Hi Krista,

I discovered your YouTube videos yesterday and found your advice on cat care incredibly helpful. My wife and I are caring for our 18-year-old Birman cat, who is in stage 4 kidney disease with significant muscle loss. She’s also struggling with constipation and has other health issues, including high blood pressure and a heart murmur.

Currently, we’re feeding her a mix of wet food (chicken broth, chicken, pumpkin, and egg yolk), and providing SubCut fluids (50ml/day), along with the following supplements:

– Epakitin (0.5g/day)
– Pet-Tinic (2ml/day)
– Lactulose (3ml/day)
– Phos-Bind (0.2g/day)
– Potassium chloride (0.19g/day mixed in the broth – though we’re concerned she’s not getting the full amount since she’s unable to finish the broth).
– In addition, she’s on Amlodipine (0.25ml/day) to manage her high blood pressure.

Despite this, her weight has decreased significantly over the past year. She was once 3.3kg, but a year ago dropped to 2.5kg, and three weeks ago, it dropped again to 1.8kg, despite our best efforts to feed her.

A week ago, we had an enema done at the vet, which relieved some diarrhea, but there was still hardened stool near her anus. We’ve been massaging her abdomen and anus daily to stimulate defecation, and were able to help her pass a large, hard stool last Wednesday. Since then, she’s only passed small amounts of stool – mostly liquid or dark – and has had a lot of difficulty.

Today, we used a Pedia-Lax suppository (1ml), and after about 30 minutes, she passed a larger stool with dark liquid diarrhea. The stool was slightly hard, dark, and very smelly. She’s now very exhausted and resting, but did purr a bit before falling asleep.

For hydration, I gave her 10ml of SubCut fluids before the suppository to prevent dehydration. We’ve seen three different vets, but none have been able to provide lasting relief.

We’re reaching out for advice on whether we’re on the right track and if there’s anything else we can do to help her feel better and poop more easily. Any suggestions, given the circumstances, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your time and any guidance you can offer.

Warm regards,

Joel and Sonia

I have a very special and painful case I need help with, I have tried several different veterinarians with no diagnosis or prognosis so far. It may be a long shot, but I was hoping you could help me shine a light on this.

In April I found an extremely skinny stray cat and took him in. I first thought he was malnourished from lack of food for being in the streets, but 4 months in his case keeps unfolding.

He is likely older than 15 years old, but he’s a happy cat with a lot of energy and mobility. He weighs 3kg but he’s a big cat, you can feel every single bone in his spine, although you can’t see them that easily because he has long hair. He’s completely affectionate, loves to be pet, and asks very politely for attention and food all the time.

All we know about his past is he is neutered, he had some teeth surgically removed and he tested negative for FIV and FeLV.

He had a huge appetite when I first took him in, he would eat 100g of food in one meal and ask for more right after. He would sometimes ‘cough’, it sounded like he was choking on some kind of fluid, it doesn’t happen in sequences, but it happens almost every day until today.

He always drank LOTS of water and produced a lot of urine as well. His feces at the beginning were really solid with some mucus.

After a month, he continued to eat plenty and hadn’t gained any weight, that’s when he started to throw up. It started happening a few days a week, usually after spending several hours without eating he would throw up a clear frothy fluid with no content, and then it progressed to twice every day regardless of when he had eaten.

We suspected it could be diabetes or hyperthyroidism, but the labwork didn’t confirm either, it showed regular kidney function with small liver function alterations.

We then introduced prednisolone (2,5mg/day) and changed his diet from a mix of natural home-cooked protein, hypercaloric wet food, protein supplements, and dry food to exclusively Royal Canin Hypoallergenic while waiting for Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Hydrolyzed Protein to arrive in Brazil, keeping Omega 3 (fish oil) 500mg/a day in his diet.

Vomits went away for a while. He kept drinking lots of water and peeing a lot, but his feces got softer (not liquid).

He had periods where he lost his appetite, which we treated with mirtazapine, he reacted after 6 days.

We performed an ultrasound and discovered that basically all his internal organs were compromised. He has severe alterations everywhere. Still, the best specialists I could find couldn’t tell me what was causing it and offer a course of treatment that didn’t involve opening him up to collect tissues for a biopsy.

I personally think it is absurd that a doctor could look at this frail elderly cat who obviously can’t resist anesthesia without serious risks and say that surgery is the only way to go, all to find out for sure if we’re dealing with a lymphoma or an infection. I’m looking for someone to advise me on the most effective course of action. Of course, I aim to reverse his condition, but I understand that given his age and how advanced it is, it might not be an option.

He is currently at 3kg, eating exclusively Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Hydrolyzed Protein with fish oil, and taking prednisolone every day for a month now. His appetite is healthy, he still drinks a lot, pees a lot, and poops regularly but softer. He eats an average of 5 small meals.
Vomits are back down to a few times a week, usually early in the morning before his first meal, and always a clear liquid. He goes and eats right after throwing up so I get the impression he is not nauseous.
He doesn’t seem to be in pain overall.
He’s not gaining any weight regardless of all my efforts.

That is why I’m giving this a shot and trying to get your attention. I hope you have more resources and knowledge that could help me figure out appropriate next steps to give this little guy the best fighting chances I can.

On this link you’ll find a translation of his bloodwork and ultrasound. I had chat GPT translate it for me so forgive me if there are errors.
Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yqcen-TYzyvfBYU-J4t1tCHola1E2otDGDa1H7V032Y

I appreciate any support you can lend me, his name is Valentim which means brave and strong, and I want him to win this fight.

I am concerned about my elderly dog who has started sleeping all the time. She only gets up to eat and go to the bathroom. Sometimes I think she is dead because she sleeps so long and so soundly. When she gets up she seems ok. Just wondering if this is somethings I should be worried about. I would say she sleeps like 22 hours a day.

Is it safe to put chicken broth/stock on my dog’s food? She is a 13 year old German Shepherd mix who is a picky eater. She has no problem eating human food but isn’t especially interested in eating her dog food. Just trying to think of ways to get her more interested in her food.

I have a 13 yo female domestic short hair. She has a very large ventral hernia and is losing weight very fast in Oct she was 6.9lb, in Nov she was 6.4lbs. The surgery is $2300 which I cannot afford. She gets diarrhea after eating and sleeps ALOT. I hate to put her down, I wish she would go naturally but I dont want her to suffer & need advice. Please help.

I have an elderly cat who is about 15 years old. Vet says she is in good health. I just want to know what is normal behavior for elderly cats. She is relaxed and sleeping most of the time. Her favorite spot right now is on our mat in front of the oven. Her appetite has decreased. She often makes a sound like she has a hair ball but just a little clear liquid comes out. Are these normal things for a cat of this age?

Our 13 yo Cairn Terrier went to his usual grooming appt today. The groomer called me and said after his bath, he was crying constantly and seemed panicked. He was pacing and crying.
She thinks it may have been a seizure or something like it. When I picked him up from her, he was very happy to see me. We went home, he ate and is now acting like his normal self. The ER vet had a 10 hour wait! And no other vet can see him.

I adopted a feral cat just over a year ago. My elderly father was feeding him twice a day for two years. He moved to a condo when my mother passed and the cat sat at the empty house day and night waiting for my Dad to come home. I ended up taking the cat and have worked on taming him. I’ve been making progress but not quite where I can pick him up.
He’s been mostly healthy up until 8 weeks ago. He seemed to be straining to urinate in his litter box and had decreased appetite. I took him to an animal hospital. At this time, I couldn’t touch him. He was anesthetized and examined. His exam and bloodwork were all neg. He was put on a urinary diet and given mirtazipine to stimulate appetite. I was not able to consistently get the stimulate in his ear but he would eat, just not a lot.
Followed up with my vet who said maybe he isn’t that hungry because he doesn’t have to worry about food and just watch his weight.
Weight continued to drop and found out last week he has tapeworms. He got a topical dewormer. Since then, it seems like he’s lost more weight and his lack of appetite is worse. He does eat enough to poop and pee daily.
My vet does house calls only and is coming Thursday. She’s limited in what she can offer for interventions. I am contemplating taking him back to animal hospital for evaluation,
It gets dicey though because he’s not completely tame. When I went with him before I could hear the attending talking to resident on other side of door saying, “he’s feral, what does she expect us to do,” I get that, but to a point. Is it unrealistic for me to want Pinky treated? He’s getting sweeter and sweeter and enjoys being petted.

My daughter’s elderly cat Astra seems to have sprained her left front paw tonight and is acting strange. Her leg/paw isn’t swollen, but she can’t put any weight on it without falling down. She’s meowing a lot and walking in circles. At one point, she was hiding by my daughter’s desk which is unusual, she seems to be confused, and has no appetite. We’ve read how cats don’t metabolize aspirin or nsaids very well, so we don’t want to give her any. What can we give her and what can we do to comfort her? Is there anything we should look for? Is her behavior typical of a feline in pain? Thank you for your help!
Edit: Now she’s pressing her head up against things.

Hi everyone this is my grandpas furbaby hes elderly and this dog is 13 years old recently i took her to the er because she wouldnt eat and we was so shocked to find out her teeth are in horrible condition the doctor told us she needs a few pulled out but unfortunately due to financial problems my grandpa cant afford the surgery does anyone know a veterinarian hospital thata a low cost in the baltimore area im gonna post a picture of the estimate she needs this done asap we know that right now shes on tramadol and clavamox and shes eating but only wet food also not to long ago she had a tooth that fell out again this isnt my dog its my grandpa’s eldrly baby any advice would be appreciated thank you