Anyone Know Anything About A Trigeminal Nerve-sheath Tumor In A Non-gr

[Guest MountainHounds]

Hi all. I've not been around much lately, but I've always thought of this board as some of the best resources for those strange medical "has anyone ever heard of?" things in dogs, so I hope you'll all forgive me for coming here to see if anyone else has ever heard of or dealt with this. One of my parents' westies, Dougal, started having some issues about a month ago. He'd go into horrible sneezing fits, where he'd be banging his head on the ground, and flinging foamy snot all over the place. The vet examined him and her first thought was some sort of upper respiratory infection, but there were none of the other symptoms she'd expect, so she thought maybe allergies and suggested benadryl. Over the next couple of weeks, it got worse, the cultures showed nothing, but they tried anti-biotics just in case, but it really didn't get any better. Then about a week ago, we noticed that one half of his head was soft and almost caved in, just over his eye, which happened just within days. The vet said that it appeared that the muscles were atrophying, something she'd never seen happen on only one side of the head and that she'd have to do some research. On Friday she tentatively diagnosed him with a trigeminal nerve-sheath tumor, basically (as she explained it) a malignant tumor in the lining of the nerve that controls all the muscles on that side of his head. She's checking with CSU vet school as to what the prognosis is for something like this and he's got another appointment on Wednesday. He doesn't seem to be in any pain, but he's definitely not feeling well, not acting like himself, and it seems to be progressing rapidly, he's losing muscle mass now under his eye and his ear is drooping. We're all kind of in limbo right now, not sure So if anyone has ever heard of this, or even can spare some good thoughts for the little terrierist, it would be greatly appreciated

Edited July 22, 2009 by MountainHounds

[ahicks51]

Well, here's one journal article on it. Note that with the survival times, the article is 11 years old and cancer management has come a long way in dogs.

 

http://www.jaaha.org/cgi/content/abstract/34/1/19

 

It's rare stuff; you might find an oncologist willing to work with you on something experimental, like traditional chemo or maybe even something like Palladia.

[NeylasMom]

You might look into info on humans as well. My ex, we think, has a benign lump of some sort on his trigeminal nerve. He does have pain with it pretty frequently so I'd be surprised if the dog doesn't - it's pressing on the nerves so unless everything has gone numb by now I don't know how he wouldn't.

 

Anyway, people have lumps in that area surgically removed - I don't remember all of the details, but you might find more info that way - things to discuss with the vet, etc.

[Guest kydie]

OMG what a strange aliment,white light to your parent's pup, I read the article, and if nothing else, it made more people aware of this issue

[Guest greygirls2]

I haven't heard of it so can't be of any help so I just wanted to send some white light and psoitive thoughts your way. It's never easy when any of our furbabies is sick, I hope the little Westie comes through this.

[BeanMom]

I know this is a very old thread but this is exactly what's going on with my pup & I'm nearing decision time. So if you happen to become notified of this message & you're able to update the thread, that would be so incredible.