Brain Tumours in dogs especially Boxers?

Thistle

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Anyone had any experience. Boxer rescue aged 8 or 9 has head changed shape, seems to have head ache, slight loss of coordination and memory. All fits with brain tumour, we are talking weeks rather than months.

He is on painkillers and steroids to ease his last few weeks and in now much happier.

Seems it is common in short faced breeds over 7 years old.

He hasn't yet had a seizure, fallen over , shown aggression or become incontinent (these are our cut off points) He is still happy (now he has pain relief) and enjoying his walks and food. Recall has gone but he's happy on a lead.

Anyone been down this horrible path?
 

Aru

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Yes. Have seen several head based tumours.
quality of life can be a massive issue with them as they show subtle signs.personally unless i could gaurantee a good quality of painfree life or a curative treatment ...then pts a day to early rather than a day to late Is my mantra on them.some dogs are stoic and suffer through a lot.

,sometimes vets are poor at pallative care as we tend to always be looking to fix problems not manage the inevitable decline.A constant migraine would be excruciatingly painful in a human.

Mri etc would confirm and give options but trestments are often invasive(surgery) or expensive (radiotherapy) without actually being a permanent cure to.

Im sorry if that not what you wanted to hear. Sorry to hear about your lovely boy.
 

Thistle

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Aru, that's already the decision we have come to, the painkillers have made a huge difference, the aim for him to have a nice week or two then we can say goodbye.

My son has been away travelling since December, he desperately wants to say goodbye to his dog. He is home next Tuesday. I have great vets, really good at straight talking and never trying to sell extra unnecessary (in the long run) treatment.

The dog has had 4 great years with us, he was dumped, left tied up in a nearby town, fat and with terrible skin problems (he had a real penchant for junk food, especially anything with chillies!) There have been many times when we nearly gave up on him (he was only supposed to be here temporarily) as he is a terrible thief, instead we changed ourselves and our kitchen is now sooooo tidy. He once pulled all the coats of the coat rack and shredded the pockets looking for treats, about £1000 of good quality outdoor coats. He then developed a taste for entire rolls of Andrex, so have to make sure toilet off utility room closed at all times.

The only reason he stayed was his fabulous temperament (and the fact he is really really ugly in that fugly way white boxers are).Will be our turn to say THANKYOU to him in the hardest way soon.
 

twiggy2

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Yes. Have seen several head based tumours.
quality of life can be a massive issue with them as they show subtle signs.personally unless i could gaurantee a good quality of painfree life or a curative treatment ...then pts a day to early rather than a day to late Is my mantra on them.some dogs are stoic and suffer through a lot.

,sometimes vets are poor at pallative care as we tend to always be looking to fix problems not manage the inevitable decline.A constant migraine would be excruciatingly painful in a human.

Mri etc would confirm and give options but trestments are often invasive(surgery) or expensive (radiotherapy) without actually being a permanent cure to.

Im sorry if that not what you wanted to hear. Sorry to hear about your lovely boy.

I agree with the above

tough time Thistle
 

Thistle

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Don't worry, I come from the day too soon camp also. He is happy in 'Tramadol land' for now. Hopefully we'll get some sunny days for him to lie on the step and snooze then we'll give him a final pat..........
 

Lanky Loll

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Tough times but sounds like you're doing the right thing and he's had 4 years of being a proper boxer by the sounds of it.
This did make me laugh though:
(he had a real penchant for junk food, especially anything with chillies!)
It must be a boxer thing, our lovely old girl now sadly passed on, would walk passed anyone eating a post-pub kebab and as she ambled across would suck the jalapenos off your plate. Made her f*rt like a trooper too :eek: :D
 

fallenangel123

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We lost our boxer to a brain tumour. He had two little fits over the space of a year, vet was unconcerned but said to keep a record of them. One sunday night he had a massive one, he came round, but was just crying. Vet gave him painkillers that night and we were due back the next day. The following morning he had another big one, by the time we got him in he was just circling round, so was pts then and there. Brain tumour was diagnosed afterwards.
 

Thistle

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Rocky is now happy on Tramadol and steroids. We have a planned day to say good bye in the near future. This will be brought forward if things change. He is being spoilt rotten atm. It has always been his dream to have more food and lots of cheese!
 

Thistle

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We lost our boxer to a brain tumour. He had two little fits over the space of a year, vet was unconcerned but said to keep a record of them. One sunday night he had a massive one, he came round, but was just crying. Vet gave him painkillers that night and we were due back the next day. The following morning he had another big one, by the time we got him in he was just circling round, so was pts then and there. Brain tumour was diagnosed afterwards.


Sorry to hear about your dog, if Rocky fits the vet will be called immediately, he has a new lease on life atm with strong painkillers.
 

Thistle

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Tough times but sounds like you're doing the right thing and he's had 4 years of being a proper boxer by the sounds of it.
This did make me laugh though:

It must be a boxer thing, our lovely old girl now sadly passed on, would walk passed anyone eating a post-pub kebab and as she ambled across would suck the jalapenos off your plate. Made her f*rt like a trooper too :eek: :D

They have huge characters. My son can't envisage life without a boxer, I guess we have had one since he was young, first Spike from a puppy, who died age 10, then Rocky for the last 4 years.
 

Crumpet

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My brothers boxer developed a brain tumor which was found post mortem, the dog went absolutely insane and attempted to attack my nephew, destroyed the kitchen he was in at the time and eventually collapsed. Totally out of character and very upsetting as he was a much loved member of the family, it's probably at the extreme end of the scale of things but they had absolutely no warning at all. You know your dog better than anyone else and will ease his journey when he needs it.
 
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