My 12 year old dog has had recurrent
bladder infections that responded in the past to antibiotics. This past infection
involved a bit of incontinence and her licking herself a lot since it bothered
her when urine would come out when she would lay down. I first took her to
the vet March 6. Since then she has had 3 urinalysis’, 2 cultures, 2
ultrasounds, and been on several antibiotics (Zeniquin, Clavamox, then Ditrim).
She was also prescribed an incontinence medicine (Ppa). The first ultrasound
revealed a small mass inside her bladder. After a round of antibiotics, the
second ultrasound showed the mass had gotten smaller, but the culture still
showed her having an infection, so more antibiotics. The vet said she didn’t
think it was a tumor, but perhaps just an inflamed or infected polyp. She didn’t
mention anything about it being a stone. Her incontinence doesn’t seem to be a
problem anymore. She isn’t licking much at all, and she seem overall pretty healthy
and acts normal. The last urinalysis (4/14/08) shows that she still has an
infection. I have already spent $850, and I still don’t know if it is even
cancer or just a bad infection.
My vet is recommending I take
my dog to a specialist to get a work up and another ultrasound for a possible
surgery. The mass is located in an area that would be easy to operate on (end
of bladder), but I don’t think I want to put her through surgery at this point
in her life or spend the money (around $2000 for just surgery), plus chemo/radiation
if cancer. She said the most common cancer in the bladder is TCC, which is a
very aggressive form of cancer. If we went through the surgical treatment, there’s
the chance it could come back if it was cancer. A biopsy can only be done with
surgery since a needle aspiration could possibly spread the cancer if that’s
what it is.
My vet said if I don’t want to do
surgery, then I should try Piroxicam for 2 weeks and then do another
urinalysis. From what I know about Piroxicam, it is just an anti-inflammatory,
but can shrink the mass. It is hard on the dog’s stomach so it should be taken
with something to coat the stomach. She also recommended I do blood work for a
health profile and to check the health of her kidneys, liver, etc. I asked about herbal/holistic treatments,
which they have a vet on staff for, and she said we could have a consult with
her as well, but said those treatments are pretty costly as well, more so than
the Piroxicam. I have read good things about Graviola, an herbal treatment
which doesn’t seem to cost too much. I was wondering if you could take that
with the Piroxicam. Also, anybody have a good recommendation on where to buy?
So, it is frustrating because I don’t
know for sure what it is (cancer or bad infection), so I don’t know what to do.
I want to make a good choice. Thanks for reading.