Canine Bladder Cancer (tcc)

I am so sorry !!  Having had to make that decision on Saturday for my poor Lucy I know it is the hardest decision to make...  and Saturday was the SADDEST day of my life !!!

We know we did everything we could and like my husband says - no matter whether it's today or 10 years from now - we are never prepared for it.  Stay strong and always try to remember the good days and all the laughs. 

Our thoughs and prayers are with you...

Lucy's Mom 

 

On 1/25/2008 DarrenJM wrote:

Hi Marty and Annie,

I've been reading through these 600 or more messages and I've laughed and cried and learned a ton. Our 14 year old Sheltie- Brannigan was diagnosed with Tcc in July 2007. She has a mass in the trigone area that is 3.1 cm by 1.0 cm thick. We have her on Piroxicam and twice daily Amoil. She gets a chronic infection without the antibiotic. She weighs 30 lbs and has not lost any weight. We were in denial about her illness because she is acting too 'normal'  Does anyone recommend laser surgery? What is the cost for this procedure? Brannnigan is our first child and has been with us since before we married, we love he so much and want to extend her life as long as possible like everyone else. She doesn't look or act like a senior dog :)Does Graviola have any side effects? We are willing to try anything.

Allana & Darren 

 

Hi Allana and Darren,

I just joined this list today and haven't had a chance to read all the messages.  Yours caught my eye because I see you have thought about laser surgery.  Our sheltie, Chauncey, has had two laser surgeries to debulk the bladder tumor.  The first went quite well, and bought him 6 months with no problems at all.  Then he got another UTI, and we found the tumor was blocking the urethra.  We had a second surgery (he is the first male to have it twice), but within a month the tumor has become aggressive and is beginning to block the ureters.  Tuesday he goes in to the U of Pennsylvania to have a uretal stent placed so that the urine will be able to drain from his kidney to his bladder.

The tumors can turn highly aggressive when there is surgery.  Usually the laser keeps them a bit less aggressive because of the cauterization that takes place as they are "burned" out with the laser.  With a female dog, they can go back in and debulk the tumor over and over, since the laser scope can go right up the urethra, but with the male they have to have a microsurgery to get the scope in since their urethras are U shaped and the scope can't flex that much.

Chauncey's tumors are also being slowed by taking doxycyclene (slows the growth of blood vessels, thereby slowing the tumor growth), rymadyl instead of piroxicam because it is very similar but also helps keep his arthritis pain lowered, and misoprostil.  We also have him taking omega 3 supplements.  The strategy we are using is to slow the tumor as much as possible.  I think we are coming to the end of his battles though, as he will need another laser surgery soon and it has become prohibitively expensive, plus he has a terrible UTI that we can't seem to get under control.

Let me know if I can answer any questions for you about what we have experienced.

Debbie

Hi Debbie and Chauncey,

Thanks for providing some info on laser surgery. I did talk to a vet, here in Nova Scotia that specializes in laser surgery and she said Tcc is too vascular and she would not recommend it. I asked about other options and all she had to offer was 'chinese medicine'.

Basically, this left us with little hope. Brannigan is almost 14 1/2 and has had this mass-probable TCC for 9 mos now. We now give her Graviola, piroxicam, amoxil and she is now on a course of Baytril. The vet told us last summet that she would live about 3 mos. So we have been blessed to have her for another Christmas and Easter. Now we selfishly want her for one more summer :-)

She urinates almost everytime she lays down and when she pees it is just drips and sometimes a trickle. She know to lay on her plastic sheet with an absorbant towel on top (lots of laundry). I am thankful that at least it is getting out!

She is not in any pain and still barks when we leave and come home from work. We still enjoy her and it seems she is still happy to enjoy life. Eating well and still playful. We know the outcome is always the same with this, but until she is not happy, we will just continue on!! 

Best of luck with Chauncey!! Is he a young dog? How costly was the laser surgery?

Allana, Darren and Brannigan 

Hello Everyone,

 First off I would like to say that I have read many of the posts on this board and our prayers go out to all of you and your wonderful companions. We wish you all of the best.

We have a home full of greyhounds (5) have had as many as 7 and always will be surrounded by our wonderful companions. One of our greyhounds, Cathy, who is 12 years old we believe has TCC.

She urinates constantly, has blood in her urine and has lost her appetite and energy. It is very painful to see this happen to her. We follow her around all day and watching her have accident after accident is truly heart wrenching.

The first vet we took her to did tests and could not find anything wrong. He did and x-ray and still did not see anything. He proceeded to recommend we put her down. THAT is totally unacceptable to us at this point so we left our cold hearted vet and now have an appointment with a new vet this morning at 8am for an ultrasound.

We are expecting the worst as it seems as if Cathy has tumor(s) in her bladder. If that indeed is the case we have read from you good folks that Piroxicam, Metcam and Tramadol may be the best place to start. We have also read about Graviola.

Anything we can do to give us more time together we would do and I would really love to hear from you as to your recommondations regarding the best way to proceed from here.

We have had Cathy's father, currently have her son and she also has grandsons racing at Phoenix Greyhound Park. We have owned racing greyhound for 14 years and can proudly say that we have never had one put down after racing. Finding them great homes is our #1 priority as we sit on the Board of Directors for Racing Home Greyhound Adoption here in Phoenix.

Thank you so much for listening to our story and any input you have is very much appreciated.

Our very best to all of you,

thanks,

Rick

Im sorry for the multiple posting of this message. Me and computers dont get along very well sometimes!

 

I used to be a regular on this board until I lost my Tango last Dec.

Just visiting to see how some others that were here with me are doing !

Glad to see Annie is still fighting on, bless her.

Can I just say though, some of the posts I have read seem to indicate putting a dog through stuff that wont enhance their life and could actually cause distress such as cathertisation.

I think we have to realise that as much as we love our dogs and dont want to lose them, our priority has to be their comfort and wellbeing.

They dont understand their disease, or what we are trying to do for them.

They only know either a normal doggy life, or one where they are suffering.

If we can keep them happy with meds etc then great, I did that myself for 14 months, but there will come a point when we have to ask ourselves who am I doing this for, me or the dog?

And we have to realise that this can be a very distressing disease, and take good veterinary advice.

My vet said to me when I asked him if he thought it was time , that, 'I knew my dog best and if I felt that it had got to that point , then it had, because waiting another day could be the difference between mild suffering and extreme', in other words a day too late.

In the last week or two, Tango had hardly any muscle tone left, but being fluffy she didnt look like she had lost loads of weight, but feeling her, one could tell she had. Her urinating was getting very tough and no longer even properly resembled urine, she was still bright eyed and wagged her tail, but she had a stoic nature,

I could have let her go on, but I knew that she was beginning to suffer more than just moderate uncomfortableness, I knew that her quality of life wasnt what a dog should have, yes I would have liked to extend it for me, but for her I knew enough was enough.

My seven year old daughter still wakes crying some mornings and saying she wants Tango back.

The distress has been lessened a little by the addition of Oscar a border terrier to our family, as our other dog a border/beddlington terrier cross was totally devestated by the loss of her big sis.

Things are settling now, I would never want to go through that again, and yet I was priveleged to see how brave our furry friends are.

 

Hi Susan' Our 5 year old mixed breed has just been diagnosed with bladder cancer. Although the ultrasound showed a 2.5 cm tumor they were not able to confirm it is transitional cell carcinoma even with the traumatic ultrasound. I am interested in Graviola. Where can it be found. how is you dog now after a couple of years. I appreciate any information you can give me. thanks. Judy

 

On 6/5/2008 Jax61 wrote:

I used to be a regular on this board until I lost my Tango last Dec.

Just visiting to see how some others that were here with me are doing !

Glad to see Annie is still fighting on, bless her.

Can I just say though, some of the posts I have read seem to indicate putting a dog through stuff that wont enhance their life and could actually cause distress such as cathertisation.

I think we have to realise that as much as we love our dogs and dont want to lose them, our priority has to be their comfort and wellbeing.

They dont understand their disease, or what we are trying to do for them.

They only know either a normal doggy life, or one where they are suffering.

If we can keep them happy with meds etc then great, I did that myself for 14 months, but there will come a point when we have to ask ourselves who am I doing this for, me or the dog?

And we have to realise that this can be a very distressing disease, and take good veterinary advice.

My vet said to me when I asked him if he thought it was time , that, 'I knew my dog best and if I felt that it had got to that point , then it had, because waiting another day could be the difference between mild suffering and extreme', in other words a day too late.

In the last week or two, Tango had hardly any muscle tone left, but being fluffy she didnt look like she had lost loads of weight, but feeling her, one could tell she had. Her urinating was getting very tough and no longer even properly resembled urine, she was still bright eyed and wagged her tail, but she had a stoic nature,

I could have let her go on, but I knew that she was beginning to suffer more than just moderate uncomfortableness, I knew that her quality of life wasnt what a dog should have, yes I would have liked to extend it for me, but for her I knew enough was enough.

My seven year old daughter still wakes crying some mornings and saying she wants Tango back.

The distress has been lessened a little by the addition of Oscar a border terrier to our family, as our other dog a border/beddlington terrier cross was totally devestated by the loss of her big sis.

Things are settling now, I would never want to go through that again, and yet I was priveleged to see how brave our furry friends are.

 

Thank you for sharing the last few days of your dogs life. Our 13.5 year old Lab/Australian Shepard mix, Jake, has TCC (bladder cancer). My vet is a good friend and after treating a UTI, then xrays for bladder stones and coming up with nothing, she and I both believe Jake has TCC. I don't want to put her through more tests. She has a constant urge to urinate. We have a doggie door so accidents in the house have not been an issue, yet. She has gotten very thin but with all her hair, it's hard to tell. She still has a good appetite and like your dog, wags her tail a lot. I've had her on an antibiotic for a possible UTI. She has been on Metacam for several years (arthritis). I took her off that and put her on Predisone w/antibiotic, and Pepcid AC. Can't see much difference. She is going down hill and I know it. I believe she will let me know when it's time. I won't let her suffer just for my own selfishness. She's been such a wonderful dog that I truly believe she will just fall asleep so I don't have to make that decision. We also have a 13 year old Chow/Akita mix. The two dogs are best friends and have never spent a night without each other. 

 

Thank you

I'm not sure how this post may help, but the information may help build understanding.

I came across this forum 4 weeks ago as our pooch was diagnosed with an inoperable TCC in the bladder, and found vast information which was helpful and supportive. Here's our story which may aid others the facing the same dilemma with awful choices to make.

Jodie was a 12 year old Labrador/staffie cross and in great general health. About 8 weeks ago we noticed her struggling to urinate, tests revealed no infection and anti-inflammatories seemed to help.

About 4 weeks later  the vet recommended an ultrasound which revealed, what she thought was bladder stones. we went for the surgery to have them removed, half way through, she called us and said, it's not bladder stones, its TCC and the long term options aren't good, she gave us the option of putting her to sleep there and then, we decided against it and asked her to 'do her best'. The vet removed some of the growth, but the bleeding got too much, she sent a sample away for analysis.

The next day, Jodie couldn't urinate at all, but seemed in good spirits, the vet was draining her bladder by putting a syringe straight in! it seemed to be working. she gave us an option of putting in a bladder drain to buy time until the biopsy results came back and to see if medication would work. we went for this give her overall good health.

The op was a success and for the next week, we manually drained her bladder. She always tried to urinate to no avail. She went straight onto piroxicam. The biopsy results came back as 'the most aggressive' form of cancer. The vet gave her 2 weeks.

From then, we took each day as it came. A week after starting piroxicam, she started to urinate, a week later and she was passing all urine herself. We started to get some hope! however before too long, she started to struggle again. Through this time, she never lost her character, seemed very happy and was fine in herself.

Three days ago it got to the point where she couldn't urinate and we were manually draining her, but she sstill seemed fine. Alas over the past 2 days, she went downhill quickly, loss of appetite, no kisses, lethargic and unwilling to move around. Today we sent her on her way to the better place and she seemed very content when the moment arrived. She knew.

So she lasted 8 weeks from the symptoms appearing and 4 weeks on the piroxicam. The piroxicam did seem to initially have an effect, but the vet did say, it's very unlikely it would be successful against an aggressive cancer.

In some small way, I hope this helps others decide what path to take, I hope you get a more favourable outcome than we did.

Neil

(Jodie RIP June 30th, 2008)

 

Our 12 year old Sheltie, Elie (our first baby), was diagnosed with urethral tcc today and we will start on Piroxicam 3mg/day tomorrow. The first sonogram 3 months ago did not reveal the tumor, but did show bladder stones which we had removed surgically. After a course of pred and zeniquin (with an unrelated eye enucleation thrown in for fun), there was no change in her urinary straining/urgency/accidents.  So on to another sonogram.

Today, during digital palpitation (ouch), the doc detected a mass at the urethra/bladder junction that she had not noticed 3 months ago. Further sonogram and fine needle aspirate cytology of the mass indicate that it is consistent with tcc. Second opinion is pending. She guesses 1-6 months depending on how well the Piroxicam works. She recommended against chemo.

I haven't talked to my regular vet yet, so she may have some other ideas. Our clinic does have an holistic DMV on staff, so I might be able to get some ideas from her as well. We'd be very interested in that. I'll post back anything that may be interesting to others in our situation.

This sucks. But so glad to have this board with so much information on it to maybe make things a bit easier for our little girl.  I haven't read all the posts yet so it may be addressed there; I think I'll know when it's time, but is there anything I should especially look for?

Jeff