Our senior dog has developed what appears to be either an abscess or a tumor along his upper gum. It's probably the size of two chapsticks side-by-side. In addition to antibiotics, our vet recommended that we apply a saline flush to the gum area if we thought we could. Has anyone done this for their dog? If so, any tips?

I gargle with saline when my throat starts feeling bad and it's pretty nasty. It works and I understand the need so I do it anyway, but as is typical I can't explain to the dog why they should hold still while I do something unpleasant to them.

History: a smaller version appeared just after Thanksgiving; the vet recommended that we keep an eye on it for a few days and bring him back if it didn't go down (could have been trauma from a nip from puppy or a wasp sting). It went down and we thought all was good. Fast forward to Christmas and the lump/swelling appeared again, this time with a bad smell. Took him in again and came home with painkillers and antibiotics. He just completed the antibiotics and the infection/smell has almost all gone away, but the mass is still there. Starting him on a second round of antib. after our follow up visit this morning since there is still a faint odor / sign of infection. Normally they would do x-rays and a biopsy to help confirm the cause, but because of his age (12.5) and last experience with anesthesia, the vet and I are both very concerned that he wouldn't survive the anesthesia this time. Otherwise he is doing well- normally hungry, eating well, defecating normally, exercising, etc.

Not going to lie, this is very stressful. I am not ready to give him up yet.

I'm sorry this is happening. It sure does sound stressful.

Are you familiar with marker-training for accepting a procedure? I could find and link you to step-by-step details.

Is it toward the front of the mouth, where t's possible to have the salt water run off into a basin and not be swallowed?

Thanks, Connie. I'm not familiar with marker training for accepting a procedure. If you have a link handy that would be awesome. I'm guessing it's similar to regular learned behavior type marker training?

If you look at this page http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/pregastric/dogpage.html it's just above the back of the premolars. If I could tell him to tip his head down it would be fine, lol. That could be part of the marker training I guess-

A cloth soaked in the solution and with marker training just work up to the point where you can hold it to the area to release the solution.

When teaching this with markers you could hold the reward treat down low and give it down low to keep the head down.

Start with just your finger then with the cloth on your finger then with the solution on the cloth.

Jumping right in with the taste of the solution could make it hard to get further with the treatment.

Just a thought

I'm thinking that pain from the lesion is going to be a strong noxious stimulus which will likely over run any sort of reward from food.
Antibiotics can help by controlling infection.
I'd recommend sedation to get a diagnosis and a plan, possibly removing part of the lesion, any rotten involved teeth. Maybe this is just a bone infection from bad teeth, gum disease!

Get a biopsy, make a plan. Cancer in the mouth is painful and aggressive.

If the dog does not survive anaesthesia, you relieved his discomfort, you tried.
If you can afford it, that would be my recommendation.

Bob has posted some very good ideas there.


And here's a thread that both contains and links to details about "procedures" marker work:

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=35197&page=1#404763


And Betty has spoken to very important issues. (We've said it before ... it's a major blessing to have a veterinarian on the board.)


What was the negative general anesthesia experience you mentioned? Canine G/A has come such a long way ....

Betty's post reminds me of my own feelings about G/A for oral problems; for me it has been a matter of dental procedures for brachycephalic seniors. I researched the subject carefully ten years ago, and have put the information to good use at least half a dozen times since.

Here's a post I made in 2013 about it:

ETA
This is all strictly MHO, and I'm not a health professional. It's just about what I learned when I was afraid to have dentals done on my brachycephalic dogs.

"In February I had a dental workup (cleaning, X-rays, and extractions) done on a 15-year-old brachycephalic dog. The gas was Isoflurane and the injectable was Propofol. The dog woke up very quickly after the procedure. (My scares in prior years had all been during the post-surgery pre-waking period.) I was extremely happy with this choice.

Also, immediate intravenous access for fast fluid and/or drug administration is crucial. This is what I learned through lots of researching G/A for seniors and/or flat-face dogs. The most important factor in the successful treatment of cardiovascular or respiratory failure in the anesthetized patient, according to the animal anesthesiologists I read, is that IV catheter ALREADY IN PLACE..

By placing an intravenous (IV) catheter and line before administering the anesthesia, the vet can ensure that this lifeline is already in place, should the need arise. Anesthetics, fluids, and emergency drugs can be administered very quickly through the IV line.

Intravenous fluids help maintain blood pressure in the anesthetized patient. Patients who receive IV fluids generally wake up faster. They are also less likely to have kidney problems post-surgery.

Three things leaped at me from every authoritative G/A site (for dogs): Pre-surgery blood workup; an IV catheter in place before surgery; a staff member whose ONLY job in the room is to monitor the dog's G/A (blood pressure, etc.).

These are not all regular procedure in all vet offices. They are all something I would double-check on ahead of time. The vet may say "of course!" -- but the vet may also say "we don't usually do that (usually #2 and #3) because of the cost," which is when we brachy (and other G/A-sensitive) owners insist that we want both.

I also read over and over that a vet who has regular and frequent experience with G/A for dogs in the sensitive group my/your dog is in is a top priority."

All JMO!

Edited by Connie Sutherland (01/14/2018 01:54 PM)
Edit reason: ETA

Thanks again, Bob, Betty and Connie. You've given us some things to try and additional things to think about.

Betty, I can probably afford the sedation and removal of the tumor; he had one a few years ago on his paw that we had biopsied and removed. I'm mostly just scared that he won't wake up. At the moment his quality of life still seems pretty good. He's acting normally aside from sensitivity to the mouth and extra drool. I'm torn between taking the risk and asking our vet to anesthetize him and removing whatever needs to be removed now, or waiting until it's starting to affect his quality of life and giving it a shot then. On top of that, I understand there's the chance that if it is a tumor and he removes it, it could grow back worse that before; that happened with another dog of ours.

The concern the last time (2 years ago for a dental cleaning) was that it took him 3 days to get back to "normal." During that period he remained 'fuzzy', didn't move around much and barely ate, if at all. Maybe I'm overreacting- I just remember thinking that it had never been like that after past cleanings/procedures. It could have been that he was in pain because of the dental cleaning and I didn't realize it.

I can't speak knowledgeable to your concern about the previous G/A experience, but I can tell you that when I mentioned a similar (but less lengthy) G/A experience to my present vet, she said that in her opinion, the dog had been over-anesthetized. She expressed many of the same points I posted above, and particularly the importance of the experience of the vet with G/A-sensitive dogs.

Three days to recover from G/A is not something I would expect or excuse. I'd definitely bring all this up with the vet your dog is seeing. I assume that was a different vet?

I hope Betty might address this too.