Found mass on my wee Alfie's bladder!
 

Hi everyone, at the moment I am waiting on results of a biopsy done on a mass that has been found on my wee Alfie's bladder. But I am absolutely out of my mind with worry.

Alfie is 8 years old and we noticed he had blood in his urine months ago. It didn't show every time he peed and so in September I took him to the vet to get checked. It turned out they found a stone in his bladder which they removed there and then, gave him antibiotics and painkillers. He was on the mend pretty quickly and then about 3-4 weeks later we starting noticing the blood again. So they tested his urine again and scanned him and found nothing but just the occasional crystals so gave him a 10 day antibiotic injection. About 3 days after that injection finished we noticed the blood again. So I took a urine sample in on Monday and they said they found no crystals but a lot of blood. So they examined him on Tuesday and that's when they found the mass on his bladder.

So I am waiting to see what type it is but I just can't understand how they did not see this in September when they were doing the surgery. The nurse said to me that when they did the surgery it could have aggravated his bladder so it could have happened because of it.

I am so worried as I keep reading about TCC!! Although the vet told me it could be a benign polyp and can be removed with surgery. But I have read on the internet that this is rare. They also told me that it was not near any vital structures and therefore easy removed.

Help, I am so sick with worry. :(

I am sending out prayers for your Wee Alfie.

Thinking of you and your little Alfie.

Try not to google too much .. it can scare the heck out of you. And, try to remember that if you worry today about something you have no control over, it is a waste of what could be a good day. Try to relax until you know exactly what you are dealing with. I have found that many of the things I worried most about were wasted worrying...I hope that is the case here with your baby boy.
Will keep him in my prayers....please keep us posted.

My husband and I took Alfie and Penny for a walk along the promenade after work yesterday. My DH tried to take my mind of it all. Alfie gets himself so worked up when he knows he is going out that he tires himself out before he starts his walk. So he kept just sitting down and breathing hard at the end of the walk that we had to lift him. I kept telling DH that shortness of breath was also a sign of this cancer and he said no, it's because he tires himself out before he starts.

So rang the vet today, I was told the results are in but the vets are all in surgery so they would have to ring me back. Can receptions not give out the results or does it have to be the vet?

Usually the policy of most vets is that no one give any test results out but them.

Thanks ladyjane, just thought if it wasn't serious receptions could give them to me.

Here is my wee Alfie at the vets on Tuesday doing his meerkat impersonation.

oh goodness......he is precious!!! :)

Praying for good news for Alfie....

There are a number of benign bladder growths, and I hope it turns out to be something benign. I'll be thinking of you and Alfie.

Alfie is adorable! Love his meerkat impression. :) Praying for both of you that the mass is benign.

I am not actually too sure what I picked up the other day from the vet but the only test results they have are the ones they took which is the protein and blood in his urine. I'll not get the results until Tues-Fri next week.

Prayers for your sweet Alfie.

Alfie is so cute & very funny!! Am praying for you both. It is so hard waiting.

Thankfully they found no malignancy and no bacteria in his urine. There is a few struvite stones there but not many to be concerned about. The was saying that they need to speak to a food specialist about his diet as he is on a prescription diet for calcium oxalate stones. The growth is on the back end of the bladder and therefore easily removed but they have given him another antibiotic to see if that clears up the blood before thinking of more surgery as you never know what they will find in the walls of the bladder. He also said that all can change in time so i've taken this that there is a possibility that it could get serious but at the moment they are happy with him.

When I had him up at the vets on Saturday I got to speak to the vet that preformed his surgery and he said that it doesn't look like a tumour he has normally seen on a bladder. I have taken that he meant a malignant tumour and he said that he could have just been from his surgery. He also reckons they will not change his food as he needs to be on this food to stop the calcium oxalate stone returning which is common in yorkies.

So so relieved but that wait was awful. Thanks everyone for all the prayers and we'll wishes too. Wee Alfie says thanks too. xx

YIPPEEEEEE!!! I am SO happy for you! :)

Wonderful news!! I am very happy for you and Alfie. :love:

Just saw this post and we will celebrate with you!!!!!!!!!


BTW """""""love his meerkat impression""""""""

I am so happy for you and Alfie! You must be so relieved and glad that wait is over!!

Hi everyone, just a little update on Alfie.

Another CaOx stone formed and so he had another op last week to remove it and the mass. He is doing well but just need to wait on results of the mass/polyp they removed. I am hoping it is not serious. In the meantime I am in the process of changing his diet from Hills to homecooking.

Thank you for the most recent update on Lil Alfie. How is he feeling? When you think things are going better it seems like you get knocked off your feet again. Hope this will all clear up soon. I take it you do not feel the prescription diet was doing it,s job. I don't,t know anything about home cooking but I guess you have read up on it and found a recipe that can help with his problem. It is so hard to see them in any pain or misery I know. God's blessings on you and your wee Alfie.

Thank you for your well wishes.

No i don't think that it has done it's job since it came back so it can't hurt to try something else. I have researched foods that are high, medium and low oxalates and just feeding them the low oxalate ones. Just tricky to ensure that it is well balanced.

Alfie's Mom
 

Well, I wish you the very best in the outcome of your new feeding of Alfie. Hopefully you will come upon the right combination in all ways to keep him healthy and happy. That is what counts. I am fortunate that my prescription food has helped my Joey with his problem. It must be a very hard thing to do to make up a diet like that. But if the other prescription food was not doing it's job then you must do what you must. Does the vet have any ideas about what to feed Alfie instead of the prescription food?

I hope your little Alfie is feeling better and I hope the new food will keep him from forming any more stones.

Aw thanks, the vet just said to look at what ingredients is in his prescription diet and try to base the homecooking with what is in that. Honestly fine it hard to determine what is in it to be honest so have just gone with low oxalate meat, veg and white rice combos. I am waiting on a delivery of B-complex with Vit E, Selenium and Zinc supplements and also flax oil for omega 3. I also need to look at adding calcium and I have heard potassium citrate is good which is an ingredient found in the prescription diet but finding it hard to get here specifically for dogs. I found it on Ebay but it's from the US so shipping costs are the same amount as the item.

The vet did say he didn't think the diet was causing the stones but the polyp that was removed but I will do anything to make sure it doesn't happened again and if it does, then I know I have tried my hardest. The one thing I think that didn't help was that he wasn't drinking enough. I had started given him the wet food with his kibble but stopped that and just gave him the kibble so he wasn't getting the liquid and he isn't much of a drinker.

Still have problems getting him to drink water but at least his food is moist now and maybe will help too.

At the moment he is doing grand but he has developed a cough/gag/hecking sound which is worse at night but I think and I hope it is a reaction to the meds and not something else serious. It has only happened since he was put on Tramadol at the weekend. I'll find out more when speaking to the vet later.