What's the prognosis for my cat after bladder tumor surgery?

It really depends on the location of the tumor in the bladder. If the tumor is located near vital structures like the ureter or urethra than it will be extremely difficult to remove the tumor. You could take her to a veterinary specialist (oncologist and/or a surgeon) for a second opinion to determine the best way to treat. Radiation and/or chemotherapy may be help.

Unfortunately there are not good treatments for transitional cell carcinoma, the most common type of cancer found in the bladder. If the tumor is inoperable then often anti-inflammatory medication like meloxicam is recommended to slow progression of the tumor. Chemotherapy is sometimes an option as well, but would not result in a cure. I'm so sorry for your loss - it sounds like Charlie was loved like a member of the family and you did what you could to keep him comfortable.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Thanks for such detailed information. Cytology is rarely diagnostic for this disease so I would still be suspicious that a malignant tumor such as TCC is much more likely. This is because of what you described but also due to the fact that this is way more common than benign tumors of the bladder. There is a test that your veterinarian could consider which is easy to perform and is non-invasive. This is also very sensitive and specific meaning that typically a negative or a positive result can be trusted. This is called the BRAF test which is performed with a urine sample. Good luck and have a great day!

A surgical biopsy is most likely to be diagnostic (get enough cells to tell us the type of mass). Depending on the location, your vet may be able to do a traumatic catheterization or an ultrasound-guided fine needle aspirate. However, some of these masses or tumors could be spread of cells are spread during these types of tests. They are less invasive than surgery, but include the risk of spreading the tumor. They will also require heavy sedation or anesthesia.

You could take your cat to an internal medicine veterinary specialist for an ultrasound and/or other diagnostics to help get a definitive diagnosis. A specialist has more training then a regular veterinarian so may be able to read the ultrasound better. If you can't do that then you could try the anti-inflammatory and see if that helps. Your vet can monitor kidney function while on the anti-inflammatory. Hope she gets better soon.

I'm so sorry other that! It sounds like he's been through a lot. a lot depends on what the biopsy results show, unfortunately its very hard to speculate without that information, other than to say that his prognosis is more guarded since he is FIV +. Sorry I don't have more to offer you right now; please feel free to post again with the results once you have them, or request a consultation with an expert once you have results and we will do our best to help you more. I'm so glad to hear that he is feeling well. Thank you for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Surgery is the preferred method for treating meningiomas, and is usually successful if the tumor is removed completely. Meningiomas in cats are firm, well-circumscribed masses that do not usually invade the neural parenchyma, and are easily delineated from normal brain tissue. The overall prognosis depends on the extent of the tumor, but a study found that surgical removal yielded survival rates of 71% at six months. The MRI is the next step, so I would have that done. That will help give you a better idea of his prognosis. I hope this helps.