Anyone had experience with bladder cancer in dogs?

[CrawlingChaos]

I know this is a long shot but I thought I'd ask. I would love to talk to anyone who's been through what we're dealing with.

My little Maltese has transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) which attacks the bladder. We're told he doesn't have a lot of time but it's hard to believe that now - he seems so well.

He's on a drug called piroxicam that has shrunk his tumor significantly (in fact the doc said after his last ultrasound that it was down to "almost nothing&quot But they say the prognosis is still grim. He just had emergency surgery to remove some kidney stones and he came through that with flying colors. Not bad for a 16 year old boy.

I find myself going into denial a lot. He means the world to me and I can't imagine life without him. I've googled the hell out of this disease but I hate what I read. Just thought I'd see if I could find an actual person who'd been through it with their dog.

Thanks!

[2theleft]

1. I have not, but just wanted to pass along a hug,

good vibes, and a snuggle for your pup. I know it's hard. They mean so much to us and bring so much joy to our lives.

[CrawlingChaos]

2. Thank you so much

I appreciate the hug and the good vibes, and my dog would thank you for the snuggle if he could

[Mosby]

3. my scout had bladder cancer

Piroxicam is the only thing the vet recommended other than other pain meds. I think there are chemo treatments that can help depending on the spread of the cancer. Scout's tumors made it very hard for him to pee and especially poop.

He could not really control his peeing, so we covered all the areas he liked with plastic shower curtains with a sheet or towel on top. You can get cheap ones at thrift stores. We had left over "underlayment" that goes under laminate flooring that we used in the hallways, it soaked up the pee and provided a water barrier.

He had good days and bad days, we probably waited a little to long. He loved walks so we took him out for a lot of very short walks, just down the street and back.

He never had trouble eating (he was a beagle) but going afterwards was taking up to 15 20 painful minutes.

We really miss him a lot, this was just a couple years ago.

[CrawlingChaos]

4. Thank you Mosby - that's exactly what my dog has

Can I ask how long he lived after diagnosis, if you don't mind?

The doc keeps telling us that even though our dog's tumor is responding to piroxicam, that the tumor will eventually adapt to the drug and start to grow again. He says the thing that will actually end his life will be the blockage of urine flow, because at that point there's nothing they can do (obviously we'd make the unthinkable choice before he got to the point of total blockage).

Does that sound like what happened with your dog? Did the piroxicam just stop working after awhile?

I absolutely hear you on the plastic sheeting. I clean up puddles all day. The vet said that will be a more or less permanent issue going forward, because of the inflammation caused by the tumor, even in it's shrunken state.

I'm so sorry you lost your sweet boy. I know my life will never be the same without my little one.

[Mosby]

5. I don't remember exactly, the period was kind of a blur

I think he made it 5-6 months after diagnosis. For him we determined "the end" based on pain. I think his tumors had metastasized and were obstructing the colon, that's why he was having so much trouble pooping. He was taking the piroxicam and tramadol I think, when the two could not manage his pain we had to let him go.

You have to watch for signs that you dog is not tolerating the piroxicam, it's an NSAID and will start messing up the dogs stomach. Our vet gave us some sort of liquid that we squirted into his mouth with a syringe about a half hour before he took his pills, it helped protect his stomach. I wish I could remember what it was called. Scout started hating taking his pills, we would put them in his food and he would spit them out. They both are very bitter so we used stuff to hide them like pill pockets, wet food, cottage cheese and vienna sausages but after a while he stopped taking them that way. The vet showed us how to place them on the back of his tongue and he had to swallow them.

In addition to the flooring covers etc, we put up doggie gates to restrict the dogs access to areas that were not covered.

[CrawlingChaos]

6. I guess that's about what I expected

He has regular bloodwork to make sure the piroxicam isn't messing up his kidneys and other functions, and they did caution that it could cause gastrointestinal distress. What's so scary is that there's no other form of treatment for this cancer, so I live in fear that something will happen to make him unable to tolerate the piroxicam. I mean, I do realize we're talking about months at most, but every day I have with him means so much to me.

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to respond.