Ask questions and share about your pet's health to help others.
Why are the majority of Harford County veterinarians charging $400-$650 to spay/neuter a cat or kitten? Only a few offer under $200 surgeries for what is generally a very simple and quick procedure – I know, as I assist at low-cost spay/neuter clinics. Cecil County, Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Anne Arundel County all offer the same procedure for less than half the going rate in Harford. Several local veterinarians, when clients balk at pricing, are referring them to rescue groups rather than offering a reasonable price for an operation that is ESSENTIAL to the animal’s well-being and longevity, not to mention eliminating unwanted litters.
What can Harford residents do to force changes to make our county more cat friendly and help owners wanting to do what’s right but not at unreasonable cost?
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, my vet recommended that I give my long-haired cat malt paste every three days or so. I’m seeing that there are lots of brands and prices. Do you have any product suggestions? What should I look for in a quality malt product?
Thank you!
For what reason was this recommended?
I took her in for her yearly exam and the vet said that it would help prevent a hairball blockage given that she has long hair. (As of now I don’t think this has ever been an issue, she rarely vomits, etc. and she doesn’t have any health issues.)
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
Hi Krysta,
Just recently saw one of your videos regarding IVDD our soon to be 6 yr old Chocolate Lab Bruschi was recently diagnosed with this condition. We don’t know what to do surgery seems out of the question financially. What are some physical therapy practices we can do to help him? Please advice
Hello,
I did a very thorough write up on almost every part of this between my YouTube channel and rhe blog kmdvm.blogspot.Com. Search Ivdd. It is important to keep trying to help your pup maintain muscle mass and start re learning how to stand and walk. The first steps of this are managing pain and helping to maintain normal urine and defecation and avoid getting any infection (bladder included). Then as the pain starts to dissipate work on regaining strength and ambulating.
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 cat seems to have a urine blockage. I can’t afford to take him to a vet, I really don’t want to put him down just for this. Please help me, save my buddy. He’s barely going to be a year old in February.
I’m sorry, but this is an emergency. He WILL die if he doesn’t get immediate medical attention. Please try to get funds – gofundme, Care Credit, borrow from friends and family.
Looks very normal to me. Ask your vet to look at it in person if you are worried.
I feel like when it rains it pours, we just had our dog down for 3 weeks with a herniated disc and IVDD, now, our 2 year old cat started acting weird. Meowing, howling, laying in the litter box. It’s Christmas Day and we cannot afford an emergency vet visit. What do we do? I suspect it’s a UTI, I just want him to be okay until the morning.
Hello,
Based on this brief description I am very worried that your cat has a urinary blockage which is often fatal if not treated. I’m sorry but I cannot advise anything except to go immediately to the closest ER.
There is no at home treatment and hoping it’s a uti and being wrong may very well cost your cat their life.
I have a very active 3 year old Boston Terrier who was just diagnosed with possible IVDD.
She is on crate rest for 4 weeks getting 2.5mg Prednisolone twice a day, 100mg Gabapentin every 8-12hrs and 125mg Methocarbamol every 8hrs. She is still fully ambulatory and on day 5 of her rest and meds and is still having breakthrough crying pain when she moves wrong. I have started heat therapy which seems to help a little. Do you think I could increase her Methocarbamol to 187.5mg and see if this keeps the muscle spasms more at bay. She weighs 16lbs.
She also has an appointment with a neurologist January 5th. It is so hard for me to see her in pain.
Thanks
hello,
I’m so glad to hear that things are improving!
I am also sorry but I cannot offer advice on drugs, or dosages. This is a question for your vet.
Best of luck
krista
I’d guess the low cost clinics don’t do pre-op bloodwork? Furthermore, costs of everything have gone WAY up, and shelters/rescues are funded with donations and fundraising efforts while veterinarians have businesses to run and employees to pay.
I find $400 to be quite fair. We paid around $700 for our Doberman’s spay about 6 years ago.