Throat Mass

About two weeks ago, I took my bearded dragon Lumpy into the vet because he was opening his mouth to breathe excessively and the little flaps in the back of his throat were partially yellow. The vet opened his mouth, looked in and diagnosed him with mouth rot. She gave me antibiotics and an antibacterial wash for his mouth and told me to bathe him every other day. I followed the vet's instructions, althouth I had to attend a funeral, and the person watching him mixed up the dosages, so we ran out of antibiotics a few days too soon. A while into the treatment, he bit his tounge as I gave him the mouthwash. He did it again the next day. so I started giving it to him when he was asleep and couldn't protest. One day, as I was bathing him, he opened his mouth very wide and I could see what looked like a large, soft, disturbing purple mass in the far back of his throat, behind the throat flaps. I saw it again later. Additionally, he was still opening his mouth so I didn't think the antibiotics were working too well. I couldn't tell if he was eating, so I gave him a slurry.
I took him to the vet, and this time, there was a different vet to see us. He opened up Lumpy's mouth, swabbed the gumline and the easily accessable bits. He said he had lost weight, the tounge had ulcerated and also commented on the throat mass. Then he told me I would need to bring him back later and he would put him under and take a closer look. He said that If it was cancer, he would go ahead and put him down while he was under. I got pain meds for his tongue, and a liquid feeding solution, but no antibiotics, because they would irritate his gut and he wouldn't want to eat.
Lumpy is about 7 years old. I don't know much about his history because I got him off Craigslist. He was in a 75 gallon tank with another lizard, Fred. I separated them when I got them. I've seen some stress marks, but his beard isn't colored, he's still alert and he has sporadic bursts of activity. Does anyone have any idea about what this is? I have no idea what to think or expect. Would It be best for him to put him down if he does have cancer?

Hello,

Oh I am sorry to hear about the mass in his throat. That is awful for you both.
There have been a few cases like that, here on the forum.
How long has the mass been there, estimated?
I always want to imagine the best scenarios which is a big flaw with me. If it isn't affecting his
weight or appetite & health right now, you could consider surgery to have it removed possibly.
If they feel that he has a chance, then I don't think putting him down during the exploratory
surgery. Has it gotten larger in size?
It could continue to get larger or stay the same. It is so hard to know what the right thing is to
do because you don't want him to suffer but don't want to put him down if he doesn't have
cancer & it hasn't spread.

Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

The last time I saw it, it seemed to have gotten smaller, but it's so far back it's hard to tell. He wasn't really eating, but that might be because of his tongue pain. I managed to get most of the liquid food down this morning. I first saw the mass about a week ago.

Hello,

Ok, well, that is interesting. There is always a possibility of it being some type of abscess
caused from a bite from an insect or trauma, instead of a tumor.
Has he fallen & hit his beard area on anything that you can think of?
That's good he did take some food though. How is he doing today?
Does it seem to really bother him, or not too bad?
I hope it does go down on its own, that would really be the best scenario of course! Please
let us know how things are going.
Try to keep him around 80 in his tank overnight to help keep his immune system boosted.

Tracie