TCC

Hi

My 11 year old Schnauzer was just diagnosed with TCC.  There is no visible tumor in the bladder, but he has been having problems urinating for a while now.  As most have said, we began thinking that this was a UTI and treated with two courses of antibiotics.  Thankfully, my vet had the foresight on the second round to add Piroxicam, which seemed to cut down on his urgency and frequency.  I took him to an oncologist this week and it appears to be in his prostate - perhaps began there and is now affecting his bladder.  Also, the ultrasound showed cysts in his liver - none of which could be aspirated because they were all located too close to major blood vessels, so we don't know if that means anything or not.  The Dr. recommendation is continue Prioxicam and do Chemo - mitroxandrone once every three weeks.  Just wondering if anyone can tell me if this will buy him time - and comfort.  I had a border collie mix who also had cancer (different kind) and the Chemo really traumatized her.  I think to kept the cancer from spreading in her case but boy, it was really hard on her....

Any thoughts would be appreciated....always hard to know what the right thing is to do.

Terri 

Hi Terri.  My 11 yr old scottie was diagnosed with tcc in bladder trigone & down the urethra in Feb 08.  We started him on daily piroxicam & mitoxantrone every 3 weeks.  The cancer stopped growing for 5 months, & he had no side effects at all from the chemo other than being sleepy for about 12 hours after each infusion.  Then 5 months later ultrasound showed the cancer had become resistant & spread to the prostate.  We switched to doxirubicin for chemo & it made him really sick.  So at that point we stopped chemo & 2 months later the tcc blocked his ureters, shutting down his kidneys, & we had him put to sleep.

We put a doggie diaper on him for a day or so after each chemo so he couldn't lick himself, as it takes 24 hours for the drug to be cleared thru the urine & can upset the stomach if ingested via licking.  Sorry to be gross, but with the piroxicam you have to be really careful with the stomach.

Hope this helps you with the decison.  It was worth it to me for 5 more months of excellent quality of life.  During that 5 months JJ ate many Burger King tender grill chicken sandwiches & had trips to the gopher field (don't worry--no gophers were harmed but he had a lot of fun checking them out.)  When we did the doxirubicin he had 10 bad days & then maybe 5 more good weeks before going downhill for a week, & he was euthanized.     

Good Luck, Joy.