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Sunday afternoon, my miniature schnauzer was acting a lot more lethargic than usual (lying on the floor instead of the chair next to me, refusing to play) and I noticed that he kept going outside and coming back in. I finally went out to see what was going on and saw that he was standing in a half crouch looking like he was trying to pee, but nothing was coming out. When I tried to feed him his dinner, he refused to eat anything and I had to struggle to get his phenobarbital down. Because it had been a short time, I decided to wait until the next morning to see he was still having problems and call the vet. That night he kept going in and out of the house every hour or two and yesterday morning he refused to eat, so I called up the vet to get an appointment. When I brought him in they took an x-ray and inserted a catheter to drain the bladder, which resulted in dark colored urine with a little blood. The x-rays were negative and he was sent home with antibiotics, medicated dog food (Hills s/d), and I was to monitor him to see if he could pass a stream of urine. I blocked the dog door and proceeded to take him out on walks whenever he got really antsy about needing to pee (about every hour), but nothing came out except for the weird looks my neighbors gave me as I crouched down to watch his pecker. In between these walks, he managed to sneak little spurts of pee within 5 feet of me (floor coverage about half the size of the palm of a hand) that were blood free and not especially dark or malodorous. That night he ate the special food almost immediately, but wound up throwing it all up 3-1/2 hours later, still looking very much like it was when he ate it. Last night included me hearing him whine, opening the dog door and sticking my head out with a flashlight to see if he can pass urine with no luck. The vet told me to bring him back in for monitoring and after a few hours there with no peeing, they decided to cut open the bladder to remove any bladder stones that may have been in there. Nothing was found aside from minor inflammation around the urethra, which wouldn't be enough to block him up and right now he is staying overnight for observation. He also mentioned it was possible there could be a tumor, but he didn't find it likely based on feeling around in there. I would have had no problem if they pulled some stones out of his bladder because they can be prevented with diet or medicine, but being stumped with a condition that he will die from without being drained on a daily basis is what has me worried. I am also kind of beating myself up because over the past few weeks he has been going out to pee in the middle of the night and he didn't used to, which I think could have been related. Has anyone had to deal with a similar situation? Is there something I could have missed or forgotten about that could help identify this mystery? Since this is PET THUNDERDOME and I feel like pictures are required, he is one of his happy post-seizure, pre-MRI/spinal tap (which also came up inconclusive, so he is 0 for 2 on diagnostic tests/surgeries coming up empty in the past 2 months) and one where he is showing off where he is having problems currently.  
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Feb 25, 2015 02:15
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 05:01 |
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Can you bring him to a different vet for a second opinion? I'm sorry this is happening. I know how frustrating it can be when the vets just scratch their heads. I hope it gets resolved quickly.
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Feb 25, 2015 02:38
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I just got off the phone with the vet and there has been no improvement. He said the swelling is right near the junction of the urethra and bladder and based on the lack of bladder stones, it is likely a tumor and untreatable. I am going to look into getting a second opinion today or tomorrow because there is a veterinary oncologists office in town and they would know best about treating options if any exist.
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Feb 25, 2015 15:38
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Def get that second opinion. I hope the little guy can recover!
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Feb 25, 2015 16:11
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The lab results came in and it was definitely a tumor and is inoperable at the location it was in. I did some research online this morning before the results confirmed it, but there was nothing that could be done because of it requires complete removal of it and the surrounding tissue, which can only really be done in the bladder itself. There are meds that have shown the ability to slow the growth of the tumor or even shrink it, but because it was completely blocking the flow of urine, there wouldn't be any time to see if it could work. Before we put him down today, I got to see him and he was definitely in a lot of pain from the entire ordeal and I couldn't subject him to it much longer on the hope to get a few more months with him. If he could still pee, I would have taken him for another opinion, but at the stage he was at, it would have been a lot of time and pain to find out nothing could be done.
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Feb 25, 2015 23:25
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You did the right thing. I'm sorry you both had to deal with this.
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Feb 25, 2015 23:27
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I'm really sorry. 
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Feb 26, 2015 19:30
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 05:01 |
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I'm sorry dude. You did the kindest thing you could have.
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Feb 27, 2015 20:49
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