Ask questions and share about your pet's health to help others.
What can I do for my cat’s teeth? My cat has yellowed teeth and bad breath. His gumline is also red around some teeth. He’s eating and acting normally, but I’m very concerned about his teeth. It’s difficult to get a veterinary appointment where I live due to the pandemic so I’m only able to take him to the vet a month from now. Until I can take him to the vet, what can I do for a month to help his teeth?
I have two cats – Vinny born 2/2020 and adopted 4/2020. In 3/2021, we adopted our second cat, Duke, who was born 9/2020
Vinny has been very healthy until recently. Not long after adopting Duke, Vinny lost his voice, started coughing, deep breathing – we took him to the vet and they treated him for a URI.
He’s been off the antibiotics for about a week and his voice started becoming hoarse on 4/8, which slight coughing starting 4/9.
Duke has apparently always had a thing with sneezing. Usually 1-2 times daily, very random times. The foster care chalked it up to stress. His FELV came back negative when they tested him.
Both cats are set up with vet appointments – Vinny as a sick visit and Duke to get a general check up (new vet for us due to a recent move) and to address the sneezing concern. Both cats are completely up to date on all vaccinations and both neutered. 100% indoor cats.
I’m considering asking the vet to test them both for Feline Herpes Virus and do a retest for FELV.
Anything else that it could be?
Hello,
There are literally dozens if not more possible causes. I think it would be neat to contact your vet for help. It might be time to repeat diagnostics or add blood work or imaging. In some cases it is even appropriate to talk about obtaining samples for pathology or culture. It might also help to find a feline specialist. Good luck.
My dog Mila (Daschund) is pregnant and should be 59 days pregnant (possibly more but very unsure). Her stomachs been hard since last night and she stopped eating yesterday afternoon but recently just ate again but only a little. She’s been a little strange today and yesterday but besides that she seems normal. She did lose her mucus plug Monday morning and a little more of it Tuesday. Could she be close to labor or possibly already starting first stage?
Hello-
Congrats on puppies☺️ I think that if I were you, I would call my vet and have them advise.
I would talk to the vet who’s been monitoring the dam throughout the pregnancy as well as your breed mentor.
If you don’t have either of those, call your regular vet. Today, this morning, right now.
I’m looking for a good diet for my 9 yr old puggle. With the nice weather here, we are gonna be going outside for more exercise but looking for a healthy diet. She has put on weight and I believe it has effected her mobility and snoring a little. She only eats a cup a day and she is currently on senior diet food but looking for another brand and options.
Hi there! You might want to start with a chat with your vet. Is she doing well on this food?
Need a recommendation for dry dog food for my dog who scratches a lot. Vet said his skin is ok, no fleas, etc. Forgot to ask vet for recommendation on food. Currently eating Iams adult dry food. He is almost 2 yrs old.
Hello,
It is important to discover what the cause of the itching is. Certainly some dogs do have food allergies and for these cases a strict diet must be adhered to. The tough part is which diet as there are lots of possible food allergies. What I have found far more commonly is another issue like parasites (fleas are the biggest concern, scabies is second) or environmental allergies. I talk about diet, omega three fatty acids, preventatives, shampoos and allergy meds. All of these before I talk diet as it is so hard to not let them eat anything else. Please ask your vet for a referral to a dermatologist if the itching persists.
Hello all!
My 7-month-old English labrador got spayed yesterday. She went into surgery at 7 am and we picked her up at 3 p.m. Of course, she was not herself due to the anesthesia. Once we got home, we fed her some lunch and then later some dinner, she was very hungry. Now, the following day, we have noticed she has yet to poop. She has peed minimally but has not pooped once. Is this normal for female dogs after undergoing surgery?
Hi there-
Sometimes the anesthesia can slow things down. I would give her a little time- hopefully she has by now. If she still hasn’t, I would call your vet and speak to them. Best of luck!!
Hello,
I am not usually worried about not defecating for a few days after surgery. She should however be acting normally and urinating normally. If worries call your vet and confirm. Better safe than sorry. Ty for spaying her!
We have a young dog who will not stop licking our older dog in the mouth. She is out of control with this, its not a normal greeting type of lick its always full speed jumping all around & non stop licking. The older dog hates it & tries to get away but cant so then it turns into the older dog getting loud & aggressive but that doesn’t even stop the other dog…
We don’t know what to do, or how to make her stop. She’s very bullheaded & stubborn almost impossible to train. Any advice would be wonderful. Thank you for taking time to read my cry for help
JoAnn
Good morning☺️ My first bit of advice would be basic obedience. I know you said that she is nearly impossible to train, but dogs are smart and want to please you. It’s just a matter of finding a good motivator for her to learn- whether it be treats, praise, play…etc. all positive reinforcement. Once you know what makes her tick, I would just work on the basics, really. Come, sit, down, stop. There are a ton of YouTube videos and write ups online about how to train and what to do. Those basics will help you keep her off your other dog. Second, you might want to make an area just for your older dog if you have the space. We keep baby gates around just for that purpose. For instance, one of our GSDs needs surgery in the near future. She will need to recover, so we will set her up with a space of her own to rest. The baby gates are nice because they can still see everything that is going on and remain part of it all. Sidebar- having said all that, we are actually going to be brushing up on training out other GSD so that when our other one comes home from surgery things will be more calm and safer for recovery. Sorry for the long reply. I hope it helps.????☺️
Leash the younger dog and let them drag the leash. Correct immediately with the leash. Be consistent. If you aren’t already crating the dogs when you aren’t supervising, I’d start doing this to give the older dog a break.
We just began an adoption trial with an adorable 4 month old kitten named Georgia. She’s very playful and happy but we instantly realized a few things seemed off with her health.
She’s got a watery eye, sneezes occasionally, scratches a lot, shakes her head occasionally, has a lot of gas, has diarrhea on and off, and is dealing with some mild bowel incontinence. But, most concerningly, seems to be dealing with a recurring anal or rectal prolapse.
We’ve taken her to two vets where she’s been given full examinations and deemed healthy. She has had two fecal tests, which return good results – no parasites are seen. She has prescription eye drops, a prescription antibiotic, prescription canned food, and a probiotic that we’ve just started. But no one seems to be as concerned about this rectal issue as we are.
Throughout the day, we notice a tiny bit of pink tissue poking out of her rectum. It’s very small and comes and goes. She also passes gas when this happens. And sometimes poop leaks out. She licks her butt a lot too.
Sometimes a cylindrical round bit of red tissue protrudes much further and what looks like a piece of poop can be seen poking out too. This tends to happen most often when she wakes up from a nap. It seems that her muscles relax and her bowel starts to come out. It will be out for seconds to a few minutes after she gets up and is moving around and then it pushes itself back in. It’s very disturbing to see!
We already have one special needs cat and, while we absolutely love this kitten and want to keep her, I’m afraid that this is going to be a recurring issue that will become very stressful. The vets we’ve seen are trying to treat the underlying cause, which they assume is diarrhea. But I’ve read that some parasites don’t show up on fecal exams or under microscopes – is this true? I’ve also read that stitches and surgery can help if this doesn’t improve on its own but that, with some cats, this is just a recurring problem throughout their lives.
Help! 🙂
Hello,
I think that almost everything you are worried about it fairly normal for a newly adopted kitten. I always tell clients that we put these guys through a tremendously stressful time when we move them away from their family and into a new home. It’s a huge advisement and with that the immune system gets totally stressed out. Upper respiratory infections are a very common sequela. Also most kittens come with parasites. I send out at least three fecals before I deem them to be parasite free. Also stay on a good kitten food. Between the change in homes, families and diets I see loads of issues like this and they almost all resolve completely within a few weeks. All I really care about for the first few weeks is if they are happy, eating and playful and gaining weight. Stay in touch with your vet and I swear love cures almost all of these new kittens. Best of luck.
Thanks! I hope you’re right. I was feeling the same way until this prolapse thing started. That has overwhelmed me as it seems to be getting worse, not better. And the vet visits and prescription foods are already getting expensive! Just afraid there won’t be a quick fix and we’ll be dealing with two very expensive special needs cats soon.
Hello! I will try to keep this as short as possible but is hard because so much has happened.
I have 3 cats. My male cat is the one I am worried about the most right now. About a month ago all 3 got URIs and went to the vet. They were treated with antibiotics however they weren’t helping much so I had to bring them back a few times! Due to financial issues I ended up bringing them to our local shelter/humane society where they have a free clinic right now due to Covid. Biggest mistake EVER! They were so mean to my cat and overly rough with him completely stressing him out. I wasn’t allowed to go in the room with him however was able to watch some of what was going on through a window. This stressed my cat out so much that a week later he got a urinary blockage (2 weeks ago now)… I have never had issues prior with the other vet. He is 8 yr old. Anyways the vet cathed him and sent him home since it was the weekend and they are closed… where he ended up going to the ER the next day because he was crying all night…. They took the cath out… gave him pain meds and fluids… and kept him for 5 hours… He came home that night and has been on pain meds as needed and prazosin 2x a day. He is also on Hills C/D wet (with minimal dry of the c/d) He has been seen 2x since at the vet and Monday they did a urine sample/culture…. They said he has white blood cells so was put on antibiotics…but once the culture came back it showed everything to be normal…so was taken off of them…. Prior to all of this he was free fed however I have been switching all my cats to meal times 2-3 times a day… and will continue with that because of weight issues . He has been peeing, however, sometimes when I am peeing he will come pee in his litter box at the same time… He shakes his back end and puts it up in the air kind of and the pee shoots or sprays out …. this isn’t every time he pees but it has happened 3 times that I have seen. His pee clumps aren’t as big as they were prior to all this and now vary in size… sometimes a golf ball size give or take a little bit bigger/or smaller. I also will see his back end/tail twitching randomly in the day. The vet said this happening more than likely was due to stress. I have been making sure to keep the stress level low at home, use feliway (idk if it helps) and new toys/cat nip.
My questions are…
1. When switching to a wet food diet…. Will cats pee more than usual? They were on a 90% dry diet before. Sometimes I add a little water to it as I don’t see him drink a lot.
2. He only has a few days left of the prazosin… Should he been weened or go off cold turkey?
3. Is the shaking and spraying like pee normal? He does so in the litter box however because of his angle sometimes it gets on the wall.
I am new to this… and have talked to/seen several vets however they all say different things so I am confused… I just want to know if this is normal….. I think he is probably irritated from being cathed and such… due to licking his private sometimes and whining (both aren’t as bad as they were before however still happen)
Thank You for taking the time to read this.
Hello,
I’m sorry all of this has happened. I will try to answer your questions BUT you really need to stick with a vet you trust and be prepared for this to take a while to resolve. In some cats it is a lifelong issue.
I prefer wet to dry as it is a much higher water content and usually much less fattening. I even recommend adding water.
I also advise clients to try to give Sq fluids at home.
Prazosin is a question for your vet. Some stay on this medication long term as it seems to be very beneficial.
I am not sure what the shaking is. Maybe try to get it on video and discuss with your vet. Maybe pain?
You should also ask about anything you can try for stress? Like Feliway? Catnip? Toys? Confinement at night? An anti anxiety medication? This is a discussion for your vet. What really matters is that you have someone advocating for you and your cat and you do everything you can to avoid another blockage and learn how to manage this long term.
Best of luck.
If possible can you share your vet experience (with the costs included) in our storyline section. It might help others.
My 11 year old indoor cat has started a snoring sound when breathing over the past year. A local vet said it was not in her lungs and that he saw something while looking in her nose. She is eating and drinking fine with no other problems. Steroids and antibiotics helped pretty well, but the symptoms returned afterward. We think it could be a nasopharyngeal polyp (all of the symptoms are there[the sneezing fits, the head shaking, the constant swallowing like she has something in her throat) but we just got quoted 5 grand for a CT and surgery at the specialist. No other local vet will do an exam under anesthesia to look. Someone please help. We feel like our days are numbered for our sweet Sadie girl. ????
Good morning- sorry you are going through this. Is your vet able to do this or are you referred to a specialist? I vaguely remember another Pawbly friend having the same issue a while back, and they found a vet that did an exam under general anesthesia for a much more affordable cost. Have you spoken to your local animal shelter to see if they know of a vet that can do this? They may be able to offer some advice on who else to reach out to in your area. I am sorry that I cannot offer more concrete advice.
We’ve asked several local vets, but they all say they don’t do that. They always refer to the specialist clinic and no joke they are quoting 5 grand. Mind blowing! We’ll keep asking around. We’ll start with the animal shelters as well.
Hello,
I agree with Sarah. Start calling rescues and shelters and ask if they’ve had a case like his and who they used for it. There are lots of vets who will look and remove a polyp if it is there but you have to be persistent. If you find someone please share it with us so we can pass it along. Also I would ask your vet to have the radiographs reviewed by a boarded radiologist. It might help. At my clinic this is about $70.
Dr. Magnifico! Thank you so much for responding! Your YouTube videos have provided us hope that we can potentially fix our cat’s problem at a reasonable cost. You’re the best. ????
Thank you. Please let us know what happens.
Dr. Magnifico, we are having difficulty finding any vet willing to do an exam under anesthesia to diagnose/ perform a potential polypectomy. Do you know of anyone in the southeast that will do this? We’ve made so many calls. We’re seriously considering driving across the country to see you. Please let us know. Thanks!
I’m glad you have an appointment scheduled. It does sound like he needs to be seen by a vet and have his teeth looked at and cleaned. Perhaps your vet can push up your appointment?
Wait for your vet. Keep calling and ask them to keep you in mind if they have a cancellation