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Jeanne | 5 days ago
We Learned This Week That Our 9yo Female Domestic Cat FIV+ Has Bilateral Ear Canal Polyps …

We learned this week that our 9yo female domestic cat FIV+ has bilateral ear canal polyps more severe on the right. Our local vet does not perform the surgical removal of these polyps. How to find a vet to perform surgery or a dermatology specialist? A video otoscopy was recommended. In Maryland, Harford County. Willing to travel though don’t want to stress cat out too much with a looonnggg ride. Thanks in advance.

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Vivienne Barnes | 7 days ago
My 2 Yr Old Springer Sleeps With Me But Some Nights She Is On The Bed Off …

My 2 yr old springer sleeps with me but some nights she is on the bed off the bed which means my sleep is interrupted. Why is she doing this as she doesn’t want out.

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  1. Laura

    I would imagine something keeps her up. Just like humans. Does she have a bed in your room and a reliable command to park her butt somewhere? Perhaps putting her there if she won’t settle is a way to handle it?

  2. Vivienne Barnes Post author

    thanks Laura. I had thought of putting one of her beds in my room which I will do tonight and see how it goes. Perhaps I snore which may upset her.

  3. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    I would guess because your dog is their own person. They have their own wants, needs, thoughts and desires. Maybe she’s too hot, or you snores, or you talk and tell in your sleep. Oh wait. That’s my husband. If he ever asks why my sleep is interrupted answer the same. You can put a camera on yourself at night and see if any of my ideas pertain.

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Liette | 1 week ago
Can A Cat Live With A Nasopharyngeal Polyp That Is Not Easily Removed (it’s Not …

Can a cat live with a nasopharyngeal polyp that is not easily removed (it’s not near soft palette when placed under anesthesia)? Our 6 yr old spayed female is honking and has nasal discharge unless she is on antibiotics. Prednisone /prednisolone were not effective.
She is a poor surgical candidate (she stopped breathing when the endotracheal tube was removed during exploratory). An ear polyp was removed successfully. Discharge and ear polyp are/we’re on the same side.
We cannot afford endoscopy at this time. Can she be maintained on antibiotics? She has coughed up a large polyp twice before we owned her so we are hopeful that will happen again soon.

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Jason | 1 week ago
Hello, My Cat Was Cleared From Urinary Blockage. Now We Need To Prevent This From Recurring. …

Hello,
My cat was cleared from urinary blockage.
Now we need to prevent this from recurring.
You mentioned quality can food for this.
If you can give me a list of your favorite quality cat can foods I would appreciate that.
Thank you

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Colin | 1 week ago
Colin To Dr. Krista : May I Pick Your Brains? Dear Dr. Krista, I’m Writing To …

Colin to Dr. Krista : May I pick your Brains?

Dear Dr. Krista,

I’m writing to ask your advice about a stray cat I found last month. See images attached.

But first I want to thank you for the polyp videos you made, which were refreshing, as well as impressive.

One of my strays was snoring, so I was eager to pluck out a polyp hiding behind his soft-palate. (He didn’t have one, but I’m gratefully alerted for the future.)

Last month I found a stunted stray ginger cat outside a 7/11 in North Thailand, where I’m a self-financed Christian missionary.

Can you help me diagnose, and treat the problem?

At first I thought it was simply FVR / Calici and chronic snuffles.
But when I opened her mouth, she had only 4 teeth in her head!

Yes, she had calici tongue-ulcers, but little sneezing, no ocular discharge, and has been eating like a horse from day one. She’s happy and bright in herself, apart from the ugly sore nose.

Her mandibular Ln were big and hard, so I put her on antibiotic tablets, with a little dexamethasone (actually 2.5mg Prednisolone tab. daily.)

Then after a week or so I sedated her, and examined her mouth more closely, no observable polyps (drat!) but one of her molars was loose and covered in calculus, so I pulled that one out, and cleaned up the remaining molar and two premolars, otherwise the poor thing would have zero teeth.

There was of course gingivitis and pharyngitis, but pink, not red like “dragon-mouthed cats” on dcf.

For the last month I’ve given her a course of floxacilin (30 days) with amoxycillin, and tried all sort of creams on her nose and lower eyelids which. as you can see, are raw and sore.

Her Ln are almost normal now, +but that nose is no better+, and she tries to rub as though it is itchy.

(I made up creams mixing; 10% flours of sulphur, betamethasone, ivermectin, and vaseline)

There’s a temporary lessening at best, but no lasting improvement.

So what is your differential for her?

In NZ where I locummed, cat leprosy was common (Mycobacterium from mice and voles) so that was my diagnosis, but the floxacillin has made no impression.

I’ve trimmed her claws and taped her fore paws to stop her making her nose raw.

I’m stuck, and thought of asking you Doc.

I’d guess she’s 3-4 years old, confident, unvaccinated, entire, lived wild all her life eating left over fast food, and possibly DCF from neighbours.

Since October I’ve been feeding her raw chicken frames, tinned sardines, vitamin syrup, and no DCF.
She loves raw chicken :), and eats whatever I put in front of her and still looks for more.

Apart from her nose you would not think she was ill in any way.

Thanks for your advice.

Colin

PS. For some reason, Depo-medrone has been taken off the market here, not even local vets can get hold of it.

Colin Melbourne English missionary in Asia
https://www.born-again-christian.org/news/
https://www.born-again-christian.org/news/ไทยคริสเตียน/
https://www.born-again-christian.info/aboutus.htm
https://www.born-again-christian.com (Asian languages)

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello!
    Thank you for helping this kitty.
    I am happy to help, but a few things are important to remember; I do not know all of the local diseases to your area. We live in very different places and animals get exposed to different diseases in different places.
    Based on the history and response to treatment so far I think the antibiotic was warranted and may need to be provided every so often to manage secondary infections due to severity of the cats condition.
    I also think that there is a chance this could be one of the following:
    Infection (fungal or bacterial)
    Immune mediated (pemphigus/lupus)
    Or cancer (squamous cell, etc)

    To diagnose these you may need biopsy or cytology. I would try to resist treating without some ability to rule something out. (Steroids and fungal infections can make things worse).

    Please keep us posted. Very best of luck.
    Krista.

    1. Colin Post author

      Dear Dr. Krista,

      Thank you for your quick response 🙂

      Yes, I’m aware of the dangers of cortisone therapy, but living in the mountains, I’m limited to kitchen table surgery 🙂

      I do also liaise with a kind local lady-vet, who supplies me with whatever medicines I need.

      She too is stumped, and I’ve been here three decades plus +and never seen anything like it before.+

      I tried mixing miconazole in with the various creams I concocted, like you concerned it could be a fungal disease. But I find flours of sulphur cures both mange and ringworm here, if applied gently and persistently enough.

      Yes, the spectre of Squamous cell carcinoma looms, but she is remarkably bright and active.

      Almost no sneezing or nasal discharge.

      The “Rodent ulcers” that I’ve seen look different, and usually just the lips, and the ulcer has a thickened rolled edge: This one is different.

      +Doc., have YOU seen anything like this before?+

      I should mention, she had a lick granuloma on her hip, but that has healed now, with flea-bathing, and the steroids she’s been on. (I don’t like using fipronil, ie. “Poison your pet to poison its parasites”. Not a sound strategy.)

      Can you ask around for me please if any of your colleagues have seen a nose like that, despite over a month intensive blunderbuss therapy? Feel free to post the images on a specialised dermatology group if you know of one.

      Colin

    2. Colin Post author

      Dear Dr. Krista,

      Thank you for your comments. Your mention of locality sparked a line of new thoughts.

      Most of my vet jobs have been in the tropics (Jamaica, Arabia, Singapore etc) where venomous creatures are commonplace (Toads, insects, scorpions, spiders, centipedes, and snakes).

      I’ve seen Arabian horses lamed by a centipede bite, a rare Arabian Oryx die from a snake bite.

      One characteristic symptom I’ve noticed in cats of spider bites is intense, frantic licking of the cat’s body. It is continuous until the toxin effect subsides after a few hours, so mild sedation is called for. It’s clinically distinct from the CNS effects of agricultural toxins.

      This cat has lived around a 24 hour 7/11 shop, and the bright lights at night attract swarms of termites and beetles: Cats love eating termites, +but so do; scorpions, snakes, spiders, centipedes, and toads+ that live in drains.

      Just this week, my other strays brought two live snakes as “love gifts”, one was a harmless Tree-snake, the other a 60cm Red-necked Keelback (small, but whose venom is nonetheless as deadly as the Banded-Krait’s!) (See attached snap I took of “Chatty” offering a cute-little Keelback present to me.)

      https://thailandsnakes.com/red-necked-keelback-venomous-mildly-dangerous/

      Doctor Krista, It’s possible what we are looking at is a cat recovering from a bite, or sting, on the left nostril by a snake, scorpion, hornet, spider etc.

      I know from personal experience that such wounds provoke Type 4 cell-mediated immune responses, (cf. acute inflammatory antibody responses) and so are very slow to heal. (My neighbour was blinded in one eye by reaction to a Hornet sting.)

      With neoplasia, I’d expect this cat to be inappetent and “ill”, but she’s bright, eating well, and purring loudly by my side as I type. So I’m leaning to the insect, arachnid, snake bite, or sting idea for now.

      It’d be nice to have the luxury of lab-work and histology, if it were available and reliable, but I’m old-school trained, and content diagnosing on sensory data alone.

      I certainly considered your Pemphigus differential, but she would have responded very well to the prednisolone 2.5mg/day according to this paper and others:

      https://www.veterinary-practice.com/article/feline-pemphigus-foliaceus

      Thank you for helping me brainstorm 🙂

      I will update you on her recovery.

      Colin

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Joel | 2 weeks ago
Hi Krista, I Discovered Your YouTube Videos Yesterday And Found Your Advice On Cat Care Incredibly …

Hi Krista,

I discovered your YouTube videos yesterday and found your advice on cat care incredibly helpful. My wife and I are caring for our 18-year-old Birman cat, who is in stage 4 kidney disease with significant muscle loss. She’s also struggling with constipation and has other health issues, including high blood pressure and a heart murmur.

Currently, we’re feeding her a mix of wet food (chicken broth, chicken, pumpkin, and egg yolk), and providing SubCut fluids (50ml/day), along with the following supplements:

– Epakitin (0.5g/day)
– Pet-Tinic (2ml/day)
– Lactulose (3ml/day)
– Phos-Bind (0.2g/day)
– Potassium chloride (0.19g/day mixed in the broth – though we’re concerned she’s not getting the full amount since she’s unable to finish the broth).
– In addition, she’s on Amlodipine (0.25ml/day) to manage her high blood pressure.

Despite this, her weight has decreased significantly over the past year. She was once 3.3kg, but a year ago dropped to 2.5kg, and three weeks ago, it dropped again to 1.8kg, despite our best efforts to feed her.

A week ago, we had an enema done at the vet, which relieved some diarrhea, but there was still hardened stool near her anus. We’ve been massaging her abdomen and anus daily to stimulate defecation, and were able to help her pass a large, hard stool last Wednesday. Since then, she’s only passed small amounts of stool – mostly liquid or dark – and has had a lot of difficulty.

Today, we used a Pedia-Lax suppository (1ml), and after about 30 minutes, she passed a larger stool with dark liquid diarrhea. The stool was slightly hard, dark, and very smelly. She’s now very exhausted and resting, but did purr a bit before falling asleep.

For hydration, I gave her 10ml of SubCut fluids before the suppository to prevent dehydration. We’ve seen three different vets, but none have been able to provide lasting relief.

We’re reaching out for advice on whether we’re on the right track and if there’s anything else we can do to help her feel better and poop more easily. Any suggestions, given the circumstances, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your time and any guidance you can offer.

Warm regards,

Joel and Sonia

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    I’m sorry to hear about your cat.

    I think that the question is how to help manage the constipation? I think that the weight loss and progression of the kidney disease is Kelly part of the problem. Have you checked her thyroid function? I typically see these older cats having this disease develop with the others your cat has. This disease also causes muscle loss. But this one has an available treatment option.
    I think that you should recheck your blood work and see if’s his might be part of the reason for the constipation.
    Also try to encourage play and exercise. It will help her fell better and eat better and also help the internal muscles that assist the colon and avoid constipation.

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Orangie | 2 weeks ago
Hello. My 4 Year Old Male Cat Had A Urinary Blockage They Did A Catheter And Unblocked …

Hello. My 4 year old male cat had a urinary blockage they did a catheter and unblocked him sent him home and he wasn’t getting better 2 days later took him back and now he has a bladder infection. Sent us home with Amoxocillin. Took him back to er and now he is blocked again. Another catheter is in. My question is if they pull the catheter will he block again due to the bladder infection he still has? My thoughts are can they leave it in longer and keep the urine flowing until his badder infection clears? Lastly the urine culture hasn’t been verified yet to know exactly what antibiotic is needed apparently that takes a week. They just guess Amoxocillin. Please let me know your thoughts.

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    I always advise unblocking and leaving the urinary catheter in for about 3 days whilst giving iv fluids. It helps flush the bladder (and whatever caused the blockage) and diurese the kidneys which are usually impacted. I do not advise unblocking and then removing the catheter. Both cause more trauma to an already traumatized urethra.
    I also advise transferring to your own vets office for Care of the er is too expensive.
    I have more information on this subject on my blog KMDVM.blogspot.com.

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Katherine | 3 weeks ago
My Senior, Male, Neutered, Diabetic Nebelung Cat Is Experiencing Constipation, I Had Recently Slowly Changed His …

My senior, male, neutered, diabetic nebelung cat is experiencing constipation, I had recently slowly changed his diet to a raw based diet from royal Canon diabetic pouches,, as i was put off from the vet scientific diabetic diets in the end due to one day reading the ingredients and seeing that my cat was needing something more or potentially he was lacking something, I say this as he was starting to mirander outside like a Billy goat eating all the graass that he could in our backyard. Coincidently, Boof started flickng his head and scratching at his ears, the next day after noticing his discomfort and that he still hadn’t defecate (day 3) i took him to a neighboring vet as our usual vet was fully booked out, I could see crusty brown specs in his ear and a discharge, the vet I took him to gave, me pmp drops to administer 3 drops per ear twice daily for 7 days. She didn’t want to try to much else due to him being a diabetic and also a new patient,
One day later when I was cleaning boofs bedding a spider
Like bug had come out onto our carpet,
I took a photo of it,
It’s definitely some type of tick not sure if it cpmr from out of his ear or if it has anything to do with his constipation.
Boofs appetite has been great this whole time aswel.
Although after eating I have noticed him somewhat whining ND groverling like his pain 🙁
He also vomited twice after having dinner. (biley foaming substance liquid)
On day 5 I took vet into out normal vet who assessed him, she gave him a 24hour anti nausea injection, and assessed him, she said to resume giving lactolose maybe a little bit more and aswel with the subcut fluids,

And still nothing,….

The vet called today to see how Boof was I explained to her that he wants to go to the toilet but just can’t, and his looking pretty squeamish again,
She explained to me that because of it being 6days now with no bowel movements that it can get Boof pretty sick potentially, she explained that instead of taking a stab in the dark and guess that they would breed to take xrays ect bloods and mannualyl remove all feces that’s stuck in him and it would cost $800. Due to Christmas coming up and the overall rise in the cost of living and the renting crisis here, I am just stuck for money at the moment that kills me to say, I have tried vet pay with. No luck…

Is there anything I can try at home please, it’s not at all a situation where I don’t want to pay anyone, it’s by far the opposite and I’m hoping that a friend of family member will reply to me after asking for a lend, which I never do, and I never would expect or be suprised if anyone can help,
My boy means so much to me,
I just gave Boof a 5ml enema of lactulose and more subcut fluids
Is there anything more that I can do please 🙁 🙁

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    I’m sorry to hear about your cat.
    In my experience constipation in cats is always secondary to something else. And in fact very few are actually constipated. It is absolutely imperative that someone competent palpate your cats abdomen or take an Xray to confirm the constipation before you treat for it. People always think it’s constipation and it’s usually poor dietary intake, cachexia or poor muscle mass and usually a few other things.
    Constipation in cats feels like a colon full of hard distended feces. This should be confirmed by a rectal exam. The problem with getting this diagnosis incorrect is that all of the things you try to treat it will make everything else inherently worse. Do not give your cat anything until you confirm this and figure out why it happened.

    My guess might be you don’t have the diabetes adequately controlled and therefore you are losing muscle mass. This includes the gi tract which can no longer push feces out of the body.

    Please find a vet you trust for your cats care.

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Justin | 3 weeks ago
My Cat Got A Large Lump Under His Jaw That Formed Over Night. The Vets Are …

My cat got a large lump under his jaw that formed over night. The vets are closed and the emergency vet is too far and expensive. My parents say they will take him monday but is it safe to leave it untreated for two days? *edit, i should mention the lump is large and does not seem to be causing pain, he is acting normal anyway. I cant tell if its warm or not thou

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    If it truly happened overnight then it is most likely infection. If he is acting normally it may not need to be addressed today. But I do recommend it be seen asap. The longer infection sits the more difficult and dangerous it is.

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Alice | 3 weeks ago
Hi. I’m Asked By Our Vet To Slowly Wean My Cat Off Her 2.5 Mg Prednisolone. …

Hi. I’m asked by our vet to slowly wean my cat off her 2.5 mg prednisolone. I’ve done half dose for a couple of days and started alternate days three days ago. Noticed that my cat started having loose stools yesterday and today. Is this a side effect of the weaning off process? Tks.

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  1. Krista Magnifico

    Hello,
    I don’t usually see this happening. But I don’t know why you were prescribed the steroid. Nor do I know anything about your cat. Best to ask the vet who prescribed it.