Good evening. This is my first post, and I am writing this tonight with a very heavy heart.
I was wondering if anyone here has been through something similar or has any advice...
This is my baby, Snowby, who is nine and a half.
At the end of November, we noticed two large lumps inside his mouth on his gums (near his canines).
The next morning, we rushed him to the emergency vet.
She told us she suspected it was a tumour but that we needed a biopsy to find out if it was malignant or benign.
So we left our baby there. We called back that evening to see if we could pick him up, but she said he'd have to stay the night as she was running behind schedule. We went back the next morning to fetch our baby, and she told us the biopsy had been done and that she'd also operated to remove those two large lumps... but that there were other smaller ones further back in his mouth that she couldn't remove!
We then had to wait two weeks for the biopsy results. (It took Snowby four days to recover from the anaesthetic). During those two weeks, a new lump started growing, but this time on the outside, on his jowl... The results came back... and we were so disappointed as they couldn't even name the type of tumour or say if it was malignant or benign... I went back to the vet as my baby is in pain, I can see it in his eyes. She examined him and told me the tumour has spread even further and there is nothing they can do; they would have to remove 90% of his jaw. We can only give him palliative care now... so she put him on steroids.
Two weeks later, back to the vet. Snowby’s muzzle is swollen, and his nose and eyes are runny... the tumour is still spreading... Snowby is now on morphine as well as the steroids. Now my baby is struggling to breathe; she warned me it would likely spread to his lungs given how advanced it already was in his mouth and throat... he is losing teeth too... the vet says it’s time to put him to sleep, but I don't know what to do...
He spends his days lying on his tummy, not moving. He’s still eating and drinking, and he still asks for his evening walk, though it’s getting shorter and shorter because he starts choking and I think he's struggling to walk... I wonder if I'm just being selfish trying to save him—well, I know I can't make all this go away, but I'm trying to reduce his medication because I keep thinking maybe that's why he's lying down all day.
Sorry for the long post, I’m just finding it so hard to cope with all this. Snowby is our baby, our child. I really need some advice to help me make the right decision. I've attached a current photo of his face.
