{"id":1119,"date":"2018-09-04T11:55:43","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T15:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/?p=1119"},"modified":"2022-07-11T09:13:03","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T13:13:03","slug":"scout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/scout\/","title":{"rendered":"Scout’s big bad bloody bladder surprise…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scout, a 9 year old female Labrador, had been having urinary issues for weeks, including frequent urination, accidents in the house and bloody urine.<\/span>\"Scout,<\/p>\n

These are classic signs for a urinary tract infection. So Scout was treated with antibiotics. There was no improvement. Another round of antibiotics was prescribed: still no improvement. When antibiotics don\u2019t resolve a presumed bladder infection, it\u2019s time to explore other less obvious diagnoses\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

An ultrasound was recommended. It revealed a big mass in Scout\u2019s bladder (see yellow arrows below. The mass is grey-ish, urine is blackish). <\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

This was bad news since, statistically speaking, the vast majority of masses found in a dog’s bladder are cancerous (most often transitional cell carcinoma).<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless, Scout\u2019s loving owners elected surgery to give her every possible chance. Scout underwent a laparotomy (abdominal surgery) to have the bladder mass removed and biopsied. The mass was the size of a walnut. About one third of the bladder had to be sacrificed. The rest of the bladder was reconstructed with multiple stitches. Surgery went smoothly. Scout recovered well, and was sent home the next day. <\/span><\/p>\n

As expected, she did have a few days of bloody urine immediately after surgery, but it cleared up after a few days.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mass was sent to the lab for biopsy. After a week of agonizing wait, the biopsy revealed\u2026 that the tumor was benign! Despite the statistics, despite everybody’s opinion, and despite the ultrasonographer\u2019s impressions, the mass was\u2026 a benign polyp. This was amazingly good news for Scout and her owners!<\/span><\/p>\n

Three weeks after surgery, my nurse removed Scout\u2019s stitches and commented: \u201cShe\u2019s doing great. She\u2019s urinating normally, eating and drinking well, and super happy. Her owners are super happy and thanked us up and down for all our help.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember: a mass is not cancer until the biopsy says so. Please don\u2019t make any drastic decisions based on assumptions and statistics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scout was supposed to have bladder cancer, yet ended up with a benign polyp, which will not at all affect her lifespan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Phil Zeltzman, DVM, DACVS, CVJ, Fear Free <\/em>Certified<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scout, a 9 year old female Labrador, had been having urinary issues for weeks, including frequent urination, accidents in the house and bloody urine. These are classic signs for a urinary tract infection. So Scout was treated with antibiotics. There was no improvement. Another round of antibiotics was prescribed: still no improvement. When antibiotics don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[61,177,157,176,178,156],"class_list":["post-1119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bladder-surgery","tag-laparotomy","tag-phil-zeltzman","tag-scout","tag-transitional-cell-carcinoma","tag-veterinary-surgeon"],"yoast_head":"\nScout's big bad bloody bladder surprise... | Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scout, a 9 year old female Labrador, had been having urinary issues for weeks, including frequent urination, accidents in the house and bloody urine.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/scout\/\" 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