Our Heartbreaking Story: Boxer Jaw Cancer-Symptoms and Treatment


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Let’s start with “what is it?”  Gingiva Cancer (also known as Squamous Cell Carcinoma) is a progressive, rapid (weeks) local invasion of neoplastic epithelial cells within the oral cavity of dogs.   Basically this type of cancer is highly invasive to bone (in most cases the jaw bone).  This aggressive type of cancer is more likely to spread to the lymph nodes rather than the lungs.  Cause of death is secondary to local recurrence and Cachexia (extreme lose of weight).  Symptoms include: excessive salivation, dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), halitosis (bad breath), weight loss, loose teeth, bloody discharge, facial deformity, reactive hyperplasia (increased cell growth).

The good news is there is treatment options when caught early.

The bad news is it requires the boxer to be put under anesthesia/sedative for surgery to take place.

***Please make sure that the veterinarian does not administer Acepromazine.  Boxers have a sensitivity to the this drug.***

TREATMENT: Surgically remove the diseased tissue and bone with chemotherapy to follow.  Basically they carefully remove the teeth, gums, and/or the jaw (either a mandibulectomy [lower jawbone] or maxillectomy [upper jawbone]). Since this is an operation, a soft diet is required .  Veterinarians prescribe a pain killers due to the nature of the surgery.

On a personal note, we are experiencing this very issue with our Daisy girl.  Daisy went through surgery for Gingival Hyperplasia on July 8th.  She did amazing but this opened up Pandora’s box.  A few days later, her gums looked like they were healing nicely.  Approximately 10 days after surgery, as I was brushing her teeth her mouth started to bleed terribly.  When I took a closer look, behind her bottom right canine tooth was a large gaping hole that was bleeding.  Immediately I took her to the vet.  She had developed an infection and was given antibiotics.  She did not heal or get better from the antibiotics.  Following the antibiotics her gums became extremely swollen and began to bleed (see below pic where her gums are holding her lips open).  All of this happened very quickly (within a few weeks).

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Additional stronger antibiotics were prescribed and the vet felt  that her bottom right canine was “dead” and causing the infection.  A second surgery was scheduled on August 19th to remove the canine.  After discussing her surgery and reviewing the x-ray with the vet, we beloieved that Daisy had developed a very severe bone infection (Osteomyelitis) that we thought ate away her jawbone (see below x-ray where white jawbone ends and then continues on backside).  During surgery 4 teeth (the canine, incisor, and 2 front teeth) were removed (basically they pretty much fell out of her mouth).  The vet believes this infection was a complication from the 1st surgery.  He took a tissue culture to test it for a super-bug and a biopsy to check for cancer.   In the meantime, she was put on a 4 quadrant antibiotic therapy to try and combat the infection.  At this time she can only eat wet food and has lost 11 pounds.

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About a day later we were informed that she had Squamous Cell Carcinoma (Gingiva/Jawbone Cancer).  We are completely heartbroken for our girl. At this time, we are scheduled to meet with a veterinary oncologist.  We will keep you posted on the prognosis, in the meantime please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Now it’s your turn, have you experienced this with your boxer?  We’d love to hear your stories!  Email: [email protected]