Canine Bladder Cancer (tcc)

Thank you. I hate to see others going through this pain. My heart breaks for you,

Karin

Hi there. My dog,Gabriel, was diagnosed in July. He first started having symptoms back in February. I was just wondering if anybody has dealt with chronic UTIs? We have been doing the chemo,but I'm really unsure with this infection if we should continue or not.

                          Tricia

UTI's seem to be par for the course.  My doctor said that the cancer interrupts the mucosal lining and therefore, the bladder becomes more susceptible to infections.  If your dog can tolerate the antibiotics well, it should not be a problem with continuing the chemo.  My dog, Bailey has had 6? in the last year and a half...we tried chemo once and she did not respond well to it and the tumor never changed.

Karin

We haven't tried chemo, but Tiny Tot has been battling UTIs since January. Everytime he was done with his antibiotics, he'd have problems within a week, and back on. It was in April that the vet finally started thinking it might be cancer, and he was diagnosed in May. He started taking Piroxicam in June, and we left him off antibiotics for about a month to see, because he was doing ok without them. We just put him back on again because of blood in his urine and straining a lot more. We'll probably just keep him on Piroxicam & antibiotics for the rest of his life (or at least always have antibiotics on hand to catch the UTI at the first symptoms). I give him yogurt to help give back some of the good bacteria that the antibiotics are killing, and it seems to make his tummy better, too.

I just wanted to send my best wishes to everyone in the group, especially to the families of Chloe and Huey. It is hard to read about each other's struggles, but so helpful at the same time. Your courage at facing this disease is admirable.

Siena had her monthly checkup today. I was a bit concerned because she's seemed under the weather lately, but I got good news that her tumor is slightly smaller. This is her 5th month on neoplasene and the tumor has steadily shrank over that time. Progress has been slow, its never shrinks dramatically or anything, but I'm ok with it because at least its a small step in the right direction. I do think she is having a slightly upset stomach from the medicine, but she still eats and takes her meds with no problem. I am going to start feeding her three tiems a day (instead of two) to spread out the medicine and gopefully help her feel normal again.

I've been worried about UTIs as well. I haven't noticed any, but am not really sure what to look for... I'd be interested to hear how you know when your dog has one, what symptoms to watch for, etc.

Thanks, jenn

Sadie would run fever when she had a UTI and the blood in the urine increased. 

With TCC, it is very hard to tell the symptoms from TCC or UTI, which of course is why it is hard to diagnose. 

After we found out Sadie had TCC, I took her temp when I noticed her urine getting dark. 

Gabriel has basically had an infection since March that never completely went away. We finally got him on an antibiotic that did something,but after being off of it for a week or so the infection came back worse than ever. Now our vet is just leaving him on the antibiotic long term. His white blood count has dropped quite a bit from the chemo so I'm just worried that the chemo is making the infection worse. Needless to say I am very confused as to what I should do. i don't want to do anything to make him feel worse.

I got dip sticks, little sticks I would saturate with urine... if the color changed for presence of white blood cells, (Leukocytes) I know there was an infection. Huey had one in the very begining, then there was just presence of blood on the dip stick. This way I knew if it was just blood, or an infection.

Hi everyone.

My dog Megan's now been on piroxicam for about a week and 4 days, as well as on another course of clavamox for an infection.

She suffered a rash about two days ago -- I had walked her earlier in the day, and I wondered at first if her usual allergies hadn't erupted.  I rubbed benadryl over her stomach, which she licked off.  But by the evening, the rash had diminished.  I was debating whether I could safely give her some benadryl.  I cannot find out if it is contraindicated with piroxicam, so I held off giving it to her.

The last two or three days, her energy level has varied alot over the course of the day.  However, I'm worried tonight as I can tell she has a temperature -- her nose is warm, bordering on hot.  I haven't got a thermometer for her yet and don't know how I can bring her temperature down, except maybe putting some witch hazel on her stomach -- I'm out of diaper wipes!  Any suggestions from anyone on this forum would be really appreciated by both of us!

Thank you!

I would not give Benadry with the other medications without talking to your Vet. When you say rash, where was it located. 

With TCC, our Lab had red inflamed skin in the area between her hind legs where there is little area. This was due to the cancer. I did find spraying her with Vetricyn topical spray gel did help. 

For fever, apply cool towels to her belly or wrap her in a cool towel, if you have a fan, you can use that too. Feed her ice chips.