My dog's chronic sinus infection: Is surgery needed if meds fail?

Poor Spike! I know this is a tricky situation due to his age. Every dog handles this dofferently but the older they get the harder it is. I would consider his age and talk to your vet in best case scenario how many GOOD QUALITY months could you get out of him. If it is only projected to add a month to his life then I am not sure it is worth putting him through an extensive and painful surgery plus radiotherapy. On the hand, if it 6 more months, then it may be worth it. If you dont plan to do the radiotherapy and surgery alone wont extend his life then I personally wouldnt do surgery at his age. I would talk to your vet abot what can be done just to make him comfortable - pain meds, appetite stimulate, long term anti-fungals or antibiotics, etc. In seniors, I always like to consider how to give them a good QUALITY of life over QUANTITY. I hope this helps!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Yes, a CT scan would be the next diagnostic for something like this. This is very important as I am afraid this could either be a nasal cancer or possibly a severe nasal fungal infection. A CT scan helps to distinguish these conditions and a biopsy will help confirm it. Rhinoscopy is needed in some cases to better visualize the nasal cavity after the CT scan is done. Good luck and have a great day!

I'm so sorry to hear that Spike is having this problem. From your history, it sounds like the nasal discharge started before the dental operation. If that is the case and the dental did not improve the discharge, then it might be time to take some x-rays of the nose and teeth. If there is a tooth that is infected at the root, it may look normal in the mouth, but may have signs of infection on x-rays. That can also cause swelling. The only treatment will be to remove the tooth. Cancer will most commonly cause bleeding instead of just normal nasal discharge, but is always possible. Unfortunately, it sounds like Spike needs some more testing to figure out what is going on and determine the best treatment to make him feel better. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Poor Spike! There are a few things that could be going on here. First, he may have a condition called chronic rhinitis - basically, this is a chronic upper respiratory infection that causing changes in the tissue and bone structure inside the nose, which makes symptoms very hard to get rid of even with proper antibiotic treatment. He could also have a nasal foreign body of some kind (like a piece of grass), a fungal infection like cryptococcus which wouldn't respond to antibiotics, or even a nasal tumor. Since he's been on antibiotics twice now with no improvement, you have a couple of options. Ideally, it would be best for Spike to have some further diagnostic testing to try and figure out what's causing the chronic symptoms - this would likely involve culture and cytology of the nasal discharge, skull x-rays, and possibly rhinoscopy (looking inside the nose with a tiny camera) and biopsies of anything in the nasal cavity that looks suspicious. Referral to a specialist may be required for some of these tests. Or, if you prefer not to pursue any additional testing right now, your vet should be able to talk to you about other treatment options that may help to relieve his symptoms. Many cats with this issue respond well to anti-inflammatory drugs, long courses of antibiotics (4-6 weeks), intranasal antibiotic/steroid drops, or even adjunct therapies like laser treatment or acupuncture. I would recommend asking your vet for his/her suggestions on the next step. If they don't have any other suggestions or don't want to talk with you about options, you can get a second opinion from another vet if needed.

Left nasal cavity seems full of discharge and bone seems affected as well (so whatever is inside is causing bone erosion as well). It is not possible to determine what it is specifically from the CT images and a further investigation is unfortunately needed. Was rhinoscopy performed? was a biopsy taken? Otherwise aggressive treatment for fungal infection is required (not only oral treatment but often ''flush'' of the nasal cavity is necessary to have substantial results. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Judging from the pictures, I would be suspicious that this is an abscess / infection or a nasal / sinus tumor. If this is a tumor, it may have developed a secondary infection, which is why it likely responded to the previous treatment. Unfortunately I do not have an answer for you on what this is other than it would need further testing such as rhinoscopy or CT scan to help determine what this could be. If you are unable to do further testing, I would consider continuing the antibiotics / steroids long term to help keep Luna comfortable. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

I'm sorry to hear Cooper isn't feeling well. If he is having recurrent infections there may be a source of the problem in his nasal passages. This could be a growth, a foreign body, or an infected tooth. I recommend discussing a sedated oral exam and possible skull radiographs with your vet. They may need to refer you for an endoscopy into his upper airways. Good luck and kisses to Cooper!