SchnauzerMax

I think this is it ;)

Kelpie-i, IF you are going to have it operated on do it now. Just because it is classified as benign does not mean that it doesn't eventually grow into the adjacent areas of the mouth. Benign just means it doesn't spread to other parts of the body. If you wait until it is "really" causing a problem, it may be too complicated to fix. Better to get it now when it is small OR decide not to operate at all. This sort of tumour is centred around the root of one tooth in the mouth which means removal of the tumour is usually removal of teeth (plural) and part of the gum (but the bigger it is the more they have to take). My miniature schnauzer (gone to the bridge last year) had one removed at the age of 9 years in 2004. He lost a number of teeth but recovered well. There was no re-occurrence. His tumour was fast growing so the choice of surgery for us was a no-brainer. The following is a link to the most extreme case I know about http://www.pugrescuenc.org/pumpkin.htm

I'd just make sure that anything I was declaring was in the form of a stat dec and that all paperwork was certified copies i.e by a J.P.

It's sensible to stop the steroids and see what affect that has. Fingers crossed !!

You need to be able to distinguish between excessive thirst leading to excessive amounts of water being drunk which leads to not being able to "hold it all in" and incontinence - leaking irrespective of bladder fullness. Incontinence medicine usually works on females by tightening the sphincter muscles and hence stopping leaking. It doesn't work so well on males. If your old boy is drinking so much that he con't contain himself especially when he is asleep then it may be something else. The most common is probably diabetes but there are a whole bunch of other things that could cause this. Also, if he is drinking excessive amounts of water, then his blood and urine tests may come back in the normal range which actually indicates a problem.

How much water is he drinking? My standard schnauzer Luigi had very similar symptoms to your rottie 3 years ago - incontinence and 'arthritic' pain. Bloodwork and urine tests always came back normal but he was drinking lots and lots of water and wetting the bed and peeing when he walked. Propalin seemed to work for a couple of weeks and then didn't. Eventually we ended up at a specialist. It turned out to be a tumour on his adrenal gland. The only way to diagnose it was to do an ultrasound. It did not show on x-rays. What did show on x-rays was a badly inflamed bladder that the original vet thought was bladder cancer. The 'arthritic' pain was a really incredibly sore bladder due to the tumour. The solution for Luigi was surgery. He is now 15 and slowing down but still with us. I hope the vet gets to the root of problem quickly for you.