Bladder cancer in a 10 year old male neutered cat

Monty is a 13 year old black haired male neutered cat that presented to Elaine Patton with a history of passing blood in his urine over 3 weeks. Elaine felt that the bladder had an irregular feel to it and admitted him for tests. Blood tests showed normal kidney function and she proceeded to xray him.

Under anaesthetic she placed a catheter in his bladder and filled it with air. The bladder should have a nice smooth outline but here you can see multiple "bumps" at 3 o'clock and at the neck of the bladder. The urine she collected prior was very bloody and she sent it off for analysis. This analysis showed evidence of blood however the xray confirmed bladder cancer. The type was transitional cell carcinoma.

This type of tumour cannot be operated on so we can only treat it medically. Interestingly the treatment is a very common drug we use as a painkiller -metacam. This drug also has anti cancer properties in bladder cancer.

Elaine discharged Monty with metacam and asked his owner to bring him back in a month to assess the progress. Monty improved in this time however the bleeding has not gone altogether. Elaine re xrayed him and to our suprise the tumours have shrunk by about 75%.

We are of course delighted with the response and Monty's owner was too. We cannot hope to cure this cancer unfortunately but we can manage it.

Elaine and "Monty"