I have a tumor in my mouth!

Jenn took me into see Dr. Brady for my annual wellness exam and they found something scary!  Dr. Brady noticed a tumor/growth on the side of my tooth that looked abnormal.  It looked like this:

 

See that marble looking thing?   Eww!  Dr. Brady said that I needed surgery to remove the growth and then they had to send the tissue to a lab to make sure that is wasn't anything to worry about.   I wasn't worried, but poor Jenn was a mess.  First off, Jenn felt really bad that she hadn't noticed the growth.  She usually checks my mouth regularly, but she hadn't seen it. 

So I had to have a brief surgery to get the growth cut out.  After the surgery, my mouth looked like this:

The real bummer was having to eat soft food for a week. You know how I like to chew bones. 

Anyway, the test results came back yesterday, and there was nothing in the tissue to worry about.  The growth is called a Fibromatous Epulis, which is a common, non-cancerous tumor that some dogs get.  No one knows why an Epulis starts to form and it can grow and envelope a tooth or part of the mouth like this:

 

Yikes!!  The best treatment is surgery to remove it.  Lots of types of cancer can look like an Epulis, so it is important to get a proper diagnosis.  Most Epulis types do not return after surgery.  That's a relief. 

Jenn said she's not taking any chances, so she's giving me a homeopathic remedy called Calcarea Fluorica which is recommended for non-cancerous, epulis by one of Jenn's favorite books Homeopathic Remedies for Dogs by Geoffrey Llewellyn.

And, Jenn said she is never going to forget to check my mouth regularly to make sure the epulis doesn't come back.  So, it is a really important thing to regularly (weekly or more) check your dog's mouth and bring anything abnormal to your vet's attention.  It could save their life!!