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My cat has squamous cell carcinoma under and behind her tongue. She’s on a feeding tube, and can’t use her tongue for lapping milk or grooming. I’ve been to the cancer vet, and I know she only has 4-6 months. (I’m trying to accept it, but it’s so hard). She sometimes ‘works’ her mouth, opening & closing it, moving her tongue as best she can – I think she knows things don’t feel right and she’s trying to rearrange them. Would it make her more comfortable to have some of the tumor & part of her tongue removed? Or would that just make distress her? Would it just re-grow anyway?
When I take Holly to be groomed or to the Vet and lift her onto the table, not a peep out of her. However when she asks to be lifted onto the bed(she sleeps with me) she growls like mad. Why is this when she so obvously wants to get up. She can jump up when it suits her.
Have you mentioned this to your vet? It may just be the way that you happen to,lift her, but there also may be an underlying cause. It also may be an unwanted learned behavior that you need to un-teach. I would first talk to the vet and rule out anything from that perspective. After that, if all,is well, I would start to retrain for a more desired behavior. Good luck!
Many thanks. Any tips to help me retrain her re this?
Hello,
I always suggest people go back to the very basics with training. Make sure you are both communicating in the same way and understand each other. And also understand that she is trying to tell you something. Some part of this routine causes her pause and hesitation. You may need a trainer to come to the house. Or video tape the occurrence and go over it with your trainer. Often I find clients don’t see the situation the way I do and often they are unknowingly and unintentionally part of the predicament. Find a poster reinforcement trainer and start over again. Gently and patiently and positively. Good luck
When I was grooming my cat I accidentally cut her skin. The wound doesn’t look deep and is not bleeding. Is it safe to use Neosporin ointment on her wound? The wound looks like a small tear.
Hello,
Unfortunately I see this too often. Hard as I try to beg and plead with people to NEVER USE SCISSORS! They do and it happens. The skin will often heal on its own BUT too often it closes over an infection which causes an abscess or the skin edges don’t heal due to the cat licking it which then causes infection. Cats don’t heal as well as dogs do with cuts therefore I always recommend seeing the vet now to get the wound assessed and antibiotics started BEFORE it gets to be something serious and expensive.
I hope this helps
Best of luck
Thank you so much for your advice. I have cleaned the wound and I will watch her for the next few days. She is behaving normally and is resting in our garage for the night.
You’re Welcome Jen, Good luck!
Hello,
Just a quick update,
The wound on Rugrat’s back has healed up nicely. Since it was a small cut, I bought some Vetrycin and sprayed it on her wound. she is back to her old self.
Thank you so much for your help
Sunday, After groomed in a petshop, my cat can’t stand right, tremble when he walks and his head turn to left and can’t turn back. His appetite still good, doesn’t have trouble in peeing or pooping. Eyes roll well. I have gone to clinic performed x-ray and see 3 different vets. But no vets has the same answers. One said axis and atlas bone dyslocation, other said fracture and muscle neck inflammation and the last said otitis interna. what happened to my cat actually? Can he fully recovered?
I’m sorry to hear about your cat. This cannot be answered without an in person exam and review of the radiographs. I strongly recommend that you seek a specialists help and give her rest in a cage so she cannot hurt herself further.
I know that. But here in Indonesia, we don’t have any specialist. So idk what to do again now.
maybe you can help me to interpret these xray results? I add another xray from different position. So i hope you can help me by giving a good interpretation of my cat’s results here
MY cat has been sick for 5 days with a fever. No vomiting no diarrhea except for a little on the second day. He has a fever, he’s drinking a lot, lethargic, not grooming. I took him to a vet who gave him something for the fever and an antibiotic shot. He’s eating and drinking which is good but the fever is not going down. The vet prescribed Fevadol which has paracetamol in it. We are in a country with no good vets and no real access to pet medication, but everything I have read says that paracetamol is poisonous to cats. I would give anything for him to get better, but there are no vets that I trust here and I am so confused on what to do. He’s obviously fighting an infection but the vet said he doesn’t seem to have a URI, he has no signs in his chest and no discharge from eyes or nose. I just don’t know what to do and it’s breaking my heart watching him in pain. please help.
He’s a 4 year old male.
Normally I would tell you to follow the doctor’s instructions but it seems paracetamol is acetometaphin which is very toxic to cats!!! However, without examining your cat it is impossible for me to really give you any advice. My recommendation is to try and find a vet you trust because your cat needs treatment.
Good luck
Dr D
Thank you for your response. I know he needs treatment, I am very scared for him, but as I said there are no reliable vets here. Is there something over the counter that could bring down his fever?
No there really isn’t.
So lately I’ve been thinking about getting another dog. My current dog is a Chihuahua and possibly Rat terrier mix; he’s about 13 years old. Before I got him he used to have another chihuahua he always hung around with, but that was when he was around five. He only barks when there is someone making noise outside or that get too close to our fence, the same goes with barking dogs or ones that pass by our house. Other than that he is very friendly with strangers, especially when they come into our yard. He does however, have an issue if dogs come onto his territory, like most dogs do. He has never been to a dog park and has gone to a pet store a couple times, either for shopping or to be groomed. Our neighbors have a dog who barks at everyone and everything, even if I open the back door for a second. My dog occasionally fights with him through the fence, and by that maybe every few weeks. My dog doesn’t bite, growl, nip, scratch or anything at strangers when they come over, even if it’s our pest control. I’m not sure how he will react when we bring another puppy home? We’re either thinking of getting a border collie, lab, doberman pinscher or possibly an italian greyhound. Any tips on what to do when they first meet? Do you think he’ll be alright with another puppy? Any advice helps, thank you!!
Has he ever been around a puppy? Are you willing to separate the dogs and rotate which is out, if things go south?
A warning about dobes, because I have one – they are NOT gentle with littles. You’ll have to work very hard on teaching a dobe puppy to be gentle with smaller animals – our girl is nearly three and still occasionally stomps my cat. They’re also tough puppies and are quite literally a full time job until they’re around 2 years of age…I’ll happy talk more about the breed if you want, but I don’t want to flood this particular answer with my babble. 🙂
This is how my rescue recommends you introduce a new dog to your home (and I do this with all fosters coming to live with my pack of 4 terriers, one of which is a Cairn/Chihuahua mix):
Before the new dog arrives pick a place in the home for him to live most of the time for 3 days. I use my guest bathroom some times, and other times I use my craft room – both have tile floors so it is easy to clean up any accidents that may occur with the new dog. Inside that room I place a dog crate appropriate in size for the new dog/puppy.
For the first 3 days after the new dog arrives, we play musical crates and/or rooms. I do not allow the dogs to see each other, they only smell each other on me, and under the door, etc. When my dogs are loose, the new dog is in the prepared room. When my dogs are crated or in their kennel the new dog is allowed to be out of the room, in the yard, or house with supervision. There is ALWAYS a closed door between my dogs and the new dog.
I spend time playing and training the new dog each day, and will crate my boys for an hour or so in the evening so I can just plop on the sofa with the new dog for cuddles. With a puppy you will need to be spending a lot of time with it as you will not be able to resist! Spend an equal amount of time with the older dog. One of the activities you want to focus on with the puppy is learning to walk on a leash – this is critical for the 4th day.
On the morning of the 4th day, put leashes on both dogs and immediately go out the door for a walk. Don’t give the dogs time to sniff or eyeball each other – the job is to walk together with you for at least 10 mins. If the puppy is older keep walking (5 mins. per month of age is a good rule of thumb – too long a walk puts too much stress on the bones and joints of a puppy).
Once we have finished the walk I take all the dogs into my fenced yard, drop the leashes and allow them to sniff, play, ignore each other as they see fit. Dragging the leashes allows you to step on a leash or pull one dog away from the other if things get hairy.
I have had 99% success with introducing dogs this way. The only exception was a foster that decided my smallest dog was prey – good thing I had that leash to grab! It saved my dog’s life.
We believe the reason it works is that it allows the dogs to smell each other without any misunderstandings of body language. In the wild a lone wolf will spend weeks haunting a new pack’s territory. They stay mostly out of sight, but scent mark in the territory. Then they start showing themselves to the pack from a distance. Finally they approach members of the pack. If the pack wants them they are welcomed (usually by the female members of the pack). So while our dogs are no longer wolves – smell is the first thing they pick up on. First scent, then sight, then hearing. So this 3 day of separation, but crossing each other’s scents helps the dogs get to know each other without confrontation.
With my dogs it works so well, they don’t even sniff each other’s butts once we are done the walk.
Since your dog is used to fighting through a fence I caution you to make sure that he and the new pup never see each other through a fence or crate during those 3 days. Keep that solid, shut, door between them.
Your 13 year old dog may never want to play with the puppy – but the puppy will want to play with him! Be sure your older dog has a place he can escape the puppy – such as a dog bed or crate, maybe in a different room. When your Chi is getting too much attention from the pup, tell the puppy to “leave it” and ask him/her to play with you. This will help the puppy learn to leave the older dog alone when he is in his quite place.
An Italian greyhound is a better size for your current dog, and they generally are ‘softer’ dogs. The other 3 breeds you mention will be a real challenge for you, and will overwhelm the Chi. It is a giant leap going from living with a Chi to living with these 3 other breeds. They all are high energy, need WAY more exercise, and a lot of training to become good canine citizens. The Border especially, will need a job. Borders are scary intelligent.
All that being said – give your dog a month with the new pup before you decide if it is going to work or not. Good luck!
Recently, my cat has had possible seizures. This only happens when he gets in a grooming position where he twists his upper body around to be able to lick his back. He then stiffens up, and falls over. A couple of days ago, he urinated on my bed while he was having a possible seizure. Are these seizures or a nerve getting pinched?
i would be taking him to the vet. this is very worrying.
I have two cats one that’s 4 and one that’s 2 the younger cat is constantly attacking the older cat and as a result of this my cat is over grooming and scratching alot and lost hair! Can anyone recommend what to do please
Can you give the older cat her own space? Sounds like she needs a break…
My 9yr old cat had small lumps on his rear end,when I groomed him they bled
So sorry about your cat. I would discuss this with your vet. They know you, your situation and your cat the best. They would be able to tell you whether or not any type of procedure would be beneficial and you could talk you your options together. Me? I would make each day I have with my cat special and take all the time I have left with her as it is- a gift.
Hello, Without knowing what exactly you have done already and if you had a biopsy done, I will add that oral tumors in cats are often impossible to resect (remove surgically) cleanly and often return aggressively. They have a pretty dismal prognosis. I’m so sorry. I recommend you keep her comfortable and eating for as long as possible and talk to your vet or oncologist frequently. I’m so sorry. I know how impossibly hard it is to face these kinds of challenges I send you my warmest wishes and best of luck.