Hello.

These are really frustrating cases. I’m so sorry about your experience and I empathize completely. I guess my first concern is that we don’t often know why this happens. My second concern is that you are going to repeat the same surgery and it should be assumed the failure has a pretty fair chance of happening again. My preference as the surgeon for cases like these (and they happen to all of us) is to both offer a redo (although I will admit I rarely charge or I charge a nominal redo fee) is to also offer a different surgeon to try over. My concern is that failing twice is an awful big expenditure and a tough explanation as to why I didn’t see that coming. My personal preference is to refer these difficult refractory cases to the vet teaching hospitals. They have faster easier and better access to more minds and more diverse experience. You just can’t get that at a private facility. I use UPenn or va tech vet schools. They are often cheaper and give a broader access to options and experience. I hope this helps. Please let me know what happens. I would love to hear a follow up and I would love to hear about your previous surgery and experience. Especially to add this to our storylines page. It is such a unique case. Very best of luck. Krista.

Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your pups condition and your experience with the vets so far. I would never advise anyone to give up on their pets but I am a vet so it is also difficult for me to advise you to go this without medical assistance my first concern is that it sounds like your pup needs a better plan for treatment. If this was an abscess/ seroma or hematoma it would be nice to have had a culture to better decide the antibiotic and maybe even a drain placed do help healing. Although it might have been difficult to see exploring a wound or mass is often indicated to help rule out infection disease and even cancer. This is important so we can provide a treatment plan and prognosis. If you are seeking alternative treatment options please ask for a referral for this. Or seek a third opinion from another vet who you trust. ask your friends if there is a vet they can recommend. I’m just concerned about going this alone. There are vets out there who can help. It sometimes takes a few visits before you find your preferred provider. I wish you both the best of luck.

Hello,
Kittens this age will surprise you every time. I would cage rest and keep doing physical therapy for at least 3 weeks. I would also feed watered down wet food and learn how to palpate his abdomen so you can help him urinate and defecate if needed. Kittens will surprise you. I have had so many success stories simply because I didn’t give up on them. Best of luck.

Hello,
Thanks for clarifying. I can’t really tell you what to do but I can explain the scenarios either way. The reason we test is to check Heartworm status of the patient. For new patients starting the medication we want to make sure they are negative before starting meds so we don’t miss a patient harboring adults in the heart. Over time Heartworms In The heart can be fatal. Your dogs were tested in feb (Sampson) and April (penny) and clear. We test yearly if they stay on meds year around. The advantage is that we will catch a dog in the earliest stages if we monitor yearly. This way we hopefully avoid the dangers of many adults in the heart. A missed dose is cause for retesting so we know they are always negative while always on prevention. If a pet on preventatives comes up positive AND if the test and prevention was bought at our clinic the hw rx manufacturer will pay for treatment which is about $1000. Realistically it is unlikely your dogs will test pos now as you just missed a dose. It takes 6 months for the test to show pos after exposure. I know that’s a lot of info. But to boil it down. There’s a low chance of infection in our area. A low chance they will test pos now. And they need to be on hw meds year around. So if your budget is tight just keep them on it. Give a dose now. And then another on Nov 1. And each first of the month there after. Retest in feb and April and go from there. If you want 100% peace of mind bring them in ASAP and have them tested. And retest in 6 months. There is not a cut and dry answer. Sorry. .

Hello,
These are the questions that are best decided by a phone call to your vet. I don’t know where you live and I don’t know the degree of Heartworm disease you have there. Here, in N Md late Sunner I would say to my clients to start now and work back toward the beginning of the month. Some vets will prefer to test and restart the pills from there. It’s definitely a question of exposure, environment and risk of disease. I hope this helps. Thank you for having your pets on Heartworm prevention. Take care.

Hello,
Your pup needs a vet ASAP! I would do a very thorough exam looking for back pain, do a recital exam to feel for strictures or masses and even an X-ray to look at the spine. My point is that this can be many things so it’s super important to see a vet tomorrow to start ruling out possible cause to the pain and difficulty. This isn’t a diagnosis that can happen any other way then an exam with a vet.

Hello,
It’s very hard for anyone remotely to know whether a pets condition is truly an emergency or not. In general we go by the rule that “if they are acting completely normal it probably isn’t an immediate emergency”
If you have a regular vet I would call them first thing tomorrow and ask to be seen ASAP after explaining what happened. I would also keep the vomit sample and collect a fecal sample to bring in. If you don’t have a regular bet or can’t be seen soon I would go to the ER for peace of mind. I hope this helps. Let us know what happens