Hi Krista! I have a 9 year old beagle who periodically (at least twice a month) will vomit all day. He vomits his morning food, then continues to vomit mucus and bile the remainder of the day. His vet has done a physical exam and blood work, and he kept him overnight once to give him IV fluids and anti nausea meds. He always bounces back within 12 hours, but this is getting to be really tiresome. His weight and energy levels are fine after this passes. And his stools look normal. Do you have any suggestions? I will share a picture of the last vomit from a couple of hours ago – this was about the 8th time he puked today. It went from food to mucus to this. I don’t feed him at all when he’s like this. As of right now, he’s perfectly fine and begging for food!

One additional note… we give him Purina One (vet’s suggestion) and use a slow feeder. We feed him small meals 4x/day, rather than 2 big meals. We are also very careful about making sure he doesn’t eat anything he shouldn’t.

Thank you!!

Gastropexy with splenectomy yay or nay?

11 years old female Rottweiler, spayed, on smaller side of the breed. Splenectomy going to be done due to incidental splenic mass finding while diagnosis non-resolving diarrhea and inappetence. I wanted to look for obstruction but instead, this was found. Larger mass, >6cm. Surgery Tuesday.

My 14 year old Lab mix has been diagnosed with Laryngeal Paralysis around 6 months ago. She is doing okay except at night sometimes coughing for 15-20 seconds and then going back to sleep. Please let me know what experiences there are from the surgery. I want to see if this is something that she can survive. Thanks for your help…

Our 10 year old Beagle Bassett hound mix has been down since last Wednesday. She had what we thought was a seizure, and couldn’t get up after. We took her to the vet, and they kept her but said that she wasn’t giving any indication to where the pain was or where the infection might be (a blood panel revealed high WBC) Sent her home with phenobarbital and clindamycin for the infection. Fast forward to yesterday, they decided to do an x ray and discovered she has degenerated vertebrae that have fused. They gave us prednisone and methocarbamol and advised us to call in on Friday if no improvement. Our poor girl can’t get up hardly at all, and the vet isn’t giving me any information as to what caused this, if it’s curable or manageable. I don’t know what I’m up against and a 2nd opinion isn’t something we can afford right now.

My 3 yo male nuetered tuxedo cat Kenobi was diagnosed with FIC by the ER DVM yesterday with no blockage. He is peeing just a dime size at a time. Should I also give him Apple Cider Vinegar as his PH was 7.0 ? Other than his urinary levels, red blood cells in his urine, struvite crystals, his blood work was good with no infection. The ER DVM gave him ; Buprenorphine, Prazosin, & Gabapentin. We have changed his food to all wet Royal Canin Urinary SO from mainly kibble with some wet. We think the stressor was the absence of our 19 yo tabby Tinkerbelle we had to help cross over 2 weeks ago. Should I get Kenobi a companion kitten to replace Tinkerbell? We also are buying a water foundation as he does not drink water enough.

I think my 2 month old foster kitten may have a nasal polyp. I’m working with a vet who doesn’t think she has a polyp because he says she’s too young to have one. We’ve tried a couple of antibiotics and nothing has worked yet. Her breathing is getting louder and she breathes with her mouth open while holding her head up when she sleeps. I had 2 other kittens last year that had polyps with the same symptoms. After 5 months of trying to treat the congestion with antibiotics, during spay surgery, both were found to have very large polyps. I don’t want to wait that long with this little one.
Do you think it is possible for a 2 month old kitten to have a polyp? If so, what is the earliest age for exploratory/removal of the polyp? Thank you!

I have two dogs who made “friends” with a skunk about a week ago. I have bathed them in hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, dawn dish soap. Also had the bathed at the groomer and then bathed them again at home with Skunk Out shampoo. The still smell but not too badly. What seems to really stink is when they open their mouths. I use Fresh Dental in their water with limited success. Any other suggestions?

PYOMETRA SURGERY QUESTION: I have a question for Dr. Krista. Below is background information and I will include cost info for anyone that might be searching for cost information in the future and stumbles across this website. (also uploading a picture of doggie with stitches to gallery)

My 7.5 year old Shepherd/Husky mix just had surgery for pyometra. It was approximately $2000 at a pet hospital in Tennessee for the surgery. (actual surgery was a little under $900 and then additional things such as anesthesia, overnight boarding charge, IV, antibiotics, e-collar, medication, etc ended up racking up the charges to almost $2000.) Her symptoms that caused me to go to the vet were not eating, depressed, excessive drinking, constant licking her private areas, and I did notice she was drooling a lot as well. Her not eating was the main thing that had me worried as this dog will eat anything and gobble her food up in seconds and then lick the bowl clean searching for any missing bits under normal circumstances, yet she even turned her nose up at her favorite foods. I had initially been worried about blockage since she had eaten some table scrap bones a few days prior (which I now know not to do for future reference), but after googling , I came to the conclusion pyometra was more likely. She had just finished her heat cycle a few weeks prior, so everything lined up on her symptoms matching pyometra. The vet did an x-ray and blood work and it did end up being Pyometra. I had never heard of this before and really wish I had as this was an expensive lesson for us to learn and painful for our poor doggie. If we had spaded her when she was younger, it would have been $250 at the exact same place I just paid $2000 to for pretty much the exact same surgery. (though now much riskier and doggie sick) The vet did the surgery the morning following her initial examination. (the initial exam was $425 for exam, x-ray and blood work and was not included in the cost of surgery. I received a 25% discount off of this price for being a new customer) She had the surgery at 10 AM and stayed the night to get extra fluids and antibiotics as she had a pretty bad infection and keep and eye on her. I picked her up at 2 PM the day after her surgery. My doggie was happy to see me when I picked her up and seemed to be feeling much better. She wagged her tag and happily jumped in the car and was excited about going in our house. Once in the house, she visibly drooped, though. I thought that was probably normal after having surgery and she slept a lot. She ate that night and I gave her the medicine in her food. This morning, however, she once again refuses to eat- even her favorite foods. She drinks normally, but doesn’t eat anything, so I also cannot give her the medication, which consisted of an antibiotic and pain pill. I tried forcing a piece of bread in her mouth with the pill inside it but she just spit it out. My question for Dr. Krista or anyone who has had experience with pyometra…. is this normal for a dog not to want to eat a couple of days after surgery? It has now been almost exactly 48 hours since her surgery. She went to the bathroom a little bit ago and both urinated and had a wet bowel movement. I have tried offering all different kinds of foods and she shows no interest. She is just laying around. She is still drooling more than normal, but seems in better shape than when I initially took her to vet… but worried about her lack of appetite. How I can give her the medication if she will not eat. Any recommendations?

My four-year-old boy Chihuahua named Buddy is in very rough shape. He is such a loveable highly active very fit healthy dog. He suffered a type one IVDD incident. This was six days ago. He went from stage one to stage four in 48 hours. He was not diagnosed until after an x-ray when he was already in stage four. Four days after that he has been diagnosed to be in stage five. He showed signs of improving his stability when holding himself up with his front two legs two days ago and did not eat until just 12 hours ago. He’s eating and drinking and his general comfort seems to be much better but he has zero high pain feeling and has no bladder or control of his annular muscles. My regular vet who is not a surgeon has recommend putting him down. I named him Buddy because he literally is my buddy. He was adopted two years ago and rescued from Mexico with scars all over his body that already healed when I got him. He is a survivor and so am I as I have suffered emotional and physical scars as well. I can’t bear the thought of losing him and not seeing him run and be happy again. I don’t want to give up on him yet. I also don’t want him to suffer. He is totally responsive from his front legs forward. He is kissing, eating and drinking now. I am hoping I hear from Krista. I have seen Krista’s videos on IVDD recovery stories. I don’t know what to do for him. I am doing every thing I can but not surgery which I can’t afford. Is there any hope?