Canine TCC Help Needed Please

I have an 8 year old mixed breed neutered dog. He is asymptomatic and a routine urinalysis last week... 9 months after oxalate stone removal,  showed abnormal cells. Cytoligist diagnosed "probable transitional cell carcinoma". I elected to have the V-BTA test which came up negative. I understand this test with a negative means it is highly unlikely the dog has TCC. An ultrasound and x-ray came back normal. His prostrate is slightly enlarged.  He is happy, energetic and eats like a horse. No blood in urine, no straining, no pain...etc.  The vet wants to do more tests but as far as I know a biopsy is what is left to do but there is no observed mass to biopsy. She is thinking about putting him on Piroxcam "just in case".

Has anyone had this same experience and if so can you shed any light? I am lost and losing it even more.  

On 1/12/2009 Steiffbearlvr wrote:

I have an 8 year old mixed breed neutered dog. He is asymptomatic and a routine urinalysis last week... 9 months after oxalate stone removal,  showed abnormal cells. Cytoligist diagnosed "probable transitional cell carcinoma". I elected to have the V-BTA test which came up negative. I understand this test with a negative means it is highly unlikely the dog has TCC. An ultrasound and x-ray came back normal. His prostrate is slightly enlarged.  He is happy, energetic and eats like a horse. No blood in urine, no straining, no pain...etc.  The vet wants to do more tests but as far as I know a biopsy is what is left to do but there is no observed mass to biopsy. She is thinking about putting him on Piroxcam "just in case".

Has anyone had this same experience and if so can you shed any light? I am lost and losing it even more.  

Hi!  I am sorry to hear about the hard choices you are having to make to try to keep your dog healthy.  I don't have answers for you but can tell you a little about what happened before my Westie, Willie, was diagnosed with TCC six months ago.  He did have blood in his urine which did not go away after taking antibiotics.  We did the V-BTA test and it came back negative.  My vet thought maybe he saw a little something in an ultrasound.  He offered me the choice of having a scope of his bladder with a possible biopsy if anything showed up or starting on piroxicam for several weeks and waiting to see what happened (I guess there also was the choice of doing nothing...not an option for me).  I chose to have Willie's bladder scoped and the doctor did find and remove a small tumor.  The oncology report showed that it indeed was TCC.  Willie is now taking piroxicam most days.  Willie's recovery from this procedure was a tough one for some reason but he is doing very well now.  I am thankful for each day that I have with him and that know what I am battling.

I hope that our story is of some help to you while you search for solutions to help your precious puppy!

Sue

Dear Sue,  

Sorry to hear about Willie.

I was sure hoping that negative V-BTA on my pooch meant he was okay but your experience shows otherwise.  I have an ultrasound scheduled this weekend with a specialist to see if they find anything. I also had his cytology slides sent to another lab for review.

I guess there are no easy answers. My little guy is oblivious to it all. But I am a wreck.

What is your vet giving you in the way of a prognosis?

Trish  

Hi Trish!

It's good to hear that your dog is oblivious to what is going on!  For the most part I think that Willie is too.  He sometimes hides when he knows that I am going to give him some medication and he "lifts his leg" a lot continually trying to empty his bladder but otherwise seems fine.  I have learned to live with the uncertainty of the situation.  Willie's doctor quoted the oncologist's standard times for survival of TCC.  As you study more about the cancer you will see that sometimes it progresses quickly but other times the dogs have rather long life spans with it.  It is my understanding that a lot of this variation is because TCC is usually not diagnosed until it is already in a late stage of development.  With early diagnosis and treatment, there can be a good quality of life for the dog for quite a while.  Willie's TCC was diagnosed early and the tumor removed so I am hoping he will be with me for a long time to come.  I hope that your dog doesn't have TCC.  The lab report on the V-BTA that I read said that the results were 90 to 95% accurate.  So the odds are that a negative test is exactly that.  However, because there are false negatives, I think that it is great that you are following up with an ultrasound and with having the results of the test looked at again. 

It sounds like you are doing everything possible for your little guy!  With that kind of love and devotion to him, you will find your way through this whatever the results of the further tests are.  I'll be thinking of you both.

Sue

Sue,

I will keep you posted as to events as they unfold. At this point I feel like I know more about TCC than I want to know and you make a very good point about many animals living long lives with the correct therapy. It just breaks my heart to think of this little guy being sick as he had such a rotten beginning. I found him in a dumpster at the grocercy store, crawled in and fetched him out. I had no intention of having another dog as I had two, one being a Westie, but here we are 7 years later and he is a little doll.

You and Willie will be in my prayers and give him a big hug from my brood.   

Sue,

 Zach had his specialized ultrasound this morning and the bladder and uretha actually looked good except for a small bladder stone. However, his prostate was looking a little funny so the doctor did a needle aspirate and sent it off to a University for analysis. I should have answers next week.  The doctor felt pretty confident saying it was not TCC of the bladder at this point but he wouldn't say it wasn't TCC of the prostate which I understand can also happen.

Needless to say Zachary was a very unhappy camper and made his displeasure known to me. I just gave him an extra helping of dog chow and he perked up. But wait until I tell him he has a bladder stone that has to come out.

Fingers, toes and paws still crossed,

Trish 

Hi!  What great news about Zach's ultrasound!  I hope that the results from the biopsy of his prostate are equally as good.  The removal of a bladder stone will seem minor compared to treatment of TCC. 

I loved reading the story of Zach's rescue.  You and he must have a very special bond.  Both my Westies are from local shelters.  My younger one was dropped off at night.  He was covered in filth, sick and totally unsocialized.  He's such a dear now!

We'll cross our fingers, toes, paws, etc with you.

Sue

Sue,

The funny part is that all my pups were rescues though not through the conventional way. Winston (the Westie) I purchased from a breeder and he showed up with a congential abnormality.(This was before the days of rescue groups)  Under the contract I was to return him for destroying. NEVER in a million years did I expect this to happen. Needless to say I did  not return him and he was "hidden" by friends for a few months until things calmed down. I had him fixed and he lived another 15 years as a wonderful companion animal. The breeder threatened to sue me and I said "Go ahead" and I would parade this cute little dog into court and by the time I was finished he would be sitting on the Judge's lap. She went away.  

The lab/chow was found in a flea market in Union, South Carolina. I had to pay a pretty penny to get her and bring her home to a better life. That was 13 years ago. And you know the tale of my little dumpster diver.

The funny part is that I only ever expected to have 1 dog and ended up with three at a time.

I was diagnosed with a carcinoma in the corner of my eye and had to have surgery. How in the world was I going to take care of three dogs with an inabilty to bend over as that would increase pressure at the surgical site and create problems. Let me tell you..I never laughed so hard as that first three weeks after surgery. It was absolute chaos. And all that laughing really helped in my recovery.

So here we are. It is now my time to take care of my little court jester.

Sue & Trish--

Forgive me for jumping in--you both sound like the best of dog owners and I am so sorry to hear that you are going through such a rough patch with your beloved pups.

I don't know that anyone has suggested it to you, but if you REALLY want to hear more stories of TCC in dogs, hop over to the regular bladder cancer area and look for the thread with over 750 entries--it's been going on for a long time and is all about different stories of various people, their dogs and TCC.

I just want to throw out a couple of things to you. I've seen it mentioned before, but do TRY to make sure you are seeing an oncologist as your specialist. They will jump right to the point where you need to be and their advise should be what you would want to follow. I just switched vets and was shocked to hear this new one tell me she had just operated on a dog for cancer when we have a great oncology center less than a half hour away.  I felt she was "experimenting" when she should have been referring.

Second, try not to worry (I know easier said than done) but it takes away from you truly enjoying the moments that you have with your beloved pet.

And last, no one really knows what the future will hold for your pups.  Tomorrow my dog and I are going to a party at our oncologist's.  Annie has been living a mostly fabulous life for the past four years with TCC. We've had some bad patches, but we are the luckiest two going. Her only treatment was early diagnosis and piroxicam, which she tolerated well. I tell you this to give you both hope. 

Annie WILL turn 14 this year, her hearing is going and she is not as spry as she used to be. And in the end, it still may be the TCC that gets her; I hope not, but we're still having a great run of it!

Good luck to you both; you will be remembered in our prayers tonight.

Marty (& Annie)

Hi Marty,

I am glad you jumped in.....we are all in this boat together.

Is there any place I can look to see what to expect. You mention "rough patches". Can you help me and tell me what those might be? I am afraid everytime he looks at me cross-eyed I am going to think we are at the end and that will drive me bonkers though some would argue it wouldn't be a very far drive at this point.

I do have an appointment with an oncologist on Tuesday and should get a treatment plan then.

 Thanks for your help and support.

Tricia