CancerCompass message board discussion started by sco123 on 4/15/2008 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,23079,0.htm Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/  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. sco123 Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hi.  Sorry to hear about your dog.  I went thru the same thing with months of wrong diagnosis, wrong treatment, & lots of wasted money.  Save yourself time & money & have your vet run the canine vbat bladder cancer test.  That's what finally diagnsosed my dog correctly.  It cost me $100 & was well worth the money.  It uses a urine sample that needs to be more urine volume than the standard urine analysis test.  After the positive result on that screening test, my vet referred me to the Colorado State Animal Cancer Center for review by an oncologist.  The oncologist recommended against doing the biopsy because the positive vbat test & appearance of the abnormal cells in the urine, along with ultrasound results, confirmed tcc diagnsosis.  Here's a link to the website that gives info on what the test is & how to order it:http://www.btastat.com/veterinary_bta.html Good Luck.Joy & JJ   JJsMom Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hi, this link is probably better because it takes you to the dog owner section of the site with FAQs.http://www.vetbta.com/Pet_Owners_Information.html Joy & JJ JJsMom Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT