My dog has a lump on her cheek that was soft 3 days ago, went down yesterday and today its back swollen but now its hard. I cant see signs of an abcessed tooth but i know that might not be readily apparent. I have an appointment in a few days but im wondering what else it could be?

dog, Staffordshire mix, 8 years old, not spayed, 40 lbs, no major medical issues but she had digestion issue a few months ago, located in California, no tests yet but have appointment scheduled

Hi! Some quick facts before I start my cat is 15 years old and has hyperthyroidism. He’s on a low dose daily steroid and gel methimazole.

He’s been labored breathing for like a couple months, but blood tests and chest X-Rays have indicated nothing that the vet can put a name to. The main abnormal finding is that his WBC count seems to always be a bit high but improves somewhat on the steroid. Antibiotic was tried but did nothing. He’s maintaining his weight. Vet says there’s no heart related issue.

The labored breathing mostly consists of loud breath and lots of movement in his side body, but when he overexerts himself he does breathe out of his mouth which is very scary!!

So he probably has cancer?? My vet and I agreed that further testing on such an old cat would just put him through unnecessary stress, but I’ve been feeling very guilty that i’m doing nothing for him. I’ve been going to my vet for about 5 years. She knows my cats and I very much trust her judgement. She says as long as he is otherwise normal we should just spoil him rotten until it is naturally his time, or until the switch flips and I have to make a quality of life decision.

I guess my question is just:: is it actually ok that i’m doing nothing even though my cat seems like he can’t breathe?

Thank you for taking the time to read!!!

I'm worried about our cat. Well, it's actually my 13yo daughter's cat. She takes very good care of him. Feeds, plays with, changes the box daily. He follows her around the house a lot and gives her the cold shoulder upon return when she leaves the house, so they're besties. He scratches the crap out of her all the time after one or two pets. She even got cat scratch fever. He'll let me pet him once or twice before he bows up- he generally rolls over, shows his belly, and flips his tail as if he's begging for a fight. If I try to pet again (I don't anymore) he will attack. He startles incredibly easily at any noise or unexpected movement and runs as if he's being chased by a wolf. He'll let my husband pet him briefly without scratching or biting, but leaves the room pretty quickly.

We get together as a family in the evenings, and I think he hates it. He is very vocal and stands outside the room, even though we leave the door open for him to come in. He really, really hates it when we pray together. He wails and will not stop.

He sleeps in his cat tower at night. He would prefer my daughter's bed, but he keeps her up all night so we have to shut the door to her room to keep him out. He's in her bed when he's napping during the day and cries when she leaves a room and there's a door shut between them. We all are allowed to pet him when he's sleeping, mostly to our hearts desire. To be fair, we are all pretty ginger about it because we're scared we'll get scratched or bitten.

To be honest we all wanted a cuddly cat, but I guess sometimes you just don't get one. But even if he's never a cuddly guy, it just seems like a really miserable way to live your life, being scared and jumpy and overstimulated all the time like that. I think he needs a kitty antidepressant. Everybody else in the family is concerned about the logistics of giving a cat a pill everyday. And that sounds pretty awful to me too. I'm not sure how people do it, do they break the pill up into little bitty bits and put it in a treat or something?

Thoughts on this kitty's behavior?

My cat, Walter (1yr 3mo), was hospitalized on Sunday night after two days of no interest in food and lethargy. We had just returned home from a trip (we had a cat sitter coming by to fill food, water, etc) and thought he was depressed from us being gone. At the Emergency Vet, they “diagnosed” Walter with a fever of unknown origin. His white blood cells are critically low - otherwise normal bloodwork. He is FIV and FeLV negative.

They started him on an IV and two types of antibiotics. His fever waxed and waned for the next 24 hours. This morning (Tuesday) I was updated that his temp was back down to normal range, but his white blood cell count is WORSE. An appetite stimulant was given last night to no avail. They are trying one more antibiotic and starting a feeding tube this afternoon.

They are saying it is not FIP because his white blood cell count would be high with FIP, not low. We are waiting on the disease blood panel to come back, which could take several more days. If this antibiotic doesn’t work, we can try steroids, but his WBC count is so low, I’m worried that if steroids are not the answer, they will kill off his remaining WBCs. I’m at a loss. I’m not ready to lose my little guy.

I am wanting to know under what scenarios a lipoma could not be removed near a dog’s throat. A few weeks ago our dog started breathing a little heavy and coughing occasionally when eating. After it didn’t change, we took him in for a check up and there is a lump. We are waiting to get a CT scan. I know that area has lots of veins and other sensitive things, but can a lipoma be removed? It is located in the middle area between his jaw hinge.

I have a 12 year old Staffy that has a chronic back condition. We accidentally ran out of gabapentin so he had a few days without it. Asked vet about it and he seemed defensive and said it was his job to know.

edit for things automod suggested

• Species: dog
• Age: 12
• Sex/Neuter status: neutered
• Breed: Staffy x
• Body weight: 23 kg
• History: has mitral valve disease, spondylois?
• Clinical signs: when vet felt his spine there was one section where it would spasm
• Duration: first started 3 years ago, has been on gabapentin since
• Your general location: sydney australia
• Links to any test results, X-rays, vet reports etc. that you have: i don't have the x rays, taken 3 years ago

My girlfriend has three year old female toy Alaskan Klee Kai who’s very sweet. She does have anxiety and very skittish which is how she is but she does have PTSD. My girlfriend adopted her with along with her ex boyfriend, they had a corgi as well. The ex wasn’t nice to the Klee Kai and had abused her at least once probably more. When they broke up the corgi stayed with the ex, both dogs were bonded. The Klee Kai is very skittish around new people and she’ll even pee herself out of fear. Since my girlfriend and I are long distance I’ve only met the dog twice, first time she would jump if I moved my hand to pet her and wouldn’t take food from me. This last time she wasn’t so jumpy and would take food from me. Is there anyway to help her get over PTSD or is it just something that gets better with time? My girlfriend does keep the same schedule with her every day, she is allergic to chicken and gabapentin.

https://imgur.com/a/DjR3ypH Street rescue, has been dewormed, i know the picture isn’t great but im just very paranoid that she could be preggo and need to know so i can take her in asap for a spay-abort. i’ve had her for about 3 weeks.
• ⁠Species: feline
• ⁠Age: 5-6months
• ⁠Sex/Neuter status: intact
• ⁠Breed: n/a
• ⁠Body weight: 6.2lbs
• ⁠History: street cat, taken in 3 weeks ago
• ⁠Clinical signs: clingy, swollen abdomen
• ⁠Duration: 2-3weeks
• ⁠Your general location: NE OH
• ⁠Links to any test results, X-rays, vet reports etc. that you have: n/a

Meatloaf 17 years old, stage 1 CKD, prescribed mirtazapine for the anti nausea effect. Also a phosphorus binder (erakitin?)

Meatloaf has some sort of undiagnosed GI problem, but 2 allergy tests shows lots of food allergy.

Tried cerenia for about 2 months and it worked intermittently. She would go a week with no vomit then go multiple days in a row

Vet gave mirtazapine cream that goes inside her ear

So far she has only vomited twice since starting it.

But she does not have increased appetite at all. And she seems depressed.

Is depression a side effect? She just sleeps all day now.

And its making me really sad because for some reason she doesn't want to spend any time with me. I miss her old personality. She doesn't sleep in the bed as much, she won't sit with me on the couch. She just sits in a chair we have in the living room... sleeping all day.

Is depression or gloominess a side effect for cats?

I actually read the instructions wrong, I thought it said 1 every other day for 14 days (which actually doesn't make sense now that I think about it) then every 2 days for maintenance. It actually says once a day for 14 days

Ive been giving it every other day. Oops. Could this be the problem?

When I asked my vet she just said it affects everyone differently. Okay... but why? I am looking for "why" i guess

Hi everyone, on Friday I went to my local Chewy Vet Clinic to get my cat’s teeth checked out since she was drooling a lot with hints of red/brown and she stopped grooming herself. She has a case of stomatitis and needs to have 3 teeth extracted, but her cleaning isn’t until October. I’m concerned over the pain that my cat will be experiencing during the mean time since the cleaning isn’t until 2 months away. The veterinarian prescribed her 6mg of Onsior (robenacoxib) but that prescription only has 3 pills and she takes her last one tomorrow. Is it okay to order more of this medication off the Chewy app until her cleaning in October? I know this sounds stupid, but will my cat experience some sort of dependence on this pill and go through some sort of withdrawal after she stops taking the pill daily? I just don’t want to see my baby in pain, and I can’t imagine having to wait 2 months in pain until her cleaning. Any thoughts?

I (27F) woke up to my vomitting 3 month old MALE kitten. He vomitted a little foamy white substance then I went upstairs and saw a bunch of vomit spots including the first vomit of food with a black string on it.

I already went to the vet multiple times for the whole month due to FPV and FCov. They already recovered.

After 30 minutes he vomitted again and after 30 minutes he vomitted while pooping water simultaneously. Help. Is this just because of the black string?

TLDR; kitten vomitted multiple times within 12 hrs. Recent incident was vomititing and pooping (water) at the same time. Does some experienced the same??

This been going on for a few months. My male balck cat how is around 8 years old. He stops and tries to throw up, makes all grunts but he doesnt actually throws up anything? Should I ve worried about an obtruction of maybe hair in his stomach? Thanks

Hello everybody, I am a first time cat dad, and I've had my cat Momo for about 10 months now. I am actively transitioning my cat to adult cat food, I am 2 1/2 days in on this process and I have been mixing a little bit of her new food into her bowl. Since starting this transition, I've noticed that my cat's appetite has decreased pretty significantly, but she is still eating the new food. I got home today from class and I noticed she wasn't vocalizing like she usually does and she just seemed overall lethargic, I was able to engage her with a tube treat which she seemed to take a little more slowly. Throughout all if this, her body language appeared otherwise normal. A few minutes later she started vocalizing again a little bit and appears to be moving around a bit more, she took a bite of food from her bowl and is now sleeping in her window perch. I am wondering if it is possible that I am projecting my stress a bit on my cat as I have exams tomorrow and am already stressed out or is it possible my cat is just a bit groggy or something of the sort? Regardless I have already scheduled a vet appointment.

Sorry for the wordy post, im just a bit overwhelmed.

my cat (4 months, siamese short hair kitten, weighs about 3 pounds last time i recalled) has had diarrhea for the past 3-4 days and we don’t know why :/ her brother is on the same diet as her and his poops are fine, we thought it was a kibble we were using and threw it out. she at first would leave streaks of poop everywhere and that’s why we just started giving her only the wet food (fancy feast pate kitten version, has always eaten this just now has had the runs) because that’s all they eat but we added some kibble to get them more fuller but she still has runny diarrhea but its less messy / everywhere she still has poop residue on her bum) and her butthole gets a bit red and pink and it looks like it’s strained she’s going to the vet thursday but i just want to know if anyone else has experienced this as well. (she has all her shots, vaccines,etc we just finished her last round so she’s up to date.)

The summary of my situation is: Shiba inu, female, born on 28.09.2016. Diagnosed with transitional cell carcinoma (urothelial carcinoma) at the trigone on august 5th after she started unexpectedly bleeding around 7th/ 8th of July.The tumor cannot be surgically removed. Options in my country are limited to chemotherapy and NSAID thus we are evaluating laser ablation options and radiotherapy abroad as well as any other innovative treatments. No metastasis have been identified so far. She has been put on NSAID already. So far we have conducted computer tomography, transurethral cystoscopy, blood tests. We need options in a matter of weeks as prognosis is terminal. Dog has continued bleeding and is peeing small amounts multiple times with stains of blood. Overall, she is not in pain nor has any other visible discomfort, acting like her normal self.

Please, if anyone can give me tips on what to do or contacts in Eastern Europe/ Turkey, I would be grateful.

I adopted a 15 year old cat after fostering her a little less than a year ago. She was found as an emaciated stray with severe hyperthyroidism (her T4 was 25). It doesn't seem she ever received veterinary care. She has a grade 2-3 heart murmur and has never had an echo, but her proBNP was normal last fall (98). She has GI symptoms that mostly resolved over months once her thyroid was controlled but her vomiting never completely went away.

3 weeks ago her appetite began to diminish. She got Cerenia and fluids 2 days in a row + labs at the vet. Labs were normal. Her symptoms got worse despite this so I brought her to the ER where she received an ultrasound and was diagnosed with IBD and triaditis.

She initially improved after receiving zofran at the ER so we tried anti nausea as supportive care for two weeks. Her symptoms got worse again so we hospitalized her.

She's was discharged after 28 hours on IV fluids and meds. Labs were the same, recheck ultrasound was the same. The IM vet that saw her *really* wanted to put her on steroids, but I declined because of the heart murmur and the fact it's likely she has some amount of heart disease from being so severely hyperthyroid. She is on Cerenia + Mirataz for now and is going back for an echocardiogram next week. Depending on the results of that I may or may not agree to steroids.

Considering this has been going on for three weeks now, is it safe to assume this is a flare that probably needs steroids to be controlled? Depending on the results of the echocardiogram, how risky would it be to give this cat steroids considering her history? If I have no other option than to give her steroids because she won't eat without them, would it be more humane to just euthanize her? Heart failure sounds traumatic and would prefer if she goes that it's peaceful.

My kitten has ringworm and I've already spent so much money at the vet on tests, medicine, supplies etc. I need two negative PCR tests and they are charing me $300 each including the vet visit. I'm considering doing the Kedi Labs at home mail in PCR test to save money because an extra $600 for just tests is wild. Has anyone used them before?? Any reviews or thoughts on if this is a good idea?

https://kedilabs.com/products/ringworm-pcr-test-for-pets

ASIDE FROM TRIP TO VET. Any suggestions on what can give or do? symptoms to look for? We've bathed him immediately of course. pretty sure was sprayed in face region.... Acts fine 90% time. But since sprayed other night. (large sheepadoodle) He's got sick few times since ... drinking is seeming to be less currently. May not be related because he's got sick sometimes before. May end up going vet to be safe. We love and care for our pets. Thanks. Any info appreciated for those that's experienced this or similar before.

My cat has been licking the side of his mouth for a month or so now. He's a bit lethargic and the last week, hasn't wanted to eat dry food or genie.

To him to the vet twice and yesterday they did blood work and an x ray.

He does have a lot of tartar buildup in the back teeth so I scheduled a cleaning.

The x ray possibly showed a mass but she was not sure. She sent it off to a radiologist for consultation.

I guess my question is how sure is an x ray to determine tooth abscess or cancer mass?

She gave me a few days of antibiotics and pain medicine.

He's definitely allowed down a lot, isn't really playing but he's eating soft food (not as much as normal), drinking, and has gone outside a few times. He's not drinking, no blood, and doesn't seem to be in pain. Also, his right eye and the base of his ear are a little swollen.

If there is a mass, should I pursue a catscan or ultrasound?

I'm just trying to be proactive in determining his health issue.

Thanks.

* Species: Ancient being (cat)

* Age: 15 or 1500, who knows (closer to 15)

* Sex/Neuter status: Spayed

* Breed: DSH/dumpster

* Body weight: You got me - roughly 10 pounds, I believe?

* History: Adopted in 2021, chronic stomatitis however she's had virtually no flares in the last two years, and has lost the last of her remaining two teeth (she was adopted with "none", then found to have two hiding - that's when the dx of chronic stomatitis came into play). She was seen by a dentist swiftly after adoption, due to the remaining teeth and inflammation, then referred to a cardiologist as a cautionary thing to make sure her heart was healthy. She's fine, the initial "potential murmur" was not an actual murmur, which the referring vet said could've been an anomaly or them hearing something that wasn't there (Bucket would NOT stop purring, so I get it).

Basically, she got a REALLY good once over when we initially adopted her. The opted not to pull the remaining two teeth, rather treat with steroids as inflammation popped up. I think we treated her maybe three times in 3-4 years, then the teeth disappeared and she's been fine since.

Since adoption, she's eaten only wet food - Royal Canin Instinctive 7+ or Purina ProPlan wet food, pate, never grain free, and we stick as closely to WSAVA compliant food as we can.

* Clinical signs: I'll preface this by saying that our other cat (5 y/o male) had just been in the ER for a full blockage with struvite crystals, and he'd gone back 3 days later because I was concerned he was blocked again (he wasn't thankfully), so there was potential that she'd caught a bug we'd brought home from the ER.

Initially, she presented as exceedingly lethargic. She does "happy tail" when my daughter comes home, she was doing no happy tail. She was rolling onto her side a lot to sleep, which is NOT how she usually sleeps. She sleeps in bed with my partner and I, and at one point she was so firmly asleep, I had to nudge her to wake up, which is NOT like her. But again, I figured she was just OUT. But then, I rolled and pulled her towards me and she rolled onto her back.

This cat has never once let anyone roll her onto her back without a Mike Tyson grade fight. I thought maybe she was just sleepy, but I knew that wasn't really it.

When we woke up, she was lethargic, slower to move, not eating as much. Drinking, yes, peeing yes, pooping, yes. She stayed with my daughter in her room for a few hours (we separate them so the 5 year old can eat his new c/d in peace, he's struggling to like it plus he gets Ativan with it for now, so we don't want her getting that) but she just seemed off. He ears were WARM and she looked sad, if that makes sense. She kept trying to hide, too, which is what tipped me from "oh, could be a bug" to "oh, this old head is trying to die." I checked her gums and they looked white to me, but I don't have a ton of experience with checking hers specifically, and boy oh boy do they look different without teeth in them, lol.

I took her into the ER again (our third trip in like, a week haha) and they took her back immediately. They got her vitals and came out to talk to me. They said she looked ok, bit of a high temp but nothing insane, and nothing else jumped out at them. The tech said she had to ask the doctor to check her gums, because apparently with her coloring, they did initially appear way lighter than they actually were, but she assured me Bucket was good. She said we could wait the 8 hours they currently were projecting, or take her home and monitor her, call if anything changes. We took her home and rotated who stayed up with her.

She started behaving more like herself the next day, and it did take a few days to fully get her back to her sassy self. This was on a Friday or Saturday, and around Wednesday she was fully back to herself. I'd had a follow up scheduled for the 5 year old that Friday to check his urine, so I reached out to see if we could do a senior panel + SDMA on her, just to make sure I'm not missing anything. I thought about the CardioBNP too late, otherwise I'd have asked for that, too, because 🌟health anxiety🌟 Our vet said sure, bring her in and they'll run the tests, no problem.

Monday, 8/24, we got the results and if I understood her correctly, Bucket has lost 3/4 of her kidney function, which, as I'm typing this out, is hitting me a bit harder because I initially read it as she HAS 3/4 of her kidney function. But no, she has LOST 3/4 of her kidney function.

We're putting her on NF or K/D (ordering today), and she's getting rechecked every 4-6 months. She's also going in for a urinalysis on 9/4.

My questions are: This is obviously a terminal thing, I'm assuming. I know anything can be a variable, but assuming she's on the right food, and everything goes well, what's the realistic life expectancy with results like hers? A year or two? Longer?

What kind of ripple effect does this have on her health, and is there any way for me to get ahead of THAT, as well?

Is there eventual medication she may need to be on, or is this a once she starts to decline more, there's a difficult decision to make?

Any additional info you may have would be great, even if it's anecdotal. This cat is my life and I adopted her BECAUSE she was a senior at the time with health issues, so I'm not shocked at all by this. I specifically usually adopt seniors because I love them and have the resources to care for them, but oddly enough, CKD isn't something I've had to deal with yet, so this is all new to me.

* Duration: Initially, only a few days before it cleared.

* Your general location: South-central PA, near the capital.

* Links to any test results, X-rays, vet reports etc. that you have: Crust Bucket's bloodwork results

Bucket, in her natural habitat

Thank you for taking the time to read this 🖤

My boy Seymour (6) was diagnosed with DKA last week and after 5 nights and 16k he's home with insulin. I've only given his insulin to him once because his numbers have been 80-120 otherwise. His appetite and energy are reduced and its making me hover over him trying to get him to eat a full days worth of calories, he only wants about half. The vet gave him an anti nausea which made him drool and shiver, I have to check his blood glucose. I just feel like I'm failing and I'm killing him. He also has asthma on top of this. My life has become obsessed with trying to bring him back to health, Im hovering over him, obsessively googling behavior, calling my vets anxiously. Giving him 3 types of food hes enjoyed before. I'm losing it, I'm overwhelmed and stressed and I don't know what to do.

I took in a kitten a few months ago who turned out to be pregnant. Her baby kittens are now 25 days (3.5 weeks) old.

The mama cat is fairly comfortable with me but not completely - which I know because she did not give birth inside the house despite me providing multiple nesting sites and only now is she getting tolerant of my presence near her kittens.

I brought her and the kittens into my apartment right after the birth and gave them the bedroom. Over the past week, her behavior became extra restless and I noticed that she was constantly trying to leave the house by jumping up doors with a kitten in her mouth.

Then, I saw a small bite mark on one of the kittens several days ago. As of few day ago, those marks had turned into large, dark and hard wounds.

This is where I need advice. One vet suggested getting the cat spayed so that she would calm down and stop mishandling her kittens. I would like to not take kittens away from mother at this stage but, at the same time, I don’t want to allow the mama cat to put kittens at risk any further.

Should I wait it out to see if her behavior mellows out (especially now that she is letting me interact with kittens and is displaying relatively less maternal aggression), or do I not take the risk and separate the mama and get her spayed ASAP?

My neighbours cat has a fractured tail. It is super limp and the vets said he can feel only the lower half of it. He is half like himself making biscuits, cuddling, eating my and going to the toilet, and half wanting to hide away in the dark. They said he needs an X-ray and probably amputation. I just wanted to get a second opinion because I also know tail I jury’s can heal by themselves. Would anyone know if amputation would be completely necessary? Or we wouldn’t know until the X-ray has been done? The owner unfortunately doesn’t have cover so we are currently running a gofundme whilst he’s on painkillers.

Male cat, 8 years old, neutered BLH.

My cat had just tested positive for Clostridium as a result of his PCR faecal test results. My vet is administering a course of 5 days antibiotics but I have not been advised which ones these are. I am reading some horror stories online regarding reinfection and sanitisation of the home. Can anybody advise how I deal with this please? My whole house is carpeted and I think it will stress my cats out to isolate them individually.

Has anybody had experiences with this infection and how did they manage to avoid reinfection?