Nasal cancer—RIP little boy

My dog passed away a couple of days ago. He was 14.5yo. I wanted to make a post in his memory and for others who might be dealing with something similar. It’s a long post for my sake—instead of reading it all, start at the fourth paragraph or feel free to DM me if you were like me back then, up in the middle of the night researching nasal cancer in dogs.

Around 2 years ago he had light bloody reverse sneezing. I didn’t think much of it and his vet gave him some antibiotics and it subsided. Then the next few months he started sneezing more frequently and violently. His breathing became high pitched and I suspected one of his nostrils was partially blocked and the idea of nasal cancer was definitely a thought. He was referred to a specialist and a CT scan confirmed he had nasal cancer that was nearly invading his brain.

In the couple of weeks surrounding the vet visit, he was pacing and barking at night. I wasn’t sure if this was dementia or cancer. The vet gave him a prognosis of average 4 months without treatment (radiation sounded miserable and might extend that by a few months)—this was Dec 2023. I scheduled to put him out of his misery at the end of 2023 bc he was so anxious not breathing like he was used to—I would wake up and see him staring at me shaking. Luckily on the days before, he seemed to learn to breathe through his mouth comfortably when needed and was playing with toys, sleeping well when next to me and back to his usual self. The vet gave me a quality of life scale and his scores were still very high so I decided to cancel the euthanasia visit. That began our final saga with the remainder of his life on what we called “doggy hospice.”

Per Reddit advice, I started giving him a Chinese herb called Yunnan Baiyao to help decrease bleeding. The vet prescribed him Pyroxicam which she said was a pain med but also shown to decrease cancer growth in some dogs. Those two meds were a miracle! It helped to the point where he was able to breath out of his nose comfortably again. He eventually developed diarrhea from the pyroxicam—we added a probiotic powder to his meal daily which luckily he liked and that cured his diarrhea and we were able to continue the pyroxicam. 2024 was by far our favorite year together. I knew his time was limited and it was always in the back of my mind that his time would come but I cherished every moment of it.

2025 rolled around and it was decent until April. His sneezing/bleeding was worsening and it was more bloody but would stop after a few minutes. He couldn’t play with his squeaky toys that he loved without precipitating violent sneezing so we had to limit that. Outside of that he still seemed quite normal. Then in May he declined to eat his meal for the first time ever—and it was premium human food! That set off alarm bells and it continued and I thought maybe he’s just old and wanted to eat once instead of twice a day. He seemed more tired, his eye on the side of the nasal cancer started having water discharge and he was having to breathe through his mouth more. We had to hand feed him at times but glad he was eating well again and realized he was losing his vision too (he already had very poor hearing).

I started asking myself am I keeping him too long. But he still met high numbers on the QOL scale—still barking at dogs, playing and cuddling with us and enjoying life. Reddit folks always say our pup will let us know when it’s time—and he did. One night I let him out in the backyard to pee before bedtime, he just sat on the grass and looked back at me tiredly; he didn’t want to pee so we went back inside. I couldn’t sleep but for an hour that night. When we woke up the next morning, we realized he was completely blind. His eye on the side of the cancer was bulging out a bit as well. We decided to schedule the euthanasia again—the home visit would happen in 24 hours. The anticipatory grief of that last day was overwhelming. I wasn’t ready and I would never be but he was no longer himself. We took him to visit those that loved him just as much and he seemed so happy for all of the treats and love that I almost second guessed my decision. But once we got back home, he was a shell of himself and I knew it was the right decision. Our last night together, he slept so well—the most comfortable sleep I’ve seen him have recently. I watched him the whole night to make sure he wouldn’t wake up alone and anxious since he could no longer see. We woke up early and we took him on his last walk. In his last hour he gave us one final solid poo. His appetite was incredible despite it being so early in the morning and he ate all of the wonderful treats we prepared for his last meal. He laid in my lap while he ate so happily and the hospice vet inserted the needle painlessly—he had no clue! He got his sedatives and stopped eating but I did manage to give him some chocolate finally (he wasn’t impressed hah). He fell sleep and the vet finally gave him his last dose to stop his heart. He passed so peacefully in my lap. I couldn’t ask for a better ending to his life. He did everything perfectly the the very end. He lived 1.5 years very happily after his diagnosis! We are so grateful for him staying so long with us and making the end decision clear for us without having it be an emergency. I appreciate the Reddit community for helping guide us in taking care of him. RIP little boy.