[COBY Colorado]

I am new here to Rottweiler.net but I want to share the story of my Coby. She is 8 and a half and has been a very healthy girl. Around July 4th we noticed some colored discharge from her mouth. When we looked in her mouth you could see a “yucky” spot under her tooth. It kind of looked like a stick had jabbed into her gum. Her breath had gotten progressively worse over the previous few months. We took her to the vet and they thought the tooth was still ok, so gave her antibiotics to clear up the gum. Antibiotics got rid of the green color, but by the next time we went to the vet the tooth was absest and had to be removed. At the end of July they took the tooth out. Right after the surgery there was a small bump under her mouth on her jaw bone. The vet thought it was swelling or an infection. So just more antibiotics. We went across the country on vacation and the bump just exploded. When we went to a Cornell Vet he knew immediately. He did a biopsy and it cam back as Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

We got Coby home and immediately went to CSU. They told us that Squamous Cell is very progressive, but if you get it all before it metastasizes the prognosis is good. To remove it we would have to do a mandibulectomy – which means removing part of her lower jaw. At first I was hesitant wondering about her quality of life. They showed me lots of pictures and said dogs handle it really well. A CT-Scan was done to determine if surgery could get the whole tumor. The amazing thing about CSU is they did the CT-Scan, came out and told me they thought they could get it, and then went right into the mandibulectomy surgery.

We are now into day 4 of recovery. There was lots of swelling, but it is going down. We are having to feed her by blending her food and using a syringe. She took some bits of turkey from our hand this morning, so hopefully she is learning to use her mouth again. Initial pathology results show that the tissue around the tumor was clean. So next week we find out if the bone removed had good enough margins around the cancer. If they got 1 cm margins there is a good prognosis. I am praying for good news in a few days.

This has been so scary. It is so sad to hear the stories of cancer in this wonderful breed. I am wishing everyone facing tough decisions tons of strength. If anyone has experience with mandibulectomies or squamous cell carcinoma I would love to hear your stories. Rottie’s are the best!