Dear Dr. John,
My canine, a rescue mutt now about age 14, lately has a lack of vitality, loud respiration, gagging on meals, weight reduction, and no barking. We took him to our vet final week, and an x-ray revealed a progress in his throat, perhaps on his epiglottis. No data has been given but as as to if it’s malignant and what therapy, if any, they may suggest.
My query is whether or not throat surgical procedure on a canine is reasonable, is it ever executed, the end result odds, how does a canine eat whereas therapeutic, and so forth.? He is in any other case fairly wholesome, doesn’t look like in ache (besides the gagging), and performs across the identical as all the time. Would chemo or radiation be useful, relying on what the expansion is? I simply don’t like the concept of sitting round watching whereas his throat slowly closes up. J.B.
Dear J.B.,
All of the medical indicators that you just describe are per epiglottal lots. The epiglottis is the door that closes when one swallows stopping something from going into the trachea or windpipe. Tumors originating on the epiglottis itself are fairly uncommon and are sometimes cartilaginous tumors referred to as chondrosarcomas, and they’re normally malignant. There are additionally different sorts of tumors in that space, and a few may be benign. Epiglottal cysts will not be that unusual and are additionally normally benign. The cysts are extra generally present in youthful canine and given your canine’s age, it could extra doubtless be a malignancy however with out a biopsy nobody can say for certain.
The subsequent step could be to anesthetize the canine permitting for full visualization of the mass, acquiring a biopsy pattern, and whereas there most likely take away the mass if potential or debulk it, permitting for a discount of the related indicators. Yes, throat surgical procedure is finished, is reasonable, and the outcomes differ relying on sort of tumor and the extent of its invasion into native tissues. I might defer to a veterinary oncologist as as to if chemotherapy or radiation could be worthwhile. The constructive information is that he’s nonetheless performing wholesome. The sooner you tackle this the higher off your canine could be. Good luck.
Dr. John de Jong owns and operates the Boston Mobile Veterinary Clinic.He may be reached at 781-899-9994.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”