Dog bladder tumor surgery: What if there's not enough bladder?

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.

I think it's worth doing the surgery to see if it is anything serious. Removing it may improve MJ's quality of life if it is cancerous. Doing this doesn't necessarily mean she needs radiation, you can make that decision depending on the results of the biopsy. Her quality of life will go down if she can't urinate because of it, so I do think removing it would be a good idea. I hope this helps!

I am sorry your kitty has not been feeling well. The prognosis will depend on the type of tumor that was removed. The most common type of bladder tumor is a transitional cell carcinoma. This is a type of cancer and unfortunately has a poor prognosis. However you can always consult an oncologist to determine in chemotherapy or radiation will help to extend the length of D'ds life. Usually transitional cell carcinomas do return and re grow. I am sorry that you are going through this with D'd

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!

So sorry to hear that Skylla has this problem. Depending on the location of the cancer in the bladder, surgery would be the best option followed by radiation. Radiation alone is not usually recommended as the bladder tends to get very damaged and non-functional. As far as non-surgical options, your vet is correct to give an NSAID like Previcoxx however, a better NSAID to use would be piroxicam but I do not know if it is available in your country. If an NSAID alone is not working we then go to using NSAID plus chemotherapy (mitoxantrone). A third option is chemotherapy alone with vinblastine or other combinations of drugs. You will need to speak to your vet to see what options are available in your country and the costs involved. Also, it depends on where in the bladder Skylla's cancer is located. You could also refer your vet to this article if they are not used to treating this type of cancer. ( https://www.purdue.edu/vet/pcop/files/docs/CanineUrinaryBladderCancer.pdf ) Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Poor Zoe! Depending on the size of the stone and whether or not she is currently having problems with the stones (urinary tract infections, bloody urine, difficulty urinating, etc) is whether or not I would address the stones first. If so, then I would have the stone removed and possibly remove the tumor at the same time if possible. If it isn’t possible to remove it then maybe the vet will be able to just take a biopsy of it. I have seen some mammary tumors that look bad but when sent off to the lab, they shockingly come back as benign. Mammary tumors in dogs are 50% benign and 50% malignant so you need a biopsy or to send in the mass to say for sure. If she isn’t having trouble with the stone and it isn’t too large, then it may be wise to take a biopsy of the mass first. If it is malignant, you may decide to not do the bladder surgery at all and just keep her comfortable. Mammary cancer is usually quite aggressive and spreads rather quickly. I hope this helps to guide you in her treatment. If you have additional questions, feel free to set up a consult with me. I am more than happy to give you my opinion where I am able.

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.