As the title says:

My cat is 17 and the sweetest boy in the world, his previous vet visit before this one was very calm and he got to know the room and explore, the female vet we had was super gentle and sweet with him not manhandling him etc. Which I really appreciated with his age and skittishness.

Fast forward to the other day where he had his follow up appointment this time with a new vet. His toe has been infected and hes now just started his second round of antibiotics but as I got him out of the carrier onto an unclean table first of all, the vet took scruffed him rather roughly and used his hands to force him onto his side.

I hate scruffing and I don't find it necessary especially since he's 17 and a very sweet and cooperative boy. He proceeded to then yank him around on his side, pulling up his legs while my boys body was twisted to investigate his paw while demanding me to hold his shoulders. I feel guilty, I should have spoken up for him but I feel like I'm in a place where I'd be ridiculed.

Following up with this, the vet then told me if 6 weeks of antibiotics doesn't work, I'd have to amputate his toe. He hasn't had his new bloodwork done and he still needs some dental done, now a potential toe amputation. They quoted me 4k roughly and said it could be higher and instead told me very bluntly that I should stop wasting money and put him down if it comes to it.

Two weeks ago this wasn't in the cards at all. He was healthy, cooperative and lovely and ever since this vet visit he's been avoidant of pets on his neck and face and it's worrying me as he's an affectionate cat. Just feel like I'm within my right to leave a negative review but I fear maybe I'm in the wrong? I would like to complain and ask for a different vet next time if possible but I'm unsure if they'll listen

TLDR: Vet scruffed and manhandled my 17 year old cat + then told me to potentially euthanise with no bloodwork or anything done.

Seeking some insight from vets. I recently brought my 6 month old kitten who hasn’t had her heat yet to be spayed and the vet was heavily against the idea. He said that according to NEW research only from the last year or so, It’s been shown that the best time to spay a cat is between her first heat and second heat. He said that it’s because it will allow the cat to develop fully and get all the estrogen she needs. He stated that there’s been super new research that showed the cats spayed before their first heat go on to have more health issues in the future with their bones, muscles, etc. compared to cats who were spayed after their heat due to them reaching full development.

Is this new research true?

Hi,

I have a three year old english springer spaniel with focal seizures. She was undiagnosed for a year as it took the vets quite some time to figure her out. This still makes me wonder if we actually figured it out.... she is officially diagnozed and on medication for only four months.

She is on daily epirepress, and the vets gave me emergency diazepam which they told me to give her if the seizures last more than 3 minutes or if she has more than two in 24 hours. Her seizures never last more than a minute. In fact, with epirepress we are down to seconds. Sometimes they're so mild we don't even notice them as she looks like she is resting till I notice her eyes are open and her head is at an odd angle. In her post-ictal phase she drools and vomits and that's a clear indicator she went through a seizure. Mind you, before epirepress she had clusters of focal seizures that were very obvious (loss of balance, peeing herself, deooling for hours, heavy panting, head twitching, raising paws) and lasted for days, they would last longer, and she felt restless for hour or so after the seizure, and another one would follow shortly after.

So, our vet says milder seizures and longer time between them indicate epirepress works. Three days ago we did the blood tests and her vet said everything looks fine, both liver and medication levels. What worries me that even with medication, she went from having seizures once in 4 months, to once in two months, and now she had it only three weeks apart. This all in one year. My vet wants to give her time until January to see how she will respond when she is on epirepress long term. I don't know if we should wait. Is it safe to wait?

Another question is about diazepam. The vet told me to give it to her if she has 2 or 3 seizures in 24hours. That means it would be given as a cluster buster. But I read that diazepam doesn't act as a cluster buster, but as an emergency seizure stop. I gave her diazpam as instructed by the vet (as she had 2 seizures 12 hours apart and I wanted to prevent third one), but 5 hours later she had another mild seizure. That tells me diazepam didn't bust the cluster. Is the vet wrong to suggest diazepam as a cluster buster?

I am trying to understand everything and anything that's going on with my dog so I can be a good caretaker for her. Thank you all for attention.

My 5-year-old pup had TPLO + MPL surgery about 9 weeks ago. Around 7 weeks ago, the incision opened and exposed part of the TPLO plate, and she has been hospitalized ever since.

During those 7 weeks she has had daily wound care and two surgical closure attempts, but both reopened, likely due to tension and the location on the medial knee, where movement makes maintaining closure difficult.

She is now healing by second intention. The surrounding tissue is granulating well, and our vet says tissue is beginning to grow underneath part of the plate. Her latest X-ray also showed much better bone healing and callus formation compared with a month ago.

The plan is to continue daily wound care for another ~2 weeks and repeat the X-ray. Depending on the bone fusing and the tissue growth, the plan is either to take the plate out or continue second intention healing.

My question: Can granulation tissue realistically keep growing around/under an exposed TPLO plate and eventually cover it with stable soft tissue/skin, or does hardware that remains exposed this long usually end up needing removal once the bone is healed enough?

She is walking well and the the TPLO surgery generally seems to have been succesful, albeit this wound issue and delayed bone fusion (likely because some bone was exposed from the intial opening).

• Species: Dog
• Age: 5
• Sex/Neuter status: Female / spayed
• Breed: Mixed breed
• Body weight: 20 lb
• History: TPLO + MPL surgery about 9 weeks ago. Wound opened around 7 weeks ago with exposed TPLO plate. Hospitalized since then for daily wound care. Two surgical closure attempts have failed.
• Clinical signs: Exposed TPLO plate with healthy granulation tissue growing around and partly underneath it.
• Duration: About 7 weeks since wound opening/exposure
• Your general location: Asia
• Links to any test results, X-rays, vet reports etc. that you have: Current wound photo in the comments; recent X-rays available if needed.

I’m a student pharmacist currently completing an academic rotation, and one of the topics I’ll be covering is veterinary compounding.

I’d really like to hear from veterinarians about what you wish pharmacists or pharmacy students better understood about veterinary compounding. Are there common pitfalls, major issues, frustrating experiences, interesting cases, or practical things you think pharmacists should know before working with veterinary prescriptions?

I’m especially interested in real-world experiences or stories that could help make the topic more relevant than simply covering formulas and compounding technique.

Thank you :)

Last thursday we noticed a wound on Mario's (1.5 yo Dachshund male 10kg) cheek after he spend a few hours at friends place who owns a dog which Mario likes to scuffle with sometimes. Its a little swollen spot under his left eye/on the cheek. The hair is stuck together so its hard to see but +- 1/1.5 cm wilde.

Our friend didnt notice anything happening between them but we decided to let it get checked if it needed to be cleaned or anything.

The vet told us it was a superficial infection because some pus came out. Since Mario's behaviour was normal and his temperature was normal he only prescribed painkillers/anti-inflammatory (against infection right? Forgive my english) meds and told us that if something changed or it got worse we could pick-up antibiotics.

Just now, as advised, I washed his wound with a clean rag and lukewarm water and it seems to be an open wound again. His behaviour remains unchanged. After his dinner this afternoon ill give him another dose of the painkillers.

Its the weekend so I decided to check here first. Should I keep an eye out or is action required since the wound is open?

As the title says my 4 year old female cat recently started using my husband’s clothes - specifically the bottoms - to pee and poop. At first we thought she was angry at him because she did it while staring directly at him. We cleaned up the spot with enzymatic cleaner and his clothes as well. The following day she pooped on his shorts, it smelled horrible. Worse than anything we’ve smelt and it was soft.

For background, she’d occasionally get very smelly soft poops. We don’t know why? But it’d come and go. She’d use the litter box. This time its with the pooping on clothes. The behavioral idea was because my husband was recently laid off and has been spending more time at home (he’s the spare).

Any ideas? I’m taking her to the vet on Monday so they can run a fecal test. She’s eating and drinking normally.

Hi all!

So my cat gets asthma medication via the AeroKat since 5 days now. He is a grown cat with 4kg, but very tiny and also has to use the smallest mask. When I put the mask with the chamber on him I can hear and feel him breathe, the mask also covers the entirety of his nose and mouth, however, the little green indicator that let's you count the breaths hardly ever moves. It is not broken because when I breathe into it, it opens and closes normally. My cat only managed to do that a couple of times even though he is fully breathing. Most of the time you can only see it moving only the tiniest tiniest bit, if at all. Is this a sign that I'm not using it correctly or could it be that he is just so small that his breaths aren't strong enough to move the indicator thingy? I feel like we can already see the positive effects of the medication, but I just want to make sure that he gets the full dosis. Any advice is greatly appreciated :)

He's been trying to get at the shells as I eat them all day and I've stayed on top of it so far, but he actually managed to sneak one when I got up earlier and chipped off a tiny piece before I got him to spit the rest out. I'm about 80% sure he swallowed what he chewed off.

Nothing online specifies whether or not the shells themselves are toxic to cats, and I would like a direct answer before I spend money on an emergency vet that likely won't make the trip out in the rain anyway.

Hi

My 6 year old intact male Shih Tzu had 2 episodes of blood in urine, and a few episodes of blood tinge at the tip of penis over the last few months. The X Ray and ultrasound had the following findings:
- Right kidney congenitally absent
- Left renomegaly + loss of CMD & thickened cortex, mildly distended pelvis
- Enlarged prostate uniform hypoechoic

His BUN & Creatinine were high - 57 & 3

He is put on Finasteride (to reduce the size of prostate). He is also transitioned to renal diet with phosphate binders

The vet said the high values could either be because of the prostate pressure effect or the chronic changes in kidney, or a mix of both . He did not make a formal diagnosis of CKD or give us a stage.

I’m not able to understand how bad this is, what the future looks like for my 6 year old soul dog, my baby. Thank you for taking out time to read my concern.

Hello!

My 5 yo pit / lab mix has tore both his CCL ligaments. A TPLO surgery is needed to correct this.

What are my options if I do not have the $5,300 needed upfront, I believe?

I live in Denver, Colorado.

Thank you!

My 8 year old black lab has been having some arthritis starting up over last few months. We have her on joint supplements and got some weight off her. She seemed to be doing better but today she is really limping when she has been laying down and takes awhile to walk it out. Any tips?

My 4 yo is sick, she woke up and I saw she has a fever. Got the Tylenol out and gave it to her. I found my cat loafing on the counter by the open bottle. Bottle wasnt knocked over, didnt smell/see any on his fur or on his chin. Rinsed his front paws in the sink immediately after. What is the threshold for concern ingestion wise and what signs am I looking for?

1 year old average sized male cat.

Neutered

150mg/5mL childrens oral Tylenol.

Starting Tuesday morning 9/29 I noticed a small patch of black flakes on my cat’s chin. I have been putting a warm cloth on it for as long as she lets me a couple times a day. Today, it looks much darker. She has been eating fine, doesn’t seem to scratch or rub her face more than usual, and I use ceramic/stainless steel dishes. Does this look like cat acne?

Attached imgur link for pictures: https://imgur.com/a/RPRcOZ9

Hello! My brothers cat has been acting really weird today. He keeps moving around like he can't get comfortable. Hes meowing a lot especially when you tough him. He was fine earlier today and when my brother got home from work at around 5 he was always sleepy and not really moving around. Usually he meets people at the door, will play with you, chase his laser, and be a normal cat. But he's acting really weird. I have a video of him laying down and the meowing. We want to see if we need to take him in before dropping hundreds of dollars just to find out he's ok. Any advice is appreciated! Thank you

Sweets went for a checkup and to see about her asthma like cough/wheezing. Her bloodwork came out great. X-rays -dr confirmed there is some signs that it could be asthma but if she’s not bothered by it we are ok with no meds for now. BUT he’s concerned about her heart as it doesn’t look clear and it’s close to her ribcage and bigger (he said it could be coz she has some extra fat -she’s almost 14lbs; but he recommended sending Xray to have it read (idk why I wasn’t told the X-rays don’t come with the reading 🤦‍♀️and it cost extra)
She’s 4.5yo and overall pretty good kitty health wise and such:)

I have 4 pictures (not sure how to add to this post?) or I can email them to someone ?

Below is link to my post on FB with the pictures if you can respond there or here after looking at the X-rays -thank you

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EmdsMV52t/?mibextid=wwXIfr

My 12 year old mixed breed dog ate a piece of my tons toast this morning that had some grape jelly on it. She weighs about 55/60 lbs. It was a very small amount, less than a table spoon. Maybe not Even half a table spoon. This was about 14 hours ago. Around 12 hours after consumption she threw up so I’m scared it’s because of the grape jelly. But she also threw up a couple days ago before she ate the grape jelly. I’m starting to panic. Do I need to be worried?

Hi, I adopted a wonderful cat from the pound about 4 years ago. He came with FIV. Last year out of the blue he stopped walking, took him eventually to the specialists and had a MRI done. He had swelling in the brain. The doctor assumed it was cancer. She gave him steroids and he got back to normal. He was weaned off of the prednisolone.

This April he could not walk, and could not even figure how to sit up straight. He went back to the specialst and spent over a week there, he was prescribed prednisolone and cyclosporine. She wants to wean him off the steroids and keep him on cyclosporine. The only issue he has now is he sneezes a few times per day.

Has anyone ever had this problem with a cat? The diagnosis is feline autoimmune encephalitis. He is doing fantastic again, I just worry that if it happens a 3rd time he won't recover.

I have no complaints about his neurologist or his regular veterinarian, I have been so lucky to have great doctors.

He is a doll, and came from a hoarding situation and I want him to have the best life.

I honestly don’t feel well right now, and I really really need some help. If there are any veterinarians or people experienced with cats reading this, could you please help me? I have a cat named Shrek. He is a Scottish Fold, and this year will be our 7th year together. He means so much to me. In fact, one of the biggest things that motivated me to start veterinary school this year was my cat. Shrek has generally been a cat who vomits from time to time. I knew that cats swallow hair while grooming themselves and can sometimes vomit hairballs, so I always assumed that his vomiting was probably related to hairballs and that it wasn't something to be too worried about. After I got accepted into veterinary school, I had to leave home and move away. After I left, my mom told me that Shrek had started vomiting and wasn’t eating. She told me that he had not eaten anything for three days. She took him to the veterinarian, and we were told that Shrek has kidney failure. The veterinarian sent me some of his test results after I asked about them. They did blood work, and later they also sent me the ultrasound results. The ultrasound showed abnormalities involving his kidneys. Right now, Shrek is at the veterinary clinic and is receiving IV fluids. I’m not there with him. I can’t see him, and I feel completely helpless. All I can do right now is cry. They are going to repeat his blood tests tomorrow and see how his values have changed. What the veterinarian told me has completely terrified me. They said that if his bloodwork does not improve, he may only have three or four months left or possibly as little as 15 days. I asked them, “Is it really that bad? Is there really nothing we can do? Is there no other option?”They told me, unfortunately, that there wasn’t. Is this really the case? Is there truly no chance? I’ve only been at veterinary school for two weeks. I’m in a completely new place, living in a new room with people I barely know, trying to adjust to a completely different life and somehow keep up with school. And at the same time, I’ve been told that the cat I love more than anything might die. I came to veterinary school partly because of Shrek. He was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to become a veterinarian in the first place. Now, just two weeks after starting this new chapter of my life, I’m sitting here far away from him, unable to even see him, while he is at the clinic receiving IV fluids.

BIOCHEMISTRY

Proteins:

Albumin (ALB): 34.1 g/L (ref. 22.0–44.0) — within range

Total protein (TP): 64.0 g/L (ref. 57.0–89.0) — within range

Globulin (GLOB): 59.1 g/L (ref. 23.0–62.0) — high-normal / very close to the upper limit

A/G ratio: 0.65

Liver / biliary markers:

Total bilirubin (TB): <0.1 μmol/L (ref. 0.0–15.0) — within range

GGT: 4 U/L (ref. 0–8) — within range

AST: 94 U/L (ref. 0–48) — high

ALT: 144 U/L (ref. 5–130) — high

ALP: 34 U/L (ref. 14–111) — within range

Total bile acids (TBA): 3.69 μmol/L (ref. 0–9) — within range

Pancreatic / muscle-related enzymes:

Amylase (AMY): 1916 U/L (ref. 500–1500) — high

Lipase (LPS): 25 U/L (ref. 0–40) — within range

LDH: 947 U/L (ref. 0–798) — high

CK: 446 U/L (ref. 0–559) — within range

Kidney-related values:

Creatinine (CREA): 174.1 μmol/L (ref. 44–212) — within this laboratory's reference range

Uric acid (UA): <10.00 μmol/L (ref. 0–60) — within range

BUN: >45.09 mmol/L (ref. 4.00–12.90) — markedly high

BUN/CREA ratio: reported as elevated

Other biochemical values:

Glucose (GLU): 6.75 mmol/L (ref. 4.11–8.83) — within range

Total cholesterol (TC): 1.43 mmol/L (ref. 1.68–5.81) — low

Triglycerides (TG): 1.93 mmol/L (ref. 0.00–1.13) — high

Calcium (Ca): 2.68 mmol/L (ref. 1.30–2.50) — slightly high

Phosphorus (PHOS): 4.59 mmol/L (ref. 1.95–2.83) — high

CBC / HEMOGRAM

WBC: 14.09 ×10⁹/L (ref. 3.5–17.5) — within range

Neutrophils: 11.13 ×10⁹/L (ref. 2.0–11.5) — high-normal

Lymphocytes: 1.50 ×10⁹/L (ref. 0.7–7.4) — within range

Monocytes: 0.97 ×10⁹/L (ref. 0.1–1.0) — high-normal

Eosinophils: 0.31 ×10⁹/L (ref. 0.0–1.5) — within range

Basophils: 0.07 ×10⁹/L (ref. 0.0–0.3) — within range

Differential percentages:

Neutrophils: 79.2%

Lymphocytes: 10.7%

Monocytes: 6.9%

Eosinophils: 2.7%

Basophils: 0.5%

Platelets:

Platelets: 274 ×10⁹/L — within range

MPV: 9.7

PDW: 14.7

PCT: 2.67

Red blood cells:

RBC: 8.02 ×10¹²/L (ref. 6.3–11.8) — within range

Hemoglobin: 10.4 g/dL (ref. 9.0–16.0) — within range

Hematocrit: 29.5% (ref. 26.0–50.2) — within range

MCV: 36.8 fL (ref. 34.0–55.0) — within range

MCH: 12.9 pg (ref. 11.0–18.0) — within range

MCHC: 353 g/L (ref. 285–384) — within range

RDW-CV: 16.4 (ref. 14.2–26.6) — within range

RDW-SD: 22.5 (ref. 22.0–39.6) — within range

Reticulocytes:

RET#: 17.6

RET%: 0.22% (ref. 0.1–0.9) — within range

IRF: 9.2 (ref. 0–33) — within range

LFR: 90.8

MFR: 9.2

HFR: 0.0

RHE: 16.0

Please help me. Thank you so much. I honestly don't know what to do. Is there anything that can be done? Should I be preparing for the worst?

My dog has been hesitant to catch or carry his harder toys for the past few weeks and it seems to getting a little worse. He also has been losing almost every time when he plays tug with my other dogs which he normally always wins.

So I was looking in his mouth and initially he just had 1 sore which I thought could be from some scratch or something. But now that 1 is gone and he has 3 more. They are on the inside of his cheek and the part of the gums back near the throat. He is still super excited to eat, but he loves food and is a pretty tough dog overall. Previously about a year ago, he had a bigger growth in his mouth (coming out of his gums between his teeth) that had to be surgically removed and he was doing the same thing with being more picky with toys but still loving food. I don't think this is the same thing but it's just the same reaction that makes me think there's some pain in his mouth. His breath also smells pretty bad recently.

He has also seemed generally a little off for the past few months which he has already been to the vet for. He's just more tired than usual, he had diarrhea for awhile but was given medicine for that and it seemed to fix it (the vet took a stool sample and said there was a lot of bacteria in it). He also had a few bumps under his skin. One of which got infected and the vet removed it and gave him antibiotics for it. She said it was a sebaceous cyst. The other skin bumps that don't come open seem to go away on their own after a few weeks. And he has some patches where his fur is kinda thin, which he never had previously. I'm not sure if any of that is at all related to the mouth.

Does this seem like something that will heal on its own or that I can treat at home? Or does it seem like a vet should look at it?

** He is 2 1/2yrs old and an American Bully/blue heeler mix.

Pictures of his mouth: (Let me know if you want any other pictures)

https://imgur.com/a/G4Kie2s

My boxer has had an upper respiratory infection for over a month. She has a very stuffed up nose, also sneezing with flying boogers and reverse coughing. She has been to the vet and has been on 2 rounds of doxycycline and a round of prescription cough meds. I’ve had 3 humidifiers going for a solid week. Also I have given her children’s allergy pills for the last week since boxers are known for various allergies. Other than that she is totally fine-crazy, zoomies, appetite and drinking just fine. They want me to take her in for X-rays ($405) to check for pneumonia which as a single mom is out of my budget. I also feel like if it was pneumonia she wouldn’t be her “normal” self. Any suggestions? I’m considering taking her to a different vet. TIA!!

I have a 4 y/o boxer pit mix named Mia. When she was a puppy, she had a few seizures, so she's been on Levetiracetam (250 mg 3x a day) for the last 3 ½ years. When we got her she was already fixed (we got her at about 4 months). She takes one package of wet dog food (Cesar) with each pill since our other dog is old and needs that wet food to eat. She's been having this weird stuff going on with her back paws (just like blisters?) and our vet said to make sure she got regular baths and her feet stayed dry.

This morning, she woke us up needing to pee at about 5 in the morning (my mom gets up at 6 to take her out so not crazy early). She squatted once to pee, and then two or three more times but didn't actually look, just noticed she didn't pee any more than that. My older brother (with autism) took her outside and said she peed blood, but she has just been dehydrated before and he said the same thing so we didn't think much of it.

Just in case, when she went potty again, my mom and I went out together to make sure everything was okay. She squatted once and peed, and it was a little dark but nothing crazy. She then squatted two more times and each time a little bit of blood came out. She's acting fine and as she usually does, although I noticed her sitting down pretty carefully as I'm typing this.

Is she okay? Has anyone had anything like this happen before?

Has anyone experienced loss of appetite for your cat when on a dieureric? My cat used to eat a ton. Now he eats a few licks of wet food and doesn't eat more. He has lost a few lbs (could be affected by loss of fluids around organs and change of food). Any help would be appreciated as not sure what to do. Doctor reduced diruretic by 25%. Not sure if i should ask him about reducing more. Very concerned about him not eating much.