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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)
My dog broke her dew claw somehow and it is now cracked. It bled a little, but is not anymore. I plan to wrap it with gauze and vet wrap, then call the vet when they open in the morning, but any other suggestions in the meantime? She doesn’t seem to be in significant discomfort and is walking fine on that leg.
We have a 3 year old Husky that has 2 claws located on different paws that keep bleeding at the tip of the claw multiple times per week when she is outside in our backyard. The cause of the bleeding is not from trimming her nails too short and she is not one to be racing around the yard, potentially injuring her claws. We finally were able to get a good look at the tip of her claw to see where the source of the blood was coming from. Please see photos. It looks like the 2 claws that are bleeding may have broken so far down that there is a bubble of tissue exposed on the tip. We are not sure how or why this could happen and are desperately seeking some information and guidance about what the problem is and how to prevent the bleeding from recurring in the future. Please help! Thank you!
Hello,
Please see a veterinarian as soon as possible. In cases like this I always want to make sure that there is not a clotting problem and there are a few diseases that huskies get where rhe nails do not grow properly. These are things to talk about with your vet.
My cat has broken her toenail on her back paw it doesn’t seem to be bleeding too much but it definitely needs attention I can’t really afford a vet at all so please somebody help me with what I should do for her.
Hello,
I usually don’t worry too much about a broken toenail. I can rot clearly see the photo either. My best advice is to make sure she isn’t licking the area and make sure it stays clean, especially because litter boxes. If it looks like it is infected you will need a vet. I strongly discourage wrapping feet on cats. They will make the area worse by chewing at rhe bandage or it will cause swelling as they never stay on unless they are too tight. So never place a bandage on a cat.
Please see a vet if you are worried.
Omg my heart sank when I saw that I actually got a response from someone like you. Thank you for taking the time to write back .My animals are my life and to think of one of them being hurt and in pain kills my soul. There is no way I could afford a vet at the moment . I do have a good job but being the only one with income at the moment and also the only one that does EVERYTHING around the house ON TOP of working a 60+ hour work week . I do good with making sure everyone has a roof over their head clothes on their back and food on the table. Every penny I make goes for bills, food and gas! I wish I could take her to the vet right this second. Thanks for taking the time to read . I appreciate you more than you could ever imagine!!! Sincerely
The family of 22 Angela , Kayla . Haydin, Olivia . Then the Dogs are Nola , Navi , Nash, Bosephus ,Lexi .. puppies are Molly,Sophie, Stevie,Rocko, Potato,Layla,Ronake,Tiny. The cats are Joplin, Atlas,GusGus, Garfield and the injured lil black one is Lola baby!!!!!
Hi!
For a couple weeks I have noticed my dog chewing on his back paw… he normally has pretty strong allergies this time of year and he is a licker anyway.. however tonight when I got home from work I took another close look at his paw (it was looking very pink) and noticed that he is missing a nail.. it’s completely gone ! He is in no pain as it seems.. hes walking, running, playing and eating as normal.. the only thing is he is obviously licking the area where his nail was.. it’s not bleeding and doesn’t look infected…
what advice do you have for this type of situation? I have been reading and watching videos about this but it’s half and half of I should take him to the vet or if I can take care of this at home.. Thank you
I have never had a situation where the entire nail has been gone- a few times we have had a partial rip and then we did have to make a trip to see the vet or vet tech to have it looked at and snipped. I’m guessing, if there is no pain, swelling, soreness- that it may have happened a bit ago? If there is still a “wound” opening, I would keep it clean and keep an eye on it. If it feels swollen, or sore then definitely call your vet. And honestly, I’m a nervous nelly, so I would probably call my vet anyway and double check with them to see if I should bring them in to be seen…
My suggestion? Get all the nails much shorter and keep them shorter to prevent this in the future. Torn nails, broken nails usually happen due to excessively LONG nails. Keeping them short keeps them safer from this sort of accident.
We have a 2 year old Jack Russell named Toby. Papers from the breeder say he is registered, but my guess is if we spent the money on a DNA test we would find a stranger in the midst. We love him and wouldn’t trade him for the world but we think he has an addiction! He was not handled by the breeder and probably didn’t know human touch other than when his tail was docked and dew claws removed as a pup until we bought him.
He seems as though he is now addicted to our touch. Any kind of touch. He loves scratches from anyone, anywhere, at any time, and if you stop scratching him, he whines non stop. Could this behavioral issue be due to the lack of early touch? As much as we love this lug, having our hands on him every waking moment isn’t feasible.
I would love to know what we can do to keep him occupied that doesn’t include belly rubs, butt scratches, and tickling his ribs non stop. He has toys he.plays with as well as two other Jack Russell’s to terrorize squirrels in the back yard with, so it’s not a lack of stimulation. Open to suggestions! Oh, and the breeder was breeding pit bulls in the same place with Russell’s and at 30+/- lbs, we are pretty sure dad, well you understand!
Thank you
So, by feeding in to the whining, you’re reinforcing the behavior. At his age it will be difficult to stop. I’d reach out to your obedience trainer for ideas for this one.
I just recently moved in with my S/O and their dog hates it. She gets jealous. She didnt pee in the floor before and now she does. She always has to be under the covers and worms her way in between us. She stares at me all the time and when i walk towards her she rolls on her back and shows me her stomach. If we leave her outside of the room she whines and claws at the door. When its just me home she doesnt get in the bed, but if hes home she’ll hop right up with us. Im at a whits end.
Hello,
Please try to understand your partners pets point of view. How would you feel if you believed that your whole life that no one else I RN he world mattered as much as you and then all of the sudden you are told to move over and make room for someone else? It takes time to adjust to a new person especially a new person invading your space and your life. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about pets or kids. If you are the new person to the equation you have to adapt to their way of life not the other way around. I strongly suggest that you embrace the challenge of earring this pets love and trust by making small meaningful steps towards acceptance. Start by having a long chat with your partner about helping with the pets care. Start feeding walking and spending time with them. Be patient and understanding that this won’t get fixed overnight. It takes time patience and dedication to move into a family as the new person. I also think that seeing your vet to rule our pain, disease or infection is important. Take walks together. Go to puppy classes (even if this isn’t a puppy) to start bonding together. And be patient. You will be surprised how much love a pet can give.
Hello-
I agree with Krista. I would just like to add my experience with walking with your dog(s). Walks are sooooo much more than physical exercise. They help establish pack order, keep the peace, provide mental stimulation, help secure the bonds within the pack, provide routine and reassurance…. I really could go on for quite a while on all the benefits of walking with your dog your dogs as a family unit. My advice would be to be patient, and try adding a nice daily walk when you and your significant other both have time to spend with the dog together. Best of luck!????????
Your SO needs to be involved in your dog’s life. Training, feeding, etc. Dogs don’t urinate out of spite, however – it’s simply a new place, with new rules. Make sure the stress of the move didn’t kick off a UTI, and go back to housebreaking basics. And yes, as Dr. Magnifico suggested, take a basic obedience class as a family and make sure he’s the one working her.
I just recently moved in with my S/O and their dog hates it. She gets jealous. She didnt pee in the floor before and now she does. She always has to be under the covers and worms her way in between us. She stares at me all the time and when i walk towards her she rolls on her back and shows me her stomach. If we leave her outside of the room she whines and claws at the door. When its just me home she doesnt get in the bed, but if hes home she’ll hop right up with us. Im at a whits end.
Hello,
Please try to understand your partners pets point of view. How would you feel if you believed that your whole life that no one else I RN he world mattered as much as you and then all of the sudden you are told to move over and make room for someone else? It takes time to adjust to a new person especially a new person invading your space and your life. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about pets or kids. If you are the new person to the equation you have to adapt to their way of life not the other way around. I strongly suggest that you embrace the challenge of earring this pets love and trust by making small meaningful steps towards acceptance. Start by having a long chat with your partner about helping with the pets care. Start feeding walking and spending time with them. Be patient and understanding that this won’t get fixed overnight. It takes time patience and dedication to move into a family as the new person. I also think that seeing your vet to rule our pain, disease or infection is important. Take walks together. Go to puppy classes (even if this isn’t a puppy) to start bonding together. And be patient. You will be surprised how much love a pet can give.
Hi. I noticed an angry red lump on my 3-year-old Beagle’s foot, near her claw today. Pretty sure I didn’t see it yesterday. It doesn’t seem to hurt her at all. It’s not soft, but also not rock hard either. It’s not bleeding. She’s not licking it, so I don’t think it itches. She doesn’t have fleas or ticks. Her diet was recently changed from kibble to raw; not sure if it has anything to do with it, but I’ll mention it just in case. She seems to ber her normal self, NO vomitting / diarrhea / weakness. Brought her to the vet, and she was given 3 shots: dexamethasone, viccillin, and amoxicillin, and we were told to watch for the bump for the next few days. I’ve been surfing the web, and I think the bump could be histiocytoma orrrrr (God forbid) a mast cell tumor / mastocytoma. We live in Indonesia, and in the city we’re in, vets don’t really have labs where they perform tests and such. I’m losing my mind thinking about what my dog could possibly have. Please help if you’ve experienced a similar case. Pic attached.
Hello,
I would ask your vet about your concerns. I would also prepare for all of the skin lesions you are concerned about. Typically in cases like these I give my patients a few weeks to see if it resolves. If not I do a punch biopsy to submit for pathology through a veterinary diagnostic lab. If it gets larger ask your vet to remove it. It is small enough to allow many options at this point. Best of luck. Please let us know.
Hi Krista, thanks for your response. The bump has become smaller, drier, and much darker (like a healed wound), and I take that as a positive sign. Unfortunately, I have yet to find vets in my city that do biopsies or any kind of lab tests at all (not that she needs one right now that the bump has gotten better). I will still be on the lookout but am much less worried. Thank you again.
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.
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
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