Hi, my cat got misdiagnosed with diabetes and was described insulin, after which she fell into a hypoglycemia coma after a month of taking it, the vet makes it look like its our fault to not have double checked the blood faster, but that was after he ALREADY diagnosed her and gave her 4 stripes of insulin in a 40 syringe 2 times a day, he also didn't explain that we had to give that AFTER food, our cat went into a coma yesterday, her temperature went down to 33 and her sugar was almost non existent. We paid alot for everything and we have a big trauma from it all, do you think the vet has to make this right? He also never checked her urine or anything else, her sugar was slightly higher but still in a very normal range, she has alot of annoying symptoms such as obsessive eating and drinking and peeing an pooping all over our house, but that could be many reasons and could be many ilnesses. We feel so angry, so defeated by it all. Luckily she made it, hopefully the weekend goed well. I feel like he has to fix this or pay us back a part of the expenses.
We almost don't have any money left for food and this situation cost us almost all our savings, but the biggest issue ofcourse is that this was deeply traumatic. We went to more vets and also the clinic and all of them told us this in not diabetes, and the blood results don't say anything obvious proving the diabetes, they were also shocked, what do you guys think? After all of this craziness we still don't know what her real illness is.

I have a 4y/o staffie/pittie, a 1 y/o lab/pittie mutt, and 2 cats. My family & I have gone to our vet for 20 years, with all our animals. Of course we have our favorite doctors, secretaries, techs, assistants etc. But I had such a bad experience today i’m thinking of switching.

My two dogs chased, hunted and killed a skunk 9 days ago (6th). I called my vet immediately to ask what the next steps were. They told me since they had no visible bites or scratches & since they are up to date on their rabies, they are fine. My younger guy was due for his rabies re up in November, so we scheduled an appointment for the 14th to do it all then anyway to be extra safe, since he’s so young.

At the appointment, the doctor asks ab some scratches he got from our cat and being a crazy puppy. I tell her i don’t think any are from the skunk. She goes huh? So i tell her about the skunk incident. She goes very quiet and asks who told me i didn’t need to get them boosted, that no one’s in trouble but they need to retrain the staff on proper rabies protocol. she tells me both boys needed to get a booster within 5 days of the incident. It’s already been over a week. She asks if I can bring my older boy in later that day, i said I could but he gets Trazadone before coming in to the vet since he’s so anxious. She says we can wait till friday (16th) but it has to be done.

At checkout, I make an appointment for Friday the 16th at 9:20. I confirm the details, and the secretary accidentally put it in for the 15th. She moves it to the 16th and I could’ve sworn she said 9:30.

I show up at 9:31 on the 16th. I walk in and am immediately told my appointment has been cancelled since it was actually for 9:20. I apologize, say I messed that up, and ask if there’s any chance to just get him the rabies booster (skip the annual visit we also had for that time) considering the circumstances. She tells me no, they’re booked back to back and as she’s saying that a man walks in with two cats for his 9:40. I mention how the doctor wanted him in ASAP, and that monday would basically be 2 weeks. She tells me she called me earlier to let me know the appointment would be cancelled due to me being a no show.

I leave and check my phone, they called at 9:27 when I was driving in, leaving a voicemail canceling the appointment. I was late, that is 100% my fault. But the fact that I was given seven minutes before the appointment was completely canceled when they booked in a full annual plus bloodwork and rabies booster for 20 minutes gives me a pause. They would’ve 100% been late for the next guy regardless of me being seven minutes late. I understand it backs up appointments for the whole day, but all I asked was for the rabies booster to be administered, cancel the annual, just so that he’s protected, especially in light of them originally & erroneously telling me he did not need a booster.

I called another local vet and they were able to get me in today for the rabies booster and are going to contact my Vet for the details. I’m thinking if it goes well at the new Vet I transferred over. Is that too much of a reaction? Is it bad to change vets when my dog is comfortable with them because of this one incident? I’m just uncomfortable with the fact that they compromised my dog’s health now twice. I understand I was late and that is my fault, but I’m not being at all flexible when it was their original mistake that led to this is very upsetting to me.

Thanks!

TLDR, my vet originally said my dog didn’t need a rabies booster, then said he did after over a week, cancelled the booster appointment for us being 7 minutes late & refused to help us out at all. Is it wrong of me to want to change vets?

An adult wild Asian elephant named Kawantissa in Sri Lanka has been receiving treatment for a leg wound. Recent reports also mentioned diarrhoea, and today (16 October) he was found collapsed in a paddy field. Wildlife vets are treating him, but I haven’t seen confirmation of whether he can stand again.

I would appreciate an explanation from anyone with elephant or large-animal veterinary experience:

- What makes being unable to stand particularly dangerous for an elephant?

- Can elephants recover after being down for a prolonged period and how long is too long?

- What signs or clinical findings help vets assess their chances of recovery?

I understand nobody can predict his outcome from news reports alone. I’m hoping to understand what this situation means medically.

News report: https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Ailing-tusker-Kawantissa-found-near-Kala-Oya/108-352648

Edit: The tusker has died a few moments ago

I’m concerned because my cat started drooling. he only did it for a small amount of time and it was while he was purring and being cuddle. Is this a happy response or should I be worried?

Hello,

I am having to put my cat down because essentially his liver failed. I am really struggling with immense guilt about not taking him in sooner. He is a very finicky cat when it comes to eating and we noticed him eating a bit less and thought maybe it was a phase or allergies or something. We monitored it for a week and still eating much less. Probably about 50% less by week 2. Week two we tried trouble shooting giving him new flavors, wet food, etc. Still not eating. By week three he was eating 70-80% less so we booked an appointment with our Vet. They took bloodwork and next day recommended ER. They tried 24 hr stabilization to see if we could get him to eat. Liver ALT varied from 650-700. Next day still not eating so we planned a feeding tube and while he’s under to test his liver for lymphoma. They then found his blood wasn’t clotting so vitamin K and blood transfusion. Still no clotting. Since we couldn’t test for lymphoma they basically told us lymphoma was a huge possibility and the feeding tube would be intrusive. We chose euthanasia. I am really really really struggling with the fact that maybe there could’ve been a different outcome if we took him in sooner. Like what if it’s not lymphoma and we’ll never know? Maybe it wasn’t and we could never test because his liver got too bad. I just didn’t realize he was declining so rapidly. My guilt is so immense I don’t know what to do. I love him so much and I just really thought he would eat again on his own.

My est. 1 year old large, male dog had a plush cone on in his kennel while I needed to be out of the house for roughly 2.5 hours. He was neutered this morning and when I returned home I realized he was able to lick his surgical site. I immediately switched the cone out (I have two dogs that were fixed, one was plush and one was a full collar). I had put on the plush one, thinking it would be more comfortable in the kennel (my bad, never again). How concerned do I need to be about this? The incision is still closed, but his scr*tum is red. He’s a light colored dog prone to redness in the first place, so I’m not sure what to be concerned about. The clinic I went to is closed until the morning.

I have been away at college and recently was told about my cat developing a wound around his nose area. My mom stated that a foul smell was coming from a clear liquid that was coming out of his mouth. He was licking and constantly itching his nose area, causing a wound to open and bleed. She took him to the vet where they prescribed an antibiotic, and said that it seemed like he had been hit in the face. He is an indoor cat and is constantly around the family, someone would have noticed if this is the case. After the antibiotics, my mom said that the smell went away. He has been extremely unmotivated, sleeping all day, showing interest in food and trying to eat but cannot. He will chatter in what I can assume is pain when he attempts to eat. He has a history of weird breathing, we never got him formally diagnosed but we suspect asthma to be a possible cause. I've always treated this with a humidifier, but have been away at college and can't be sure that my family continued this. I'm extremely concerned and going to visit the vet again tomorrow for x-rays and bloodwork. He has never been this sick before, I don't know what else to do.
cat

My 7 month old husky mix was spayed Tuesday Morning, the appt was booked by the rescue we got her from because they pay for it. At pickup, the vet tech let me know that she was being vocal and was sensitive. They gave her extra pain meds. She said surgery went well. Well, she refused to walk to the car, so I carried her.

At home she refused to walk or stand, and if we took her outside to pee she’d freak out. We’d try to take her out without the E collar on because we thought maybe she was really bothered by it, but she would throw herself on the ground and refuse to walk around or pee/poo. I got her a recovery onsie to try thinking that might help. She eats and drinks but won’t greet us, won’t climb stairs, walk or pee outside. My husband called the vet Thursday and they told us to bring her in. They gave her an injectable dose of an opioid, gabapentin, and more oral pain meds (not all at the same time, meds to take home).

When I try to lift her onto her feet to try and bring her outside, she pees on herself. She’s not trying to lick the incision, the vet inspected the incision and said it looked fine. I’ve never seen such an extreme reaction from a medical procedure before, my cat had his leg amputated years ago and the day he came back from the vet he was walking around and back to his normal self.

I’m at a loss, she seems like she’s scared all the time. Even when we try to button or unbutton the onsie (nowhere near the incision site) she yelps and cries. She’s not herself at all. Now that she’s on even more meds I’m worried it’s sedating her too much. Is it just post surgery sadness? Could there be something else wrong? I’ve never had a female dog before, all dogs previously I’ve had were neutered so the surgery was was less invasive. So I don’t know what’s normal.

Male cat, 6.5 years, 6.5 kg

Our cat has been throwing up on and off for several days. Wednesday night (48h ago) is when he last ate his dry food. He then threw up. I took him in next morning. He has elevated AST and ALT but normal bilirubin and ALP. They started him on nexium, amoxicillin and a liver supplement. I syringe fed some purina liquid hydration last night (Thursday).He was in at the vet today got IV fluids and syringe fed royal canin recovery (around 70% of can). He retched this 2 hours after I picked him up.he started drinking water himself but small amounts after that. He went pee two times, small amounts. He has no interest in food.

Vet had said to bring him in tomorrow for IV and feeding again.

I messaged them and waiting for a response.

Is this an emergency now? Do I need to take him somewhere else?

Thanks

My 1yo unsexed Lovebird presented with some crusty growths on its gape at the corner of the beak. When i took him to the avian vet they did a poop test hi -bacteria was 60% to40% +bacteria. He prescribed .5 syringed antibiotics twice a day. The first week you can see the left crust grow by the second week it looked like a whole wart just big flaky and definitely producing some like bile type the gland ok that side on the top of his beak looked infected and later could tell under his tongue on that side also ulcer puss type masses. At the recheck he scraped off the mass with a qtip and got the surface big top but would pry on the skin more. Then he prescribed anti-inflammatory and more antibiotics. When I raised concerned over reading I had done that too many antibiotics can lead to its own complications he immediately was just like ok so no antibiotics which confused me bc wouldn’t that be something you considered before I said something and why drop it just because I brought it up I’m not sure it seems like he may not be fully versed or aware of what steps to actually take or what to look for. It’s just concerning that it’s been a month and he’s gotten worse without getting much better. I suggested I come back within the week to check him again bc he had mentioned getting a small blood sample a biopsy of the growth and a cloaca cell sample… I’m just not sure he’s doing the best seems like he’s just blindly trying random things while my baby keeps getting worse. I have a regularly scheduled appointment with an emergency center next Monday to get a second opinion I’m just scared that something could just take a turn for the worst suddenly. Any tips advice what I can do to advocate for him better

Guys need help and 2nd opinion . My cat is 1.5 years old .. she is eating too less from last few days.i have attached the report and doctors are advising blood transfusion . I cannot afford this treatment , is there any alternate treatment

We have an 18yr cat who was diagnosed with CKD about two months ago. He has eaten canned food his entire life. Dry food makes him fat and dehydrates him, which makes him constipated and thirsty. When our vet diagnosed him, she recommended switching him to a renal diet, but he won’t eat any of the wet, he will only eat dry. We have him on Hill’s k/d dry and we give him daily SQ fluids. We just rechecked his kidney values and they are worse and she said his labs also show dehydration. Is the dry food making his kidney disease worse or would it be getting worse anyway? Should we do canned instead even if it’s not prescription? What do you tell your clients with stage 2 CKD cats to feed them? Our vet focuses so much on the prescription diets and we’re worried maybe that’s not the right fit for our cat. Thank you.

Going to make this short.

My cat has diagnosed asthma, she's a scared and hard to handle kitty. Inhaler/mask training has failed despite multiple and current attempts to introduce it.

She has been taking decortin/prednisolone every 48H along with aminophylline. These were her prescribed meds,and I was told there was nothing else orally they could give. I have been to countless vets in my country. The answer was the same,and no country near me supplies this specific active ingredient.

My cat's flares are not inconsistent,she can snore,and cough multiple times a day even after being pilled.

Usually, aminophylline helps for 12h and then wears off.

Decortin used to hold her for 4 days,but now wears off after or even BEFORE 48h are up.

I am looking, begging,for an alternative human medication that can be given orally with a specific dosing schedule.

Her dosing schedule for decortin is: Minimum 48h,use when needed. 1/2 of a 5mg tablet

Aminophylline: 1/8 of a 100mg tablet

Any help is appreciated.

No injections (long term) are available here, dextamasone as an injection IS available,but is difficult to come by.

Thank you.

My cat has had his third eyelids showing little in both eyes for about 1 and half week, then more and more. He has otherwise been eating and drinking.

Yesterday he suddenly started avoiding putting weight on his front left paw/leg. At times he seems weak in it, but later in the day he seemed to have more strength and could use the leg a little better.

There is no obvious wound or clear swelling that we can see. He can still use his claws and has been able to pull/scratch at the sofa. But he seems turn his feet little different while he tries to walk

Has anyone experienced something similar where bilateral third eyelids appeared first and then a cat developed pain or weakness in one leg? Could these symptoms be connected, or did your cat end up having two separate issues?

​

Hi,

I am having difficulty with my dog Yuki. He is a shiba inu of 4 years, his birthday is coming up on halloween so he will be 5 soon.

I do apologize this will be long, but I want to explain the entire history to you so you get the whole backstory.

When Yuki was about 6 months old, he got a traumatic experience. We had a couple of lovebirds who were prone to escape. I went to the store for about 30-40mins and when I got back, the lovebirds had escaped their enclosure and Yuki was nowhere to be found. The birds had pushed the bath I had put onto their enclosure off, it had fallen on the floor, and that's how they got out.

So I gathered the lovebirds and put them in their cage. I then went looking for Yuki and found him in the furthest corner of our yard, behind the shed, behind the rain barrel. He was all balled up and shaking out of fear, and it was summer so flies were buzzing around.

I gathered him and comforted him and that was that.

But Yuki wasn't himself anymore. All of a sudden, he was afraid of flies in the house and outside.

About two weeks later we noticed Yuki had scratched open his lip. He had also been chewing his right hind paw to the point it was irritated.

Having forgotten the traumatic event, we went to see our vet, and they said it was allergies. We were sent home with apoquel for it.

The apoquel never really worked very well, and Yuki had been developing severe panick attacks. At times he would be skittish, even when playing, he would suddenly sit down and having to scratch/bite his buttocks and sides.

He still does this. Like he feels an itch or something brushing his fur lightly and he has to react to it.

He developed fly-biting syndrome.

I washed him with douxo calm to soothe his skin and it would make him settle for a little bit but it was really hard to deal with.

We went back to the vets a couple of times but never found a solution.

So we went to my moms vet. At that time we had switched to cytopoint because I read apoquel wasn't to be given to pups under a year old.

Mom's vet gave him a cytopoint shot, and we told her the history.

She referred us to another vet who specialised in dogs with fear and agressive behavior.

We went to see her and she prescribed us Sertraline which we had to try for at least a month to see if it helped at all.

It did not. Yuki would still get flare ups of intense fear, fly-biting, seeing things that aren't there, following shadows, barking at things that aren't there and licking his paws raw.

At this point we stopped the Sertraline as it didn't help anyway and went back to our regular vets. We went the allergy route.

At 9 months old, Yuki got a blood test panel for environmental allergies and we put him on hypoallergenic kibble.

We had a shot made for his allergies and gave him monthly injections of immunotherapy and apoquel on the side since cytopoint did give a tiny bit of relief at the start but it didn't anymore.

It all didn't work. We gave the immunotherapy for a littly shy of 2 years. Alongside the apoquel.

As the immunotherapy didn't help, we stopped giving it after that and he had been on apoquel alone.

Being fed up we went to another vet, who prescribed us cortavance spray to put on his paws every day. And adaptil chews for when the panick is to much and so we all can sleep a bit at night.

We did see some improvement using this. Problem is adaptil only works for about 4 hours until it wears off.

Then Numelvi came out and we tried that, it didn't work at all.

Then Zenrelia came out and it has been better. But not fantastic.

I've been giving him the daily cortavance spray on his paws for almost 2 years now. The Zenrelia I have been giving since december last year.

I had an allergy calendar for him, but every year is different. He seems to be the worst in spring, also that is when all the flies and buzzing bugs are starting to come out. But other than that there is no clear pattern to be seen.

His paws are licked bare on all 4 paws. If he does have a flare up, he will lick one paw. I will treat it with Fucicort cream, and when it's healed, he will lick open another paw. And so on and so forth.

I am still a bit on the fence about the allergy diagnosis. He never has ear infections, no red belly, no real hot spots. It's only the paws, and most of the time it is one paw at a time. Sometimes 2, but never more then that.

Now the house next to us is under construction and the noise is putting a lot of stress on Yuki. He will be ok during the day but in the evening when everything has settled he is so BAD. Panick attacks and licking in the air like he has bitten his tongue or something and licking his paws and not being able to settle, looking around and always being vigilant, being hyper aware of his surrounding and barking at seemingly nothing.

Looking back i notice his episodes have always been triggered by stressful periods. So, out of desperation, I started googling...

I came onto something called focal seizures, nerve pain etc. Triggered by stress. Also the gut-brain axis. He does have less firm stools at the time, and he does once or twice a year, vomit like there is no end, I had to go to the emergency vet twice already to get him something to stop vomiting. Second time the shot didn't work enough and he had to get a second shot the day after and anti nausea meds for the coming days.

The vet kept thinking he ate something in the yard, we took x-rays of his belly but the only thing to see was a lot of air in there. I also didn't find anything remotely strange in the back yard.

So here I am, wondering, pondering, trying to help my boy find some rest.

And I want to ask the vets here what they think. Allergies? Focal-seizures? Something gut related?

What should we do? Should we visit a neurologist? A dermatologist? Leave it like this?

Please help us. Thank you.

My dog  is a 6-year-old female Griffon, weighing around 6–7 kg. She is not spayed.

For the past 7 months, we have been going from one veterinarian to another, trying to figure out why she keeps losing her appetite, but unfortunately, no one has been able to find the cause or a solution. It’s been exhausting and worrying, and I really don’t know what else to do. 

Her main problem is a severe loss of appetite. She refuse eating or she eats a very little amount of food Despite all the investigations and treatments, we still haven’t found a clear explanation.

Here are the tests and examinations we have done so far:

CBC 

 Liver and kidney

SDMA kidney test

Blood parasite and tick-borne disease tests, performed twice

Thyroid function test

Cardiac enzyme tests

Heart X-ray and echocardiogram

Abdominal ultrasound, including examination of her stomach and pancreas

X-rays of her joints

Blood pressure measurement

Physical examinations at the clinic and consultations with several veterinarians.

We have also tried several medications and treatments under veterinary supervision, including stomach medications and other medications, but her appetite problem has continued. We have spent these past 7 months doing everything we can to find an answer, but we are still left without a diagnosis.

Has anyone experienced anything similar with their dog?

Thank you so much for reading❤️

Cat, 1yr, male, neutered, domestic shorthair, 11.4lbs

Smudge has been healthy in the past except for an issue with worms when he was a kitten (got him as a stray). He is normally very active strong and playful.

About two weeks ago, 3/5 of the cats in my household came down with something. We don't know what but every single one was vomiting, not eating/drinking, diarrhea, and lethargic. 2 cats got over it easily after a day or two, one had to go to the vet because it lasted for multiple days. They gave her an antibiotic shot and medicine to go home with that my parents didn't give her.

Now Smudge is sick with the same symptoms except he's doing much worse. He hasn't ate or drank since Tuesday or peed. He's had a tiny bit of diarrhea maybe 3 times. Every two or so hours he goes to three different litterboxes to strain and nothing comes out.

Vet gave him fluids, antibiotics, probiotic, and appetite stimulant. He got an x ray that the vet said was "suspicious" but after sending it to a radiologist to review there were no conclusive answers. The vet thinks he swallowed a string because he has some air bubbles and his intestines look a little bunches up. He has a history of eating stuff he's not supposed to, but he's never had issues before. He has eaten string in the past but it was thick and no more than 2 inches and he threw it back up. He likes chewing on pant strings until he gets a piece off.

Went back to the vet yesterday and no improvement. They did x rays again and they looked the same. They gave me the option to do an exploratory surgery to see if he has anything in his stomach, but I declined and went with an inflammatory shot, more antibiotics, fluids, and an anti nausea shot.

The vets aren't confident he swallowed something and can only say that the x ray looks suspicious but said it could just be "him being a cat". I think the likelihood of him swallowing something at the same time all the other cats got sick is very low especially because they have the same symptoms, his is just lasting longer.

Regardless he won't eat and drink and he's declining. If he has the surgery and there's nothing inside him, I don't think he will recover from it while being this sick. We checked the whole house and there's nothing suspicious the cats could have gotten into.

Do you think the surgery is the way to go? Is there a way to know for certain if he swallowed something? Should I get a second opinion? He hasn't lost weight yet and has gotten lots of fluids, but no appetite and no peeing and very minimal diarrhea.

USA

A little info on my boy. 7.5 yr old DSH male (indoor cat.) Adopted him 3.5 years ago. He has always been a bit of a drooler since i’ve had him. Anyways, 8-9 months ago he had 3 teeth extracted due to resorption. Lately (past 3 months) he has had on and off episodes of random sneezing with the odd nasal discharge from one nostril. We were told it can be common for their nasal passage to be irritated after a tooth is extracted near the area. Eventually it got so bad he couldn’t eat or drink without sneezing. He was prescribed antibiotics (3 weeks ago) and it stopped his sneezing and discharge problem fully. Today I took him in for a dental and skull x ray to ensure there was no teeth resorption present. His dental X-ray was excellent, and they found no concerns when examining inside his mouth. However, the vet showed us his skull X-rays and voiced his concern of bone loss on the upper jaw. They narrowed it down to either a sinus infection or a tumor on his jaw. I have been researching and if it were to be a tumor it would most likely be SCC which carries poor prognosis. Currently, he still drools as he always has, but overall is normal. Eating both dry and wet food, no sneezing, and no blood tinged saliva. The vet did not give me a definitive answer when I asked for a prognosis and for them to confirm if it’s a tumor or not. What should be my next steps with the information i’ve been given? Photos here.

Hi everyone!

My cat has been struggling with something he can't seem to bring up for about three days now. You know that sound cats make when they're trying to bring up a hairball? He used to do that occasionally, even though he doesn't have particularly long fur. Every now and then, he'd bring up a small amount of saliva with a few hairs in it, as he grooms himself a lot.

But for the past three days, he's been doing this repeatedly without bringing anything up. The only exception was one time when he brought up some pinkish mucus with a small amount of bloody tissue. It only happened once, and I'm wondering whether it could be due to irritation from all the retching.

He's also become hoarse and his meow sounds much quieter than usual.

I know the sensible thing to do is take him to the vet, but he gets extremely stressed during vet visits. I'm also worried about him catching a virus there, as this has unfortunately happened to one of my other cats before.

Has anyone experienced this pattern with their cats? Could it be something more serious than a hairball? What would you recommend?

Thank you so much!

I took my cat to the vet yesterday where they confirmed his is anemic. Got bloodwork done and today when they called with results all they would tell me is “he’s got a bad liver, bad kidneys, and is severely anemic at 15 when the low is 21”
They didn’t send a report of the results or explain any further.
They want to run more blood and urine tests. While we wait for those results they prescribed pradofloxacin, rehmannia eight combo, and Happy Wanderer.
Just did the first dose of all 3 meds.

My cat is still refusing to eat and has had barely any water since Wednesday night.

Should I still be concerned or will these meds kick in and help him? Is that combo of medication a standard treatment option? What are the odds he comes out of this?

Hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

So I went outside for a bit, I wanted to check under my house since I lost a ring. I then see a cat with a bat in it's mouth. It then let the bat go and it bumped into my arm. I've called animal control, 911, and other phone numbers, all of them told me that animal control isn't available. And they also wouldn't be able to help. The fourth call, a deputy told me they'll call animal control for me so I waited about 3 hours, and during those 3 hrs the cat was play fighting other strays. Should I mention animal control about that too? I've trapped the cat that caught the bat but not the others. And is it safe to leave the cage outside? I don't know where else to put it, should I also put a litter box? This has given me a panic and while Google was a bit of a help, it changes its answer. I'll be going to the hospital in the morning.

Species:Cat

Age:11

Sex/Neuter status:Spayed female

Breed: DSH

Body weight: Approx 12 lbs

History: My cat had vomiting and diarrhea late night Weds into Thursday am. Slight blood in vomit -> trip to emergency vet, diagnosis of gastroenteritis. She received antinausea meds and subcutaneous fluids and was discharged with a bandage on her back paw. The instructions did not tell us when to remove the bandage and our regular vet did not get back to us. I ended up looking it up tonight and removed the bandage promptly, but she ended up having it on for 24-36 hours total. Her paw is swollen but it seems to be having blood flow come back after we removed the bandage.

Clinical signs: swollen paw from compression bandage after IV/blood draw. She is still walking around, etc.

Duration: bandage was left on ~36 hours

Your general location: upstate NY

Links to test results, X-rays, vet reports etc: https://imgur.com/a/jdZDp7O

Hello, I am wondering if it’s possible to buy a fecal worm testing kit/system. We currently have alpacas and horses but are likely to add sheep to the farm soon as well. The alpacas get their poop tested monthly and with the addition of sheep and sharing/roaring pastures we expect to potentially need to test both species more often.

I think it might be beneficial in the long run for us to invest in our own test system/kit over dropping the samples off to the vet. Most of what I have found are all mail in test kits but that would take even longer for results and likely isn’t much cheaper. Is it possible for non vets to buy testing kits/systems and if so, what brand or system should I be looking for? The link is the closest I’ve found to a test kit but when I click details it says nothing. TIA!

https://www.maianimalhealth.com/modified-wisconsin-fecal-parasite-egg-flotation-starter-kit-kit-of-100-tests-49700?srsltid=AU7gw4VqJCDpPd_Kl0oM19Bb5CXCSczPw-1HLCWPuZBmG3F8Rd-eCO-xqtQ

Main Issue: Cat began scratching/pawing her face after getting 4 teeth removed. Prednisolone seems to help, but isn't a long term solution.

Scratching is on sides of mouth where the whiskers are, under her chin, and sometimes above her eyes.

Cat Age: 11

Weight: About 7.5lb

Cat Sex + neuter info: female; spayed

Financial situation: I can afford vet care and am currently working with a vet.

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Back in April, my 11 year old cat was diagnosed with resorptive lesions on 4 teeth and periodontal disease (<25% attachment loss) on her remaining teeth. The dental surgeon crown amputated the 4 teeth and left the root. As it was explained to me, this was because it made healing easier and also lowered the risk of her jaw breaking during the tooth removal.

The surgery went well and my cat's mouth healed well. However, about a week later she began scratching around her face. Initially I thought it could be the stitches maybe poking her mouth or an allergic reaction to them but her mouth wasn't inflamed and once the stitches had dissolved fully she still was scratching. We tried continuing her dose of buprenorphine for another week after surgery which didn't help at all. Once she was fully healed, all the surgeon could offer is to do another CT/x-ray. He didn't seem convinced the scratching was a result of the surgery and I wanted to avoid putting my cat through the stress of going under anesthesia (as well as adding additional hundreds of dollars to a surgery that was already a few grand...), so I took her to her regular vet.

The regular vet believed this could be some kind of neuropathy (not sure her actual diagnosis), but scratching can be caused by so many things which needed to be ruled out. My cat was already on a limited ingredient food, but I stopped introducing any kind of new protein to her diet to rule out a food allergy. She was also given tick/flea preventative. She also prescribed her half 2.5mg prednisolone initially twice a day for a week, then once a day for a week, once every other day another week until fully tapering off. This seemed to help, but as soon as I tried tapering the second week her scratching came back worse. This caused the process to start over, with 50mg gabapentin in addition to the prednisolone.

After a LONGGG process (tapering every two weeks...) my cat was finally able to come off the prednisolone. I noticed her still scratching here and there but never found scabs or evidence that it was the same intense scratching as before. However, after a few weeks the scratching came back. I wouldn’t say there was 0 improvement- the scratching behavior turned into more of an over grooming behavior still around her face combined with less intense scratching. I tried giving her a dose of the prednisolone as I saw the scratching come back which initially seemed to hold off symptoms for about 5 days. I quickly made an appointment with the vet and did a cytology of a small white bump that has been on my cats chin for awhile which didn't give any answers and is seemingly unrelated. I also started a true trial diet on hydrolyzed protein and am continuing the tick/flea preventative.

It’s now been 8 weeks of being on the food trial and it doesn’t seem to have helped the issue. Is it worth it to go back to the dental surgeon at this point? Part of me wonders if this could be a result of the retained roots. Any insight is appreciated!

Hi everyone! Last Saturday, I rescued a 3 year old male stray who is still intact (he's due to be neutered next Friday). I took him to the vet for a checkup and the only issue he has is tapeworms; other than that, he is healthy and free of other diseases. The one issue I'm having is that every time he pees, he leaves a small trail of urine when he leaves the litterbox. He's peeing normally, usually twice a day, and drinking a good amount of water so I don't think he had a blockage. Does anyone know what could be the issue? Are his balls getting dipped in the pee and trailing, or is it something more serious like incontinence? Any advice is appreciated, especially as a first time cat owner!