Canine Bladder Cancer

[knightrider922]

Curious if anyone has experienced bladder cancer in their dogs? My senior dog has had recurring uti’s which have not cleared up with antibiotics. He was on Baytril for a month… and has had previous UTI’s earlier this year. My vet did an ultrasound of the bladder before taking urine to test yesterday and thought that he may have the beginning of bladder cancer in the lining of his bladder.

My dog has a number of other issues to include neurological hind end problems and he is now about 14. He’s not a candidate for surgery and probably will not do a biopsy at this point. I think we are on a short timeframe but other than the uti’s he’s not doing too badly. He eats well and will get up to go let me know he needs outside. He does have limited play time with the younger dog but he’s usually lying down when they play.

The in-house urine check does show bacteria but they did send the urine out to a lab to check for other things. I forgot to ask what they will check for… kidneys are ok with last bloodwork, but the ultrasound showed the lining issues and a lot of stuff floating around which is probably the bacteria.

Just wanted to ask if any of you could share what to expect down the road…My dog does not act like he’s in any pain, but he’s very stoic…so not sure if he’s living with pain and I’m not aware or if he’s really ok. Just trying to balance out the quality of life thing with what is going on. We are trying a new medicine that the vet says may actually help any bladder tumors go into remission… anyone experience that?

Would love to hear your experiences.

[Marla_100]

If I were a betting woman, I’d say you have Degenerative Myelopathy. Just went through this with my old gal.
Other than hip/hind leg problems initially, then weakness in hind, uti showed up. Doggy Cranberry pills cleared up.
Her uti was indication that kidneys were affected. It is progressive. It’s not painful. It will eventually totally paralyze them. Affected areas move from hind end towards head.
So sorry for you and your doggy.

[knightrider922]

The one vet thought it was similar to DM… wonder why the uti shows up in DM dogs? My dog is not one predisposed to DM…he’s a standard poodle but there are similarities… I have started some cranberry as well as the meds… hopefully that will help…

so, no experience with bladder cancer?

[Houndhill]

I had a dog once - a Rottie who had a different type of cancer, but his vet treated him with meds that she said were often used in Scotties with bladder cancer. As I recall (this was 15 years ago), I think it was piroxicam and cytotec was used to protect the GI tract. Apparently Scotties are notorious for getting bladder cancer and they had had good results with this combo.

it seems to me one of these was also used as a “morning after pill” and you had to wear gloves if you were pregnant.

our IWs frequently do down in the rear when they age. In their case, it is often not DM, but some kind of compression on the nerves of the spine. Gabapentin sometimes helps them for a time, and perhaps some prednisone eventually.

It it is very sad to lose them this way. If they escape heart disease, cancer, and bloat, they are often eventually euthanized for being “down in the rear” neurologically. This is fortunately not a painful condition, but can lead to injuries if they fall, especially if they “do the splits” behind and injure the muscles- hard to come back from that injury. They tend to get anxious about falling and must have rugs to walk on. Eventually it becomes a quality of life decision, it is always heartbreaking.

[Marla_100]

Why uti in DM? My understanding is as the condition moves from tail towards head, eventually all organs will be affected. My guess is once the kidneys are affected, they’re not working efficiently to filter bacteria or expunge
urine out. My girl did not expel urine normally when she had uti. She eventually became incontinent and was unable
to voluntarily urinate.

[TCA_Arabians]

Just went through the same thing or very similar. Our dog started being incontinent with blood in his urine. Over the phone my main vet said Omaxicllin (sp?) was worth a try but if it was cancer it wouldn’t work. Tried it. The blood in his urine markedly cleared up but he was still somewhat incontinent. Main vet wasn’t available. Called vet #2. Gal told me Omaxicillin was not correct. Vet did blood work. Results showed a UTI. #2 prescribed Clovamax (sp?) at approx. $60 for a 7-day treatment. Turned out the main ingredient in Clovamax was Omaxicillin. I bought the Oxy at the feed store as Fish Ick for $25 for 100 tabs. Go figure.

I didn’t want to put a 15-year-old dog through biopsies, etc. He was eating fine and running around like normal. He had no sign of pain. He was just incontinent. He could go out at will and did. But, when he was sleeping he’d leak. I dealt with it. Then, he started going off his food. The ‘forbidden fruit’ of cat food on top of his dinner fixed that. But, symptoms progressed. His rear end started going out.

I can’t give you advice. This is such a hard decision. For myself, looking back … I wish I had made the move to put him down sooner in the progression of his condition. They trust us to do that for them. Good luck. I absolutely know how hard it is to let go. All best.

[dkcbr]

I was going to copy/paste but here’s a link to another thread on bladder cancer. I posted a longish response on it. Good luck with your dog!!!

https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/off-topic/the-menagerie/10050454-bladder-cancer-in-dogs-experiences-jingles-needed

[knightrider922]

@dkcbr

I was going to copy/paste but here’s a link to another thread on bladder cancer. I posted a longish response on it. Good luck with your dog!!!

https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/off-topic/the-menagerie/10050454-bladder-cancer-in-dogs-experiences-jingles-needed

Thank you…that was very helpful. My old guy has gi tract issues with a lot of medications and I’m close to stopping the antibiotics after this round if he doesn’t clear up his uti… he’s never had symptoms of pain or blood or anything and I wonder if he just has some bacterial residue and its always been there… we wont’ ever know for sure…but he can’t handle all of the meds forever…they eventually all give him issues and then he gets pancreatitis… but good to know that it may not be as aggressive as I feared.