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My senior dog has a jaw tumor. Should I get surgery or not?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Rat Terrier | Female | spayed | 11 years and 6 months old | 17 lbs

My 11 year old female Rat Terrier has a tumor growing in her upper right jaw. She has had 2 other bumps taken off but I noticed her teeth were becoming bucked looking and took her to the vet. They quoted me $1000 for surgery. I took her to another vet (I didn't tell him I took her to the first vet) he is pretty old school and said he could refer me to a specialist but if was his dog he wouldn't do surgery. We are very confused now. We would love any advice. The dog is very active.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on January 28th, 2018

I'm sorry that Foofie has a tumor! Given that she is very active and if she is otherwise healthy, I see no reason why the tumor can't be removed. The growth of this tumor is affecting her teeth, and it could affect them to the point she has difficulty eating. Not eating would lead her to be very weak and sick, and you want to avoid that. You can have the first vet doing a geriatric blood panel and urinalysis to see how her organs are functioning overall, which would give an idea of how she would fair under anesthesia for the tumor removal. Personally if it were my dog, I would have it removed, but that's me. I would have another conversation with the first vet. Good luck, I hope this helps!

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    Answered By Laura Johnson VMD

    Veterinarian

    Published on July 24th, 2017

    HI, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I am very sorry to hear about Poppy! I am not sure if you still want to pursue surgery but you could seek out a specialists opinion on surgery or at least a biopsy then see if the tumor is amendable to chemo or radiation. In my opinion age isn't a disease and many older animals do well under anesthesia if properly monitored. If you do not want to pursue any further surgery or diagnostics that is very reasonable. Maybe changing her to a canned food and molding the food in to meatballs and hand feeding her or blenderizing the canned food and syringe feeding her may help her eat better. i really wish you and Poppy the best

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