Beagle With Tcc Can't Go On His Walks Anymore

My 16 yr old beagle , Joey, was diagnosed with bladder cancer a month and half ago. He was doing well up to a few days ago. He can't make it on his long walks anymore. He makes it just far enough to pee and do his business than becomes really weak. I have to carry him up the stairs. I noticed he is shaking when he's done. I can't tell if its because he is pain, is scared or both. He is quiet otherwise. Just shakes and seems worn out. It lasts about 15 minutes . I'm scared. Does this mean his time is coming near? Anyone else see this symptom???

I can't say that I have read of these exact symptoms, but I do know that fairly often tramadol is prescribed for pain.  Does Joey have that and has it helped?

The other thing I am ALWAYS asked by the vet is how is Annie's appetite.  I think the feeling is that barring any other reasons, it is a bad sign when a dog no longer wants to eat.  SO that is the one thing I am always on alert for. (I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you with my friend's dog food recipes; she's been away for the past week) .

I'm sure that at the age of 16, any disease is going to be harder on a dog. So maybe the effort of trying to pee is really wearing Joey out. Whatever it is, be sure to spend as much time with him, loving him, as you possibly can.

Good luck to you

Marty 

His appetite is very healthy. Very very healthy actually. He does strain alot more when he goes out. It probably last anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute. I don't know if I should try to get him out of that straining mode or just let him do it? 

 I will ask the vet about some painkillers but I thought Piroxicam was a type of painkiller also?

 Thanks.

Well, a good appetite is important...a loss of it is usually a bad sign.  There seem to be others on this board with so much more medical knowledge than I, but as I understand it, piroxicam is an anti inflammatory. So that in the sense that it would relieve inflammation, it would reduce pain. Tramadol is a straight pain reliever.  

We would never treat a human with cancer with just piroxicam--they are not even sure how or why it works (except some theorists think the source of many problems is inflammation) and of course it doesn't always work as well as we would like.

As for the straining, you must do what you think is best, but for Annie, this is what I did: I take her to work with me (at home we have a doggie door--that's another story) and that's the only time she is walked. She would pee, it would turn to a drip and then nothing. We'd go back in and a bit later she's want to go out again and we would repeat that process--and so on.  I found that if she stopped, walked a bit and tried again, she'd have success.  So that's what we started doing--once she's in the drip mode, I distract her (actually I don't have to anymore, she caught on to it) and we'd walk a few steps and she'd squat again.  We might do this three times before she'd have her bladder all empty and than she's be good for another few hours.

Don't know if this will help or not. Good luck to you

Marty