“Cooper is our 10 year old spirited shepherd mix who still thinks he’s a puppy. We knew something was wrong when he dramatically slowed down over a few days and there was blood in his urine. His whole life he was a ravenous eater, sometimes even skipping chewing. One day he just stared at his bowl and walked away.
An ultrasound showed a large mass in his bladder, a follow up BRAF test confirmed that it was Transitional Cell Carcinoma (TCC). At this point we were referred to CASE for an oncology consult. The Dr’s at CASE laid out a variety of options for us that ranged from palliative care up to radiation and chemotherapy. We considered the options and in making the best decision for Cooper, we decided to go with a full course of radiation and chemotherapy.
His radiation treatments were every week day for 20 days. Chemotherapy was started towards the end of radiation after seeing how his body would respond. Chemotherapy was once every 3 weeks for 15 weeks following radiation. Dropping him off for the first couple of days for radiation was hard. But after a few days and plenty of treats he really loved the staff at CASE and our daily drop offs went smoothly. Side effects from the treatment were minimal, he was more tired, but he would rest and perk up on the weekends. Sometimes his stomach bothered him but we had meds for that and it never lasted long.
We have now completed all of his treatments. He is back to his normal self, gobbling his food and enjoying our backyard and hikes in the mountains. He is an amazing dog and we feel so lucky that CASE was able to give us more quality time with him.”
