Canine Bladder Cancer Piroxicam

Hi, I lost my sweet boy, Mike, to bladder cancer a few weeks ago. He was diagnosed in 10/05. I am grateful for the time I had with him, but it's never enough. On 8/5 we would have had Mike 15 years. We adopted him from a county shelter. He was such a joy and a remarkable creature. He had a way with people. I took him to visit the sick at a local nursing home and they all loved him. Everyone in our neighborhood knew him and he would greet each of them as they walked by the house. I miss him terribly. When I get like this I have to remind myself that his spirit is free, and that his body is no longer holding him back causing pain. He will be with me always. Back when Mike was diagnosed I found this website and everyone was so supportive sharing their knowledge about how they were treating their dogs, what was helpful and what was not. One person who had just lost her dog to bladder cancer generously posted an offer of Piroxicam to anyone whose wanted it for their own dog. I answered that post and that's how I started Mike on the chewable Piroxicam. He wouldn't/couldn't tolerate the people version. So now I am now returning the favor and offer Mike's unused Piroxicam to anyone needing it for their dog. It is from a veterinary pharmacy and is flavored chewables. Although my offer is to everyone I would particulary like to give it to someone who is going through a financially difficult time (as we are) and could use the help. If there is no one that matches that description, then, I will certainly give it to anyone whose animal has this awful disease. Thank you.

My condolences to you. It seems you did a good job caring for Mike during this time. He survived 2 yrs with this disease. I'm currently in this battle with my 12 yr old Dalmatien. We are comming up to the 1 yr mark after surgery to have the tumor removed. So far so good as we have not experienced many issues to this point. She is on peroxicam however I'm not asking for it as I would rather you give it to someone who is really in need of it. I just wanted to offer my condolences to you. I'm sure you did your best for Mike. Our longtime vet give my Dal only 3 months to live. The vet who performed the surgery said we have given her the chance to live as long as SHE wants to battle it. So the jouney continues and your story gives us hope. Once again, my condolences to you.  

I'm very sorry about your loss.  I can't imagine what it's like.  I hope you can find someone who needs the help.

We tried Piroxicam first and it didn't work with our dog. She had a very bad reaction (bloody stools & throw up).  It was compounded at the pharmacy and I keep wondering if it was the incorrect dosage or form?  The vet double-checked and he said it was the right dosage.  Do you think I should look for the chewable version? She's on Deramaxx now but we haven't seen a change in her symptoms.  I keep thinking that we should try Piroxicam again, but a different form/dosage?

Mike had digestive problems with both forms of the Piroxicam, but I found something that made a difference in allowing him to tolerate it. It's called Sucralfate. It coats the stomach. We gave it to him one hour BEFORE the Piroxicam and it worked beautifully for him. But it has to be on an empty stomach and you must wait 60 minutes before giving the Piroxicam. We used it the entire time he was on the Piroxicam. I don't know if it will work with the Deramaxx. My vet at the time did not suggest the Sucralfate, it was the pharmacy where I purchased the chewable Piroxicam that did. When I told the vet he said to give it about 20 minutes before. I tried that and Mike still had gas and vomiting. It was the pharmacy who told me to wait for one full hour. Vets don't know everything about meds. You may want to ask the Veterinary Pharmacies of America in Texas about using it with your current medication. They have an 800 number. They are very knowledgeable. Before changing meds it's worth a phone call. I don't know what you mean when you say you don't see a change in symptoms. Is the urine still bloody? If so then I'd say the med is either not a strong enough dose or if you're dog is vomiting then he/she is not getting any in her system. Also, what kind of diet is she on? I gave my friend the Sucralfate otherwise I'd offer it to you. It's a prescription drug so if you decide you want it you need a script for it. I got mine from a people pharmacy in Canada. They had the best price, but delivery could be a bit slow. If you're going to try it, pay a little more and get it locally. If it works, then order from Canada. Let me know what you decide. Also what kind of dog do you have and what is its name? Keep trying until you find the right match in meds. It's worth the effort. Also diet is very, very important as well. Any help I can offer I will be happy to give.

Thank you for your kind words. I wish you and your dog the best in dealing with this illness. I didn't mention it in my previous posting, but another thing that truly helped Mike in the last 9 months of his life was working with, for lack of a better description, a healer. She does energy work remotely. Mike had arthritis in all his legs and back in addition to the cancer. It seemed to me that he was bothered more by the arthritis than the cancer. There were days he'd have such difficulty getting up and then again when he tried to sit down. There were days when he was lame. I had been working with a person doing energy work on me. I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Through this person I was given the name of a woman who does energy work on animals. I called her and she began "working" on Mike. He responded beautifully. From limping to walking again all from a person doing remote energy work. If I didn't see it I wouldn't have believed it could work for animals and remotely to boot. But if it works for people I know that animals are much more receptive. She worked on Mike three times a week for about 1/2 hour each time. She told me months into his treatments that Mike was an amazing dog, that his spirit was so open and receptive. She said there were times when she wondered if he would respond and bounce back and she said he always did. So, yes, I did everything I could for Mike, from completely changing his diet, meds and the energy work -- physically, medically and spiritually. But it's very little consolation when that sweet and beautiful little body is no longer present in my home. But he is still present in my heart.

Once agin it's the same thing, arthritis. I am currently give her cosimine ds and ester c, She is not totally lame just at times. sometimes can make it up the stairs and sometimes can't

I've read your posts about your experiences with bladder cancer and your sweet boy Mike and I'm taking notes. My sweet boy Gus (10.5 year old retriever mix) had blood in his urine so we took him to the vet. They ran blood work and it came back perfect. I was temporarily releaved. He wasn't anemic, no infection and no elevated white blood cell count (not even elevated unmatured white blood cell count). However this did nothing to help our diagnosis so we proceeded with an ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed that he had a mass on his bladder as they suspected. According to the specialist we saw, "greater than 90% of bladder masses appearing as we observe this one are indeed transitional cell carcinoma". My heart sank. My heart sank because while he is his normal jovial self with the exception of blood in his urine, he now has a "life expectancy". I knew he wouldn't live forever however I didn't want to hear that he had a timetable. We are treating him with piroxicam and ciprofloxacin (an antibiotic). The vet warned about ulcers as a sideaffect so they recommended we administer pepcid AC once a day. I was reading that you gave Mike "sucrafate" and that you had him on a special diet. I'm wondering what type of diet you put him on. I'm so afraid that this medication is going to hurt more than help due to these possible side affects. Right now, my Gus eats normally, drinks normally, sleeps normally and plays normally. He's not lethargic or anything. I'm fearful that will change. Any advise you could give would be so helpful. Thank you so much for your help.

teeter-

So sorry to hear about your baby. Our sheltie Elie was diagnosed 1 week ago and we are on Piroxicam 3mg/day. We are doing Pepcid 10mg/day to keep her tummy settled and no problems. In fact, good results so far.

We've used Sucrulfate and with good results. It's safe and effective for any upset GI problems.  Best way to use it is to crush the pill and mix with a few tsp of plain yogurt. We'll go to sucrulfate if the pepcid isn't helping later.

I hate to give out advise on the diet since we're new to this too. We are switching to the EVO food from Nutura pretty much based from what I've found on the internet about grains and sugars feeding the tcc cells. I have no vet support to back that up. Our vet(s) say give it a try. Some people say home cooked meals are better than anything, but I think this is close.

Help that helps in some way,

Jeff