Canine Bladder Cancer (tcc)

I'm sorry to hear about your Missy--I had a springer spaniel once; she was the sweetest most devoted dog I have ever had.  She's been gone over 7 years and I still miss her!!

Now listen, your vet knows nothing for sure about how long Missy has. We know we're all going to die sooner or later and maybe/probably our dogs will die from TCC, but maybe not. There have definitely been dogs on this board who have outlived the cancer and maybe Missy will be one of them.

Does your vet have her on piroxicam??? (and maybe you've posted already and I missed it, I haven't been on the board as much of late). My Annie is now 3 1/2 years with TCC and that's all she's been taking and she is still hanging in there.  I strongly recommend you get her on that and as soon as possible.  Annie weighs 37 pounds and takes 5mg every night (currently with cream cheese). 

You will most likely have to get it compounded and I learned on one of these boards that AAA gives a discount for prescriptions--even for pets. So if you're a member of AAA, you can save some money.

In the meantime, don't make yourself sick from worrying about Missy--that won't help anything and it takes away from the time you two do have together.

Good luck.

Marty

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement.  No, my vet has not prescribed anything.  When he went in to take out what he thought were stones last Tuesday, he found a large mass and, given the three options he gave me (put her down, sew her up, and take out as much of the tumor as he possibly could), or course I told him to try and get it.

The way she is acting, running around and still with a tremendous appetite, it is hard to believe she has what he says she does.  I might be in denial, I don't know.l  Anyway, she is urinating so much better, although I just got back from the pet store buying doggie diapers for the leaking.  That's okay, I can deal with that.

 I will be calling my vet first thing in the morning to get the Peroxicam.  Have you ever heard of K-9 Immunity?  I have heard some positive results from that.

 I am so glad your pup is doing well.  That is wonderful!

Thanks again,

 Celia

My 12 year lab mix, mutley has been diagnosed with tcc, I started him on 5mg of peroxicane about 3 weeks ago, My Vet says that the xray showed a larger than normal tumor, but other than weight loss we had no other symptons. after reading many posts on this board I am just trying to get some help on what to keep my eye out for. he has had no accidents in the house and can be left for 8 hours with out having to go, when he does go there is no blood and goes very long.  except for the problem of going from wet to dry food and having a little diareah at times, his stool is not black. he has gained almost 5 of the 12 lbs or so of weight he lost. So in my opinion he has no syptoms. what do I need to look for to see if I need adjust or add medications. he is a very picky eater so I am doing alot of juggling of foods so he can eat morning and night. I am hoping he will do good for a long time.

Thanks

Duane

So sorry to hear of Dov's passing, Elaine.

Update on Elie (we were told 1-3 months on 7/3/08, so we're near 3 months). Mostly she's good and still happy, but I do see some decline especially in the evening (maybe the piroxicam wearing off?)  Or maybe she's just worn out at the end of the day... she won't tell me.  The dog door has become troublesome for her in the last few weeks. 

Still on Piroxicam and Pepcid, but more of a struggle to get the pills down. But we manage.

She's mostly rejecting the EVO now, and even fresh chicken or turkey won't do sometimes.  Sliced-up hot dogs or cheese work now and then. I'm trying to stay grain free, but I'm running out of options. I did find some great apple-wrapped chicken treats that she loved... for about a week. Now she won't touch them.  Dangit.  Any suggestions for getting some food in the Elie belly?  Grilled burger may be next...

FYI: I have found a nice selection of grain-free food and treats at petfooddirect.com.  Pretty expensive, though.

To all the dog folks here. We don't have one, but I saw the subject line and had to comment. I have advocated a form of energy healing we do called tong ren healing. We mostly use it on people, but I noticed while our cat was alive that she always came to sit with my husband when he did the conference calls (she was not well this past winter, rallied after starting to sit with husband for calls for several months, then suddenly wouldn't sit with him and died about a week later in July-I think tong ren gave her quality of life and prolonged it at the end, until she was ready to go (she was over 17 years old). Husband has had stage 4 esophageal cancer for several years and has left oncologist scratching her head a few times.

Anyway I am commenting because there is an animal conference call on Monday mornings (I called last week Iris was alive and was stunned by the number of people calling their pets in). I'm also mentioning it because they began a tong ren webcast two weeks ago of two classes a week (held for people). Yesterday someone I know commented that they had done the webcast and all the animals in the house came running for it and sat through the webcast, which was how it was with Iris for several months. If anyone is interested, can check it out at www.tomtam.com. Think there may be a link to tongren for animals in left column on website.

On 9/28/2008 jkdallas wrote:

So sorry to hear of Dov's passing, Elaine.

 

Dear jkdallas,

Thank you.  It was tough but the right decision.  Tough tough disease.  Thanks again. 

Dear jkdallas,

Thank you.  It was tough but the right decision.  Tough tough disease.  Thanks again. 

 

I am sorry to hear about Elie.  My sympathy and heart goes out to you.  While each situation is different, I do understand and I am sure that Elie was grateful to you.  We made the same decision about the timing.  Elie trusted you to do the right thing.

Dov's Mom, Elaine