Tumor in mouth

Question
I realize you might not be a vet but if you have experience in the breed, perhaps you can offer advice. I have a Belgium German Shepard who is about 12 years old. He has a tumor on his gum in the front inside part of the mouth. It's about the size of a fifty cent piece. If he's playing outside or anything and bites something hard it will break open and bleed. The vet wasn't sure what is causing it and said it is cancerous. My question is, have you heard of anything like this happening before, and do you know of any options I have? I was told it can keep being removed, but that obviously won't solve the problem. They said it can get so big that the dog can't eat anymore. This tumor has been at the fifty cent piece size for a few months and hasn't seen to have grown since he first got it. It got larger when the vet cut a piece off of it. If he busts it open on chewing, it also seems to get bigger. I have heard of partial jaw replacements and such but do not want to put the dog through this -- I want to do what is best for him. Any information you can offer is highly appreciated. Thank you.

Answer
It could be several things,. one being that the cancer is actually located somewhere else in the body but is metastized to the mouth. Would explain the recurrence. Have you had him completely scanned? Xrayed? Bloodwork? What are you feeding? Did you know that more dogs with cancer actually die of kidney/liver failure than the cancer itself? And that their life expectancy can be dramatically increased with the right diet and supplements? I'll include a website to help you out.
The mouth is the fourth most common site of cancer in domestic animals. It may be that mouth cancers are so prevalent because carcinogens from the air land on their coats and get inside their mouths when they groom them-selves. Breeds with dark pigment in the mouth,like German shepherds, are prone to melanoma in the mouth. Swelling around a tooth when there is no tooth injury or dental disease could be a sign of mouth cancer. As is recurring tumors. There are several different kinds of cancer that could be causing the tumor and your vet should have already done an aspiration or a biopsy. Radiation and chemotherapy vary in success rates depending on the type of cancer. That is something that needs to be discovered NOW. He should know what type of cancer it is, where the primary tumor is and how best to treat it. If he doesn't, get a another vet. This is a good website for helping people to understand the meanings and definitions of the different types of cancer. http://www.veterinarycancer.com/oraltumor.html This is a wonderful site:
http://www.dogplay.com/MyDogs/cancerdiet.html and another
http://www.treshanley.com/cic/diet.html
It sounds more like a fibrosarcoma since it grows when your vet removes part of it. You can help your dog through this, he is nowhere near the stage where you should consider giving up on him.
Blessings
Cindi