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My 9 year old Potcake (probably shepherd/lab/etc mix) has a long history of lipomas, which grow fairly large. In late October of 2022 I found a lemon sized mass on the back of his right hind leg, which was not bothering him but was firm. Our vet in Ottawa ON is a VCA practice nearby; I was able to get an appointment the next day. The vet and I were both concerned at the location, size and consistency of the mass.
She recommended an xray of the limb and a chest xray to rule out cancer and metastasis as well as blood work. (all normal) She sedated him for the radiorgraphs and aspirated the mass multiple times with a presumptive diagnosis of lipoma. We discussed the fact that it was probably and inter-muscular lipoma, between the two muscles of the hind leg at the back . To remove it she advised a board certified surgeon elsewhere, who she said would want to do an MRI of the limb first to evaluate the extent of the mass in preparation for surgery. When I expressed concern about the cost she offered a surgeon at the VCA who is not board certified but who may be able to attempt a surgery without the MRI.
Since October the mass has grown, especially medially, and is now the size of a grapefruit. He is still not lame or uncomfortable when I feel the mass. I want to prevent problems for him with this leg but I also worry about the invasiveness of the surgery – and the cost, which I can’t afford right now. I am waiting and watching at this time. I worry about having the mass return even after surgery and wonder about removing the majority of it just to give him more comfort when moving – is it ok to wait until it gets bigger? I know that lipomas don’t tend to spread to other parts of the body like malignant cancer – this is why we took the xrays, to look for other signs of cancer in his body. Now i wonder if this was too soon, and should have waited on those tests.
Hi,
My 1 year old lab was taken for neutering. We were aware that he would be a crytorchild situation as his 1 testicle was not descended. VET did check for 2nd testicle by his abdomen incision but couldn’t find the other testis for a long time. N now recommending to go for a higher level ultrasound with a surgeon..to confirm if there is another testicle or not in the body. N then do the next procedure accordingly.
1. Is that possible to have just one testicle in Labrador dog?
2. If its hard to find the undecended testicle via ultra sound, can we take plan B – the visible n descended testicle is removed n then blood test is done in 4 -5 months for testosterone hormones in blood if anything changes to be sure if there is another testicle in body?
Youemf valuable inputs are much appreciated
Thanks mahesh
Hello?
I am not a reproductive specialist. But I think your vet can ask their lab services rep about progesterone checks or go get an ultrasound or refer to a surgeon for help. These cases can be frustrating but it is really important to make sure a testicle was not left behind in the abdomen.
hi! my dog is a 3m old shepherd mix and she was attacked by another dog, she has multiple fractures in her jaw. I was referred by Dr. Trout to UPenn but they’re quoting 6-10k and I just dont have it, I’m very young so no one will lend to me and rescues that I’d contacted basically said they would euthanize because of the costly procedure, shes only a baby and I really want to save her, is there any financial aid for hardships like this anyone can recommend? Dr Trout said to get in contact with Dr. Magnifico and her practice referred me here to get in contact with
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your pup. I spoke to two of the vets who are taking care of your dog to try to get a better idea of what kind of injured there are. This is absolutely imperative to try to formulate the cost of treatment. In some cases a broken bone can be more affordably managed by a splint or cast IF very very!!! strict cage rest is implemented for the 6-8 weeks that it takes for a bone to heal. But your pup has a brown jaw which needs to be stabilized very quickly so your dog can go back to eating normally. We don’t have weeks to see if it heals.
The degree of injury is so severe that a surgeon (an expert and not a regular surgeon like me or other vets) is needed. We have no margin of error to oaky with. UPenn had the best of the best and that’s why you are being sent there. They are not a rescue or non profit. If you don’t have the ability to pay for this (provably over $5,000) then your options are very limited. There are some pet care financial services like a credit card, care credit, go fund me , selling items, or asking friends and family. If those aren’t options I strongly recommend you look into rescues you can surrender her to so she can be treated and find a home. Otherwise there is only suffering with a very badly injured mouth where she may never be able to eat or euthanasia.
In cases like this I know it’s hard but if anyone will take her and take care of her I urge you to let her go to them.
As a personal note I will offer this. Before I went to vet school o found a puppy walking on the street in Balt Maryland. I had her for two days while I tried ti find her family. On day three she became very sick. So sick she needed to go to the er. I was 21. She came up positive for Parvo. The er bill was $200. The estimate to care for her was $3,000. Which I didn’t have. It killed me to have her put down. KILLED. so much so that I decided then and there I would never be in that position again. I went to vet school 8 years later. If anyone has offered to care for her I would have been so grateful. But no one did. Or would in those days. Sick puppies were everywhere.
I wish you the best.
If no one will take her call my clinic jarrettsville Veterinary Center. I will see if I can get a rescue to take her.
Krista.
I gave my 15 lb dachshund a whole tablet of 250mg of metronidazole by accident instead of a half tablet. Can this be harmful to him?
Hello,
For all accidental ingestions I recommend calling pet poison. But this is a dose I would suspect is not too far out of the dosage range to cause much worry. Call the vet who prescribed it or the pet poison company
My question is about urinary crystals and cat blockage. I specifically want to know about jaundice after surgery, but also to know if we should have done anything differently, we lost our little sweetheart a few days ago to urinary crystals.
Details: 4 weeks ago our little fellow, a 2-year-old neutered male, got worms. We brought him to the vet and, with medicine, successfully treated them. They stressed him, and he didn’t want to eat much, but the vet said this was normal. He seemed to get better, but a week ago started acting stressed again, not eating much, drinking very little, but still eating and drinking. Seeing his pee was not possible due to having 2 other cats (and not knowing what urinary crystals are, much less know what to look for)
We called the vet Friday morning, they told us he would probably need another dose of worm medicine, and scheduled an appointment for the following Monday. Keep in mind we had never heard of urinary crystals before, we thought he had worms again.
On Saturday evening, it became clear it was more than worms. He was lethargic, not going potty at all, and just wanting to lay down and close his eyes. We called the vet clinic which was closed, several other numbers for local cat places (adoption, care, etc) and could not get him seen but got the same phone diagnosis at every step, “probably a stomach tumor”.
It was 5pm Sunday before we got lucky, found an animal hospital 2 hours drive away, got a hold of an actual vet through their emergency number, and she agreed to open the hospital late on a Sunday and see him immediately for $1000. We got there at 7pm and by 7:15 he was in surgery to unblock him. She immediately knew what was wrong. His temp was already low, he was very weak and barely moving but alive.
The next morning, we found out he survived the surgery and was recovering with a catheter and IV fluids. The plan was to keep him in the hospital for 3 days and to let him come home if his pee was clear and his blood work for liver function was acceptable.
We got a phone call early on the second day telling us he was occasionally moving in his cage but wasn’t eating or drinking. She said he seemed depressed, and we could visit at 4pm to see if it perked up his spirits. It was the earliest time they could let us visit so we took it.
On our drive to see him, the hospital called us and said he wasn’t doing well. They asked if we wanted the blood work done immediately instead of on day 3 and told us he had become extremely jaundiced. During our visit he could only manage a couple of steps, so we held him, he was clearly exhausted and under the effect of pain medicine.
The hospital had taken the blood after the call and said his sugars were 3 times normal and other things “5 times normal”, and he was a deep greenish yellow in color around his ears. They brought him warm food but he was not interested. They explained organ failure and said his lungs would fail eventually, but he was breathing well.
In seeing us did perk him up a little, he focused on us, but he quickly faded again, preferring to lay down with his tongue out after 20 minutes. We didn’t want him to suffer and linger with no hope of recovering, and he was heartbreakingly euthanized at that point.
Again, I didn’t know anything about crystals before he went into surgery, and I have questions in case his brother, or any cat, is in that situation.
My questions are….
– Was the jaundice a terrible sign or could it have been from the IV fluid, exhaustion, surgery and lack of eating? IE was it normal after surgery, or recoverable?
– Given what I’ve described, should we have waited another day? Could it have been just needing more time to recover? Or is the jaundice and blood work at that point enough to know he’s fought all he can?
We just want to know more. We’re still in shock and miss him terribly, but we felt alone in making decisions, the hospital clearly didn’t want to influence our decision either way. We’re just not sure now that 24 hrs recovery was enough to make a decision, or how serious jaundice is when he didn’t have it pre-surgery/IV.
Any advice appreciated, we found this site via a YouTube video on urinary crystals. Thanks.
P.S. We aren’t second guessing or wanting to hear we did the right thing, it’s too late to help him, but we want to know more in case it helps another cat.
Also, the hospital took a deposit from us when we agreed to the $1000 fee, and said they would accept payments since there was no way to forsee this type of thing. They did seem caring and knowledgeable, but clinical, and would offer no advice on euthanizing or not. We felt alone with that specific decision…. and in hindsight aren’t even sure it needed to be made yet… or did it?
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your cat.
It sounds like there are multiple issues here and I don’t know how they are related. I don’t expect the crystals caused the jaundice. Most of the time I see the crystals because of poor diet or stress. Stress can be many many things. I suspect this was either a cat with underlying conditions like FeLV fiv or fip. Also I suspect the jaundice was either hepatic lipidosis or parasites.
You sound like you really love your cat but never had a vet who was invested in your cats care. It is my biggest gripe in vet Med now. We don’t care for people who care about their pets. We need to do more in providing both care and advice.
I am also very concerned about the vet who took the deposit and didn’t do pre op blood work. Or talk about the possibility of all of rhe things that can happen if there are underlying conditions or post op complications.
I’m sorry for your loss.
Dr magnifico
Thanks for your time, I’ll try to keep it shorter.
Yes, we loved him and his brother dearly from the day we found them in our barn, a couple of weeks old at best. His feral mom didn’t return, we watched with remote cameras. After bottle feeding him and weaning him to soft food, we got him dewormed, neutered etc. He seemed happy and normal in every way, clean bill of health.
– The jaundice first appeared 24 hours after surgery to unblock him, and he’s never had it before.
– The vet said the surgery was too urgent to wait for tests, and after surgery said testing was pointless until he was ready to leave. She ended up wanting it on day two when he got jaundice, so it did feel a bit irregular.
That’s why I want to know more about what the jaundice meant. We really thought the jaundice and other signals + a bad test result was what the vet needed to know he was not going to recover.
Was that normal with meds? Post surgery? After not having eaten much in a few days?… Or was it the terrible sign we thought it was? It’s so emotional to experience.
We weren’t being told what we SHOULD do, but were asked to make a decision anyway. It’s so hard to do what’s best for him at that moment, especially with how things happened.
We had to leave either way, the hospital was closing. Leaving him there alone for the night, in that condition, felt wrong. Bringing him home for the night felt like it might just make him suffer more. The IV couldn’t come with us she said, it’s illegal, but she would leave the catheter in if that’s what we choose.
It was a “decide now” moment… and then he rolled to his side with his tongue hanging out, exhausted. It’s truly heartbreaking.
We live in a rural community and the only licensed vet is over an hour away. The only local cat care is from a local donation based feral adoption service, run by a woman and a Facebook group of like-minded people, but without a full time vet.
This happens strictly on donations to have a vet visit regularly. Resources are always stretched. Spending lots on one cat means little is available for others. I get that, but we were willing to pay.
What we did is what people usually do at that point, she said, but we don’t care about that, we wanted him to live. Did we do the right thing? It’s too late to help him, but an answer may help another cat in the future.
As you said, premature end of life for avoidable reasons is such a needless loss.
I did call the hospital to ask about the jaundice afterward, what it meant, and was told it was his organs failing and cells breaking down. Again, not technically wrong, but of no help to a non-vet to decide if it’s time.
I can answer any specific questions you might have.
Thanks again.
About hepatic lipidosis, he was a fit 2.5-year-old cat that passed away at 12.8 lbs and had been exactly 13 lbs a month earlier when he was given worm medication.
He was solid, lean and strong in appearance, like most young cats. He was a long-haired male cat often called a Tuxedo, if breed matters.
I wouldn’t describe him as anorexic, though he had stopped eating as much 3 weeks prior, and stopped eating at all 3 days prior. He didn’t have kidney stones, but it was enlarged at the time of his blockage surgery.
He also had crystals in his bladder. She showed me a picture of it opened up with pink colored crystals, which seemed to have worried her more than anything else.
He did pee afterward, and the color was good, but it got dark a day later when jaundice set in.
I’m not sure what else might give you a clearer image, but I can find out, I feel like he still had hope. Also, she wanted to know what specific food brand we had been giving him because he was the 4th complete blockage that week, which is a lot in her practice.
Sorry for the triple response, more information. He was given warm wet food after surgery and didn’t touch it. He hadn’t eaten for 3 days prior, and hadn’t been eating much since he started showing what we thought was worm related behavior, or about 2 weeks before that.
Would it be normal to see jaundice appear in an already exhausted cat AFTER surgery, if likely hepatic lipidosis was not treated immediately by feeding him nutrients through a tube? It all seems to have progressed so quickly.
He was never given a feeding tube, and in hindsight, I don’t see how he could have been expected to take a bite and swallow, he was too weak.
The jaundice though, it was entirely absent pre-surgery and extreme 12 hours later. I can’t help but feel it was not a sign of the end but a sign of hurry up and do…. ??
Closure – When he was diagnosed with worms, the vet missed that he also had urinary crystals forming, likely from being stressed. The change in behavior was attributed to the worms, and we didn’t know until it was too late.
A lot of things went wrong, obviously.
We’ll never know if a young male cat could have survived through the jaundice, after an unblocking surgery, with bloodwork showing levels 5x too high and not an ounce of energy left in him.
The grieving has been difficult through the sense of guilt for not having been able to figure things out in time. I don’t believe in ghosts, but regular activities trigger memories of when he’d join in or watch… which is like a ghost, but the memories bring smiles too.
He touched our lives in such a meaningful way that he’ll never be far from our thoughts, still bringing those smiles.
Hi All !! I have a 1 1/2 year old , female Chinese crested . I have had her about six months now and she’s been in great health and super happy and active . Saturday am , she went out and came back in a little while later limping on her back left leg . I checked her out and couldn’t see anything that would have caused it , so I had her lay down in her crate for about 2 hours. When I went to let her out , she couldn’t get out of the crate and soon I a realized that she could not use her back two legs at all !! I was so shocked ???? and just couldn’t believe how this could happen?!? Got her into the vet and he said she had absolutely no feeling in her lower half ???????? He said that he believes she had IVDD and we need to go to a neurologist for blood and X-rays to rule out anything else . We called two different places 1-2 hours away . One wouldn’t even tell us how much a visit was or bloodwork or X-rays or anything. The other place told us that if she had no feeling that we’d be wasting out time on bloodwork and X-rays , because it won’t change anything and she’ll be like this forever ???? I am so distraught and have been googling and watching YouTube videos on IVDD . I found Dr Krista Magnificos YouTube channel and all her videos on IVDD . I am
Praying that there is some kind of hope that my girl will be able to walk again. I would love any and all advice in this situation and I would love if Dr Krista herself could help me with this !! Thank you so very much !!
Hello,
I think we already saw her. Right? I’m so sorry. Some how this one slipped through my inbox.
I have tons of info on my blog and YouTube channel.
Most of all I urge people to never give up hope. Ever. And keep looking for a vet who will help you.
Please call me at the clinic if you need anything.
Krista.
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!!
Couple of thoughts.
1 – how often do you clean the slow feeder?
2 – how often do you clean and refill his water?
My current dog is still very new to us, but I’ve learned if I don’t keep her water PRISTINE – meaning I wash the bowl twice daily – she’ll have a pukey day. My Doberman would get pukey if I didn’t wash her bowl daily.
I will start doing this – good idea, thank you!
Hello,
I would say a few things should be considered.
1. Full blood work for me is a superchem with electrolytes a cbc thyroid urine and fecal. These all need to be done.
2. Is he on a good preventative for fleas ticks heartworm and intestinal parasites. I like Credelio and interceptor plus. Cover for these vs wait for them to shown up
3. A sensitive stomach formula like I/d from science diet. Ie a prescription gi food
4. Look for addisons disease and Maldigestion. Whoever does your vets lab services should have an internal medicine consult available to discuss those.
5. Surgery abdominal radiographs plain and with barium, or ultrasound. There should be local vets who can do this without the referral needed at this point.
6. Rule out something simple and easy to fix like bilious vomiting syndrome.
Ok. That’s my initial thoughts on this.
Hope they help.
Keep me posted
Krista.
Thank you! I will talk to my vet about all of these suggestions. He did mention an internal medicine doc, so I will ask for that referral. (PS… my apologies for misspelling your name, I corrected my post!)
No worries. Keep us posted.
Good luck
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.
Hello,
I would ask your surgeon for their thoughts. If everything was going well during the splenectomy and if it weee my pet, or I was the surgeon, then my answer is yes. I would pexy for any and all abdominal surgeries in at risk breeds.
Good luck.
Yeah, my thinking. Unfortunately, can’t discuss before hand due to holidays. I hope it can be done. Thank you.
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.
Hello,
I would probably go find a different vet and ask for more help. It doesn’t sound like your vet is helping you enough. I also think that a full patient care conversation is warranted. I talked about how to help manage these guys wrt feeding peeing pooping ambulating and pain meds. I also talk about methocarbamol as I think these guys need this. Also ask about gabapentin and acupuncture.
I have a lot of information on my blog and YouTube channel. Kmdvm.blogspot.Com search Ivdd.
Thank you so much. Does this seem like IVDD to you? That’s how I came across your blog, and to me, the symptoms you describe sound a lot like what our girl is experiencing.
Hello,
Almost all of the lipomas hat I see are easily removed as they tend to form in a capsule that makes it easy to remove. Usually they can be shelled out without much if any bleeding and other than resolving the issue of left over dead space ( a drain might be needed) they heal quickly and easily. I have seen a few invasive lipomas that seem to form from within the muscle and are embedded within in the adjacent muscle. They do not shell out but often can be “debulked”.
If cost is an issue see if you can find an independent veterinarian who is comfortable and proficient in surgery. I don’t think that many of these cases need or can afford an mri or boarded surgeon. At least in my cases I offer to try to remove and I usually know within a few minutes of surgery if this is going to be a routine lipoma surgery or something else. Talk about options cost and scenarios. Be available by phone while the surgery is taking place and know that it’s ok to both wait and monitor and look for affordable options. Lastly I would recommend you find an independent vet practice and avoid corporate practices as they tend to be more expensive and refer cases to specialists most people struggle to afford.
I hope this helps.
Good luck
thank you for all of the advice, it helps a lot in decision making