Progression of Bladder Cancer

lharris41

Forums Novice
Hi everyone. I'm new here just looking for some advice/help. My sweet boy, Jack, was diagnosed with a large tumor inside his bladder pushing against his urethra.

I was wondering if anyone else who experienced this with their Sheltie could describe the progression of the illness. Other than all of the obvious symptoms, he doesn't look like he's struggling or in pain. He's a bit more lazy, just laying around all day, and if he jumps up to bark at something he quickly goes back to sit down.

Here's what has transpired so far- it started with him peeing on the floor right in front of my parents and a few other times, then we notice blood in his urine, he's become slightly listless, he doesn't want to eat anymore (except treats and people food) and throws up whatever he does eat, he'll only drink water if you spoon feed it to him, and now he's having bad days where he passes pretty large chunks of blood/tumor/?

Does anyone else have experience with this and know what might come next? I don't want my sweet boy to be suffering and us not know it. But we also don't want to make that horrible decision too soon. My parents, who are retired and spend all day with him helping him, are leaving town for three weeks and he'll have to spend a lot more time alone during the day which really worries me.

Any help or advice?
 
Welcome to the forum lharris. I have not experienced a problem like the one you have. I just wanted to tell you that you and Jack will be in my thoughts.
 
I'm very sorry to hear about Jack. I'm glad that he's comfortable and acting normally. We have several members here who have or have had dogs with bladder cancer. Try using the "Search" feature for bladder cancer and you may find additional information.

We lost our Ivy to bladder cancer several years ago. Like Jack, we thought she had UTIs when the frequent urination started. After several different treatments, a biopsy showed she had bladder cancer. We opted to maintain her on oral medication for as long as we could keep her comfortable, and she was fine for more than six months. She had the occasional accident inside and I had to let her out more often, but other than that she was her normal self. She was 10 at the time.

i don't recall what the specific drugs were we used, but I'm sure your vet can tell you. I think you're on the right track....as long as Jack is comfortable he's OK. You'll know when that changes.

Perhaps if Jack has to be alone you could confine him to an area of the house where cleanup is easy while you're gone. If he'd tolerate it there are doggie pants or belly bands you can get in case he has an accident. You put a sanitary napkin inside to keep him dry. We use them for girls in season.

Please keep us posted and give Jack a pat for us!
 
I can tell you how it went with my boy Louie. He had repeated UTIs so he had a sonagram which showed the tumor. We started him in Derramax and things went well for quite a while. He was happy and playful you wouldn't know anything so bad could be wrong with him. Later he was unable to hold his pee and we used the belly bands which he didn't mind at all. Toward the very end he was unable to eat and I was just happy to get anything down him. He was also on Tramadol for when needed. The one thing I would do differently if I could would be to give him more of it, at the time I thought he wasn't in pain but looking back at pictures of him I can see the pain in his eyes and I'm sad I didn't see it then. A couple of days before he died, he couldn't seem to get comfortable and I gave him the tramadol which wasn't easy because he wasn't eating by that time. The last morning he wasn't able to walk, but happily allowed me to carry him outside and hold him up to pee. I knew it was time. He was a brave boy and he loved me more than anything, I still miss him... He lived six months from when he was diagnosed. My only advice is take lots of pictures, cuddle and love him while you can, make lots of memories and be generous with the pain meds. I'm so sorry your little boy and your family are going through this.... Hugs
 
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Thank you so much Susan, Ann, and tentcamp.

Tentcamp, your post was just what I needed to hear. I forgot to mention to y'all that we have Jack on an anti inflammatory that helps his urine stay clear. We've been adding some chicken broth to his food to help him eat, and he seems to be liking that. I also noticed him drinking water on several occasions yesterday. He doesn't like to take his pain meds for his hip arthritis, so that will become another issue to worry about soon. For now, I'll just keep loving on him and getting pictures :) The vet keeps telling us to take it one day at a time, so we'll just try to make the best of what little time we have left. Our last sheltie, Indy, went downhill in one night and it was so unexpected and heartbreaking. At least we have the blessing of knowing this time around.

Thanks for the support and thoughts! It's really appreciated.
 
You are right it is a blessing to know, you can make special memories every day and not let the days slip away. Have you tried pill pockets, they have worked well for all of ours and worked for Louie till the last couple days.
http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,1543,0.htm
This message board was a real help when Louie was going through it.
http://www.lapoflove.com/diseases/TransitionalCellCarcinoma.pdf
This has a nice list of signs of pain, I wish I had seen it at the time. Give Jack a hug from me....
 
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