calliecritturs
Posted : 9/17/2012 9:31:06 PM
Dang -- tried to do this on the Kindle and lost it.
I hear you -- it really grates on me, personally, to have something going on that I Know **might** change to bad but having to stand there staring at it *sigh*.
My thots are:
1. She's not getting any younger -- and if it's as involved (potentially) a surgery as it looks like then she'd be better off to have it done now just from age reasons alone. Surgery is always a risk, but the older the more dangerous.
2. I would think the root would extend and become more and more firmly entrenched the longer you wait?? That would be a good question to ask the vet. (i.e., does it grow from both ways? bigger on the outside and deeper on the inside??)
3. To me the loss of a tooth isn't a big deal if it's for the greater good. Heck when I got Kee Shu the FIRST thing the vet did was remove like 13+ teeth and she had NOT A BIT of trouble with it. It certainly didn't keep her from eating.
4. I would think the longer you waited the higher the risk of it coming back -- (because the root would be more firmly entrenched -- this is kinda like #2 but I'd want to know if there is anything that could tip the scales in your favor. Is there anything known to slow the growth down?
Found this on Merck
This one is from Purdue -- a bit easier to understand, but it makes it more clear that it may require more than one tooth to be removed and even part of the bone depending on the type of tumor. It sounds like if they get ALL of it then it is fixed, but will re-grow if they don't get it ALL.
Somewhere between one and two I changed my mind a bit -- it honestly sounds to me like you don't want your normal vet to do this. If they're already saying "they usually grow back" that seems to be if you DON'T get it all. The article from Purdue makes it sound like complete surgery is completely curative (as long as it's not malignant I'd think altho it doesn't make that qualifier).
The other thing the Purdue doc suggests (almost as a given) is not JUST a biopsy but x-rays done so they see BEFORE the surgery which teeth will be involved. Doesn't sound (unless I missed it) like that was in your vet's consideration.
Not saying anything about your vet -- but I've learned that SOME-TIMES it is definitely in your best interest to go to a vet school. It could be a long surgery so it probably won't be cheap, but I'd think it would save her a lot of trouble and pain later on.
If the tooth becomes engulfed in the tumor and she bites on it, then it's constantly bleeding and draining. ugh. That just sounds like it could get really bad really quick.
This would most definintely be something I'd think about going to a vet school for. Probably better done than by even a "specialist".