Bladder cancer accounts for only 2 percent of cancers in dogs.
But it is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer and therefore it is unfortunately often the case that you have to put your dog to sleep if you have bladder cancer.
In this article we explain why this is the case and what you should know about bladder cancer in dogs.
In a nutshell: Do I have to put my dog to sleep with bladder cancer?
Unfortunately, a dog with bladder cancer usually has to be put to sleep.
Because a bladder tumor grows very quickly and therefore spreads early.
The result is pain and a severely reduced quality of life.
Even with chemotherapy, the chances of survival are very low and usually limited to 6 to 12 months.
How fast does a dog bladder tumor grow?
A bladder tumor is one of the most aggressive tumors and therefore grows rapidly.
Unfortunately, it is almost always malignant and also forms metastases very quickly, which then infect the whole body in no time at all.
It is not uncommon for a dog to show a clear clinical picture within weeks.
This is one of the reasons why your veterinarian monitors the tumor very closely during treatment.
Life expectancy in bladder cancer
In the early stages, bladder cancer is often misjudged as a urinary tract infection, since the symptoms are very similar at the beginning: incontinence or urinary retention and pain when urinating.
This is fatal because the tumor grows and spreads so aggressively. The actual diagnosis is then made too late, which dramatically shortens life expectancy and quality of life.
Even with treatment and a good prognosis, many dogs only have 6 to 12 months.
However, therapy significantly improves the quality of life for the remaining time in over 50% of the diseased dogs.
Bladder tumor: therapy and treatment options
Most tumors are surgically removed by a veterinarian.
In the case of bladder cancer, however, this is rarely possible because the tumor tissue settles on the bladder wall.
Then a complete removal of the tissue is no longer possible. Partial removal can be considered, but only to reduce the size of the tumor and not to cure it.
Your veterinarian will therefore always use an ultrasound to check whether the location of the bladder tumor still allows such an intervention.
If not, he will probably recommend chemotherapy in combination with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
This shrinks or destroys the tumor. However, if this has already spread widely and formed too many metastases, there is hardly any treatment option left.
End-stage bladder cancer – when to put to sleep?
Putting a dog to sleep is the last option your vet will consider. But sometimes all the alternatives are more painful or worse for your dog.
Since a bladder tumor grows quickly and thus spreads quickly, metastases are a major problem in bladder cancer.
This is especially true if they are in the brain, in blood vessels or in organs such as the liver or kidneys.
There they press on tissue or nerves, cause blockages and severe pain or, in the worst case, cut off the blood supply to vital regions so that they can no longer fulfill their function.
All of this puts a lot of strain on your dog. Sometimes the pain can get so bad that almost no painkillers are effective.
Since bladder cancer is usually fatal, euthanasia then offers relief from such suffering.
Experiences of owners of dogs with cancer
“Aaron was so young, just five years old. The fact that he suddenly started peeing in the house again made us suspicious at first.
The vet then prescribed antibiotics for a bladder infection.
But it didn’t and didn’t get better and somehow he seemed to be getting sicker and sicker.
So we go back to the vet. Ultrasound and blood count, then suddenly the word cancer was in the room. bladder cancer.
We were exhausted at first, but we wanted to try the chemotherapy that was recommended to us.
At first he felt better with it, but then our vet found metastases in the brain. And then it was clear that we had lost to cancer.
To this day, I blame myself for not recognizing the cancer, even if nobody can do anything about it.”
“In May our West Highland Terrier Snuffles turned 12 years old. A day later, during the birthday routine check-up, our vet found a tumor in his bladder.
Everything happened so fast. Snuffles has had a heart history all his life, so that must have sped things up.
We then discussed with the vet that we would focus primarily on pain therapy and make the last few months really nice.
We already knew that from our Great Dane Pogo, who we also lost to bladder cancer ten years earlier.
Snuffles held out until the beginning of August, but then one evening he got worse.
After a sleepless night, our vet came by the next morning and let him fall asleep at home. We wanted him not to be alone and not afraid.”
Conclusion
When your dog develops bladder cancer, it’s a scary diagnosis. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, there is often a decision to have your dog put to sleep.
But you can make the time bearable for your dog with certain therapies.
Have you already had experience diagnosing bladder cancer in dogs? How did the therapy go? Tell us about your dog in the comments.