Canine Bladder Cancer (Tcc)

We have the most beautiful West Highland White Terrier called Betty. She is 11 years old. This week we have been advised that she has a massive tumour in her bladder. To say the least we are totally devastated. The consulatant has said that he has not seen a tumour of this size in the bladder before.

Aside from the problems urinating and the regularity of urinating you would not know that there is a problem. She is as playful as ever. We have been advised that it might be as little as a week or up to a couple of months if treatment is successful. I cannot believe this seeing the energy that she has at the moment!

Today I have started a treatment of metacam. The consultant believes that this will not as severe on her stomach as piroxicam but thinks it is unproven.

We have just cancelled our holiday to Florida on Saturday to have some quality time with our little angel.

If anyone can offer any advice or help it would be greatly appreciated.

Best of luck to all - Betty's Dad

 

 

Hello my name is SANDI..

 

My mom and I went to the VERY BEST vet specialists in San Diego; one did not want to do a biopsy thinking it may spread and believed it to most likely be TCC..then several months past..so we took her to one MAJOR well known vet specialist in Feb, 2007 giving her ONE month to live..HELLO it's been 1 year and two months..that is why I am writing to you..MY MAIN vet doesn't think she has TCC..this is so crazy..her kidneys do show some failure but there is a possible cure to treat her kisneys - basically if the mass in her bladder is Benign (not cancer) then we treat her kidneys..This dog will be in the newspaper and is already a statistic.  WE elected for my dog not to be on peroxicam which was recommended...sure she has some rouble going pee, but she plays, still pees a lot and nobosy would think she has any problem.  I hope this helps you..PLEASE go online and go to TCC remedies or dog bladder cancer remedies Like I did..

I am in California ..let me know what happens.. die is a big part and OMEGA fish oil is helps in fighitng cancer even for humans you cn get it at Walmart over the counter-   called Expecta..ask your vet, but my dog that is 62 ilbs gets 2 pills am and 2  pills pm...

Let me know how this helps you!!

 

Take Care

 

 

Just wanted to say that I am sorry your Betty is going through this.  My little Muffie (12yo silkie terrior) was diagnosed a little over a month ago.  She is on perioxicam and I can not believe how much better it has made her feel.  No side effects thus far.  My goal is to keep her comfortable and enjoy my time with her.  I know that the worst is yet to come and hope that it is a long ways off.  I have read about others using Metacam instead of perioxicam.  I hope it helps you Betty!!

 

HI, I am Spike's Mom, an almost  13 yr old Westie. You may have seen my posts here.

Spike was diagnosed end of December last yr.  He has a 2.5 cm mass -tcc in the bladder. We have had some real problems with  severe diahrea with the peroxicam and we had to stop his treatment for about a week til his tummy settled down. We realized that he was spitting out his stomach pills too. Spike has always had a sensitive tummy so it was really  tough for him.  His incontinence got worse off the peroxicam and we were really worried. Once his stools got back to normal last Wednesday we restarted  the peroxicam with Hills I/D diet and generous helpings of white rice twice a day along with his stomach meds embedded right into the wet food!!!  So far, so good. He occasionally, maybe once/day pees in the kitchen now  when my husband has to leave him in the kitchen in "dog jail" if he goes out but we think its also due to his not liking to be gated (you know Westies!! :) He is due for a repeat ultrasound in a month's time and if the tumor shrinks a little the specialist thinks we may be able to get it out (this of course is not a cure and we need to think about putting him thru the surgery). He like Betty is very frisky, puppy like and loves to run on his walks. We asked our Vet about metacam and she had heard of it but was not that familiar with it, but I've seen on posts other people trying it. The specialist we took Spike to who did the scope and biopsy also recommended peroxicam but we will see how Spike tolerates it now with rice to bind him and the stomach meds in him. I don't know if this helps you at all but if you can use any of this advice that would be great!!! 

Spike's Mom

PS to anyone who has put your dog thru surgery, how did it work out?  

 

On 1/24/2008 Bettysdad wrote:

We have the most beautiful West Highland White Terrier called Betty. She is 11 years old. This week we have been advised that she has a massive tumour in her bladder. To say the least we are totally devastated. The consulatant has said that he has not seen a tumour of this size in the bladder before.

Aside from the problems urinating and the regularity of urinating you would not know that there is a problem. She is as playful as ever. We have been advised that it might be as little as a week or up to a couple of months if treatment is successful. I cannot believe this seeing the energy that she has at the moment!

Today I have started a treatment of metacam. The consultant believes that this will not as severe on her stomach as piroxicam but thinks it is unproven.

We have just cancelled our holiday to Florida on Saturday to have some quality time with our little angel.

If anyone can offer any advice or help it would be greatly appreciated.

Best of luck to all - Betty's Dad

 

 

Hi Betty's Dad

We have a 14-year-old rottweiler named Elsa who was diagnosed with TCC in August  07. My vet, who is open to alternative therapies, recommended piroxicam, but only with cytotec, which is a stomach-coater to prevent gastro damage.  My wife and I being people who believe in natural medicines decided to go the natural route and we visited Dr. Sharon Kopinak in Acton, Ontario. She is widely regarded as the best, if not, most rebellious, vet in Canada. Elsa has been on a combination of natural, herbal and native remedies for six months now. She gets Pokeroot, Graviola, Golden Seal, Wormwood, Hyaluronic Acid, along with supplementing her natural diet with vitamins E, B and C, cod liver oil, and pure cranberry extract. We also add colloidal silver to her water and yesterday we started Andrographis as well. We also attend Rife treatments weekly (search for "rife" on google to learn more). As of about 2 weeks ago, I started taking her 3 times a week. To look at Elsa, most everyone thinks she is 3 years old. She still plays ball, eats with voracity, loves her walks, and still wrestles a little with my 3 year old rotty, Rocky.

Lately, she is struggling a little more with urinating, her first one always good, but then the rest are always little blood droplets. Her tumour has flattened out, but widened towards the front of her bladder. We have really wrestled with the drug idea, but I have lost a dog 4 years ago, which can be DIRECTLY attributed to METACAM. I would not give this drug to my worst enemy. Please look it up before you give it to your Betty. It is prescribed by western vets as candy, but it is truly one of the most harmful medicines around, in my opinion, and many other vets' opinions. Piroxicam is in the same family, and this our dilemma. I am struggling with putting her on a medicine that can cause many bad side effects, and has no real proof for doing anything. At least with natural medicine, it will do no harm. Sometimes it is very effective, and sometimes not. But it will not cause any side effects.

I  lost one dog to an irresponsible vet over-prescribing without a care(except for the dollars), and I watched him turn into a lump from Prednizone, Lysodren and Metacam. We have learned a lot from those days, and I will not do that to Elsa. She is the sweetest, most lovable being in the world, and not even my wife means more to me than her. I rescued her when she was 3, after being beaten daily with a hockey stick, bred at her first heat, and kept in a cage in a basement with no light since birth. She has given me 11 wonderful years and I have always tried to give her the same. I refuse to make her into a vet's science experiment. 

Remember, we don't die with dignity, we LIVE with dignity. She will chase a ball until her last day. I will not be selfish and keep her here as a shadow of herself, I don't believe it is right. That's not to say I won't do everything within my power to keep her happy, but a drugged-up lump is not happy.

Do what you feel you must, but know what you are giving before you do. That's my point, I guess. Just inform yourself and don't listen blindly to vets about medicine, especially Metacam. 

I hope things work out for you and Betty. Remember to hug and kiss her often and tell her you love, but always stay positive around her. Dogs pickup on your energy, so always be happy to be with her. That may be the best medicine you give her.

Sincerely,

bigrob3 

 

I do not want to offend, however I want to make sure other subscribers understand the drugs that your pet was apparently taking.  Of the three drugs you listed:  Lysodren, Prednisone, and Metacam, Metacam would be the least deadly.  Lysodren is a deadly drug that is designed to kill the adrenal gland in pets that have adrenal tumors resulting in Cushing's disease.  This drug requires vigilant monitoring and is dangerous but necessary, much like chemotherapy.  Prednisione, if your pet was on it, is to replace steroids that the adrenal gland is not making, taking Lysodren and prednisone together is a contradiction.  If your pet was on prednisone, its adrenal gland was destroyed by the Lysodren enough that you were required to replace steroids.  (A tumor on the adrenal gland produces too much prednisone-like steroids).  Metacam is the equivalent of a doggie tylenol.  In my opinion, it is much more likely your pet died from Cushing's disease and Lysodren than from Metacam.  

 

On 2/10/2008 bradley5544 wrote:

I do not want to offend, however I want to make sure other subscribers understand the drugs that your pet was apparently taking.  Of the three drugs you listed:  Lysodren, Prednisone, and Metacam, Metacam would be the least deadly.  Lysodren is a deadly drug that is designed to kill the adrenal gland in pets that have adrenal tumors resulting in Cushing's disease.  This drug requires vigilant monitoring and is dangerous but necessary, much like chemotherapy.  Prednisione, if your pet was on it, is to replace steroids that the adrenal gland is not making, taking Lysodren and prednisone together is a contradiction.  If your pet was on prednisone, its adrenal gland was destroyed by the Lysodren enough that you were required to replace steroids.  (A tumor on the adrenal gland produces too much prednisone-like steroids).  Metacam is the equivalent of a doggie tylenol.  In my opinion, it is much more likely your pet died from Cushing's disease and Lysodren than from Metacam.  

No offence taken. However, the drug therapies that we followed killed our dog. We were extremely vigilant in monitoring Tango when he was on Lysodren, doing acth stim tests every 2 weeks. After he crashed and became addisonian, he was forced to take prednizone to replace the steroids he was nolonger producing. After a few weeks, he went full Cushing's again, and then addisonian, and then Cushing's etc. You get the idea. He was a very hard case, always a roller coaster. We spent over $30,000 in the year and a half. With regards to metacam, I am afraid you could not be more mistaken calling it doggy-tylenol. If you do the research, you will find that an extremely high percentage of dogs using it die from complications and side effects. Tango died from it because it caused pancreatitis, which he had already fought 9 months prior. I realize that I did not put this info in my previous message but it is a long story. Our vet said Tango should have metacam because he was losing strength in his backend due to the cushings. He also suggested my 10 year old rottweiler Elsa (who is now 14 and fighting TCC) take the metacam because she was a "senior", and also my 7 year old rottweiler Taz should take it because he had hip dysplasia(which we found out after he died he never had). Well, 2 weeks after starting metacam, Tango got pancreatitis again and died after 2 days in emergency.  Taz got pancreatitis the next day and went in to emerg., and Elsa got pancreatitis the day after that. Thankfully, Taz and Elsa recovered. We almost lost all 3 of our dogs within 3 days. Our vet of course suggested it was our natural diet that caused the episode, but they were on different diets because of Tango's pancreatitis 9 months earlier. After doing some research and talking to some other vets, who have since become our friends and also revealed many vet secrets, we actually now know what the truth is about metacam. Once again, though, it is up to each and every one of us to research and provide to our dogs the treatment we believe to be correct. I would never treat anything with metacam again, especially now that I know there are so many natural alternatives that are more effective  and have NO side effects.

 

 

On 1/24/2008 Bettysdad wrote:

We have the most beautiful West Highland White Terrier called Betty. She is 11 years old. This week we have been advised that she has a massive tumour in her bladder. To say the least we are totally devastated. The consulatant has said that he has not seen a tumour of this size in the bladder before.

Aside from the problems urinating and the regularity of urinating you would not know that there is a problem. She is as playful as ever. We have been advised that it might be as little as a week or up to a couple of months if treatment is successful. I cannot believe this seeing the energy that she has at the moment!

Today I have started a treatment of metacam. The consultant believes that this will not as severe on her stomach as piroxicam but thinks it is unproven.

We have just cancelled our holiday to Florida on Saturday to have some quality time with our little angel.

If anyone can offer any advice or help it would be greatly appreciated.

Best of luck to all - Betty's Dad

 

 

hiya,

 

how is betty getting on? my special boy danny (hes a 10.5 yr old labrador)  got diagnosed with tcc.  i've been prescribed metacam today for him, have to speak to one of the main vets about my options (which include chemo), theres just soooo much information out there on the illness.

 

have u found anything that seems to be working?

 

he shows no symptoms apart from peeing alot, still as hyper as ever! makes it that bit easier!

 

hayley xx 

 

Thanks to all for advice and replies.

Unfortunately we lost Betty on 1st February. We were devastated but the courage and dignity with which our little angel left us strengthened our hearts.

Betty gave us a memorable last week - we spent the days going to her favourite places and doing her favourite things. We were left with no option on the Friday - she had not eaten and had started to lose her dignity. I believe she rallied at the end for our sake. We had a lovely last walk and she stood brave and proud in the surgery. She died in our arms and although a light went out in our lives she still shines in our hearts.

The pain does fade but the treasured memories do not.

Best of health and luck to all

Betty's Dad

oh im sorry :-( at least u were able to make that last week extra special for her, she'll remember all the fun she had!!

 

i've promised danny he's gonna have an awesome life from now on...he's always been very pampered but from now on what he wants - he'll have!!

 

u know u gave her the best life possible xx