How do you treat ranula in a puppy?

Our 9 week old puppy has a large swollen area under her tongue. I did a search online and think it is "ranula". Has anyone had a dog with this problem? What do you do about it? Can you do anything that does not require surgery? Thanks for your help.

First off, I would like to say that I am so sorry to hear that your little puppy isn't in the best of health at the moment.Ranula is basically a small cyst on the tongue, which is associated with an obstruction of the major salivary gland in the sublingual area. The symptoms are a bluish discoloration and large, soft swelling in the floor of the mouth. Ranula occurs when a sublingual glad is blocked and mucus escapes from a gland into the tissues. The diagnosis is made by a computed tomography scan which will show a low density area in the sublingual space AND/OR magnetic resonance imageing that will show a mass with a well defined margin. The treatment would be excision (complete removal of an organ or a tumor, as opposed to a biopsy) of the cyst and/or removal of the part of the floor of the mouth that contains the leaking duct. The answer to your question would probably be no, there isn't anything that can be done that doesn't require surgery! I know it's sad that the puppy will have to deal with surgery but it's better to have this done now than to have it 'seem' like it is getting better with time and have reocurrance, which may occur if the sublingual gland and or cyst that is causing the ranula is not removed.I wish you and your puppy the best of luck and health. I Hope that I have been helpful =)

Ranula Accumulation of saliva beneath the mucosa along the base of the tongue Caused by disruption of the monostomatic sublingual salivary gland duct or disruption of polystomatic sublingual salivary glands Treatment is by opening and draining; if a ranula reforms, the mandibular and sublingual glands on the affected side are removed This is known as an herbal teatment>> http://www.estermaria.com/noni.htm