Any OTer's dog been diagnosed with Transitional Cell Carcinoma?

Took my 13 year old dog (Border Collie/Lab mix) in to the vet because she started peeing a lot more often (even inside which she hasn't done since she was a pup being trained) and some blood was coming out at times.

I was hoping it'd only be a UTI or stones, but they did a bunch of tests and scans on her and the doc came back and said she had a good size mass in her bladder that she is confident is Transitional Cell Carcinoma, which is a malignant tumor. Although the only way to be 100% sure sure the mass is malignant is to collect tissue from it and do a biopsy.

She gave some options...

1.) surgery, which apparently isn't really all that recommended since it's not guaranteed to remove it all and many times will actually help the cancer spread faster.

2.) chemo or radiation, every dog reacts different to either of those, and it's not guaranteed to reduce the cancer. Obvious negative side effects to both as well.

3.) Piroxicam, an NSAID that can hinder or in some cases possibly even stop the tumor's growth, at least extending her life a little longer until the day that the cancer growth is big enough where it completely blocks her urethra and she is no longer able to pee.


Any of you been through this with your dog? What did you do, how aggressive did you get, what positive/negative results did you and your dog experience?

I obviously went with the Piroxicam to start with, and she'll at least be taking that the rest of her life.

Her energy level and demeanor are still good, which i'm thankful for, so she's not in obvious constant pain yet that she can't run around or do anything.

I'm just weighing the next steps, if any, to take. Or just stick with the Piroxicam and enjoy the remaining time I have with her before she is in obvious constant pain.

With her age being up there, I obviously knew the beginning of the end would be just around the corner. Just harder to hear it's probably an aggressive cancerous tumor taking over I guess.



TIA