Transitional Cell Carcinoma

Welcome to idog LaurenMirro; I haven't had experience with cancer but others here have and should be along to offer you some advice.  There are diets that can help a dog 's immune system fight cancer; they are low in carbs. You may want to e-mail Callie; her user name is calliecritturs; she knows some links for cancer diets for dogs and other ways to help a dog with cancer;  there is also an animal nutritionist that can help; her name is Monica Segal and this is the link to her website;
                                    
                                                 [linkhttp://www.monicasegal.com/]http://www.monicasegal.com/[/link]
 
    She will design a cancer diet specifically for your dog and also work with your vet. Sorry I'm not much help; I hope the other tests show it's not cancer. I take my dog to a veterinary teaching hospital for allergy checkups and when Jessie and I were there last time there was someone with an eleven year old GSD that had bladder cancer; the teaching hospital has been treating him for two years and he's doing good so if your dog does have cancer she may do well for a long time. Let us know what the tests show.

I absolutely hate the C word.  My little shepard mix was diagnosed with Irriated bowel for almost three years.  I just found out about a month ago it was adenocarcinoma of the colon.  I don't have a lot of suggestions but if at all possible, please get a second opinion from a specialist if you can.  We fortunently have a specialist hospital in Southfield Michigan.   I had no idea they could do colon scopes on dogs just like they do on humans.  Had I known maybe I could have caught his cancer earlier.   I will pray for your baby.  Let us know how the tests go.
 
Duchpaws.

So after a urinalysis with an ultrasound, sterile urine sample, blood work and antibiotics, Francesca is still not 100%. Cephalexin was not effective, and the culture will be finished Monday to find an appropriate antibiotic. There is still a lot of bacteria and transitional cells in her urine, but no tumors were found on the ultrasound. Kidneys, Liver, Heart functions are all normal. Now starts the waiting game- we may be waiting for tumors to form large enough to be seen by an ultrasound, or we may be waiting for an antibiotic to clear up a wicked UTI. No bladder stones, no kidney infection.

Thank you to everyone for all the support concern and advice. It really helps a lot to know complete strangers are so helpful and warm.

I'll update monday on culture results.

Lauren

I'm sorry your girl is under the weather.  I will keep my fingers crossed for a good outcome.  Hang in there!

 Sometimes UTI's can be hard to clear up.  If they didn't find tumors with the ultrasound, does that mean that if she does have bladder cancer it's in the very early stages and easier to treat? You may want to send forpaws or Callie an e-mail about the bacteria in the urine; they may be able to suggest a supplement that could help; a cranberry capsule may be a good idea;       [linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=41935]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=41935[/link]                                  
 
                        has the vet prescribed a special diet?

Yes, essentially it would be the earliest stage and not progressed enough to see on the ultrasound. Unfortunately, treatment options we've talked about don't look very promising. I'm not sure how I feel about chemo yet, only because I've seen first hand what it does to people. With a final diagnosis, I would need to research it more and talk to some other people with experience. Their are surgical options, which also don't look good because of the possibility of a permanent catheter, which is very difficult in females. She could also have a partial bladder removal, which has a very low success rate from what i've seen. I asked about diet, and she said to wait until we find out for certain what is going on. I will definitely call an ask about a supplement ie cranberry capsule, thanks so much for the tip.

After culture results on Monday, hopefully the correct antibiotic will clear up the UTI.

thanks again.

Lauren

 I have heard that dogs do much better with chemotherapy than people; you could start a thread asking members who have dogs that underwent chemotherapy how they did. If in the sad event she does have cancer, you do need to ask Callie and some others about a cancer diet; all I know is that dogs usually live longer with cancer if they eat a low carb diet but Callie and others know much more. The male GSD I saw looked and behaved as if he were in excellent health and had just finished a week of some type of treatment at Purdue Animal Hospital for his cancer.

Hello, I am brand new to this forum and I just found it this morning through a Google search. I was so grateful to find that there is a thread on Transitional Cell Carcinoma because this morning I found out that my little silky terrier very likely has it.

Elizabeth had several drops of blood in her urine last Friday, so I took a urine sample to the vet and the technician said there was a lot of bacteria, which suggests a urinary tract infection. So they sent me home with antibiotics. However, the blood is not going away yet; and this morning she actually passed a bloody tissue clot in her urine. I took another urine sample to the vet. This time the doctor actually looked at it and she just called back a couple of hours ago and said not only was there still a lot of bacteria, but she's seeing these "transitional cells" that have sloughed off of the bladder wall or urethra.

She said that is very suspicious and unusual and suggests possible bladder tumors among a multitude of other things. We are going in for the abdominal ultrasound next week to get better look.

I am scared to death because I have researched this on the internet and every web site I have found said pretty much the same thing: that 70% of the time, when there are transitional cells present in urine, it means cancer; and that this form of cancer is very malignant and aggressive, with a median life span of 3 to 7 months after diagnosis.

Elizabeth turns 14 on August 17.... it breaks my heart to think of saying good bye so soon.

Obviously I need to get more information from the vet next week. But if the life span statistics are that grim, I am not going to elect to put my pet through chemo or surgery. I would rather keep her comfortable as long as possible and then make that agonizing decision in the end to put her to sleep.

I hope things turn out well with your pet. Please keep us posted. I would be very curious to know how it turns out.