Mandibulectomy From Oral Fibrosarcoma, Just Came Home Today

[Guest racinmason]

Good day all,

Today we just brought out Dunquin home from Washington State University Vet Hospital where she had a mandibulectomy that was required from having an Oral Fibrosarcoma. She has been there for 10 days and has lost 7 lbs. She's happy to be home and there is a ton of home care for us. She needs to learn to eat again and I wondered if anyone has gone through this with their pup and can offer us any advice or tips.

The hospital was wonderful, they took very good care of her, now it's up to her and us to get some lbs back on. She does have a feeding tube for Hills AD slurry and meds and water. She's happy but skinny and I hate to see her struggle.

thanks in advance

mason

[macoduck]

I found this old thread under a search for mandibular. http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=185125&hl= The owner's mention some foods and how they were able to give it to their dog.

[TwiggysMom]

Not a mandibulectomy, but you may be interested in Kebo's story. He is the first pup I thought of when I saw your story.

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/274635-kebo-update/?hl=kebo

 

If you search for "Kebo", there are more threads about his case that may be of interest to you.

 

I am sending good wishes for your boy Dunquin and hope for a smooth recovery!

Edited October 13, 2013 by TwiggysMom

[Guest racinmason]

We just finished our first feeding, Dunquin is sleeping peacefully. She had a little ice cream and a bit of tuna then her slurry. There is a lot for all of us to learn. Thanks for your post references, I've read them both and that's a help. I'll keep you updated.

[4My2Greys]

No advice, but wanted to send out healing thoughts to your girl. Please do keep us updated on how she is doing.

[galgrey]

I don't have any personal experience, but I'll be sending good thoughts to her and I hope she makes a full recovery.

[Guest IrskasMom]

No Advice here either but sending you gentle Hugs with Prayers and healing Thoughts

[DesiRayMom]

No experience here, either, but want to wish Dunquin & her family all my best wishes.

This experience can't be fun.

[TwiggysMom]

Ack!! I am so sorry I called Dunquin a boy. I don't know why I thought that.

 

If it makes you feel any better, lots of people think my 55-lb Twiggy is a boy, too...

 

(lame excuse, I know...)

[sweetdogs]

Sending a warm welcome to lovely Dunquin from one of her IG friends. I'm sure when Kebo's mom sees your post, she pop in.

[Guest greytkidsmom]

Hi there I'm Kebo's mom. Kebo had fibrosarcoma of the maxilla (the upper jawbone) resected in April 2011. It was a long road and we questioned ourselves several times but he is happy, healthy, and cancer-free 2.5 years later. We fed him his normal kibble ground up into a powder using one of those "magic bullet" blenders. It was very easy for us (nothing to cook) and we knew that he was getting the same nutrition that he got before the surgery. Please feel free to PM me or email me at lgwhitepac@yahoo.com if you have any questions or just need to vent. We will be sending lots of healing energy up your way.

[Guest racinmason]

The Dunquin Update:

 

First, thanks so much for the good wishes and energy. We're all pretty tired. We feed Dunquin 6 times daily at 4hr intervals with water on the 2nd hr in between. This is wiping out the whole day between us but we're managing.

Dunquin is making a little progress trying to eat, she had a little bit of cheese and some baby food. Her biggest problem is that she's not quite sure what to do with her tongue, with no lower jaw, there's no guide so it just goes everywhere. Now and then she gets it right but it's more accident that purpose. She loses interest fairly quickly but I'm still hopeful for progress.

We're feeding Hill A/D blended so it'll go through a syringe, she lost quite a bit of weight while at hospital and that seems to be the best way to get the calories into her. She goes back to WSU tomorrow for a follow up and I'm hoping for good news.

thanks again everyone for your thoughts.

Updates to follow

[TwiggysMom]

Poor kid, I don't know what she's supposed to do with that long tongue without a holder!

 

What an effort for you all to keep up with the feeding/watering schedule. That sounds even harder than Twiggy's post-amp med/feeding schedule!

 

Keeping you all in my thoughts, and sending out quick-healing wishes!

[Guest racinmason]

Today's Update:

 

Dunquin went to WSU yesterday for a follow up appt. The vets are very happy with how she looked but said we weren't getting enough calories into her. She had lost another pound so they sent home Iams Vet formula double calorie dog food. She seemed interested and ate some off of a spatula, we just paint it on her tongue and she licks it in. After a few bites, we put some in a pie plate, we learned that low edges made it easier for her to reach anything and........SUCCESS! She ate the whole can, then a little jar of baby food, they part of a can of apple pie yogurt. Of course, she had more enthusiasm that skill so there was a LOT all over her and Dickens, our Chinese Crested and the whole kitchen. Dickens was doing a good job of cleaning the floor.

Anyway, it went a lot better this morning, we fashioned a bib out of a towel and her technique improved with each feeding today. She's not drinking yet so that still goes in the tube but this is a big step and we're thrilled.

 

thanks again for your good thoughts and wishes, progress is being made

[sweetdogs]

<3

[greytpups]

wonderful update

[Guest Liz_in_PA]

yahoo for Dunquin!

[4My2Greys]

That is a fantastic update.

[TwiggysMom]

Sounds like Dunquin is starting to get the hang of it! I hope she starts to add those pounds back super-quick!

[Guest racinmason]

Thursday's update:

 

Dunquin continues to eat on her own, as long as we open the cans and spread in the pie plate and put her bib on and mop the floor afterwards! I bought a "Neater Feeder" from Amazon to help contain the splatter and that's helped a lot plus our girl is getting to be a neater eater anyway. She still hasn't figured out drinking so we're keeping water going in the tube. I'm wondering if she's getting enough to satisfy her thirst so not feeling any need to drink. She goes to WSU tomorrow morning to get her stitches out so we'll ask the vet there what he thinks.

We did get great news yesterday, clear margins!! The bone biopsy results came back finally so we're very happy.

 

We did run out of the Iams Vet formula and I ordered from petfooddirect but nothing has shipped yet. They are waiting on a prescription from the vet and maybe I put in the wrong fax #, will have to check on that. None of us are thinking all that clearly these days.

 

thanks you all for your good wishes and support, it makes a big difference. More to come.

[Batmom]

So glad to hear your girl is figuring things out! Hope she continues to do well for a long, long time.

[Guest greytkidsmom]

Clear margins - those are two words that you just want to shout from the rooftops! Keep getting better Dunquin

[Guest racinmason]

The Dunquin update:

 

First, yes the clear margins are reason to celebrate!! Dunquin is eating on her own, we're blending up soft food and baby food mixture, still working on extra calories, need to get some weight on her again. She's happy and is playing some. Still doesn't want to drink so we've been adding extra water to her food and adding water to her feeding tube. Until last night…….I got up early this morning and found that she had pulled her feeding tube right out. Found it in my office. A quick call to WSU at 3:30am and the had us just rebandage and I'll take her to our usual vet this afternoon to make sure the wound is clean and we'll see how it goes from there. I'm really hoping this is the corner that we all wanted to turn and maybe she knows more than us. We'll find out soon. In the meantime, thank you for your thoughts and wishes.

[Patsy]

Sending all good "it's the corner!" thoughts your way.

[Xan]

Just finding your topic, and want to send my warmest wishes for continued and speedy recovery! She's learning to deal with a huge change pretty well, and pretty quickly, though I'm sure it will only seem so in retrospect. kisses to your girl! And, we love pictures!

 

BTW, I'm up in northwest Washington, north of Bellingham, so we're practically neighbors!