A year and a half ago we rescued a 4 week old kitten who presented unresponsive with a body temp so low it did not register. She was revived. As the caretaker was going to put her back out that evening I stepped in and offered to take her with the plan to rehome her. I have rehomed dozens of kittens over the years, all who came from feral colonies. From the get go Annabelle was incredibly sick and had behaviors that weren’t what we were used to. When held she would attack faces, when stimulated she would attack, we continued to work with her and a year and a half later she lays with us at night and as long as we don’t touch her does not attack people. Instead she attacks items. This occurs whenever there is any stimulation in our home, folding laundry, cleaning out a closet, dogs playing, children laughing, the list goes on and on. She has destroyed a sofa, armchair, curtains, tablecloths, comforters, sheets, duvet covers, etc, etc. We can not trim her nails….because we can’t handle her and truly even with her nails trimmed I am sure she would rip things apart with her teeth. We are no stranger to ferals, I am happy to allow them to hide until they feel comfortable, there is no hiding with Annabelle instead she literally runs into the chaos. When we let our dogs out and at feeding time out she runs into the chaos, when I vacuum she runs around the room, when we have company she runs around as I warn our guests not to touch her. We are no stranger to keeping cats happy, we have cat towers, scratching posts, scratching boards, elevated areas, areas to hide. Our other 4 cats are incredibly happy members of our family. I am at my whits end, I honestly feel like we attempted to tame a raccoon and are living with it in our house. I do wonder if Annabelle would be happier outside, but with no sense of danger and a habit of running into the chaos I can’t help but worry she would get killed….and I didn’t save her to have that happen.
I am open to suggestions and curious if anyone has ever had a similar experience.

Hi Dr. magnifico! Curious on your thoughts on gabapentin for pain? I’ve read mixed reviews. My pup has a painful back leg. Originally she saw a vet at our practice who thought is was due to Lyme because she had tested strong positive and did not feel a drawer sign when checked. We did antibiotic treatment and the lameness got better for the most part. She would have some days where you could see it was bothering her. Then a few months later she was back to not bearing weight on it. Saw a different vet this time at our practice and this vet said he felt the drawer sign and said he felt it was injured CCL and reccomened a surgeon. Surgeon said would need to have x-rays to confirm which I haven’t had the money for. So we did pain meds (gabapentin and tramodyl) and rest for about a month and lameness went away again. She’s been good for about a year up until the past month or two and the vet gave gaba again. When she’s on it, she looks sleepy and scared. I’ve never had an issue giving pills with her in cheese on lunch meat or something but now she tries to spit it out. It’s like she knows what it’s going to do to her. I’ve read mixed reviews. I’ve also read it’s more for nerve pain? So I’m not sure if it’s actually relieving her pain or not. I’ve also read the reciptors that tramodyl targets, dogs don’t have? Curious on your opinion on all of this. I would like to see if she’s still a candidate for surgery even though it’s been some time but I need to come up with the funds for that so I’m trying to help her in the mean time. I give her vitamin supplements for her joints. I don’t want her on pain meds all the time but want something that gives her some relief on those bad days without making her feel drugged up.

Boston terrier was having neck pain. Vet gave muscle relaxer, gabapentin and prednisone.. she suspected IVDD. My baby wasn’t doing that great with meds every 12 hours. So recently we went to 8 hours. He seemed to be doing a lot better. Well today, he started to walk towards me and he froze in mid step. And fell down. Rushed to vet. She said he is in a lot of pain- major spasm- not seizure. Gave him a pain shot that pretty much not him out. She said he needed surgery – only can do it in Dallas. If I couldn’t afford surgery then he needs to be put down. I’m trying to get donations for the surgery. Trying to give him a chance. He still walks on his own, poops etc. I saw videos of dogs recovering from IVDD without surgery and they were worse off than my baby. What should I do??? Any advice? I’d like to know what meds Dr. Magnifico used on Hank in her YouTube videos. Please help!

Hello, I was trying to cut the hairs around my dogs ear and he shook causing the tip of his ear to get cut off. Very small port around a 1/4” or even less it looks like. It is not bleeding. Do I need to do anything? He doesn’t look to be in pain but I know animals don’t always look to be in pain even if they are.

Hi! My pup was spayed last Monday. They kept her overnight and the next day until 3pm. They called asking if we wanted to bring sedatives home because she was going crazy there in her crate and dashing everywhere. I said sure and brought them home. They didn’t use sedatives there… she was fine when she came home. She wasn’t too active just random bursts of energy. I tried the sedative one night and it just made her even worse and irritated and couldn’t settle down. From then I’ve been crating her a lot. Anyways Wednesday I noticed a swelling puffy bump on the left side of her incision. Hasn’t gone down yet. Took her to the vet on Friday and she said probably being too active caused it. Which I don’t think she’s been too crazy at home. Idk what happened the day after surgery at the vet but I don’t know. If it’s a seroma, what do you do for that? I’m not sure what to do. She doesn’t lick or bite at that area. And everything else looks good.

Hey everyone! I was hoping I can get some insight on how to battle for ringworm in my household? we adopted a cat from the humane society and they were not aware that he had ringworm and it has passed to the 2 humans in the house and the other cats.

I’ve been doing the daily cleaning, washing the sheets, vacuuming, spraying Lysol, wiping surfaces down, etc. I got topical medicine for both humans and cats.. I have lime sulphur on order. I also have deep played my couch covered with plastic and tarp and sheets. Cat towers are outside to be cleaned and stored away until it’s over.

Is there any of suggestions? If I would lock my cat’s in the basement and keep them away from the living quarters could that possibly help keep it contained and help eliminate the issue?

Thanks in advance! I appreciate any opinions!/advice I may get! ????

My dogs legs have been really sore after exercising. This started happening randomly a few months ago. She is a 4 year old American pit bull terrier. Her legs are sore for a day or two (sometimes longer depending on how intense the exercise was) and then the soreness goes away. I am wondering how I could help her with this problem.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. My 14 weeks old Golden Retriever have eye infection. I don’t know what is this, could you please advice?

Our 9 y.o. English Bulldog, Max, is experiencing a very itchy face only on the right side. He will scratch daily and it sometimes becomes raw. We have moved to Colorado, but have not established a veterinarian here yet. With COVID-19, I do not want to take him out to the vet unless it is the only way to treat this. Is there something I can get online? I have seen great reviews for Coat Defense which, according to reviews, is used successfully for itchy skin on horses, dogs, and cats. Do you have any experience with that product or is there something else that could address both the itchiness and the root of the problem that you might suggest?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Sophie is an extremely active 12 year old Tibetan Terrier who appears to have cervical disc disease. This diagnosis is not definitive, though signs and symptoms point this way. All tests have come back negative, antibiotics were not successful, so we started her on Prednisone 5 days ago. Day 1 and 2 she was a new dog. Happy and running. Unfortunately we weren’t aware of the necessity for bed rest. Day 3 she went downhill and now she is in significant pain when she attempts to get up. We addenda Gabapentin 2 days ago and this seems to give some relief. I carry her outside and she can support her weight and limp to do her business. Front right paw is most involved. Her feet will splay and she goes to her stomach in pain if she tries to get up without me helping. I have attempted manual traction which she tolerates. My question is what other medications or conservative treatments can we add (surgical intervention is not an option for us for a number of reasons). At what point can we hope to see changes. Should we limit her from trying to get up on her own, as this is the most painful for her? If so, any suggestions on how to do that?