Our cat has what we believed to be an abscess on his cheek. Initially he was struggling with scabs and itching under the skin, some sort of a skin condition, so we switched him to prescription food. Hasn’t changed anything. He had a scab on his cheek and kept scratching it, until it started to bleed. A lot. We took him to the vet, he was put on steroids and antibiotics to see if it would help…it did slightly, but the wound from picking at his scab started to get bigger. He is relentless with trying to scratch it. So now he’s been wearing a cone..the wound site has turned into a ball. It’s a bald spot and it slowly got bigger over time. It’s warm to the touch. We took him to a different vet. Says it’s too hard to determine what it could be and referred us to a dermatologist. Derm says likely could be cancer and it’s a mass…..even though we have explained how it all started. He is quoting us $5k to remove the mass and test for cancer. We are thinking it’s just an infection that is stuck under the skin….last vet tried poking it and draining it, but there was no puss, only blood. What could this be? We are worried but stil have a feeling it could just be an infection. Maybe he wasn’t on antibiotics long enough? Do we just proceed with this surgery?

During the summer my cat Higgins (Higgy) was lying at the top of the stairs and I noticed that she was lethargic, she’d lost a little bit of weight. After monitoring her for a day or two I noticed that she was unable to poop and she winced when I touched her stomach. To cut a long story short, she ended up being hospitalized for two days for an impacted colon. She’s been doing very well until a few days ago. We’ve been giving her lactulose, as prescribed by our vet and we’ve also given her a little Catlax. Her appetite is the same, I’ve been giving her only wet food, she’s drinking water like she normally would and, she is urinating plus, her weight is the same. Her behavior is normal, she’s playing and she’s already attacked the Christmas tree, but she hasn’t been to the bathroom for 5 days. Any advice would be appreciated.

I have a 10 year old female cat. I found her outside two years ago. The past few days she has been running and jumping. Today I fed her and now I noticed her colon is inlarged. She has poo trying to come out but cant. How can I help her? What home remedies can I do? Feed wet food? Or give her a laxative?? She won’t let me rub her tummy or back.

Our cat was recently paralyzed following a stupid preventable accident at home where he got spooked, jumped off a couch and landed wrong. Now he’s largely immobile. He can get around in short spurts using his front legs, but his hind legs and tail are limp. This has all occurred within the span of a week. Last Monday, 11/20, he was fine. He developed a slight limp on Tuesday, was clearly worse on Wednesday, and fully paralyzed by Thursday, which was Thanksgiving. Friday was when I returned to the initial vet we saw Wednesday for a follow up who recommended putting him down due to the time and potential cost for care, and we got the second opinion elsewhere within an hour that same day.

So the first vet immediately suggesting putting him down, and the second opinion vet offered more hope and said he might be able to bounce back and recover, but it would take a while. Anywhere from 4-12 weeks before showing any improvement. I’m going to do all I can within our means to save him if it’s possible. But I have concerns surrounding his bathroom needs, and potential pain I may be unaware of. Both offices ruled out “FATE” and neither feel it’s heart disease, heart failure, or a clot. Both feel it’s a slipped disc in his spine.

As a result of all this, he can’t use his litter box himself, and I need to learn how to “express” his urine and other end myself while searching for how we’ll be proceeding with his future care.

He’s been having urine incontinence the last few days, regularly leaking a bit when laying down (he’s always laying down now, but you get the point). I need to know if this is only possible or a thing when his bladder is uncomfortably full, or if it can happen regardless of the contents of his bladder, because I’ve found contrasting opinions. Some sources say it’s only leaking because it’s about to rupture and emergency care is needed, and other sources claim it can leak regardless of how much urine is in his bladder at any given time. It can leak when there’s a little or a lot. I don’t know what to put any stock in. I do know that shortly after expressing urine yesterday, we got a lot out….enough to make us think he must be empty or nearly empty, but shortly after he was still leaking a bit, which makes me think this is just something that we will have to deal with in general even if his bladder isn’t full.

The last thing I want is for it to rupture, and I’m finding removing / expressing his urine to be incredibly difficult. I’ve watched a dozen videos demonstrating it on youtube and read guides with photos featuring hand placement, and it’s just not coming easy or naturally at all. He’s a big boi….a little over 18lbs, so he’s a chonk. That’s making finding his bladder especially difficult.

I was able to successfully get a lot out yesterday, and he hasn’t had any water since. But he has had one of those treats that’s kind of like paste in a push up tube, and a small bowl of wet food. I know cats also develop urine from the liquid from their food.

I’m going to be “expressing” him at least once a day. I’ve been told it should be done up to three times a day, but I’m just not there yet, and he’s so uncomfortable I don’t want to put him through that more than necessary. When he drinks water it’s not all that much, maybe half an inch from a small bowl.

Lastly, I’m curious to know if he’s in more pain than I know or realize. We all know cats are great at hiding and masking pain, but at the same time they still do vocalize when they’re uncomfortable, or in distress. I can pick him up without him yowling or making noise, but he tends to complain the most when picking him up just to move him back onto a towel I’ve been keeping under him due to the incontinence.

I’ve read that when cats are in a fair amount of pain, they lose their appetite and stop drinking. Our guy is still doing both, and seems to enjoy both. He doesn’t randomly vocalize or cry or yowl. He’ll protest a bit when I shift him from spot to spot when changing towels, but that’s all.

Any help / thoughts / guidance / advice would be very much appreciate. And if anyone here can recommend a neurology clinic or hospital or other facility that treats cats without RAPING US FINANCIALLY that would be wonderful, because my God has this been frustrating. These people want upwards of 4k for an MRI. It’s positively unreal.

Thank you.

Hello! I just got back from the vet with Maizy, by baby ginger kitten who is three months old. I got her as a stray from a feral colony of cats. The vet is concerned about her left ear. He can’t see down her left ear canal. He said it’s jammed packed with black sludge. He gave her medicine for an ear infection, but he isn’t convinced it’s that. He thinks it may be a polyp that grows off her eardrum and will eventually grow all they way up her canal. He said if she was a year or older he would be sure it was that but he has never seen one in a three month old kitten. If that were the case, the options would be euthanasia or complex surgery that goes into her jaw to get to the ear canal to remove it. It would require a specialist vet who would not be around my home town. He said it would cost roughly $4,000-$5,000 (he had a patient go that route a few years ago). I need more information about this. He didn’t give me a name and I was too shocked to ask. Can you help clarify this for me? I was super shocked and didn’t ask many questions.

My cat developed a hematoma so we took her to the vet and they charged us $400 to drain it without anesthesia. After about 2 weeks it filled back up again so we took her to a different vet and they want us to spend $1,000 to have it surgically drained but with no guarantee that it won’t come back. Will it heal on its own or is it worth it to spend the $1,000 with the chance that it might come back?

We have been given a tiny newborn kitten (and it’s littermate) to let nurse off of our existing mama cat that has other kittens about 3 weeks old. Problem is they are pretty sick. One nursing and seems to be doing better. The other has bloody discharge and maggots (worms) coming out of its bottom. My niece has them but I’m going to take the sickest one and see if there’s anything I can do for it. Not looking good. Has anyone experienced something like this? I feel like at this point it will be me just comforting the kitten until he passes. 🙁

How much should I expect to pay to have a nasopharyngeal polyp removed from my cat. So far we were told $1000 just for the CT to confirm the diagnosis. I’d hate to have to let her go for something that appears very treatable but the cost is just not feasible for us.

Suspected IVDD: my 14 yr old Jack Russell has been experiencing some severe what looks to be muscle spasms. Took her into the vet and was told she may have joint pain or a neurological nerve pain. They sent me home with pain meds gabapentin, anti inflammatory carprofen and vitamin antinol to see if she got better. It was four days and she didn’t really seem to get better.

Then she seemed like she was developing some sort of serve cough. Took her back to the vet and they said she has some bacterial respiratory infection (also took X-rays) but I suspected kennel cough which they could not tell me 100% for sure, so was sent home with antibiotics. She is up on her vaccines and the only place she has been is at the vet because we don’t have any other dogs around us at home and haven’t been taking her for any walks due to her pain.

It’s been 5 days now and the cough is getting better. However, she is having muscle flares up everyday, multiple times a day. She is panting a lot and seems to be in a lot of pain. The meds don’t seem to be helping a whole lot.

She can still walk but is wobbly. Her legs tremble. I can see her legs are very stiff. Her back looks a little raised. She is still going to the bathroom on her own, but is wobbly.

I’ve put some paw grips on her feet since we have tile floors and some more rugs around the house. I’ve also tried to give her messages which she sometimes allowed me but she’s a Jack Russell and they have their own kind of personality.

What should I do? Any advice? I hate seeing her in so much pain.