Dog Bladder Tumor Symptoms

1. Struggling to produce any urine.

2. Going to the toilet allot more often than usual.

3. Small amounts of blood in the small amount of urine that is produced.

What Causes Dog Bladder Tumors?

There are two different types of dog tumor, the first is a benign (non progressive) type which does not spread to other body parts and leaves the tissue surrounding the growth in a relatively unharmed state. The second is the malignant (cancerous) type of tumor which can be potentially life threatening and harmful to your dog.

The most common types of bladder tumors are called transitional cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas, which are both highly malignant (may travel and spread to other parts of the body) cancers unlike the more rare polyps which is benign and does not spread easily to other parts of the body.

Obviously these growths will need to be removed to maintain your dogs overall health and wellbeing, but some tumors can cause further problems because of where they are in the body. If they are close to other organs or vital body parts then there is more risk in the surgery for removing the tumor.

Cancer and tumors in a dog's bladder often don't respond well to treatment and it may be very costly to pursue this option as well as many other downsides. This is why many will try to keep their dog on painkillers and antibiotics to keep them out of pain until the dog begins to suffer and then humanely put them to sleep in the best way possible.

What Your Vet May Say or Do

After taking x-rays, ultrasound scans or passing a camera into the bladder, your vet will know whether or not it is a tumor that they are dealing with. Then a biopsy will have to take place to determine the type of tumor your dog has.

If the tumor is a polyp then it will need surgery to be removed, with complications if the tumor is located at the bladder neck because reconstruction or skilled surgery will be needed to keep as much of the bladder/urethra connection in tact. But even if this goes well there will always be a chance your dog will be incontinent for short or long term afterwards.

If on the other hand the dog tumor is a transitional cell carcinomas or squamous cell carcinomas then further x-rays will need to be taken of the chest and abdomen to determine whether the tumor cells have spread or not.

If no spread appears to have happened then your vet may decide to try and remove the cancerous tumor. This comes with many risks and difficulties for the vet, when removing a cancerous tumor from a dog allot of healthy tissue needs to be removed also to be sure all the offending cells have been removed. This causes less room to work with than the polyp tumor and it is more likely that vital organs and parts of the body will be in the way, and makes successful surgery on the bladder neck limited and unlikely to work.

Having said this many vets will try to partially remove the tumor still and then resume trying to rid of the cancer by means of radiation and chemotherapy. The type of therapy will be decided by samples given to a histopathologist, who is qualified to find the best strategy for chemotherapy and radiation.



Other Possible Conditions

Dog Stranguria (Straining to Pass Urine)
Dog Bacterial Cystitis Bladder Problem
Dog Cystitis with Bladder Stones (Crystals)
Dog Prostatitis (Prostate Gland Infections)
Dog Prostatic Hypertrophy (Enlarged Prostate Glands)
Dog Prostatic Tumors
Dog Penis and Vagina Infections and Inflammation