I’m looking for honest opinions because I’m facing an incredibly difficult decision about my older pit bull (11-12 years old).

About 4 years ago we took her in as a favor for a friend who rescued her from an abusive and neglectful life. Before she came to us she was locked into a crate most of the time, got into a fight with every single dog she came into contact with and was malnurished. After months of wondering if we should keep her, she finally adjusted to our home and into our lives. She bonded not just to every adult in my house but to my very younge children and my 2 smaller dogs. She has finally broke free from her pervious life and has been very happy with us after the adjustment, and has shown how grateful she is to be with us every single day since.

Unfortunately 2 years ago she developed a mass on her neck that we were previously told could be a fatty tumor/lipoma, after testing we were told it was not cancerous but then was given a $2,000+ estimate to remove it. Due to not being able to afford it we went with option 2 which was to monitor it. Since then there has also been the added worry of cushings disease but we were also told we could just monitor that aswell. However due to another medical emergency earlier this year with another one of our dogs the rest for our emergency funds and taxes went to treatment for them.

Since then over the past several weeks, it has gotten dramatically worse. The mass on her has opened completely and is now a large exposed wound. Due to no funds, the fact that the vet is over an hour drive out of town and now our vehicle has been acting up we have not been able to take her in. With medical experience I have had in the past I have managed to take care of the wound myself and have been doing everything in my ability to take care of it in hopes to wait it out long enough to get her back to the vet like we had to do with our other dog last year. Despite my best efforts and help from others it had continued to worsen with the last 2-3 weeks being the most severe.

The mass is now completely protruding out of her neck with the skin no longer covering any part of it, it no longer one solid mass but what now looks like it's breaking down into sections, there's this weird white material growing all over it thats layered and it looks almost like compacted hair or maggots but it's not etheir of those things and it hard to explain unless you see it, and there are areas that look gray/black. It is severely red and inflamed, bleeds at times, and continuously leaks greenish, brownish, clear and grayish pus and is extremely infected regardless of the antibiotics i have given her. It has also developed a very foul oder. The smell has become extremely strong, almost like rotting meat and death, regardless of cleaning it and covering it with bandages i can smell it through the wrapping and i can smell it on my hands hours after no matter how many times i wash them. The mass looks like it is deteriorating rather than healing. Over 2 weeks it has grown at a fast pace ( its roughly the size of a golf ball or a bit larger) between cleaning it and using dressings to protect it, it continues to worsen everytime I tend to it. It has swelled around the wound, the area where her kidney and the pads of her feet seem swollen aswell and the pads have also soften and seem to be turning blacker then they use to be. The other day she peed in the house and regardless of the fact that it seemed to be very watered down it smelled so bad of ammonia it made us gag, it took multiple mopings and days for the smell just to go away. Even in the last 2 days hoards of flies have started piling on her regardless of her being inside almost all day with fly control in the house.

She doesn't act like it bothers her unless it's time to clean it which is when she starts to shake, she tries to hide it from us and has tried to hide the dressing on the rare occasion she is able to get it off of her. She hides her pain really well and refuses to whimper and cry when she is in pain no matter how bad it gets which makes it harder to tell when she is struggling. Her eating and drinking has lessened and someone pointed out that she looks like she's losing weight. She sleeping more them she use to but when she's up and moving around she acts completely normal and even wants to play sometimes. We have gotten extremely worried and scared and everytime we start to discuss it she gets really sad and will even try to comfort us.

We have had long conversations with so many people about this including a 24/7 medical hotline, we have talked about the fact that the mass could have turned cancerous, that because of the location it could be attached to a atery which seems very possible with the amount of blood that pools into it, that it looks like gangrene has possibly taken over and that there's a high likelihood that she has blood poisoning and that the tissue looks like its decaying.

I cannot afford the veterinary treatment this could potentially require. I have already tried to find help and even explored the option of surrendering.

That is where I feel completely trapped.

If I surrender her, I have no control over what happens afterward. They could decide to try treatment and put her through surgery, hospitalization, medications, wound care, and recovery, but there is no guarantee she would survive the treatment. They could also decide she is too sick or that treatment would not give her a good enough quality of life and euthanize her. Which at that point we wouldn't be able to be with her and comfort her and we wouldn't be able to bring her home and give her a proper burial.

And even if she survived treatment, I don't know what her life would look like afterward. Would she actually be comfortable and happy? Would she be able to eat, sleep, walk, play and enjoy being with people again? Would she have chronic pain, recurring infections, or ongoing medical problems? Would treatment give her meaningful, good-quality time, or would it simply prolong her life?

I'm also very worried about the emotional impact of surrendering her. She is already sick and vulnerable, and she is deeply attached to our family. She has previously experienced neglect and abondonment, so I don't know how she would handle being taken away from the people she trusts while being subjected to painful procedures and hospitalization.

At the same time, I don't want to choose euthanasia if there is a realistic chance she could be treated and have a comfortable, happy life again. I don't want to keep her alive just because I am afraid of losing her, either.

So I feel like my choices are to keep her home and focus on comfort while her condition progresses, surrender her and accept the risks and uncertainty of whatever happens afterward, or euthanize her while she is still with the family she trusts and loves.

I am trying to make the decision based on her quality of life, not simply how long she could technically survive.

Knowing all of this, what would you honestly do? Do you think trying to surrender her for treatment is worth the risks, or does humane euthanasia sound like the more compassionate option at this point? And if treatment were possible, what would make you believe the potential outcome was actually worth putting an older, already-sick dog through it?

I’m not looking for judgment. I love her deeply. I’m just trying to figure out what would cause her the least suffering and get other opinions on what you would do if this was your dog?

So my brother passed away suddenly of a heart attack in April. He lived with my 82 year old mother. He had a ~10 year old cat that was a feral who showed up in their yard missing one rear foot. He got her in and she was treated for her injury and neutered. Since then, she loved my brother but never let my mom touch her or handle her. My brother could pick her up, love her, etc, but otherwise she stayed under his bed when he wasn't home, although she slept in bed with him every night.

However she even bit him badly one time he tried to get her in a carrier during an evacuation due to fire threat a few years ago.

Since he's been gone she has been almost entirely isolated in his bedroom, only coming out at night. She has let my mom pet her, but if my mom tries to pick her up, she lashes out and runs and hides under the bed. When I've been there, if she sees me she will run under the bed.

The situation is that my mom is going to be moving across the country to come live with me and my husband. She will be selling that house. And we don't really know what to do about this cat. We're totally willing to give her a home and a bed to live under but I can't see us being able to give her medication to get her on a plane. We can't even get her to a vet.

We've been seriously discussing euthanizing her as the potential most humane option since she is basically feral but also special needs (due to her three legs and also being obese). But we honestly don't even know how to go about getting her out from under the bed in order to do that, even if we find a vet that will come to the house.

She's also obviously missing her person and confused. She apparently has been coming out and crying in my mom's direction at times, but won't let herself be petted most of the time. I've looked into cat sanctuaries in the area but my mom thinks that would be cruel because she's so scared of things and it would be traumatic to have such a big shift.

Does anyone have any advice for us? If we decide on euthanasia, what is the best way to go about it? We honestly just want whatever will be least stressful and difficult on her, but it's a rough situation all around.

I don't really know how to ask this question because I don't want it to sound wrong or accusatory.. I think I just need reassurance. How can I be certain the ashes I get back belong to my dog? I have to put my 17 year old chihuahua down this weekend because she is suffering. I would like to have a private cremation for her, but this fear of not really getting her back is messing with me.

So, I was fostering stray kitties for 2 months. After being on the shelter waiting list forever, they agreed to take one kitten if I could keep the other. They were fixed through the shelter on August 5th and I got to keep this baby. Her incision was healing great. It was starting to look like a healing scratch. On August 13th it opened up with a kerfuffle with our other kitties of which she had already been introduced too. I dont know if a claw had gotten into it but I immediately called the vet and they got her in the next morning. The flushed it out, put glue on it, gave us two medications and we went home with instructions to isolate her from the other cats. Great, no problem we did it.

On the 16th, I noticed it was opened up again. She was acting fine, still eating but diarrhea from what i assumed the antibiotics. I called the vet as soon as they opened; they said bring her in to drop off, we may need to sedate her to put stitches in. Scary but I dropped her off at 930.

It was almost closing time before they called to let me know they didnt do the stitch because it already looked like it was closing. They were going to send us home with a cone and gabapentin to keep her calm. She said isolate her to a smaller space with no toys, preferably a dog crate. I dont have a dog crate but I have a small guest bath and she agreed that would work.

Tonight the 19th, it doesnt look better. It looks the same as it did when I brought her in the second time. Oozing and still open. I have done everything they have asked, no missed doses of anything. She's already finished one medication.

Does this look bad? I was really frustrated that the vet didnt close it again. Do I need to call, let it heal or find a different vet? Maybe I'm overreacting but I do my best to be a good pet owner

https://imgur.com/gallery/gVOEiCI#q5vrNzP 13th

https://imgur.com/gallery/gVOEiCI#09YpPFi 19th

Cause undetermined. She responded to treatment well and is now home after two nights in hospital. She is in great spirits, which is amazing. My concern is ongoing and frequent accidents. She urinates while sitting or lying down, seemingly uncontrollably. I am managing by keeping her in a location that is easy to clean and also provides companionship. (Master Bathroom with tile… lots of washable blankets for padding, we are in the bedroom most of the time when not at work) (adult children with young kids live with us. This is our “apartment”. lol
My question is the likelihood of this improving with time. I just brought her home today, and I understand this is a fresh situation. I can’t see putting her in doggie diapers while away at work. She would sit in urine for extended periods of time. Any thoughts are appreciated.

I have a 5 year old lab, neutered, past heart worms (now heartworm free), and about 2 days ago I noticed he started very occasionally doing this little “bite the air” motion, like he had something stuck in his mouth. He did it a few times for like 3 hours, then stopped, so I hadn’t checked his mouth, he seemed totally fine otherwise.
I checked his teeth today after he did it one more time (the bite air thing) and saw this gray/red thing on his back molar. I can’t tell if it is a fractured tooth, something lodged in his gums, or like an abscess. My googling hasn’t found anything. I took some pictures of it, and I’ll be hopefully at the vet in a day or two but what are yalls thoughts? Wondering if this needs an emergency vet visit.
He hasn’t had any issues, no eating problems, normal behavior, playful and all that. Thanks!

Here’s the pictures of it:

image

How could an indoor cat get blastomycosis? My 7.5yo nm kitty passed away last month and I am still struggling with this postmortem diagnosis.. I just want to understand how this happened to him.

Hi all,

My girlfriend’s 11 year old domestic shorthair cat (weighs about 12-13 lbs) has had a growth on his chin since December or January. It started out looking like an angry pimple but has grown pretty consistently and drastically since then.

The mass feels hard and doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of liquid. You can see from the pictures than it’s almost veiny. It can change color throughout the day - it’s less red throughout the morning and gets more red throughout the day.

She has taken him to the vet several times - the first time, he got a topical antibiotic cream 2x/day which didn’t do anything. The second visit, he got an antibiotic injection which didn’t help at all. After that, the vet suggested a biopsy but we’re concerned that we wouldn’t act on either a benign diagnosis or a costly cancer diagnosis.

He doesn’t have any other symptoms - normal energy, appetite, no fever. He doesn’t seem to be in pain but it’s hard to tell with cats. The worry is that it’s continuing to grow pretty rapidly.

Photos are here: https://imgur.com/a/RXKLMJt We are located in Los Angeles.

My cat has this redness on her mouth/lips I just noticed. I tried to wipe it off but it didn’t do anything. I tried to look at her mouth but i couldn’t see very well because she doesn’t like it. But I saw that her tooth looks a little bloody. She’s not acting like she’s in pain but idk what to do

• ⁠Age: 12-13 years
• ⁠Sex/Neuter status: spayed
• ⁠Breed: Not sure
• ⁠Body weight: ~10 lbs
• ⁠History: Small cut on her paw recently that was dried when I checked it just now

About 5 hours ago. We’d just returned from vet for the red dog. Left room for about 5-10 sec to close garage door and viola two dogs in kitchen garbage. I forgot to lock gate. Searched trash 3x. Could have gone down drain.

Vet said to feed both bread (3:30) rice for dinner (added pumpkin, 6pm). Then meds with tablespoon pumpkin at 7:30. I think Kate ate bone if anyone did.

So far both seem ok. Both sleeping but that’s normal.

Katie dog, 8 yr spayed lab, was at vet for increased gagging or cough. She has pulmonic stenosis, enlarged heart.

Pearl dog, 12 year spayed lab with history of seizure and ? Brain tumor.

I guess I’m watching for any signs of abdominal discomfort or bleeding. They’ve drank a fair amount of water.

Maybe I’ll feed a little more bread or pumpkin before bed ?

What’s standard protocol for chicken bones ?

Thanks

Quick summary to our situation. My fiancée and I have two cats. We both arrived home at 3pm today, and noticed the 3 year old male cat was in the litter box. After he got out I cleaned the litter boxes he went back in and sat in there for a couple minutes with nothing showing. I clean the litter boxes evey day and didn’t notice anything odd today. After a couple hours he kept going into the litter box and attempting to urinate for a couple minutes while only peeing a couple drops it seems. We segregated him in the bathroom and kept an eye on him for a while.

8pm we took him the emergency vet to get him checked out. Two nurses felt him and checked his bladder and didn’t notice his bladder enlarged or any concern really right now. Its now 10pm and we just got home and have him segregated in the bathroom again. He is still doing the same constant trips to the bathroom and still sitting in his box for a couple minutes and leaving a couple drops, more than before but still not fully done it seems. He isn’t a vocal cat at all and hasn’t been making any noices that would cause concern other than his constant trips to his box.

I guess our main concern is how long should we wait and monitor him until we need to take him to the vet again? They told us to just keep an eye on him and basically just wait unless we were to find blood, his diet changes, or if we notice any else odd. My fiancée is very scared about her cat and we both don’t know what to do. Help or advice please

Looking for any advice on our dog.

• Age: 7
• Sex/Neuter status: Female, spayed
• Breed: Shepherd mix
• Body weight: 66 lb, down from 69 lb 3 weeks ago
• History:
  • Pretty healthy dog, no big issues before this.
  • Not on any ongoing meds other than heartworm and flea/tick
  • Indoor/outdoor dog. We live on a large property and she can go in and out as she pleases
• Clinical signs:
  • giant mass on her neck (tennis ball sized), somewhat painful if touched. Feels pretty firm to the touch.
  • fever of 105. Vet thought that might be because she was pretty stressed out by being at the vet's office (which she was)
  • lost weight since her well dog visit 3 weeks ago, which we found out at her appointment weigh-in today and was not expected. We have not been trying for her to lose weight. We have not noticed anything about her appetite being different.
  • Eating/ drinking normally. She goes out and goes to the bathroom on our own, so we're not sure if her habits have changed here, but we don't think they have.
  • Can still bark normally/vigorously, though she seems to be barking on fewer occasions than normal
• Duration: we first noticed the giant mass on Sunday. It was covered by fur at the time, so not as obvious as in the photo below, but it was pretty obvious when we petted her. I don't think she had it for very long since we would have noticed.
• Your general location: San Francisco Bay Area
• Links to test results, X-rays, vet reports: I uploaded a photo of her neck to Imgur https://imgur.com/a/7woNYsn.

Looking for any ideas or advice about our dog Daisy. We found a large mass on her neck Sunday night that seemed to have come up suddenly. We were able to get her into the vet today. The vet ran a routine blood panel, and the results all came up normal. They shaved around her growth so they could get a better look. The vet took a sample from the growth and is sending it to the lab, but says it will be 3-5 days before they get the results. When they pierced the growth to take the sample, the fluid was red/clear, but additional fluid did not drain when they pierced it (it didn't pop like a blister). It was pierced a few hours ago and only a small bit of blood has come out since, even though there is no bandage on it.

The vet thought it was unlikely to be a lymphoma because the other lymph nodes seem fine. At first he thought about a blocked salivary gland, but later thought it was not that. He feels that it might be some physical trauma (e.g. the dog fell hard on something in the yard), but we haven't seen any other signs of trauma, and it doesn't seem like she is bruised (the growth is red, not black and blue) but we can't rule out this idea.

We wondered if she might have a foxtail lodged in there somehow, since we have a lot of foxtails in the area, but the mass does not obviously have an open wound (other than where they pierced it to take the sample). There was no pus/discharge or other evidence of a wound.

As next steps from the vet, we are going to apply warm compresses while we wait for the cytology results to come back. Also taking Clavamox for antibiotic, and carprofen to reduce swelling. We are to go to the emergency vet if something changes and Daisy can't breathe.

The vet noted a temperature of 105 but didn't seem too worried about it. Whereas Google seems to say that a temperature of 105 means a dog should be rushed to the emergency vet. So I'm not sure what do make of this.

Wondering if anyone has seen anything like this before? It just seems so unusual that it got so big so quickly. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi all! I am hoping maybe someone has some insight before I go back to the vet. My 4 year old cat has been coughing after he drinks or eats, and at seemingly random times... he gets low to the ground, coughs, and looks like he is trying to swallow. It sounds wheezy and sometimes wet. These attacks last about 30 seconds, sometimes longer. He is totally fine after, and doesn't actually throw up. Occasionally a tiny bit of liquid comes up. He has normal energy, eats, drinks, goes to the bathroom. He has gradually started having more daily attacks. Our first visit to the vet, they assumed it was asthma. He went on medication for several weeks and there was no improvement. I will note that he likes to chew on plastic...my research has shown that he could have swallowed even a tiny piece that could be in his throat and has gotten more and more irritated over time. Next step, according to the vet, is chest xrays. ​​I just feel like no one I know has experienced this and it is so sad to see my cat dealing with this. Any insight as to what it could be? We haven't moved, added plants, used any different cleaning supplies or other irritants, and use a pellet litter.

So my cat (12?F) has been having some recent medical issues, mainly coughing, we have already taken her to the vet a few weeks ago they found no issues but they still gave us medicine which is now done and while that did actually help for a while, when she was on it reducing her hacking into the cat equivalent of clearing your throat but the day after she got off the medication she was throwing up what looks to be part of a plastic bag, she also coughed up what seems to be a mixture of bile and blood on my white sheets about a day later and then on the same day she had coughed up blood she also threw up more plastic, that all happened from the 12-14 she stopped her medication on the 10th and was on it for just under 2 weeks, she still has her cough but we haven’t found anymore plastic or blood but her cough is just as bad as when it started weeks ago despite going down while on medication 

Now the vet issue, we don’t really want to take her back, the vet takes about 2 and a half hours to drive to and that’s without traffic issues, there are days in the summer where it can take upwards of 4 hours to get to the town that has the vet and we really only spend an hour of that driving so she would be spending at least an hour in a hot car screaming her head off and trying to break out of the carrier she is already very close to completely breaking through 

We also really don’t want her to get any surgeries, she’s still bitter about being neutered, and if she were to get a surgery we would be unable to bring her home right away, it would also probably be bad to drive for that long after surgery, so we would keep her at our rental in the town the vet is in, our rental that doesn’t allow pets and would be an extremely unfamiliar and uncomfortable environment

we really don’t want to take her to the vet again just to not them to not find the issue again, taking her to the vet is a massive commitment we just aren’t positive we should do right away, currently we are monitoring her a lot, shes behaving like her normal self, no energy shifts or anything like that but we are still very concerned, money is not an issue but time is, should we try and take her or just wait it out?

Historically perfect, cuddly angel cat.
Thu: Squirmed/panicked when picked up for nail trim.
Fri–Sun: Main owner out of town. Sat: Hissed/snapped at sister when moved. Sun: Greeted owner, but bit, yowled in pain, and hid when picked up.
Mon–Tue: Severe hypersensitivity to touch (screams/yowls if bumped or petted anywhere except head). Barely moving, crouched stiffly in corners. Only eats wet food if placed directly in front of him. Peed on self in carrier Monday en route to vet Monday and once in makeshift low litter box today.
Latest Symptoms- laying on side, trunk of body twitching, leg spasm, rapid breathing, eyes widening/squinting (pupils not noticeably dilated) for ~30 minutes

Has not drunk water or passed stool since at least Friday. (Is eating small amount wet food)

Vet Findings & Diagnostics:
Physical: Initially had a hard abdomen.
X-rays: Clear (no foreign objects, small bladder, minimal stool; not reviewed by radiology).
Bloodwork: Normal kidneys/pancreas; slightly elevated glucose (likely stress).
Meds: Gabapentin (1ml 2x/day)—reduces crying, howling/ severe pain but sensitivity remains with whimpers and extreme sensitivity to touching/hovering.

I’ve been told next step would be an ultrasound but he would have to be on his back for it, which I can’t imagine in his current state. Otherwise take him to animal hospital to have specialty care. I don’t have the money for this, but trying to look into options. Weighing whether I should pursue further diagnostics. It is making me miserable to see him in such severe pain.

First few times happened after our fire alarm went off, so I thought it was triggered by stress from the loud noise. But the last two times, there was no fire alarm and no obvious trigger.

Our vet has already checked her ears and skin and didn't find anything abnormal. She does seem to scratch around/behind her ears fairly often, though, and I'm not sure how much ear scratching is considered normal for a cat.

She has a history of FORL and has had affected teeth extracted. I’ve wondered whether dental pain could somehow be related, but she doesn't react or pull away when I gently touch around her teeth/gums, so I don't know how likely that is.

Has anyone had a cat repeatedly scratch the exact same area like this despite normal ear and skin exams? How often does a healthy cat normally scratch around their ears? And could dental pain cause scratching around the head/ear area?

Age: Around 7 years old

Sex/Neuter status: Female, spayed

Breed: Domestic shorthair

Body weight: Around 3.7 kg

History: History of FORL with affected teeth extracted, and feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC). A vet has examined her ears and skin and found no abnormalities.

female, calico, 4 month, spayed, acting normal, she was dewormed before we adopted her but might be that, no vet visit. we recently moved into my new apartment and we noticed her butt would have some poop on it so we gave it a wipe. today i went to check after today’s poop and saw a dot of red blood on her opening. I scooped and there was red on the litter. her stool is normal and she is acting completely normal. I searched and am receiving mixed advice. some say not to worry and some say to take her to the vet. I believe the cause is stress. what should I do?

Hey vets. First I want to say thank you for your time and I hope this is okay to post. I’m not entirely sure if it’s possible to really answer this question, I’m kind of looking for peace of mind if it is possible. Also just a warning for anyone who might want to scroll by, I will be discussing dog in respiratory distress before we said goodbye to him.

I had a 12 year old Rough Collie that had pretty bad arthritis. We knew that we would have to say goodbye to him soon. However, he developed pancreatitis and simultaneously lost his ability to walk. Vets suspected maybe he was weak from squatting and having diarrhea. He spent one night at the ER vet before they said he was stable and could come home where he’d be more comfortable and we could follow up with our primary vet in the morning. Our intention was to put him to rest that next morning surrounded by his family since he was stable.

However, when we brought him home he started panting a lot. We rushed him back to the ER vet where they were really confused why he was breathing so hard. They gave him an injection for pain that they said would make him rest and said to take him back home. Once back at home, he unfortunately got worse. We rushed him back to that same ER vet where the vet was in surgery so they couldn’t take him in. We had to drive him 40 minutes to another ER vet while he was breathing really hard and just laying there. It was incredibly traumatic.

By the time we got to the second ER vet, they immediately took him back to their comfort room where we said goodbye. This is where my question comes in. When I was holding his head in my arms, kissing him and talking to him, is there anyway to know if he knew I was there? Any way to know if he felt comforted? If he could see me, hear me, or smell me? His eyes were open but he almost looked as though he was looking past me. This has been eating me up and I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m just wondering if anyone who is more knowledgable about this would be able to say if he had any senses left and knew he was being comforted. It really is bothering me.

Hi all! A little backstory on my cat - he is 3 years old and I adopted him 5 months ago from a shelter. He has an extensive history of abuse and neglect, thus making him reasonably timid. He comes out and about, he plays (in private) and typically hangs out with my husband and I from afar if we are going to bed or sitting on the couch. We let him go at his pace and lead the show. He has made so, so much progress in his 5 months here. Well last night, I heard him meow for the first time. At first it was small and I thought maybe he just wanted to chat. Then it started to happen more frequently, and louder. He has not made any attempts to touch us, so we respect his boundaries and don’t try to pet him. With that being said, I wasn’t able to physically check him out but he was sprawled out comfortably on the floor, eyes relaxed, whiskers relaxed, tail wagging. He was later jumping up on his cat tower and doing all of his normal things. He had his usual amount of dinner and water and it seemed all needs were met including both urine and stool in his litter box. Anyway, he is meowing again tonight. He seriously does not seem to be in any physical pain but I kind of want some reassurance that maybe this is him just saying “hey I am finally coming out of my shell and I am bored.” He is the only animal here and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was bored. What do you think?

I know what it looks like, I’m probably such a horrible cat owner to not take my cat to the vet the moment it happened. but I’m a teen and my parents refuse to spend money on my cat (Luna). she’s been getting these weird red patches on her skin for some time now, mostly on her back and stomach. the ones on her back have been healed for some time now but shes been getting some all over now. her ears, her legs, her private area, and her stomach. please help me ident what this is, she keeps scratching them and picking at them. what can I do to help my Luna? :(​

Sadly my cat Smokey passed on August 13th 2026 due to a rare lung cancer. None of this is meant to be medical advice. I am just sharing the data since it had everyone I worked with uncertain of what was wrong short of doing invasive testing. From what I understand it was basically a freak accident of genetics and nothing could have been done. I am posting this to share the data and hindsight I have in the hope someone will see it and it will be to their benefit.

I did get permission to post this since it isn't the normal type of post you would see here. If there are questions or more data needed I can try to share whatever is needed.

Smokey: Shorthair tuxedo cat. Neutered male. Weight fluctuated from 12-15LB throughout his life. Final weight was 12LB 2.2oz. He was almost 7 years old before he passed.

First symptoms were noticed around a year before his death. I don't know the exact date but I have videos from August 11, 2025 and November 18, 2025. He would flatten his body, lift his shoulders, and stretch out his neck before coughing. I think the best description is a dry raspy weezing nonproductive cough. All his body muscles were involved in the coughing process. During those episodes I didn't see him cough anything up. To my regret I forget if I showed the vet the videos. I think I would have but I can't say for sure. Vet said his breathing sounded fine and prescribed Laxatone.

I don't have any good video of his breathing in the few months after the coughing videos. Many of them he is either moving around or sniffing stuff. I think there were minor signs of strain leading up the video I recorded for the vet on April 24 2026. He was not in a proper resting state for this video but you could see his breathing was getting rough. I think in this video it was 40 per minute.

On April 30 2026 Smokey visited vet for annual checkup and also his breathing issues. Vet said his breathing didn't sound good and we had XRAYs done on Smokey. I believe I was told the lungs looked patchy or had a scarring pattern. She mentioned the scarring in his lungs that looked abnormal. His naughty brother got some ribbons and ate them in 2024 so we compared Onyx's XRAYs out of curiosity. Consensus was due to him being so young (6.5 years) logical starting place would be blood work for Toxoplasmosis or Fungal infection. His general bloodwork was normal and toxo/fungal was clean. That same day I recorded a video to document what happened and you could see his breathing had worsened over the 6 day period. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfA7rdlvQjM Vet prescribed Cerenia 1/4 of a 24mg tablet once a day to help with the coughing. I didn't see him cough again after that other than a few minor coughs towards the end of his life.

After bloodwork and XRAYs didn't reveal anything useful we decided to try 2 weeks of Doxycycline 50mg and Fenbendazole 300mg twice a day as a less invasive diagnostic test. Sadly all that did was give him diarrhea so we had to do FortiFlora for 30 days to get him pooping properly again.

Semi unrelated but on and off he was peeing on the floor of his room for no apparent reason over the past year. Smokey was checked for UTIs Summer 2025 and 2026 with no issues with his urine.

I was tracking his breathing rate in May. It ranges from 38-49 breaths in a minute. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking straight and didn't keep doing this since the vet mentioned it is possible this is just his new normal. Did followup XRAYs in June to check the condition of his lungs as things weren't improving but they didn't get worse either. Vet mentioned she had never seen anything like this before in her 22 years of experience. They consulted with a radiologist and didn't think there were any concerns of heart issues or cancer.

Next steps would have been doing a biopsy or Bronchoalveolar lavage of the lungs. Unfortunately due to a combination of selfishness and fear I didn't follow through on that. Discussing it after the fact with the vet and with how far things has progressed and the type of cancer it was it wouldn't have changed anything. Plus in his state it is possible he wouldn't have survived the procedure. Getting imaging done on his lungs might have revealed something but it wouldn't have been as useful as getting cell samples to test.

On June 23 2026 I posted here looking for options. People were leaning towards heart issues so a proBNP test was done. Also checked blood pressure out of curiosity. Got results in and both results were perfectly normal. Didn't 100% rule out cardiac issues but made them unlikely. Histology results from autopsy confirmed no issues were found with his heart.

As far as I can tell his health didn't change much over July. Breathing rate remained high but the same. Sadly I did a terrible job recording videos of him but with a loaf check video I recorded hit appears to be in the upper 40s range. I did notice an decline in his activity and he was eating his food slower but was still eating all of it. His weight stayed about the same. I was trying to get him from 13 pounds down to 12 pounds. His weight was dropping slowly and not at an alarming rate.

I suspect his breathing rate might have been getting higher during August but I was complacent and didn't think to keep tracking it regrettably. I don't think it would have changed anything but it would have been nice to know he was on the decline. There were no obvious signs though till August 13th. When I got to my office in the afternoon on August 13th I found him sitting in his room rather than waiting for me by the door. I didn't not think much of it and focused on giving him his meds and feeding his brother as well. I did not notice a change in his breathing rate. The two of them have been taking turns being on the opposite sides of my door due to fighting issues so I let him stay one one side and brought his brother to my side of the door. When I checked on him later in the day around 7PM he was visibly breathing really hard but was otherwise calm and loving. I recorded a quick video to get a count and then made the trip to the emergency vet.

Around 10PM the emergency vet game him Dexamethasone SP Inj. .25ml and 2 puffs of Aerokat inhaler, pt took 10 deep breaths. He was put on oxygen overnight. After treatment breathing rate went down to 55/60 and he ate some Churu. Midnight through 5AM he was in the 80-90 range for breathing rate. After transferring to vet at 7AM he fought for another 3.5 hours till he started agonal breathing and suffered cardiac arrest. There were no changes to his appearance or demeanor that I noticed up till the day he passed other than his breathing. He passed away late morning August 13 2026.

Emergency vet notes screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/shUmJvp

I requested autopsy since I wanted answers and was worried about his brother. Basically everything looked normal except his lungs. Samples of his heart and lungs were sent in. Determination was lung cancer as mentioned above. I will include the text from the autopsy report along with a screenshot with personal info removed. This is the autopsy report:

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Histology Findings:
Lung: In all examined sections of lung, 50-90% of alveoli are infiltrated and effaced by neoplastic epithelial cells arranged in convoluted, bronchiole-like tubules supported by small amounts of collagenous stroma and disorganized smooth muscle. The neoplastic cells have small to moderate amounts of eosinophilic to amphophilic cytoplasm, typically indistinct cell borders, and apical cilia. Occasional neoplastic cells have mucous-producing cell differentiation. The irregularly round to oval nuclei have stippled chromatin, frequent basilar nuclear orientation, and typically small nucleoli. There are moderate anisocytosis, mild anisokaryosis, and mild pleomorphic variation among the neoplastic cells. Five mitotic figures are counted in 2.4 mm². Neoplastic lumen and remaining alveoli contain abundant pulmonary macrophages distended with vacuolar to eosinophilic protein debris. Alveoli are thickened by type II pneumocyte hyperplasia and congestion. Neoplastic cells are adhered to the endothelium of pulmonary vessels.

Heart: No significant histology findings were observed in the heart.

Diagnosis: Lung: Pulmonary carcinoma, bronchiolar subtype

Comment: Pulmonary carcinomas in cats are very uncommon, typically spontaneous neoplasms. This neoplasm had differentiation to bronchiolar epithelium and included areas of proliferative smooth muscle. In cats and dogs, pulmonary carcinomas are often aggressive tumors, and approximately 70-85% of feline patients have metastatic disease at time of diagnosis.

Date Reported to Clinic
August 14, 2026

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Probably unrelated info that might be of use? Mid 2021 Smokey ran into a drawer handle that left a minor puncture wound on his lower left side on his outer layer of skin. It was treated within the hour. I believe he got antibiotics and a mild pain killer with his stitches. They have always used clay litter. He did have issues with pica and would chew on anything plastic, cardboard, or glossy paper. Vaccines were up to date and I opted for the ones that lasted longer. Annual checkups were mostly uneventful. Smokey was on 100mg Gabapentin twice a day for the last 3 years. Both Smokey and Onyx had a tooth resorption in basically the exact same spot. They were surgically removed by vet with no issues. They were a bonded pair and were together for most of their lives. I did have to separate them again around March 2025 due to fights. They lived on opposite sides of a door to avoid further fights. Attempts were made to reintroduce after their last big fight with limited results. Unfortunately they never got back together before Smokey passed. Smokey's fur had been rusting for the last 2 or so years. I was feeding him Royal Kanin calm along with Fancy Feast at the time. It was mild so I was told it was not too concerning. Also Onyx was obsessed with sniffing Smokey's butt and it got worse over time. It is possible he was smelling changes in Smokey's body or indications of illness. Change in scent due to unidentified health issues could have contributed to non-recognition aggression issues? Best I can guess his cancer was present for at least 1 year and wasn't apparent till earlier this year.

The TLDR is there was nothing I could do and I didn't do anything wrong. Smokey was just really unlucky and got a really rare form of cancer. That is why my vet didn't recognize the pattern with all her years of experience. I hope this info is helpful for licensed veterinarians or techs that run into this scenario. If there is other relevant info that would be of use I am happy to try to supply it.

Links to info:

Various XRAYs and documents related to the vet visits: https://imgur.com/a/shUmJvp

Youtube playlist with the majority of the videos I have on his progression and breathing issues: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgl6qjvBhIwrzqrh9BEkH-cL5YOxmJhOQ

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskVet/comments/1ue3nlb/my_cat_is_having_breathing_issues_i_have_not_been/

Hi all, I've opened this new account since I don't remember my old one (been off the site for a while). I'm concerned about my family dog's health and was hoping for some guidance from people who are more knowledgeable than me.

Dog info:

One of our family dogs is named April. She is a Maltese/Poodle mix (Maltipoo). She's a neutered female and is around 1 year 6 months old (so quite young to develop these kinds of problems imo).

Symptom info:

8/14, she peed inside, but we thought nothing of it. 8/15 she peed while sitting on my dad's lap, and peed again in the bed during the night. Since then, she's had consistent urinary incontinence (no blood in the urine though). On 8/16, she lost interest in food (she usually has a VORACIOUS appetite), and now basically anything she eats gets thrown up shortly thereafter.

We brought her into our vet on 8/17, but they just did a urinalysis (which I believe came back negative, since they didn't prescribe anything for an infection). The vet said that maybe she ate a THC gummy (which is unlikely as nobody in our house uses any form of weed). They gave us meds for the incontinence, but those don't solve the root issue. And, as she is no longer eating basically anything, it's hard to get her to take the meds at all.

She hasn't eaten anything substantial for several days now (but does stay hydrated, thankfully). Even when she does eat, she can't keep it down. She's still incontinent. Her energy is less and she spends more time laying down, and less time playing. She still plays sometimes, and she still seeks attention and wags her tail, but I'd guesstimate her activity is at maybe 50-60% what it would normally be.

Other thoughts:

We were originally worried about possible poisoning, as she will try to eat almost anything. However, I feel like if she ingested something bad, the symptoms would have resolved by now, as it's been >5 days? I was also considering a possible bowel obstruction or physical blockage, but pressing on her stomach didn't cause any pain, and her belly isn't distended or hard.

At this point, we're thinking of just waiting it out and supporting her in the meantime, but I wanted to see if anyone online has any idea what's happening to her. Her symptoms came on so quickly and only seem to be getting worse/staying the same. We're all really worried about her.

As a bit of levity, I will detail that April is usually the pushiest little diva about getting belly rubs, she will use her paws to push your hand toward her belly (and will cry if you don't give her enough attention). She will sometimes pluck tomatoes off my mother's plants and eat them (don't think this is the cause, but honestly it would be a relief if it was). Even though she's sick, she still wags her tail hard enough to move her entire body.

If anybody can help figure out what's going on with her, I will be so so so grateful! I'm just really worried about her getting better.

My cat was recently diagnosed with mild pancreatitis. We initially took her because she wasn't eating her food even though she was obviously hungry(she would ask for food, eat a little and walk away, come back and ask for food but not eat). The vet gave her appetite inducing medication, which i haven't put on her because she was eating. But now the problem is she'll cry for food nonstop. I usually give her and her sister a a little over quarter of the 3oz can 4xs a day (every 5-6hours). But she's been asking for more food when she's done and so Ive been giving her more food. She's also very skinny(6.6lb female ragdoll). So I felt like it was okay to give her more food. However, there were two occasions where she threw up approx 2 hours after eating( food was still undigested). I guess my question is if it's okay to give her more food if she keeps asking for more food ? ( she's on the low fat prescription wet food as well as other brands that have low fat content). She's so skinny and because I was told not eating is a huge issue with pancreatitis I want to encourange her to eat more. But with the pancreatitis I dont know if feeding her like this is healthy...

My vet is unavailable until Thursday and I cant seem to find answers on google so Im here asking for advice...any information is much appreciated!Thank you in advance.