> Forum Page

Bladder Tumor in Doggie Decks

by Karina
(Sydney, Australia)

Hi,

My husband found our boy Decks wandering around an airport almost 6 years ago. He was unclaimed and was to be put down on Christmas Eve but thankfully my husband took him in.

Decks has always had problems with his back legs and we had him checked up regularly. It wasn't until recently we moved and found a great new vet that we got proper answers. We were concerned Decks had Cushing's disease as he is about 12 years old. This vet listened to our concerns and took Decks for blood and urinary tests as well as an abdominal CAT scan. The news was not what we were expecting.

Decks has a tumour in his bladder the size of a tennis ball and is almost blocking his bladder. We are giving him Piroxicam which has been good as it is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory. We were told 12 months would be the remainder of his life.

Only recently have we been seeing symptoms as although his urination frequency has increased he does not seem to be in pain. However, Decks has been having weird jerking seizure type things where his back legs collapse under him. His face will sort of freeze and his body will slightly jerk about until his legs collapse. It's over after 10 seconds. They have been increasing in occurrence.

We're going to speak to our vet but again are preparing for the worst news. Although we love him and he is such a part of our lives, we know it would be selfish to hold on to him longer than what is humane.

I don't expect to get answers from this site but it has been very therapeutic just writing his story to the world. I know the people here will understand our heartache as we prepare to say goodbye to our darling Decks.

Thank you for reading this.

Karina

(Submitted Tuesday, April 09, 2013)

Comments for Bladder Tumor in Doggie Decks

Average Rating

Click here to add your own comments

Aug 12, 2017
Rating

Spasms in Jackie's hind end
by: Kat

I read about Decks and it sounds so similar to what we're experiencing with our 14 yr. old beagle, Jackie.

She has been diagnosed with cancer probably in her urethra (ultrasound did not show anything in her bladder). She too is on Piroxacam which seems to help. However, usually in the evenings after her walk she starts to suddenly walk with her hind end pulled sharply to one side. A seizure? A spasm? Nerve or muscle pain? We don't know but hope someone has some answers. When this happens we give her some Tramadol and soon she relaxes and goes to sleep.

It seems we are going back and forth about if/when to euthanize her since we don't want her in pain, but so much of the time she eats well, is affectionate and even playful, and still loves her walks.

Dec 17, 2014
Rating

Raw meat diet
by: Anonymous

After taking our female pitbull named Calisto, Cali for short to a vet, they did an x-ray on her and said that the x-ray did not show anything. He recommended that we take her to pet hospital and they did an MRI that costs us about $1800.00. They discovered that she had a tumor in an area of her bladder that cannot be fixed by operation. They recommended that they connect her urinary tract to her anal tract and that it would cost $1850.00. We asked how long she would live and we were told about four months.

My wife and I decided to take her to a holistic vet. After examining her, he recommended that we take her off of regular dog food and feed her raw meat along with tinctures that we ordered from Bixbi. He explained that the cancer cells feed off of the carbohydrates because there are lots of that in regular dog food. This was in January of 2014 and she is still alive today.

However, in the last two weeks she started having blood in her urine but she still plays and goes for long walk with us. She has no problem urinating and she eats well, always the raw meat. She will not eat regular dog food anymore.

The holistic vet said that he reversed the cancer in many dogs but it does not work for all dogs. Cali is still with us and we are doing everything we can to keep her alive as she is part of the family. We spend almost $4000.00 on her only to be told she will only live four months by the pet hospital in January of this year. She is still alive today. There is no guarantee that she will live a long time but she stayed alive for almost one year thus far.

The holistic vet was cheaper than the pet hospital and we had better results with the holistic vet and the raw meat diet and chopped vegetables that the holistic vet recommended. He explained that dogs are natural carnivores, not "cornivores" with processed corn meal in their dog food.

So far so good, we would like to keep her alive as long as we can. She does not appear to be in any pain. We'll see what happens in the next year...

Apr 15, 2013
Rating

*Update*
by: Karina (Decks' mummy)

Thank you all for your lovely messages of support.

The other night Decks had a really bad night. He woke me at 3am and was vomiting on and off for about an hour. Decks had those jerks and would collapse. After a lot of nursing and cleaning we both finally got to sleep. I thought it might have something to do with the Piroxicam (5mg daily) as I've read around that some other dogs with sensitive stomachs had vomiting.

Now last night was worse. Decks was perfectly normal in the morning and even jogged out the back. When dinner time came we noticed that he hadn't finished last night's dinner (cup of mature dog dry food) and his water bowl was full. This is strange because he is normally a glut and due to his kidney and bladder problems we have to refill his bowl twice a day. I topped up his dinner and we got ready for bed.

We have wooden floorboards so we always know when Decks is wandering about. This was when I heard him collapsing. He couldn't take two steps without his body falling to the floor in a heap. He didn't look in pain but it so hard to tell. He can't walk in a straight line without wobbling and falling. Decks hasn't drank anything or eaten in 14 hours.

So now after no sleep again for the both of us, carrying Decks everywhere including business time, we are waiting for the vet to open. I'm not sure what they might tell us but it doesn't look good.

Thank you all again for this wonderful therapy.

Apr 10, 2013
Rating

Decks
by: Ann

Hi Karina,

First of all I think Decks was a very lucky dog because he had people who loved him and gave him a home.

I am sorry that you got that bad news but we all have to face the inevitable some day. I lost my dog through lung cancer just over a year ago and this forum was very therapeutic to me also.

I wish you well and hope Decks doesn't have to endure too much pain. And you also - emotional pain.

Take care,
Ann

Apr 10, 2013
Rating

Keep up Hope
by: Pennys Mom

Before you completely give up hope, do some research on the internet. This can be a great source of information. You would look for answers if it were yourself or your husband, so do the same for your dog. It could be there is nothing to be done, but why not at least try. That is what I did and I still have by dog 9 months later.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Cancer Forum.