Transitional Cell Carcinoma

[stephanie junca]

Hi there,

My 14 almost 15 year old cat, Luna, who I wrote about in this thread, was diagnosed with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. For the past year or so, she had been having urinary issues which we thought were UTIs due to anxiety. This past week she was put on antibiotics again and she seemed to be doing better. But this morning we woke up to multiple puddles of bloody urine around the house. I of course called our nearest ER vet to see if I could bring her in and then drove her over. Since she was already on antibiotics, anti-inflammatory meds and pain meds, the doctor wanted to do an ultrasound to see if maybe she had crystals or sludge as he called it because at our usual vet they did an xray and didn't find stones.

After about 10 minutes, he came back and showed me stills that clearly demonstrated masses in her bladder and a large one outside of her bladder. He said that we could go to a specialist and they could look into removal with subsequent chemo treatment but it would cost anywhere from $2K - $4K and prolong her life an extra 6-9 months. I just had a baby two months ago, so my husband and I aren't too sure about doing that right now. I feel terrible about this and wish we would have caught it sooner. But like with anything, you can only do the best you can with the information you have available.

My cat, Luna, is currently in one of our bathrooms with a litter box, food, water and bed to hopefully confine the pee accidents to one area. She already peed bloody urine on her bed since I put her in there a few hours ago and is yowling I know partly from wanting to get out of there but also from pain.

I'm following up with her regular vet tomorrow morning to see what they think after seeing the sonogram images. But, my husband and I are already coming to terms with the fact that we may have to let her go soon.

Does anyone here have experience with their cat having transitional cell carcinoma and how long they lived or symptoms and treatments? Thanks.

Stephanie

 

[Meowmee]

I don’t recall any of my cats ever having bladder cancer. However, Fred, who I had taken in from outside after caring for him for many years, turned out to have a big tumor in his rectum a year.5 later. Even though they told me he was just constipated at first and did an enema etc. I opted to just let him go while he was asleep because he was not touchable and I knew he was likely going to die and suffer a lot more anyway.

The dvm at the time said they could do surgery, etc. but I said no he’s going to die anyway. He said I was making the right decision… of course we always question these things later, and now sometimes I wonder what if I had done surgery if he could’ve lived more maybe….but it would’ve been difficult if not impossible to medicate him and treat him and take care of him properly. Quality of life is important too, but these situations are always a heartbreak.

Here is a link on this cancer… if you do decide you want to treat it maybe you can do some type of a care payment plan or something or a go fund me.

Lower urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma in cats: Clinical findings, treatments, and outcomes in 118 cases - PMC

Lower urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) is an important but rarely described disease of cats. To report the clinical characteristics, treatments, and outcomes in a cohort of cats with lower urinary tract TCC and to test identified ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[stephanie junca]

I don’t recall any of my cats ever having bladder cancer. However, Fred, who I had taken in from outside after caring for him for many years, turned out to have a big tumor in his rectum a year.5 later. Even though they told me he was just constipated at first and did an enema etc. I opted to just let him go while he was asleep because he was not touchable and I knew he was likely going to die and suffer a lot more anyway.

The dvm at the time said they could do surgery, etc. but I said no he’s going to die anyway. He said I was making the right decision… of course we always question these things later, and now sometimes I wonder what if I had done surgery if he could’ve lived more maybe….but it would’ve been difficult if not impossible to medicate him and treat him and take care of him properly. Quality of life is important too, but these situations are always a heartbreak.

Here is a link on this cancer… if you do decide you want to treat it maybe you can do some type of a care payment plan or something or a go fund me.

http://[URL]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6979092/

[/URL]

Thanks for sharing this info. I know that the cancer has metastasized but I'm not sure where. In the images they showed me today, it looked like one was very prominent in her bladder and then there was a larger one outside of her bladder. After reading the journal article, it makes me think there isn't much hope for my Luna. We'll what her vet says tomorrow.

 

[Meowmee]

Thanks for sharing this info. I know that the cancer has metastasized but I'm not sure where. In the images they showed me today, it looked like one was very prominent in her bladder and then there was a larger one outside of her bladder. After reading the journal article, it makes me think there isn't much hope for my Luna. We'll what her vet says tomorrow.

I forgot to mention this, but I don’t see anything about a biopsy being done in your comments. I’m assuming they did that? Because there is a possibility of a benign tumor in the bladder as well- adenoma.

 

[stephanie junca]

I forgot to mention this, but I don’t see anything about a biopsy being done in your comments. I’m assuming they did that? Because there is a possibility of a benign tumor in the bladder as well- adenoma.

No biopsy was done today but he said this was suspicious of cancer in the way it appeared. They didn't do it either because of concern if seeding.

 

[Meowmee]

No biopsy was done today but he said this was suspicious of cancer in the way it appeared. They didn't do it either because of concern if seeding.

I think the size also plays a role. I am worried now maybe Fred could’ve been OK. Because I read that benign anal rectal polyps could be removed and they can live long time, but he said it was a large tumor and showed it to me…I just read the large size suggests it is carcinoma- over 1cm, and then they have very poor survival rate. I’m always cautious because I had one expert tell me he was sure one of my cats had lymphoma from an us. I did a necropsy later for other reasons and it turned out she didn’t have lymphoma. She had a different type of cancer.

 

[fionasmom]

Peeing blood, no diagnosis
#11 in this thread
Bladder Surgery and Transitional Cell Carcinoma
Mass in bladder, ? Surgery?
These are the most recent threads about masses in the bladder and may give you some additional information.

I am very sorry that you are facing this.

Usually a good vet, based on their experience, has a pretty clear idea of what they believe is going on and can estimate to a reasonable margin of error if a mass is cancerous or not. Seeding is another issue in cancer diagnosis, including in people.

As for the cost, don't beat yourself up for not going sooner. Once you are into this kind of surgery and treatment, there is no less expensive version, or not enough to make a difference.

In the case of your cat, you are considering age and survival time, age and success/stress of the procedure and treatment, and aftercare and quality of life during the 6 to 9 months which are expected.

I also elected not to proceed with surgery for an anal adenocarcinoma in my 15 year old GSD.

 

[stephanie junca]

Peeing blood, no diagnosis
#11 in this thread
Bladder Surgery and Transitional Cell Carcinoma
Mass in bladder, ? Surgery?
These are the most recent threads about masses in the bladder and may give you some additional information.

I am very sorry that you are facing this.

Usually a good vet, based on their experience, has a pretty clear idea of what they believe is going on and can estimate to a reasonable margin of error if a mass is cancerous or not. Seeding is another issue in cancer diagnosis, including in people.

As for the cost, don't beat yourself up for not going sooner. Once you are into this kind of surgery and treatment, there is no less expensive version, or not enough to make a difference.

In the case of your cat, you are considering age and survival time, age and success/stress of the procedure and treatment, and aftercare and quality of life during the 6 to 9 months which are expected.

I also elected not to proceed with surgery for an anal adenocarcinoma in my 15 year old GSD.

Wow, thanks for sharing these threads! I will definitely be reading through them all.

I'm still waiting for the ER vet to send my vet Luna’s report. My vet has checked in a few times today to let me know that they are waiting on the report. Hopefully I hear something soon.

Luna has been outside for most of the day just enjoying the nice sunny, fall weather. She was hunting earlier which was nice to see her being active. I brought her in a bit ago and now she is just napping. I have ramped up her meds since yesterday and that seems to be making her more comfortable. I wish she could be with us for so much longer but I know well at this point she won't be.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. Did the urinalysis show a large amount of transitional cells? They should never do a cysto ( where they get urine from the bladder with a needle). You are not supposed to stick a needle into a cat with a bladder mass.
Did they do a chest X-ray? If not that is a good idea to see if it has netted into the lungs.
I would not make life changing decisions based on an emergency veterinarians ultrasound.
If this was my cat, I would get a referral to a specialist to either repeat ultrasound or review images.

 

[stephanie junca]

Sad news to share. Luna took a quick turn for the worse two days ago. We didn't even get a chance to get a second opinion from a specialist. She stopped eating and would just pee constantly. She would just lay in bed extremely lethargic. We thought she would pass last night. We brought her into her regular vet today and the vet felt the mass had taken over her bladder. She said she was actively dying so we let her go. RIP sweet Luna. You will be so dearly missed

 

[fionasmom]

I am so sorry for your loss of Luna. You posted that she had a lovely day on Monday which shows that she was still able to enjoy herself until she could not go on any longer. You did the hardest and kindest thing possible for her to have responded and let her pass peacefully.

 

[Meowmee]

Sad news to share. Luna took a quick turn for the worse two days ago. We didn't even get a chance to get a second opinion from a specialist. She stopped eating and would just pee constantly. She would just lay in bed extremely lethargic. We thought she would pass last night. We brought her into her regular vet today and the vet felt the mass had taken over her bladder. She said she was actively dying so we let her go. RIP sweet Luna. You will be so dearly missed

I am so sorry for your loss of Luna you did the right thing to stop her suffering and she’ll be watching over you as you continue on your life.

Run free, sweet Luna, watch over your mom and family

 

[stephanie junca]

I am so sorry for your loss of Luna. You posted that she had a lovely day on Monday which shows that she was still able to enjoy herself until she could not go on any longer. You did the hardest and kindest thing possible for her to have responded and let her pass peacefully.

Thanks. I just can't believe how fast it took her. I have lost 4 cats now and there was no question or hesitation in making this decision. She was suffering so terribly. I still think I will see her around the house or in the yard. I just can't believe it.

 

[Meowmee]

Thanks. I just can't believe how fast it took her. I have lost 4 cats now and there was no question or hesitation in making this decision. She was suffering so terribly. I still think I will see her around the house or in the yard. I just can't believe it.

It’s a terrible shock, and it will take time to recover. Sometimes they go so fast you can hardly believe it even though you know they have a bad diagnosis most likely. My Merlin was taken by negligence last March and I will never get over it

 

[silent meowlook]

I am so sorry.

 

[mani]

stephanie junca , the TCS team would like you to know that we are so very sorry for your loss.

Threads are locked after someone has suffered such a loss, as a sign of respect, but we invite you to place a tribute at our Crossing the Bridge forum as an enduring testimony to your friend.


RIP Lovely Luna
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