Our Little Angel Had Bladder Cancer

by Ian & Gina
(United Kingdom)

Our Brave Little Flynn

Our Flynn came to us when he was six months old in 2004. His previous owner had bought him on a whim whilst on holiday in Ireland, but once home had no time for him.

When we first adopted him he was very nervous and would not come out of a cat box that he had been kept in but with great encouragement, and the help of the two Westies we already had, he finally began to trust us and started to become part of the family.

Although he was a Westie, he never fully grew, and was in fact the size of a Yorkie, but being the special character he was, soon ruled the roost, and stole all our hearts.

After six great years, we noticed there was blood in his urine. We took him to the vets who gave him a scan and discovered a small tumor in his bladder. We decided to have him operated on to remove it, which we was told was a success.

Everything seemed to be going fine, until two months later when we noticed again there was blood in his urine. A scan was taken again, but this time the tumor had come back, but was so large that an operation was out of the question.
After consideration, we decided to put him on a course of Onsior, which was not only a pain killer, but might help slow down the cancer.

Apart from him straining at times to pass wee he had a full life for two and half years. Many people could not believe that there was anything wrong with him.

Then six weeks ago, we noticed the pain killers where not doing much good, so we consulted the vet again, who put him on a stronger pain killer Tramadol, and Diazepam to help him sleep of a night. Once again this seemed to be doing the trick, until a week ago. He was so stressed out with the pain, and a large lump had appeared in his groin. We took him to the vets again who examined him and told us that the cancer had spread into his bowels and he did not have much time left.

Still unable to let him go we brought him home, but for three days he was either in a sedated state, or in extreme pain.

So the dreaded decision had to be made. He was put to rest four days ago, and although we know we made the right decision, and he is pain free now, we still feel that our hearts have been torn apart.

Our other two Westies, one 13 and the other 11, still seem to be doing fine, so perhaps the heartache will ease as time goes on.