Tumor in Boston Terrier; mast cell / benadryl ;

Question
My 13 year old Boston Terrier has had a pain in what we thought was her mouth.  A few days after an unnecessary oral surgery--the problem wasn't her teeth-- she has started to believe from the nose. A MRI was performed an a tumor is behind her eye.  She winces and cries out in pain, her eye is swollen and red and she continues to bleed from the nose.  We are considering putting her down as we can not afford radiation therapy and we believe at her age it will be too much for her to endure.  The vet had her on Tramadol for pain and Rimadyl as an anti-inflammatory.  She is being taken off the Rimadyl because the bleeding has increased since she started it.  The next step we are told is Prednisone in the hopes we can shrink the tumor a bit.  What alternative medicine approaches are there for this type of tumor?

Answer
OH Vicotoria, I am so sorry to hear this!  so sad....
Yes, the prednisone may help reduce the tumor.  Also, as odd as it may sound they have had GREAT results using Benadryl on Mast Cell tumors.  NOT sure if you could start out on Prednisone and them get reduced to long term benadryl?

Sorry, I don't have too much experience with this type of problem.

Good luck to you two...

Marie Peppers LPN MA
ask the Pet Nurse
mtnmom@gci.net
http://www.apluspetcare.com/untitled4.html