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We have a beautiful beagle boy who is around 10, he has gained weight as he had gotten older and is currently on a diet. He has IVDD in his neck. He is still able to move on his own and has no issues with the bathroom however has spasms of pain during which he is very painful. Currently he is on pain killers, steroids and is taking joint supplements and is crated. The vet has also recommended getting an arthritis shot per week however the weekly trip to the vet seems to aggravate him and whenever we get home he has another spasm. We are trying to manage him conservatively for now and I am wondering if we should persevere with his diet while he is recovering and if we should stop taking him to the vet weekly until he is a bit better as these trips seem to set him back. Thank you!
My ex-feral cat has been diagnosed with a tape worm that the vet had us treat with a round of Cestex (25mg – 1 1/2x’s day for 2 days) this knocked the fecal test from a 4+ to a 2+ and they recommended the same meds again, knocked it from a 2+ to a 1+. Now they say do it again or come in and the cat can get a shot. The cat has had check up’s every year since coming inside, and tape worm was noted once before and meds given at the vet. Now they think she has had it for as long as she has been inside. Told it is a type of worm not normally seen in SE USA, more Pacific NW and could be caught from eating dead fish in a pond or frogs. When she was feral and coming to the door at night she would bring us frogs so this makes sense. Question is, is this type of worm bad for the cat long term? And does it pose any health risks for us? She really gets upset when being given the pills and does not travel well to the vet for shots. Any thoughts are appreciated, wish I could remember the name of the worm the tech told us on the phone.
Hello,
First if this is a tapeworm I consider them more gross than dangerous. So there’s that. Second they are caused by ingesting a flea so we start with treating fleas and tapes. And third (and best of all) all of this can be treated in one easy monthly application of revolution plus monthly. Easy-peezy!
Xox
Krista.
I should add one more thing. If your fecal is being sent to a lab they can help to diagnose it, assist with treating and help with any kind of zoonotic issues. I call them for help a lot. Hope this all helps. And in general very few cat parasites are dangerous to people. But you need to get the exact name of the worm to confirm this.
Morning, I have a golden retriever called Roxy who developed a abscess following a anti inflammatory injection (in her neck) – this was incised under GA and left a MASSIVE seroma. Many months later it eventually closed only to reform again and rupture. The vet gave a course of antibiotics when the discharge changed colour from a light pink to a dark red colour and the exudate improved to a lighter colour. It is still a very deep sinus. I have been dressing it twice a day with boiled cooled water and two drops of tea tree oil, and then packing it with a natural bee wax ointment and a Betadine solution mix. Recently I took her back for another opinion because the lump was not improving, which in all honesty was a nightmare vet trip. The vet stuck her hand into the sinus and scraped and scraped – the return was clots of blood that looked like liver and the consultation room looked like a slaughter house. They said that if it didn’t heal over the next few weeks she would need to have surgery again and they would do a ‘running stitch’ to close it from the inside. I am not going this route! I vowed that would be the last vet trip I take her too. It was so traumatic for her and for me (I am a nursing sister so I can stomach most things, but this was too brutal and too close to my heart). So the twice a day dressing continues. I have been working away at this for about 6 months now and it is a huge strain on me, washing bandages and dressing whilst working a fulltime job and caring for my child and house. I do not want to give up, but I have moments when this is what I want to do, I suppose this is normal. She is 11 years old. This morning it seems to be smelling like infection is brewing again… 🙁 Should I do Milton solution irrigations? What can I do to aid healing? Any advice gratefully received, I am desperate. Claire Neithercut
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your pups condition and your experience with the vets so far. I would never advise anyone to give up on their pets but I am a vet so it is also difficult for me to advise you to go this without medical assistance my first concern is that it sounds like your pup needs a better plan for treatment. If this was an abscess/ seroma or hematoma it would be nice to have had a culture to better decide the antibiotic and maybe even a drain placed do help healing. Although it might have been difficult to see exploring a wound or mass is often indicated to help rule out infection disease and even cancer. This is important so we can provide a treatment plan and prognosis. If you are seeking alternative treatment options please ask for a referral for this. Or seek a third opinion from another vet who you trust. ask your friends if there is a vet they can recommend. I’m just concerned about going this alone. There are vets out there who can help. It sometimes takes a few visits before you find your preferred provider. I wish you both the best of luck.
Good morning-
I am sorry that you are having such a time with this and worse that your experience with the vet hasn’t been the best. I would definitely find a vet thatbyou trust and will listen to you and help guide you through a treatment plan.
Thank you, just hit a low point and here there isn’t a huge choice with vets and alternative treatments, just don’t want any aggressive treatment anymore xx
I give my dogs Heart Guard Plus. For the life of me I cannot remember if I gave Them their September dose. (They were due September 1st). I need to know should they be tested for heart worms before I give them a dose now or is it ok to just give it to them?
Thank you!!
Hello,
These are the questions that are best decided by a phone call to your vet. I don’t know where you live and I don’t know the degree of Heartworm disease you have there. Here, in N Md late Sunner I would say to my clients to start now and work back toward the beginning of the month. Some vets will prefer to test and restart the pills from there. It’s definitely a question of exposure, environment and risk of disease. I hope this helps. Thank you for having your pets on Heartworm prevention. Take care.
My 14 year old female cat had surgery yesterday to remove a tumor on her right side. She has been doing very well until about 1 hour ago. Something about the surgical site is bothering her. It may be itchy or something, but she tries not to bite at the bandages at first. She will growl & run around, but will bite at the surgical area. Is there anything I can do to help her?
I asked my question already. Is there anything I can do to help her?
Hello,
Sounds like pain or discomfort? I would call the surgeon in the morning and ask them to help. Cats are terrible with bandages. I usually only use them if the cat is stating in the hospital to be monitored. Please call the vet ASAP. .
My cat is a domestic long hair. She gets occasional hairballs every couple of months but tonight yacked up an almost 6 inch hairball. She has been eating, drinking, and defecating fine. Should I be concerned about a bowel obstruction? I have never seen anything like this before. At first I thought there may be a long worm inside of it but threw on some gloves and discovered its just matted hair. I have called multiple vets and can’t get her in for nearly a week. Is this worth an emergency vet visit?
Hello,
It’s very hard for anyone remotely to know whether a pets condition is truly an emergency or not. In general we go by the rule that “if they are acting completely normal it probably isn’t an immediate emergency”
If you have a regular vet I would call them first thing tomorrow and ask to be seen ASAP after explaining what happened. I would also keep the vomit sample and collect a fecal sample to bring in. If you don’t have a regular bet or can’t be seen soon I would go to the ER for peace of mind. I hope this helps. Let us know what happens
Blocked Cat Cannot Urinate after catheter treatment. Brought our boy (age 6) to the vet Friday 9/13/19 He was totally blocked. Vet did catheter and IV overnight. Showed great improvement. Still a bit slow to urinate but peed beautifully (on the toilet bowl–yes he often does this). Vet wanted to keep him for observation while we were at work, but again his urination was only dribbles. He’s back at the vet for 2nd night of overnight catheter again. Any insight?? Vet is saying the slow urine stream/lack of urine is due to inflammation. Then how did he pee so beautifully on Wednesday? Very confused, frustrated, and want our baby back home! Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated Thanks.
Good morning-
The one time that we had this with one of our cats was many years ago. I wish that the vet we saw them (not who we now see) had kept him for observation and sent us home with better instruction. We ended up having an extremely costly surgery and luckily no recurrence after that. I also researched and changed our litter and we did a diet change. I feel that if our vet at the time had given us better instruction after the first occurrence, as well as had kept him overnight to make sure he was ready to go home, we may possibly have been able to avoid the second visit. I would talk to the vet you are seeing. Ask about diet and litter recommendations. There is a good Rx catfood. Ask for advice on early warning signs to look for. Best of luck.
Thank you. Yes, we are now aware of early warning signs and diet has been changed to Rx cd wet food only. The problem now is that Sebastian can’t seem to urinate more than tiny amounts at a time. Vet keeps saying the cause is inflammation, but he’s had catheters on/off for a week now and is getting meds… Why can’t he urinate??? Vet says cath goes in with no problem and urine at that point is clear. He’s stressed at the clinic and that can’t be helping matters. Thanks again.
Thank you. Yes, we are now aware of early warning signs and diet has been changed to Rx cd wet food only. The problem now is that Sebastian can’t seem to urinate more than tiny amounts at a time. Vet keeps saying the cause is inflammation, but he’s had catheters on/off for a week now and is getting meds… He’s stressed at the clinic and that can’t be helping matters. Thanks again.
After many attempts to resolve one of my foster kitten’s URI, I learned about nasopharyngeal polyps and low and behold that was the problem with Lindy. My vet’s team removed the bulk of the polyp behind Lindy’s soft palate with a CO2 laser rather than with traction using forceps, the doctor estimated she removed 90%. I see you have had much experience with these nasty growths. Lindy is a foster and I am getting ready to turn her over to the adoption center to find her forever home. I’m not exactly sure what to write about Lindy’s polyp and what might happen in the future. I hear they can recur. Do you have any advice to give me. Thanks so much.
Hello,
If your kitten begins to have loud breathing or making snoring sounds, or if you notice open mouth breathing or any kind of discharge from the nose then I would go back to the vet. In my experience these recur about 10% of the time. Good luck. If you don’t mind I would love to have you share her story on our storylines page. It helps other people learn from the members experience and also helps understand prices in vet med. if you have any questions just let me know.
Good luck.
Krista.
Join the discussion…Hi Krista – thanks so much for your response. Yes please share my story. The vet removed the polyp at the same time Lindy was being spayed. I think the polyp removal added about $200.00 to the bill. I normally use a low cost spay/neuter clinic for my foster cats but because of Lindy’s unique situation I paid the my vet’s cost for spay so her total bill for the day’s surgery, spay and polyp removal, was $700.00. My vet was wonderful working through this problem with me but it was the first time she and her colleagues had encountered and removed this type of polyp. I bet they find a lot more of them now that they know they are out there. Thanks again.
Join the discussion…Thanks again and I just made a donation. This gives me great peace of mind.
What can I give my cat she cant pass a hairball! Help!
Good morning…
Sorry for a late response. Hoping that your cat finally coughed up that hairball. If not- are you positive it was a hair ball? I only ask because the constant trying to clear her throat of it can be a symptom of other, more severe circumstances. If she is still showing signs of distress and coughing to clear “something” out of her airway, I would get into the vet as soon as you can.
I talked to the vet and he gave us laxatone and she loves it. It has helped her through up two times but more mucus which makes sense because she is unber congested and sneezing. So that may be what is going on. We are keeping a close eye on her and there is some improvement but minimal.
Hello,
I’m worried that the hairball might not be a hairball. If you have a long haired cat I recommend daily brushing. Or even twice a year shave downs. If you have a short haired cat you can try OTC cat lax or watered down canned food. I have even heard of people adding petroleum jelly to help lubricate. But I have also seen cats vomiting from intestinal parasites (please only diagnose with your vet don’t use an OTC dewormer as they aren’t safe enough in my opinion. I also talk about increasing fluid intake either by iv fluids or sq fluids. But these need to be discussed with your vet. My concern here is that coughing for hairball relief can look exactly like coughing for heart disease, respiratory disease and a huge host of other problems. Please see your vet before assuming a diagnosis and instituting your own treatment plan. I hope this helps.
My 4 year old cat had a 3 year rabies shot and a distemper shot at about 11:30AM this morning. It is now 9:25 PM and she is having tremors in her leg muscles. It is NOT a seizure but I’ve never seen muscle tremors like this before. She is also lethargic and not eating too, which I know is fairly normal…I’m just worried about her muscle tremors. Does she need to be seen immediately or is it ok to wait until morning to call the vet?
Hello,
It is very hard for me to answer this safely. The advice always has to be to err on the side of caution so that safety comes first. A veterinarian will listen to heart and lungs, take a temp, and assess neurological function and probably give an injectable steroid. We also check mucous membrane color. All of this is done to assess severity of the condition and be prepared to halt it from progressing. The tremors can be pain or anxiety due to pain or discomfort. But without all of the rest of the physical parameters to use as an assessment I can’t tell you whether or not to be worried. I’m sorry. I know that is not cut and dry. But it’s the honest truth. I think you are a Jvc client. If so please pm me on the Jvc fb page and I will call you for immediate help.
Krista.
Thank you so very much for your quick response and the phone call. Your help is very much appreciated!
Hello,
I have a ton of information on my blog and YouTube channel on this. I would ask about a muscle relaxant like robaxin and feed a watered down wet food for weight loss to help keep the feces soft and easy to pass. I also talk about adding a laxative if needed.