recently diagnosed

Hi! I am new to this message board and wanted to share my story. Our dog Cody 12 year old cocker retreiver mix has recently been diagnosed with TCC. His symptoms (as I look bcak upon things) began around April of this year when he started urinating in the house, we like many others thought he was acting out due to my parents being with us along with their small poodle who frequently would wet on the carpet( being 17 years old himself) to my dismay....      but after a week or so we took Cody to the vet and he was treated for a urinary infection, his symptoms seemed to improve and although his urine culture came back negative , our vet said to keep him on the atibiotics, which we did.He seemed to be doing well for the next few weeks until we noticed him straining allot to pass both urine and stool, after further evaluation, utrasound and biposy,he was diagnosed with TCC.

We are currently treating him with Piroxicam and Prilosec.He did well initially (started this prtocal about three weeks ago) but recently has had vomiting and no appetite at all. He will eat an occasional bite of food.He is still drinking and staying hydrated. He seems at the present time to only care for his beef treats.I have read some of the other posts and was hoping for any advice in regard to his appetite. I plan to call the vet today as everything I have read says to stop Piroxicam if theses symptoms occur.

He is also losing weight and his urine seems very concentrated with an amonia like odor. He still interacts with us and does not appear to be in any pain, other than the obvious discomfort he is experienceing as he strains to pass urine or stool.He is inconitnet and we keep him in a diaper while indoors. He has an outside area which he loves and still continues to want to go outdoors for most of the day. He will interact by playing ball, although not as enthusiastically as he once did. He does lie down most of the time,but as I said before is still very interactive, still barks at things that upset him ect.

I would appreciate any information,reagarding these issues.

 

Thanks in advance,

Cody's Grammie

Debbie

 

 

My dog also has tcc. The prilosec that you are using is the strongest of the options that I know of. If you have to go off the piroxicam, ask about switching to deramaxx. My dog has never been on piroxicam because she was already on deramaxx for arthritis and the oncologists at U of Fl thought it was just as good. There is some controversy about this since all the research studies on cox2 inhibitors were done with piroxicam ,and deramaxx is a more selective cox2 inhibitor than piroxicam. Since deramaxx has no cox1 effect the stomach issues are almost non-existant though. Its an option if you can't continue the piroxicam.

Thanks for you reply. I talked to our vet today and she gave Cody Carafate and Augmentin. I was told to go off the piroxicam for a few days, which we had already done and will continue to do. I also think I will not start the Augmentin until I see he is improving. I am a nurse and know that Augmentin can be hard on th GI system. I am so worried about him as he was only diagnosed a month or so ago and has already lost about 8lbs. His appetite is very poor , he eats only a bite or two . It is so sad to see him becoming so thin, but at the same time he does not seem to be uncomfortable . I am at a loss as to what is the best for Cody.He interacts with us and even played a bit of catch with me today, for being twelve he never acted "old" and looks like a puppy which makes it only harder.Thnaks again for your reply.

I have another thought for you for Cody regarding the loss of appetite. Have you tried the high calorie low volume supplements. Nutrical you can get at any pet store. I have a friend who kept a 15 year old schnauzer going on nothing but nutrical for a year before she passed. I use Dyne which is higher calorie/ volume yet. Dyne is supposed to provide the daily calorie intake for a 30 lb dog in 3 Tb.

woke up this morning and Cody had vomited quite a large amount throughout a bedroom,the vet had offered cerenia for nause and vomiting, only to help symptoms, I went to pick up the med and spoke to her again about Cody, I am getting the feeling that she thinks he will not pull out of this...he has not eaten again today, but once again appears to have no pain,more lethargic though. I think we will try this med to see if we can get his appetite back, she actually gave me a tube of the nutrical, so will try that soon . We also have the carafate she called in yesterday, he had two doses   yesterday but still had the problem this morning. I suppose it would take awhile to get relief if all of this is caused by the piroxicam, but I am not sure that isthe problem.We will monitor him for the next few days to see if he shows any signs of improvement. I am so worried that this might be the time to say goodbye.

Thanks again for your input

Just an update , Cody seems to be doing pretty well taking the Nutrical, and has no vomiting today.But, he seems more lethargic, our vet called last night and suggested drawing some labs on him (just to see what his levels are doing) and we will give him some fluids to see if that won't give him some energy. Thanks for letting me share.

Cody's Grammie

Hi Debbie--

I am so sorry for what you are going through, this TCC is very scary stuff. My Annie and I have lived with it for quite a while now and still my first thought each morning was did Annie pee and how was it?? (What a way to start the day)

There's tons of advice on this board and just as much support and caring.  The only thing that I have learned for sure is that this  is beyond our control and worrying doesn't do a thing to help.  When Annie's days seem worse, I talk to her more in baby talk and try to act as if everything is fine. As a friend of mine puts it, they don't know they are sick.  If she's not hungry for her food, I'll try eating one of her most favorite foods and if she begs for it, I gladly offer it to her.

Luckily,Annie's appetite has been good for the most part, but it is worrisome to see them turn away food. 

Good luck to you and your baby;enjoy every minute that you have together!

Marty 

Cody became more lethargic and was  not even taking the Nutrical , we took him in for labs and he was found to be in kidney failure, it was suggested that we could give him IV fluids, but then the concern was over his bladdr as he was already incontinent and the vet was concerned over the additional load, she could not tell us if the renal failure was from the TCC.He had lost almost 10 pounds in a month's time .He was so lethargic that he did not even move during the car ride to the vet and while in the office could only lie on the floor, normally he would have been pacing back and forth as it definitely not his favorite place. After giving allot of thought to the choices, we spent some time with Cody and took him back to the vet to be put to sleep. I held him in my arms , it was sooooooooooo...hard , but he has ALWAYS been there for me and was my big lap baby. I am trying now to deal with the decision and to realize that things were only getting worse , that this was the best for Cody, but it is so hard. How does one ever know if they have done the right thing???Iknow I have only been on this panel for a short while, but I would like to thanks those who have replied and will continue to pray for those of you who have lost your best friend and those of you who are lucky enough to have yours with you for yet another day.

Cody's Grammmie

Debbie

 

On 7/4/2008 codys grammie wrote:

Cody became more lethargic and was  not even taking the Nutrical , we took him in for labs and he was found to be in kidney failure, it was suggested that we could give him IV fluids, but then the concern was over his bladdr as he was already incontinent and the vet was concerned over the additional load, she could not tell us if the renal failure was from the TCC.He had lost almost 10 pounds in a month's time .He was so lethargic that he did not even move during the car ride to the vet and while in the office could only lie on the floor, normally he would have been pacing back and forth as it definitely not his favorite place. After giving allot of thought to the choices, we spent some time with Cody and took him back to the vet to be put to sleep. I held him in my arms , it was sooooooooooo...hard , but he has ALWAYS been there for me and was my big lap baby. I am trying now to deal with the decision and to realize that things were only getting worse , that this was the best for Cody, but it is so hard. How does one ever know if they have done the right thing???Iknow I have only been on this panel for a short while, but I would like to thanks those who have replied and will continue to pray for those of you who have lost your best friend and those of you who are lucky enough to have yours with you for yet another day.

Cody's Grammmie

Debbie

Debbie

I am so sorry to hear about Cody.  I had a similar decision to make several years ago and it tore my heart out even though I had no other choice.  My vet later sent me a letter that I wish I still had so I could share it with you but it was penned as from Dusty, my 17 yr old Cocker.  It was thanking me for knowing when it was time to let him go rather than have him linger in pain.  I'm sure you would rather have kept Cody with you for many more years but you loved him enough to know when it was time to let him go in peace.  Dusty was my baby and it hurt to much to think about getting another pet so I went many years without one.  Then God intervened and brought another Dusty into my life (a Cocker so like his name sake - only a little darker in color).  I was in Mississippi after Katrina w/ a disaster relief team when I first met him.  He was one of over a thousand pets that were found wandering the streets in a town that took the direct hit.  He was old and deaf which made him not highly adoptable so I agreed to foster him.  He is still with me - and if I take a step he is right behind me.  I was dianosed with oralpharyngeal cancer last June and Dusty laid beside me through every nauseous moment of chemo and radiation after effects.  He has slowed down a lot this winter and 3 tumors have popped up on his chest and I pray that they are only fatty tumors but if the time ever comes that I have to make a tough decision again - I will love him enough to make the right decision for him - the same as you did with Cody.   

Diana            

I'm sorry your Cody is at peace and I know how much you must miss him. But, he's running through the fields of Heven, in no more pain and waiting for his master to greet some day. Lucy is still hanging on. Still has the appetite, bark, perkiness. I stayed home alone today as in the past, the fireworks in the neighborhood freaked out my 3 beagles, I don't want my Lucy being upset, if I'm around her, she's fine. I've been noticing these black like skin tags starting to pop out if different spots of her body, one on her face, two on her leg. The one on her leg is size of a dime, movable, not hard, but blackish color. I have a feeling the cancer has something to do with them, Oh well. Take care all and keep writing.

Cindy (Lucy the Beagle)