Emilly did great with her last chemo and her chest x-ray was clear.  We were thrilled.  We do have another concern with her though.  When checking her over very carefully the oncologist found a spot/mass on Emily's inner lip.  He is black, a little raised and hard.  It resembles a blackhead.  We are having it removed and biopsied in three weeks (a delay to give her time to recover from her chemo) "just to make sure".  How worried should we be?  Does an OAS move to the mouth?  I know without seeing her you can't be sure of anything but what is your general impression?  Emily is a doberman mix so she does have pigmentations elsewhere in her mouth but this one is new.  Thanks for any information you can give.

Debra

Emily and Debra,

Of course, Pam is much more qualified in this subject but something much like this occured with Cherry. Approximately one week after Cherry's last chemotherapy "I discovered a small growth on the inside of her mouth, on her right side, at the lower gum line. It appeared to be approximately "pea" size with a small attachment." (This is an exact quote from Cherry's TriPawd Journey website.) I immediately went into see our local vet and by the end of that week she had removed that and another that she found also behind a tooth. I still am amazed that I found the first growth. Cherry recoved from this surgery almost immediately (days) and we have never looked back. The biopsy came back as just a simple growth and not cancer. Like you, all the reading material and my logic told me that this was not the way Osteosarcoma behaves, but that did not help my feelings of doom.

While no can say for sure until the biopsy, we truely believe that this too is just a speed bump on the road to recovery. Paws crossed and pawsitive thought headed your way.

Bob & Cherry