Oesteosarcoma

SYMPTOMS: Unfortunately, malignancies of the oral cavity are not often found until the disease is in an advanced stage. Increased salivation, difficulty chewing, loss of appetite, weight loss, difficulty swallowing, bad breath, and bloody saliva are all symptoms of oropharyngeal cancers. Tumors involving the tonsils or the base of the tongue may also cause difficulty breathing. Loose teeth in an otherwise healthy mouth may also signal the presence of bone lesions. Sarcomas may present as ulcerating mass lesions, however, carcinomas may be less obvious in terms of detection.

AVERAGE AGE OF ONSET: Cancerous lesions of the oral cavity may present at any age with the highest frequency occurring between the ages of 7-11 years.

DIAGNOSIS: Dogs presenting with tumors of the oral cavity must undergo biopsy of the lesion for identification of tumor-type. Additionally, x-rays of the local and surrounding area of the tumor as well as films of the chest are usually required to determine extent of the spread of the disease. Many melanomas and some carcinomas will have already metastasized to the lungs by the time the dog is identified as having an oral tumor. Additionally, it is not uncommon for tumors of the soft tissues of the mouth to invade underlying bone. Regional lymph nodes should be examined for possible involvement, and suspicious nodes should be biopsied by fine-needle aspiration for evidence of malignant cells. Computed tomography (CT) may be valuable for determining the extent to which the nasal cavity may be involved

Osteosarcomas of the oral cavity bear a particularly dismal prognosis due to both local invasiveness and high incidence of metastases.Without treatment, dogs diagnosed with osteosarcoma will succumb to their cancer in about 1-2 months. Average survival of dogs undergoing treatment with surgery and radiation is about 4-5 months. Addition of chemotherapy to the treatment regimen may further increase anticipated survival of dogs with this type of tumour

Surgery involving the removal of portions of the effected upper (maxillectomy) or lower (mandibulectomy) jaw results in average survival times of 8 or 11 months, respectively. The best outcomes are reported for radical excision in which an average of at least 2-cm of surrounding normal tissue is removed with the diseased tissue. In the cases of incomplete excision or inoperable tumors due to wide spread invasion, radiation therapy may provide palliative control of some radiation-responsive tumors. Radiation therapy may be combined with chemotherapy, however, no significant advantage of providing longer survival has been observed for this combination compared to radiation therapy alone. For chemotherapy alone, squamous cell carcinomas are moderately responsive to Cisplatin or Carboplatin, and sarcomas demonstrate a 30-50% response rate to Doxorubicin treatment.

Food and vitamins I gave Kassa.

Vitamins

Glucosamine 1500mg twice a day.

Shark Cartelge 750 grm per day

Ehcinacea 400grm per day

fish oil 2 tablets

Artmesinin I tried in October. 120mg twice a day. at 1am and 1pm.Timing is important. No antioxidants 5 hours before or after Art.

I had read cancer is most aggressive at night while alseep. I was never sure how this effects them during the day, but I was believing anything if I could save her.

I ground all her pills in a coffee grinder and mixed them with her food.

Food I feed Kassa.

Kass loved Liver. If she wasn't drinking much I would boil liver and flavour her water with it. She tolerated human milk so I would give her very watered down warm milk.

I feed a high protein low carb diet and no sugar. I tried to feed cancer fighting foods.

Raw meat - beef, lamb, chicken, chicken hearts or liver or fish.

rice

Makerel., sardines

garlic vegetables peppers. No carrot, pototo, pumpkin or fruit. I had no specific amounts. I cut down on green veges when she had Chemo in case she had diarrrohea.

I would also mix green tea in her food sometimes.

Raw eggs

When giving Artemisinin I was told to feed paw paw and extra liver.

When Kassa had chemo she went off her food for a few days. I would give her cat food as this seemed to help. She liked the chicken based one.

Hills Neoplaysion Diet. I varied the meat and amounts

1lb beef no fat

1/3 cup cooked rice

1/3 cup liver increase if on Artemsinin

4-5 tbls oil

6.2grms calcium

9 grms fish oil. I used shark.

I would cook it all up and freeze it. If her jaw was sore when she had nodules I would make little hot cakes, or bake it in cookies in the oven.

When she didn't want to eat.

I would cook up all sorts of soft food. She liked something different each day.some days cat food, I tried various ones until I got one she liked. I gave her steak,chicken etc.she didn't like the very smelly things. ( she has always had fish in oil, but went off this.)

The vet said she would eat better if she had competition for food.She was the only dog, but if she saw Ernie she ate more. We couldn't see him every meal time so I became the other dog.
She liked liver and even looking at it make me sick, but I would cook it or other meat, chichekn fish, into little patties and nibble the edges. She would eat the rest.

Gosh what we do for our dogs.

I also gave her hot dogs that were slightly warm. If the food was too hot or cold or left over night she wouldn't eat it.

I found she would only eat food that was fresh. i.e. blended up and cooked into patties, then cooled. If I cooked it and froze it,
it would be too cold in the middle or too hot and I didn't want to
burn her mouth.

The wierd thing was she liked hard things like cookies, and loved
over cooked crunchy fries. I would go to the fish and chip shop and
buy these and a hot dog and sit in the park. This had always been our special treat and she loved it. She would eat them.
Maybe as she was in a place she loved she ate better.

In the beginning I wouldn't give her anything with preservative, or
sugar. As her cancer grew and I knew we were not going to beat it, I
gave her what ever she would eat.

I think it is trial and error. It is frustating and sometimes I would sit there pleding with Kassy to eat.

I put her medication into a peppermint chocolate. This way she gobbled it down. She decided she didn't want any more vitamins and would spit them across the floor. I didn't give her so much of these but made sure she had the Rimadyl for pain. She could taste it in cheese or other things. Peppermint she loved. I ate the
chocolate off first, and squashed it in, then gave it to her. One so
she could see me eat it and 2 chococlate is not good for them.

One day I was so pre occupied with Kassa I didn't stop at eating the chocolate. I actualy ate her Rimadyl as well by mistake.. lol.

There were other times I laughed these are the things we need to remeber.

I tried everything and when my son told me the pip inside the apricot stone would cure cancer I had to try. I went to the organic store and bought all the apricots they had for some huge amount. The woman in the shop thought it was her lucky day as some weren't edible, but I only wanted the stone.

After an hour of trying to smash apricot stones with a hammer and missing more than I hit while Kassa watched on I realised something. The miracle I was so hoping for was sitting there in front of me. Kassa.

She didn't know she was sick. All she knew was the person she depended on, the person who took her to the park and laughed with her didn't do that any more.

From that day I decided laughter and fun would be our best medicine. I beleive this helped her fight. Keeping thing as normal as they always have been made her sparkle and gave her the will to fight.