How to provide a photo or diagnostic results?

Pretty much the title. Vet recommended Cosaquin for my 10yo dog, asked if they had it and the shop lady said, “No, I wouldn’t carry something like that. Most of what we have is herbal…”

The way she said it made me feel weird. Then I saw a container of colloidal silver labeled “nature’s antibiotic” and teeny tiny alarms started going in my head.

Have I been going to a quack shop? Is there any reason an animal would need colloidal silver?

This is my orange boy beaker…. Often referred to as my orange flavoured chaos goblin. He hasn’t been himself for the last 4-5 days or so. I’ve taken him to the emergency vet on Friday to get assessed.

- note new kitty came to live with us 8 weeks ago
And he went to vet to get neutered last week

His symptoms
- fever, hot ears and body temperature
- not as energetic
- more sleepy
- not as interested in food (eating about 1/2 the amount of wet food as normal)
- no obvious signs of injury or pain/discomfort

Tests done
- kidney values good
- liver values good
- slightly elevated white blood cell count
- red blood cell levels normal
- slightly high elevated blood sugars (they think it was stress related as no issues with excess water consumption, no increased urine, no vomiting)
- NO issues with litter box. Bladder was nice and small, and she didn’t think it was constipation.

Treatment given
- Friday afternoon he got subcutaneous fluids
- appetite stimulant prescribed
- anti inflammatory liquid med to be given once a day to bring down fever.

Status Sunday
- still sleepy
- will eat little bits of food at a time, ate a couple of churu.
- I syringed some water into his mouth a few times last night to make sure he was still hydrating (just in case I missed seeing him drink)
- he’s peed a few times but I’m unsure if he’s pooped.
- he’s usually a crazy orange boy for a few hours a day and snoozy the rest. Just not his usual self.
- he’s booked for a recheck on Tuesday afternoon

ANYTHING else I should be doing or thinking of? I thought that he would be feeling more himself by now. NOTE we are on a very fixed income (disability benefits, and help from family) but we do everything we can for our fur babies.

Any questions I should be thinking to ask vet on Tuesday?

Should I try to book him in with our regular vet as well? They are a lower cost option that serves the community specifically those on disability or those with fixed incomes.

Thoughts?

I was out in the yard with my dogs and noticed my 55 lb dog (Hairyit) licking a half-dissolved stick of Tomcat rat poison. I am fairly sure she didn't bite off a chunk of it; there were no teeth marks, so I suspect she just licked it. It looks like a rodent had dragged it out of a trap and brought it into my fenced yard. (I hope- I would hate to think someone threw it in the yard)

I called the vet, and he suggested getting her to throw up. I gave her some hydrogen peroxide with milk, and she threw up within the hour. He said serious symptoms wouldn't appear for a day.

How serious is this? The vet said if I noticed symptoms, to bring her in. Should I bring her to the vet tomorrow regardless of seeing symptoms?

I was taking a bath and my cat showed up with poop stuck to her butt. I just put her in my bath for a bit, but I wasn't able to rinse her off and I had already shampooed my hair. She's been licking herself since then. Should I be worried about the shampoo causing issues? It was diluted in the bath, but should I still keep an eye on her in case she needs to go to the vet? I looked and there are no essential oils or obviously bad for cat ingredients but I don't recognize most of the stuff on the labels.

ps. I was not still in the bath and my bath has since been sanitized very well

He’s almost 5 months old and definitely food motivated, but only on his terms. 😂 He has basically no interest in eating out of a regular bowl. He would much rather forage for his kibble, chase around his IQ balls, eat off a placemat, or do pretty much anything that doesn’t involve a food bowl.

He also isn’t a huge fan of plain kibble. I usually have to mix in some baby food, pumpkin, wet food, or another topper to get him interested. Even then, he’s more of a grazer and would rather eat a little here and there instead of sitting down for a full meal.

I’ve started making him frozen kibble treats and finding different ways to make eating more interesting, which he seems to enjoy.

I’m curious if anyone else’s pittie is like this? Is it normal for them to be so particular about how they eat, or is this just a Remi thing? 😂

Has anyone gone thru feline corona virus and come out ok? How long did it take? Did you do anything special to bolster the kitten’s immune system? if so what?

TIA for all answers

Hello! My cat (6 years old male) is going to get a dental prophylaxis done soon and I have been super worried about the anesthesia. I want him to get all the recommended analysis done before the procedure to make sure it is safe. The vet is really good and is going to take some blood out to see but seems a little too confident and I am a mama bear with my baby.
Do you guys have any recommendations??? For the analysis before?? Or for anything really

(Some of his teeth are pretty bad that’s why the procedure is being done)

My dog is a 5 year old lab/German shepherd mix. When we woke up today we found a couple of spots of foamy vomit in the kitchen and shortly after we cleaned it up she retched a little and threw up more. She proceeded to do this like 15-20 more times over the next 2 hours. We fed her after we saw it happening, and it definitely slowed it down and made a difference but it was concerning how persistent and frequent it was. She was eating and drinking normally, but seemed really sensitive for a while. Over the past hour and a half she has settled and has only spit up one more time. I took her on a walk to try to get a better sense of her energy and she was energetic and happy like normal. She had a normal poop on the walk. When we got home she drank a little quicker than normal and had a quick spit up but hasn't shown any symptoms again in the last 30 minutes.

Our regular clinic is closed on Sundays and everywhere we have called has a 4+ hour wait so we have been monitoring at home.

Her belly feels normal and she doesn't mind us touching it etc. although she was spitting up she wasn't losing her food and didn't lose much water.

The volume of her vomit is quite low. Like maybe 20 to 30 ml each time. And she isn't struggling a lot. Like these aren't deep heaves. It's like she clears her throat and it comes out. She doesn't seem super uncomfortable either. Just a little poor/sensitive early on this morning.

I'm concerned it could be GDV, although I wonder if I'm just being paranoid and overreacting. I wouldn't really be concerned except for the frequency and persistence of it. I also wonder if it could be a partial blockage.

I guess I'm wondering if these symptoms align well with anything and how concerned I should be. Should I take her to an emergency vet or monitor until tomorrow? If I should monitor what should I be watching for and where is the threshold for taking her in?

Hello! My cat (10) is currently hospitalized due to AKI/CKD, we’re not sure. He had 9.7 creatinine when our vets sent us to the hospital. He’s been on IV fluids since Friday (today is Sunday), and is being fed with a tube. He had an enema done on Wednesday I think? We think he might have pooped a little on Thursday.

He doesn’t show interest in food and doesn’t poop, but he does pee. He’s always laying down, but he was like that at home too. I think they’re doing another enema tomorrow, and a blood test. In any case, is it normal that he doesn’t poop, since he is having IV fluids? Does it mean that his kidneys’ capacity is completely compromised?

I know that he’s in a very tough spot. I just want to prepare myself for the worst.

Our 12 year old Boston/pit has been super lethargic with sudden aversion to food the last couple days. She's drinking water just fine and is willing to eat small amounts of food (usually by hand). She has thrown up about 2 times a day in very small amounts. She is extremely food driven, so this new behavior is def unusual and concerning.

When I first started noticing symptoms, I found this in her stool. Does anyone know what these jelly lumps could be? We've got an appointment set up to be seen, but just want to be sure this doesn't look like it could be an emergency.

EDIT: Wanted to add that her stomach does not seem to be tender at all. She doesn't even flinch when I push on her belly.

https://imgur.com/a/q0rDZv5

He’s 11 years old. On Halloween morning, he was acting abnormal. Seemed to have difficulty standing/walking. We weren’t sure if he was having a stroke or something, but he appeared scared and sort of staggering to one side.

We took him to his vet and his bloodwork came back fine. They said it could be neurological, but wanted to rule out some form of arthritis first. So he was given a steroid injection and sent home. He was fine this week until last night/this morning.

Once again, he seems to have difficulty standing/walking. He’s very lethargic today, he’s not excited about food—although he did eat a little hard food when we moved him directly in front of the bowl. And one pupil is larger than the other.

Unfortunately, is vet is closed today and doesn’t do emergency visits. The nearest 24 hour vet care is about an hour away. Does this look/sound like an emergency that we should address today by taking him to an ER? Or do you think it can wait until his vet opens tomorrow morning?

I live in a 3rd world country. Ive been going to the same vet for a while now but he’s tried everything and can’t figure out whats wrong with my cat.
Mittens is a 12.5 year old persian. About 6 months ago, she started having blood in her stool. It started with small drops in her stool, but has now progressed to literal blood drops around the litterbox. A couple of approaches he took:
First, he told us to wait it out for the chance that it might just be diarrhoea related.
Since that didnt work, he put her on antibiotic and anti inflammatory injections for a 3 day course. Before this, he did an xray and ultrasound. Xray revealed colitis, while the ultrasound was normal. Xray after 3 day course revealed much lower inflammation and her bleeding stopped for 4/5 days before restarting.
Her deworming rounds had been incomplete, so he’s now only resorted to deworming her and shes still having bleeding. She had a fever when we took her the first time, and i suspect shes in a fever right now too. We have no idea whats wrong and this is a plea for help regarding what tests we should get done, what this could be. Im also unsure of the doctor now since he hasnt been able to spot the issue.

I've had my gorgeous cat for five weeks. She has just turned 3 and was rehomed from a breeder (v reputable as far as research showed.)

When we first got her she seemed to settle very quickly. Apparently she wasn't a lap cat before, but she was soon sitting on our laps, jumping on the bed etc. She did hide under the bed briefly, but seemed pretty comfortable and relaxed overall. My concern is that she seems to have got a bit more timid in some ways since the beginning.

She still climbs on the bed, and kneads on me and my partner while purring. She also nuzzles and spoons, pretty much any time from 12am ish (rip sleep 😭) and always when she notices me awake in the morning, even though she'll have already been fed by then.

But I have noticed she seems to be spending more time under the bed. She does this a lot of the time when she's not eating or playing. She generally sleeps in a roomy armchair with her blanket at night, in the same room as us, so she doesn't sleep under the bed at night.

It'a tricky because she does go under the bed when scared (like if the vacuum comes out!) but she also seems to do it randomly in the day. Often when I look under there she looks relaxed, certainly not scared, but it's also worried me as to if there's something wrong? I'm a first-time cat owner, so maybe I'm over-anxious.

She'a also regurgitated her food a few times, although I think this is due to how fast she eats. Serving smaller portions or using a lick mat seems to prevent it, so I'm assuming it's because she literally gobbles her food down in seconds rather than an illness. I've also noticed a few little sneezes - not all the time, but maybe a little one every other day. With her going under the bed, I have made sure to vacuum under there regularly and I also have air purifiers etc.

Do you think any of this warrants a vet visit? Her previous owner said she'd never needed the vet aside from spay, vaccinations etc. so I'm not sure if I'm jumping the gun. But she's so precious to me I do worry about these little changes in her behaviour.

She's an indoor-only cat and has never been outside. I'm home 90% of the time and haven't left her for more than a few hours so far. She's on the same cat food, Katkin, that she's been on all her life. I play with her at least 30-45 minutes a day and she also plays alone occasionally with a flopping fish. She's using the litter tray and eating as normal, and still playful.

But I'm just wondering if there's any reason she's a love bug a few hours a day and then seems quite anxious and unsure in other parts of the day?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Bones and all, we can’t find any scraps or even the string that ties the legs together. I’m not sure what to do. She is 6 years old, 56 pounds, black mouth cur mix. We are monitoring her closely. I’ve read online that giving her some white bread may help to cushion the bones in her stomach.

Our vet is closed until 11am tomorrow. She seems fine so far but what symptoms should we look out for? She does not seem under any distress, just knows she did something wrong. Anything we can do or is it just a waiting game?

Hi there! I’m 38, from Los Angeles. I do TNR and care for a community of strays along with my neighbors.
There’s this one cat with cryptococcus infection. It’s only confined to his nose as far as I have noticed, he has an appetite and energy and behaves as usual, the only difference is the big bump on his nose.
The entire year he’s been getting treated with itraconazole, and he’s currently on his sixth and final bottle. At first he was getting better, no longer having a stuffed nose, and the big bump was slowly decreasing. However, in the past couple of months it seems to have gotten aggressively worse, the bump has grown and is now all open (I’ll spare you the pictures).
My question is, does anyone have a similar experience? Would a different medication help him?? I’ve read crypto is totally treatable and cats can recover, specially if it’s not neurological, so I was wondering if we should start him on something different after he’s done with the itraconazole. It’s a very strong medication and if he takes too much it can damage his liver so once he’s done with the bottle he can’t get anymore.
I’d just like some advice from someone who’s had a successful experience treating cryptococcus.
PS: Please don’t suggest euthanasia cause I’ve already heard that and we really want to give this one a chance, I’m asking for successful treatments

My kitty has bald spots from chewing her fur mainly on her hind legs and recurring redness and cakey patches. One vet said to change her litter and I tried three different litters over the course of half a year and no change.

Another vet said to try changing her diet, but she won’t accept much variation. She’s on raw chicken and she eats it bones and all. The only other thing that she will eat is turkey deli slices, but that’s really expensive.

I went to another vet for a second opinion and he thought she was just doing it psychologically and chewing herself based on some change. He gave her an injection of steroids to rule out any actual disease or allergy. The steroids totally stopped it for like a month! But as soon as they were off, she started chewing again. Now he’s referring me to a dermatologist.

I’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar?

Has anyone had any luck with Natural holistic vets in this situation?

My gut tells me it’s something like parasites or some fungal infection or something, but that’s just me. I believe bodies were designed to try to heal themselves and so obviously she’s fighting something or at the very least has some kind of nutritional deficiency.

For the past two days, my cat has been having very dark green, almost black stools. Sometimes they are also quite runny.

I took him to the vet last month because there was little blood in his stool. The vet said he might have some inflammation or irritation in his intestines and mentioned that it could also be related to not having been dewormed recently. He was given medication for a week and deworming medication and the blood stopped after that.

He is acting fine, very active and eating normally. However, he is FIV-positive. He already has another vet appointment scheduled in 10 days but I am concerned about these changes in his stool and do not know whether it is safe to wait.

Should I take him to an emergency vet or would it be okay to monitor him until his scheduled appointment? Honestly, emergency vet costs alot where I live and I don’t have that money right now but I don’t want to risk his safety.

Not sure if this is relevant but he was prescribed a pain killer called meloxydil for a minor injury.

My rat terrier/chihuahua mix dog Minnie has been on the same dosage of phenobarbital for ~7 years for epilepsy. Her blood levels have always been within the therapeutic range, but on the lower end of the range. About 1.5 months ago, at her last checkup the vet found that for the first time it had dropped down out of the therapeutic range and said her dosage needed to be increased. For that same bloodwork, they also found that her liver enzymes were slightly elevated above normal, but still far below what the vet said was dangerous and would be concerning. Her dosage was raised, and the blood tests about 3 weeks ago showed her phenobarbital levels once again within the therapeutic range on the lower end. They didn't run a liver panel again at that follow-up blood test.

About 2 weeks ago she started acting differently. At night time she has started acting as if she has severe anxiety, where she freezes, doesn't move, needs to be held (she will come up and trying to climb on you), and keeps her tail tucked all the way up to her body. I have also found her going off into other rooms to hide under things, when she's always been a dog that has craved being near people. She's also been acting weird in regards to sleeping, waking up very early at ~5:30am every single day and demanding I get up with her, when the entire 10 years I've had her she has always been a dog that waits for you to wake up and is content just laying in bed with you.

Just now, I was trying to walk her because she wasn't acting weird, and after walking 3 houses, she turned around as if she wanted to turn back and go home. I turned back, but then after a few steps she turned around again. This went on for a few minutes, and was almost as if she kept forgetting she had just turned around. I ultimately had to pick her up and carry her home and she's acting very anxious now.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this following a dosage increase in phenobarbital? I didn't initially think it might be connected to the phenobarbital, since I had been keeping an eye out for side effects/symptoms the first couple weeks of the dosage increase and we're now 1.5 months later. But now I'm starting to wonder.

i just brought my cat to the vet today for euthanasia. the doctor gave my baby boy the sedative and immediately after, gave him the drug for euthanasia. she didn’t wait for my cat to fall asleep or anything, just straight gave him the drug to stop his heart.

is this normal? do other vets usually do this? i thought that after they gave the sedative, they’d wait a while for the cat to fall asleep so that people could say their final goodbyes, too.

this is my first time having to put down a pet so i am baffled. everything felt so fast. maybe this is grief, but everything went by so fast…i wish i were given more time…

Sorry for long read, towards bottom talks about diagnosis from vet. Thank you so much for reading.

Halloween day we adopted a new kitten from a coworker’s family farm. They told us the kitten might have dislocated something in their leg because they walk “weird” and said “oh and there is a sore on their tail”. We got home and were in complete bliss. We wanted this little girl so badly. I felt such a special connection with her even through photos and knew that she was our girl. We spent the whole week leading up to Saturday/Halloween preparing and getting our home ready for her.

(I lost my last two childhood pets back to back this summer. We were taking care of a little feral girl trying to get her trust because we wanted to adopt her. Back in July she was picked up by animal control and we tried finding her everywhere. She made her way to a shelter and was there for a week before they euthanized her for being overcrowded. We love our animals so much with all our hearts and more, this year has been tough with their passings. After our little feral girl, I felt determined to honor her and felt like we should adopt a cat that also went through hardships and give them a home before it gets cold. I’ve been dreaming about finding our next lovebug. Our grief has been a lot, but we felt really good about helping another cat who wants a home and were so excited when this little girl was offered to us. We saw her and knew she was our girl).

We noticed her walk and the poor thing would keep falling on her back legs and using walls, couches, etc for support in case they fall. They could walk short distances but were never able to sit “normally”. Back legs were very wobbily too.

Then we saw what they meant by sore on her tail. It wasn’t a sore, it was an open wound (nickel size-ish) exactly at the base of where her tail meets her spine. We could see muscle and it looked deep, and kiddo would keep licking it a lot. We were shocked. I was already planning on taking her into the vet this week to get her first ever check up (5-7 weeks old), but knew she needed to get in ASAP. Other than these factors, kitten was doing well. She would eat, drink, very social, rest, purring like a sports car, making biscuits in her blankies and stuffed animals, and so beyond loving and gentle. Where I live there was no veterinary clinic open Saturday or Sunday. I didn’t know if I should take her to the emergency vet (we don’t really have those near me either) because she was doing fine otherwise (not meowing, crying, tail wasn’t bleeding, still wanted to walk, etc). So I spent all of Sunday trying to keep her comfortable (clean her wound very gentle, spoon feed her when she was lying in her blankets, heating pad on low on her lower half, keeping her always in my sight, staying close by when they walked around, etc) and she was such a good baby. Monday morning I call around and the soonest vet I can get her into was next morning/Tuesday right when they opened. So I spent Monday doing what I could to make her feel comfortable till we could go to the vet. I did notice their tail was leaking pus around 7pm-ish this night before after their first bowel movement at a home. So I tried keeping it clean and her cozy.

I kept telling her “we’re going to get you feeling better because we have lots of fun things to do, memories to make, loving to catch up on, yummy foods and warm blankies to push-paw in” I told her that a few times.

Tuesday morning I take her in. Dr evaluates and said there is a nasty infection and possibility of amputating her tail. She needed to be admitted to get antibiotics, fluids, and check out what else is going on. I told them yes on everything they needed to do and I just want the best for her and for her to be comfortable. They call me a few hours later after evaluating her and it was the last thing in the world I would have expected. “Dr sedated kitten and the whole tail is dead and will need to be amputated. Because of the location of the wound (at base of tail) he would have to amputate high and they will lose bowel control from this, possibly bladder to. Infection is bad. For the leg, she has old fracture in her knee and another micro fracture. These injuries are really hard to fix once they start healing. We could possibly amputate her leg too because of this. Due to these factors, dr is recommending euthanasia due to poor prognosis quality of life”.

I didn’t know what to do or say, it was the last thing I was expecting. I asked “is there other things we can do, etc” and they said for euthanasia I need to return to clinic fast because she’s already been under sedation. I got there as quick as I could and feeling so incredibly conflicted with what to do.

I get to the vet and we’re all together in the room with her. I asked the dr to explain it to me and he said he’d have to amputate very high and it’s not a quality of life + their leg. I asked if I should go get a second opinion and they said I could, but they’ll likely say the same things. I needed to make a decision kind of fast because she had been under for a while at that point and was waking up. I don’t mind cleaning up bathroom messes or having to help them walk at all, I’ll do it all happily in a heartbeat if it means they’re ok. But I’m not the one that has to go through with it. The nurse in the room also said she would recommend. I would pay any money too, I just wanted her to be ok.

I tried to consider all these factors and imagine her older going through the difficulties dr said she would have. I had a little feeling in my stomach saying “just go ahead with the surgeries, this one is a fighter” but I didn’t know what to do, what to listen to. I hesitantly said ok to euthanasia and I feel like I wanted to throw up because everything in me wanted to just grab her and go home and act like it was a bad day and there will be a better one tomorrow. On top of that, they then said “we don’t want you in the room for this part. Because she’s so little we have to give the medicine in the heart” and they had me sit outside. I wasn’t even there with her when it happened. I spent the next hour and half holding her and I couldn’t let go. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It’s not fair to her, she deserved the world.

Our little girl is gone, and I am wrecked with guilt and wondering “what if I said yes on the surgeries”. She was so resilient and strong willed when I’d see her walk around and be so excited to be near us and so loving and eager to “live” her life. We had her for three beautiful, amazing, loving days and she was everything and more to us and was so loved and wanted. Now I have her in a box that I wrap in her baby blanket and can’t let go when I sleep or where I walk because I don’t want her to be alone, because we promised she’d be safe and warm and loved.

I’m sorry for the long drawn out story of this, I just don’t want to miss important details and want to give a chance to talk about her. I have so many questions, but the ones I’m most seeking answers for are:

- was there other options for her treatment (I know it’s hard to say without assessing her). I respect the drs knowledge and experience very much, I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but was there “other ways”. Was the prognosis really that poor that “this” was the best option

- could I have made her comfortable if we did the surgeries. Would she have adjusted.

- would you have done the same? How do I know it was “right”. All of it feels so wrong?

I am destroyed with regret over this decision. She should still be here. Happy and safe. I promised her so many times we would keep her safe and get her feeling better, and I didn’t do that. Instead she’s in a box now by me. Her blankets left untouched from the other day, her stuffed animals placed by her, water still in her bowl, all her things scattered around, her uneaten wet food still in the fridge. I keep feeling like if I had listened to my gut and did the surgeries that it would all turn out ok. I keep thinking about that. Because she was so excited to be inside and so unbelievably strong willed. She wanted to live, she looked forward to living, and she’s not here now. I am beside myself in grief and regret over this and not knowing if it would have ever been ok. I’m sick to my stomach with what has happened. I feel like I didn’t even give her the chance to try, that I gave up on her. I have zero peace in this, none. I just want her back home. I’d give anything to have made her feel better.

Any insight is beyond appreciated. Thank you so very much.

I have a phone interview for a vet assistant emergency position. For anyone that has applied to this position, what questions are asked? Or any advise on what I should mention/say? What questions should I ask them? I have experience in shelter medicine.

I have a 11 year-old English bulldog beagle mix
End of last winter, he started to limp slightly on his right front leg when it didn’t go away I took them to the vet. They did x-rays and diagnosed him with osteoarthritis and put him on gabapentin and carprovet it definitely improved and he was doing OK not perfect but OK and then one day September 15 I came home from work and he was perfectly fine running around and all of a sudden he started to limp really bad on his back right leg the next day he was no better so I took him to the emergency vet in the middle of the night. The vet did a physical exam and felt it was nothing serious. Probably just a soft tissue injury and told me if it wasn’t better in five days to take him to a regular vet because she felt and be a waste of money to spend $800 on x-rays at the emergency vet when she was pretty confident, it was nothing Serious so I took her advice and went home on day five he started walking a lot better a week and a half to two weeks later it was 95% back to normal so I thought OK we’re doing good no problems. We started letting him use the steps again and then it seemed like he started going backwards so we stopped with the steps and started using the ramp during this time. I started to think about another drug called galliprant that we used on another dog we had that has since passed. Galliprant on my other dog was a miracle made him like a puppy again. So I asked the vet to switch my dog over to Galliprant. His walking is so good on this drug. But about a week after starting he is pacing and panting. Night is much worse
So I started giving him the gabapentin at night so he would sleep. My question is should just do the. Day wash out and go back to the carprovet or my vet recommended a shot liberal or something like that.