Dog has bladder tumour - what to do next?

[Poofurburrball]

Morning, just looking for any advice or guidance you knowledgeable people may have.
My lovely almost 14yo dog hasn't been quite right for a few weeks, and in the last week has been passing some blood in her urine. She is also straining quite badly to wee with not much coming out.
Anyway, vet suspected a uti and put her on antibiotics but yesterday, following a scan, the vet discovered a large tumour close to the neck of her bladder. Due to it's location it is virtually inoperable and even taking a biopsy could cause some cancer cells to spread. Chemo would be possible but with this type of cancer the outcomes are generally poor.
The vet feels the best option is to give anti-inflammatories and pain relief which could keep her going for some time. She mentioned blood test for further clarity but this hasn't been arranged.
I do trust the vet's professional opinion and she was very clear in her explanations. However, having slept on it overnight, I am wondering if I should seek a referral to an oncologist who can give their specialist judgement on treatment options.
Any vets out there or people who have been through similar? Thanks, feeling a bit lost today...

I realise you're keen to explore every avenue but there comes a time in every pet owner's life when you have to face the inevitable. Do you really want to put your elderly pet through more tests and treatments or to make her remaining time as comfortable and stress free as possible?

I certainly don't want to put her through any additional treatments or procedures, especially where the benefit is negligible, but equally I feel an obligation to at least understand what the options are. Then I can make a rational, informed decision.

Anyone had experience of this?

I think, for your own peace of mind, you need to think seriously about how much time she has left in even the best circumstances and balance that against how much of that she would be undergoing treatment. It isn't very likely that she would have the majority of that time free of treatment.

I’m so sorry. We lost our old boy last weekend. He was also 14, and in his case had a growth in his mouth. We aren’t sure whether it was malignant or not (it looked awful though) as we chose not to go through any tests at his age.

The choice we made was to spoil him rotten and cherish him while we still had him and he was still happy and feeling good. Unfortunately his health spiralled quite quickly - we could have kept him going for a bit longer perhaps, but he wasn’t happy any more. He looked so very tired. Making that choice for him is the hardest thing we’ve ever done and both DH and I were in bits at the end. But we know we did the best thing for Spuddog, even though it hurt us.

My DM had some good advice - put your ddog first and be guided by love for them. It’s what we did. I’m so glad we had those last few happy weeks with Spuddog before we lost him. They were very precious.

I dunno. Your lovely dog is a great age. You need a risk / harm vs benefits / gain type review.

Keeping him comfortable and spoiling him and doing his “ bucket list “ would certainly seem the first thing I’d think if at this age. Dogs live in the moment. How can you get over the miserable / painful times of treatment if it isn’t going to gain significant in reasonably well added time - added time at poor quality doesn’t cut it for a dog - they don’t think “ yeah, I don’t want to walk much now cos I feel bad but I’ll see my grannie at Xmas “ type thoughts. They want to run thr park , eat the steak and be happy in the now.

There's no harm having a consult with an expert. My friend saw an oncologist when her vets discovered lymphoma and they didn't need to do any further tests as could tell that was at an advanced stage, they discussed treatment options and not going with chemo as specialist said it wouldn't buy them much extra time. My friend felt were fully informed and therefore much more settled about decisions made. They were given treatment plan to carry on with own vets but had a contact if needed further guidance. So perhaps it's not a case of curing but what may make the time left more comfortable.

I had a dog with this, he was nine years old and we took the decision to euthanise. With a fourteen year old I wouldn't be considering trying to treat. As far as I'm aware there is no treatment anyway, it's an unpleasant condition and I wouldn't prolong things, even with pain relief, personally.

Personally I wouldn’t do anything to a 14 year old dog other than keep it pain free until it could no longer cope.
Sometimes just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should

Thank you for all your helpful and empathetic responses. Much appreciated.