for the biggest change in his life. I am afraid he is going to wake up and his heart is going to be broken when he realizes what decision I made for him. I know that it’s the right decision, but so difficult because he looks and acts like a normal dog. We would appreciate all of the well wishes we can get for a safe surgery and speedy recovery. Thank you!
I cry every time I read these stories, reminded of the difficult weeks. Just keep remembering time will heal and he’ll be back to normal soon❤️
Hi Beth, We wish and pray for the best for Wilson Grove’s surgery today. Please know that there is another normal after your surgery. Beamer was one of may dogs that had a very successful outcome and we never regretted our decision. Please let us know how everything goes. Best, Gwen
Thank you! He is home and recovering.
They ended up not taking the entire jaw. Once the surgeon got in there she felt confident that they could simply take a section of jaw out. Now we will pray for clear margins.
He seems to be doing ok. Cried and whimpered on and off last night, but seems to be good spirits. I caught him chewing got his tongue this morning, but the Dr. warned us that might happen because of the nerve block that they use before the surgery.
Thank you again for sharing Beamer’s story. It provided a light at the end of the tunnel for myself as I am sure everyone else who is facing these type of decisions with their dogs.
Wilson’s mom 🙂
Thank you so much for this page. Our 14 year old Siberian was diagnosed with squamous cell on her lower jaw. The tumor seems to have grown extremely fast as she had just been to the vet 3 months before and had an oral exam to prepare her for dental cleaning. They did not see the tumor then. She’s scheduled for her surgery to remove the right jawbone January 2021. We are concerned about her age and this extreme of a surgery but this is the only option we have if she is to have any continued quality of life. Right now we struggle with feeding her WITH the tumor so I am concerned about feeding her after. I’ve hand fed many dogs and have no issue doing that but was wondering if anyone knows of a special bowl that makes it easier for them to eat. Say a prayer for our Blush girl. And again thank you for this page. We are sorry Boomer is gone from our sight but we know he’s never gone from your heart.
Hi Kim, I’m so sorry to hear about Blush. I know how hard this is for you, your pup, and your family. You mentioned that you are concerned about her age as she is 14 years old. I would be too. This is a difficult surgery and it takes about a year or so to recover to where you and they feel as though they are as “normal” as they are going to be after having part of their jaw removed. Beamer was 12 when we had his surgery and he lived for another three years. The vets thought he was in good health and could manage the operation well and would have the possibility of several more good years as many Tibetan Terriers live to be 18 years or older. I would look at the expected life span of Siberians and consider getting a second opinion. Maybe other folks that are following Beamer’s Corner can speak to the age of their dogs when they had this surgery and share their experience. It’s not an easy recovery, so I would have mixed emotions about putting Blush through this at 14. Of course, it’s up to you and your vet. I wish you and Blush the best, whatever you decide to do. Gwen
Well the surgery was moved up to December 23rd 2020 as the UoW Madison had a cancellation due to weather. The surgery overall went well. They are still not confident they got good margins but our goal all along was to give her the best chance at quality of life. The first few days at home were a real struggle, she wasn’t eating and was crying ALL the time. She had a Fentanyl patch-which in itself was a struggle as they told US to remove after 7 days (we ended up taking her to our vet to have that done). She seemed to settle but then the stitches started bothering her-A LOT! They told us they would dissolve but even after 3 weeks they were still there. (Again we took her to our vet to have them removed). I thought after the stitches came out she would adapt faster. Her appetite is really good but she’s still struggling eating a little so we are still hand feeding-not all the time just when you can tell her frustration level has gone up. Our biggest struggle right now….her frustration level. She is constantly pawing at her muzzle-all the time. And the whine is one of frustration not pain. I wouldn’t change what we did for the world. I think this is her best shot at quality of life. Her age certainly affects the frustration I believe. I think anyone considering this has to make sure they are in it for the long haul. It’s not a cake walk by any means and will take patience to help them adjust. If they even feel you becoming upset or frustrated they will channel that negative energy and could give up themselves. I’m so happy to have found you all.
Gwen I meant to mention this before, I’ve had Siberians for 41 years. Most have of mine lived 14-18 years. I did lose one at 9 but she went in to kidney failure after possibly ingesting poison while a stray (she was a rescue as were all of my huskies). 2 had cancer and both of those had either surgery to remove a mass or were on chemo. I do believe age is a factor in anyone determining if they should proceed. This is one of the most drastic surgery’s I’ve even been involved with. But, as I mentioned in the other post, its all about patience.
Kim
Hi Kim! I found that a plate or a more shallow dish worked better since my dog couldn’t use her jaw to pick up the food out of the regular deep bowl.
Hi Kim,
I’m happy you found this page. Thank you, Gwen! It really helped with our decision as to whether or not to have this surgery done. Our Roscoe had a partial mandibulectomy done at the UW of Madison as well in June of 2020. They were wonderful. He is doing really good and I hope your pup is feeling better. I hand fed Roscoe for awhile and used low dishes or plates. I now feed him wet food in a shallow slow feeder but he can eat kibble as well. I just feel that it’s easier for him to eat wet food. Good luck on your journey and I hope your pup feels better soon.
Reading your story gave me hope but we are having a terrible time.
My girl had surgery 2 days ago, she came home with me yesterday because she won’t take food from strangers. She has not eaten a thing, she wanted to eat last night but every time we put food in her mouth it would just fall out. She did manage to lick a little bit of baby food off my finger.
The vets did not give clear instructions so i feel that i must be doing it wrong and i’m failing her. she has not eaten a thing for 3 days. They told me they wanted small meatball sized food or chicken etc
Can someone help me. today she won’t even bother smelling food.
She has been drinking water and has kind of worked that part out.
How big should anything be? we have tried watered down food and still nothing.
She wants to be hand fed and won’t even bother going near a bowl or plate but when i hand feed her she tries to take from the front like she used to, am i meant to place the food on her tongue from the side instead?
She had to have a rostral and a fair bit of her lower left.
She is getting pain relief via injection from our normal vet because i can’t get her to take food
any advice or help would be really appreciated.
Hi Diane, It will get better, but for now, you should ask your vet about fluids and feeding your dog a prescription diet with a syringe. You could also try blending food in a blender and trying to feed it with your fingers or a soft spoon. Your vets are the first place to go for a consultation but try baby food chicken or something that is mushy if small pieces of food aren’t working. Is she getting regular pain pills beyond an injection? She’ll need regular pain meds to get ahead of the pain and keep it under control.
Hi bunkycooks
We see our local vet today for her pain injection and they are giving us prescription diet but we feel she is not going to go well with a syringe because she likes to whip her head around fast. We have tried blending food but after her failed attempt last night she does not want to try.
she is getting injection pain meds because we’re unable to get any food into her.
We are really struggling and the specialist that has done this surgery is no help at all. they just continue to say that she will figure it out on her own, but i feel there must be something more we can do to help her eat.
do i offer her food from the front like we used to? push it in?
we’re going to try the syringe at the vet to see how it goes but right now it feels like we’ve done her more harm than good
Ugh I feel awful for what you’re going through. It WILL get better! My Sadie had her surgery this last summer and she’s totally back to normal. The first few days she stopped even trying to eat food bcz every time she tried she was frustrated and in pain. The biggest thing was to make sure she was able to get pain meds in so that eventually she could try to eat without too much trouble. Super soft and deliciously smelling foods. I made fresh meatballs she couldn’t resist. If you’re worried about dehydration, the vet can also inject a fluid sac— we did that bcz I was worried Sadie wasn’t drinking enough. They do bounce back quickly though. Hang in there. The first week is absolute hell but you will get through it!
My girl is very frustrated, she has gotten to the point that she does not want to be hand fed and only wants to try herself with a bowl.
How long after the surgery did it take for Sadie to eat?
My girl Nikita is hungry and she is trying so hard but she just can’t get it in.
The moment I put it on her tongue, it falls and she wants to do it on her own. I’m starting to feel like I’m doing something wrong and I feel so bad for her.
The surgeons don’t want her on anything runny or mushy
Chicken, mince, hotdogs etc is fine rolled into small meatballs
I don’t know if I’m making them too small or the opposite, is that why she is struggling so much.
What is better for her trying to get the food herself, a flat plate or a bowl with edges?
I’m not sure she ate anything the first two days. The doc said it’s fine as long as she’s drinking and staying hydrated. The following days she ate sparingly and with difficulty.
I found a flat plate was better for about a month— they have to re-learn how to pick up food and the bowl made it too difficult. What about some boiled chicken?
We are on day 3, this morning I was able to put some of the recovery food my vet gave me on her tongue and she managed to lick that off. We managed around 3 finger tips worth, which isn’t a lot but a good start.
She is being very picky about what she will eat out of, we have tried flat plate but she won’t even try. She just wants to try out of her dinner bowl.
She had a try at chicken last night at managed to get 1 piece out of the bowl
They say it’s easier for them to eat if being hand fed but for some reason she has given up on that.
Any tips or tricks with hand feeding and them feeding themselves?
Should I put 1 piece in the bowl or heaps like I did last night as I thought it would give her a better chance.
She’s so down on herself because she can’t eat it
I was so desperate for her to eat that I probably left food everywhere — bowl, plate, even on the guest bed that she was laying on. When she’s hungry enough, she’ll try again. Are the pain meds getting in?
We can’t leave food everywhere because we have another pup, he would eat it all otherwise we’ll be doing the same thing. We have water bowls everywhere and she is drinking so well but struggling with food.
Pain meds are getting done through injection at the moment until she’s able to eat, so at least she has that
Hang in there. Sadie stopped trying for a while bcz she knew it hurt every time she did. But give it a bit for the intense pain to subside. As long as she’s drinking, she’ll be ok.
Thank you, I just worry so much for her and feel like we’re torturing her instead of helping. Hoping the major pain doesn’t last too much longer and she’ll be able to try with less pain.
Food is Nikita’s life and it’s going to be hard enough for her that she won’t be able to have a lot of the things that she’s used to
Hi Diane, I am not a vet, but I would say that you should try whatever works to feed your dog. I made a meatloaf and the recipe is on this site. It has a lot of great ingredients that should sustain your pup for a few days. You could also try canned food. If your dog is on pain medications, you should be able to feed her from any side of the mouth as long as you can get food in. BTW, where do you live?
i am in Australia, we have tried all her favourites the only thing we haven’t tried yet is canned food because she normally hates it.
she also isn’t a big eater and only normally will eat dinner, and she is a husky so some nights she skips dinner normally. it’s so hard to tell at the moment if she’s just not hungry. i mean she’s just been through a major surgery. my stress obviously wouldn’t be helping either.
i keep offering food and she keeps saying no. until i see the vets this afternoon there’s not much more i can do. we’re in the process of cooking up a few more of her favourites so hopefully something might grab her attention.
I’m shocked at your surgeon’s/specialist’s response. It is a very stressful surgery and experience, so your girl may be reacting to that. Try a soft treat or something new that might interest her. Our dog loves scrambled eggs and pieces of toast. Our old boy loved roasted turkey. Something will capture her interest soon. They will eat when they are hungry. I had to learn this, too. Fluids are the biggest issue.
i am disgusted at the treatment and my vet can’t believe what they have done also.
they weren’t meant to send her home until she was eating and instead of looking after her all night they actually kept her sedated until i came and picked her up. i brought her home and it hadn’t even been 24 hours since her surgery. They didn’t even give her any pain meds for the trip i had to stop at my vet because my poor baby was in pain.
Fluids, she is trying to drink a lot but i’m not actually sure if she is getting much in her mouth. She is not being messy like i was warned, she is being very slow (must be painful)
Sorry i have to get ready to take her for her pain medication, i will let you know how we go.
Thank you
I’m so sorry for your terrible experience. They should be able to give her fluids and give you pain medications that you can administer at home. We were given all of the medications and directions to provide for Beamer’s care at home. He was only in the hospital for the surgery and recovery period (to wake up). We brought him home that evening. As soon as you can transition her to home care, I’m sure you will see a better outcome. Good luck, and keep me posted.
Also— I brought Sadie home the same day as her surgery. Typically they rest easier in their own environment so it was important to have her home so she could relax and heal. I don’t think it’s odd your doc sent your pup home that early.
You could also try yogurt, cottage cheese, small pieces of cheese, scrambled eggs, peanut butter on a spoon. Try all of this to see what works. Something different might be more attractive.
I agree with Amalia. As I mentioned, Beamer came home that day after he woke up and was cleared to go. Also, as I said and Amalia said, they need to give you a regime of pain medications that you can manage at home so that you can make your dog comfortable and figure out the feeding situation. We never went back in for IV pain meds. I would ask the vets and your surgeon about that.
Hi Gwen,
Cheese is her favourite but turns her nose up at it because she doesn’t want to take anything from our hands any more.
I’ve tried the scrambled eggs and that didn’t even get a sniff.
I have to buy more yoghurt today because she does normally like that
It’s hard because they’ve told me she’s not allowed things like peanut butter or anything mushy or runny.
They spoke to my vet yesterday and stated that they did not want a syringe near the corner of her mouth only near the tip end of her tongue.
We have all these rules and no explanation or help with how to get her to eat.
I rang them yesterday and was told it’s ok if she doesn’t eat until Monday, she has time to learn by then otherwise we’ll have to put her on a feeding tube.
They’re not helpful at all
I wonder why they don’t want her to have mushy food? Plenty of dogs with no teeth are forced to eat liquidated food….?
They said mushy food get stuck between the sutures and they don’t want that. They said it’s fine after 2 weeks
Ahhh that makes sense. Sadie somehow popped her stitches and her little lip flap came open after 2 days. The vet said they don’t typically go in and fix it, it just healed that way instead, but I had to flush out the “crater” — it would get full of food and hair. I didn’t do a very good job of it— I was so afraid to hurt her, so I kept bringing her back to the surgeon for them to clean it out. She actually looks less deformed now bcz of it so it all worked out
We want to avoid any stitches popping because I don’t want her to keep having to be sedated. My girl is 12 and a half and I worry so much every time they put her under.
We are trying to follow their instructions but I’m afraid they didn’t give us many.
My vet has been trying to do research for us but there’s just not much out there.
What things did you find that they’re able to eat the easiest?
I think I need to find something that sticks to her tongue a little bit, maybe that would help her work it out a bit quicker
Good luck and don’t be afraid to ask for what you need to make your dog comfortable at home and get her through this. BTW, you can call me Gwen. 🙂 Bunky was our old blog and this site is connected to that.
My husband and I don’t get the mushy food thing either. They would rather put the dog your dog on a feeding tube rather than have some food in the sutures? That makes no sense. I’m sure all of us that have gone through this have had food in the sutures. That’s one of the reasons your dog should be on an antibiotic. I think at this point you should get a second opinion from another vet. There’s no reason to put in a feeding tube if you are able to feed your dog with whatever they will eat. This is way too complicated and unnecessary and frankly, disturbing.
100% agree. A feeding tube is insane.
My husband and I don’t get the mushy food thing either. They would rather put your dog on a feeding tube rather than have some food in the sutures? That makes no sense. I’m sure all of us that have gone through this have had food in the sutures. That’s one of the reasons your dog should be on an antibiotic. I think at this point you should get a second opinion from another vet. There’s no reason to put in a feeding tube if you are able to feed your dog with whatever they will eat. This is way too complicated and unnecessary and frankly, disturbing.
Why are they not giving you pain medications to give at home? You should not be running into a vet every day for injections. That is incredibly stressful for your dog. I still say you need a second opinion. I have never heard about any situation like this in all the years since I posted this about Beamer. And we have had hundreds of people from all over the world contact us both on here and privately about their situation. This makes no sense.
We have tablets for her but they only want her to have it with a piece of food. So at the moment she can’t get food in her mouth, so the tablet wouldn’t go down. The surgeons said that it would be fine for her to go without meds until she starts eating.
There was no way we were doing that, so I organised with my vet for them to do the injections. That is a happy place for her and she enjoys going there.
Once she figures out how to get the food in we’ll switch over to tablets but they don’t want any syringe going near her mouth and they don’t want my hands anywhere near her mouth to put the tablets in that way, so injections are the only option that I can see
I had trouble getting Sadie to eat the tablets so my vet gave me a liquid that I put in a syringe and kind of squirt down the back of her throat. I think it was cherry flavored (made for humans) so I don’t think she liked it but it got the job done.
I would rather that and we were going to crush her tablets and had it all figured out but then they told us no syringe near the back corner of her mouth because we could risk hitting stitches. They’re happy for us to use syringe to put some recovery food on the front of her tongue so she licks it but we aren’t allowed to put anything on the back of her tongue /mouth.
We aren’t allowed to syringe any liquid they said there’s risk of aspirating.
These were the strict instructions my vet received from the surgeon yesterday as we were willing to give anything a try but they said a firm no due to too many risks
Of course it makes it harder for us, it’s less things we can try.
If your dog is not sedated after this surgery and on regular pain medications then it’s no wonder why she won’t eat. She’s probably in terrible pain. It has nothing to do with the size of the meatball or whatever you’re trying to feed her. You need to have a second opinion and consultation. We had to have plenty of pain medications in order to manage this situation. I don’t know what else to tell you other than to make your dog comfortable and get her back to eating and not in pain. Our dog was 12 years old when we went through this and we did what we were told and he did remarkably well, but he had pain medications, and we did what we had to do to feed him.
She is on pain medication. But she is on injection instead, every 24 hours the same as she would have with the pain medication we have for home.
It’s inhumane not to get the injections and leave her with nothing and to deal with the pain. What kind of person do you think I am
And it’s not that she won’t eat, she has been trying but nothing is getting in. She can’t figure it out, that’s why I’m here asking if I’m doing it wrong or for other ways to try.
She has been wanting to eat on her own out of her bowl yesterday and would not try hand feeding
She managed 1 piece of chicken out of the bowl, which I guess is fantastic but obviously not enough food for her.
I don’t know if I’m doing anything right and stressing myself crazy.
Did I put enough chicken in her bowl or too much
What is easier for them? More or less for them to try to pick up when they’re learning?
Diane, It sounds like you are leaving your dog in extreme pain and that is the problem. She will never get better and eat if you don’t address this. Every 24 hours is not enough. Most pain medications are administered every 4, 6, 8, or 12 hours and not 24 hours. Do you realize how painful this operation has been for your dog? Can you imagine having your jaw cut off and then not having any pain medications for 24 hours? You are making this dog suffer terribly and you need a second opinion. If you don’t want to listen to any of the advice we have given you here, then I think you should stop posting comments. We are all here to support each other through this terrible surgery, but if you won’t take any advice, then I don’t see how we can help you anymore. It’s not about the size of the meatball but the fact that your dog is in too much pain to eat.
Dear Bunkycooks,
Thank you so much for this blog post and to everyone who has shared their heart wrenching stories.This converstaion is very helpful for those facing this decision, or having gone through it. The Dr’s are helpful up to a point but pet owners must advocate and care for their pets. This after-care takes a lot of time and gentile caring and learning. I recently adopted an 11 + year old Dachshund Scrappy(now really living up to his name!) who had hemi-mandibulectomy on lower left jaw in Dec.2020. His foster family cared for him after surgery and the discussion here on this page has been really enlightening for me. Only pet owners with such rare experience will know what works and what doesn’t. Scrappy is eating and drinking and doing well. For those relaying the slobbering issue: We create saliva when we drink and eat, but for the dogs lacking teeth with a tongue hanging out, the saliva doesn’t get swallowed like it would, if you could keep your mouth closed. Scrappy wears tshirts to prevent the saliva from wetting his coat(chest and front leg). The wet saliva can cause skin irritation and other issues. Keeping him in the tshirts (they are fitted to his size and shape) is still a challenge. And I’m thinking about other alternatives. He is eating soft food which he finishes, although messily. I put a peepee pad under his food dish because place mats were too small to cut down on messiness.
He’s eating out of a smallish serving bowl, which seems to work for him picking up food. It’s just once he has it in his mouth, he may drop it and then he’s kinda uncoordinated about using the intact side of his mouth with his tongue hanging out of the other side. Not sure how to fix this for him? The water bowls gets a lot of nasty saliva and needs to be changed often. He definitely has trouble eating off a plate or the floor(a treat) flat surfaces. But it doesn’t stop him from getting mostly every last morsel. He needs a bowl to eat out of, even treats. I heard about a rescue in CA, Marley’s Mutts, that posted about making meatballs for dogs with eating disability(that’s what I call it). And we are going to try meatballs with him this week. Maybe they can even be treats? The treats that are “soft” like Buddy Brand are still tough for him to eat and he spends most of the time trying to pick it or lick it off the floor. It looks very frustrating for him. I picked up some Gerber Baby food sweet potato cheese puffs. These he could eat quickly. He picked it up with his mouth, crunched it with his teeth and swallowed. I plan to make him the sweet potato cookies. Thank you for that recipe. I still have to finish reading the comments on the blog. Thank you to everyone who shared their stories. My heart goes out to all of you! Jenifer
My sweet sheltie had mandibulectomy yesterday. She is a trooper. Has a fentanyl patch and doesn’t seem to have pain. Eating is oh so messy. Think of a one year old in a high chair and spaghetti! Anyway, after three meals, my husband and I have learned to tell Abby to sit, tilt her head up and place the turkey meatball mixed with soaked Bil-Jac kibbles food in the back of her mouth. It’s very messy but gets the food down until she learns ?? To sling the food back there. So she sits, looks at the food and waits to be fed it. We have an amazing dental vet in Houston and he has been very helpful. I was a mess all day, so worried about her. Her appearance with half the jaw gone is not unbecoming. Still our darling girl.
Hi Connie, I’m happy to hear that things are going well post-op. Your sweet girl will learn to eat on her own. I used a large vegetable-type bowl for Beamer’s meals so he had plenty of room to scoop up his food and make less of a mess. They do adjust. That’s great about the pain patch. As you probably know, you just need to keep ahead of the pain. Good luck and keep me posted on her progress. Gwen
Thank you, Gwen. Two days post op, she licks her food but isn’t getting lift! I’m still placing it in the back of her mouth. I’ll be patient and wait for her to learn.
She will learn. It just takes time, and as you have read on the site, it’s a long healing process after this surgery.
Hi everyone,
Thank you so much for sharing your stories. My dog Danny had segmental mandibulectomy two weeks ago, and while the first few days were bad, he is back to his normal self. He is still eating soft food, meatballs of various kinds work best as they don’t fall out of his mouth. Appetite is great, albeit he does make a mess which we don’t mind.
One question I have that I haven’t seen here in the comments, did anyone experience mandibular drift? Danny’s jaws aren’t aligning properly (they can, but he places it differently), so his canine teeth are injuring his soft palatal tissue. He doesn’t seem to care, but I wonder if anyone had that? Could it resolve by itself? I really don’t want to put him through another surgery (such as tooth filing) as he does not take anesthesia well
Thank you!
Hi Mariana, I’m glad to hear that Danny is recovering well. On your question about the mandibular drift – I have not heard of this. I would check with the surgeon/vet to ask about the problem. Maybe there’s some type of splint that can be used until you are further along in the process to secure the jaw. That’s just a thought. Please keep us posted on his progress. Best, Gwen
I have read that this can be a result of the surgery. Definitely, talk to the vet.
Btw, our sheltie had 40% mandibulectomy on oct 5. She has come along very well, but not eating by herself yet. I poke meatballs into back of her mouth. She doesn’t drool and her tongue doesn’t protrude so the vet is very pleased. Her spirits are very good after a little restlessness on day 7, had to give some Gabapentin. I’ll be trying food in a dish next week but hate for her to get frustrated.
It’s two months post op now. Abby is still hand-fed softened food with meatloaf supplement. She can’t lick food that drops on the floor. She is much more clingy, staying by me rather than lying in a corner. And a few weeks ago, we were concerned about her barking all night. The vet gave her some “dementia “ Rx but it gave her diarrhea and for three days, nobody slept and I had to wash her every two hours. When Monday came, an antibiotic cured her, finally. I’ve tried a plate of dry food but she gets nowhere. So we are committed to hand feeding, giving her a try at dry food every week.
People seeing Abby don’t realize her jaw is gone;
her bark is almost normal. She loves it when friends visit and give her attention.
This site is very helpful and informative. Have a merry Christmas.
Hi Connie, Thank you for the update. I’m. glad to hear that Abby is getting along pretty well post-op. Beamer never had dry food again after the surgery (and he didn’t care for it most of his life). I cooked all of his food for years before and after the surgery. If you don’t want to do that, maybe you can find a suitable soft food that is already prepared. I’m glad the antibiotic cured whatever the problem was. And I think it’s very normal to be clingy after the surgery – it’s a major trauma, so that’s not unexpected. I hope she continues to do well. Gwen
Thank you, Gwen. It’s a one day at a time trip.