Ask questions and share about your pet's health to help others.
Hello and thank you for anyone willing to share their expertise or experiences with toe amputation. My dog Theo is a 14 year old beagle mix and was attacked by another dog a month ago and sustained many injuries but the most severe was a broken 5th metacarpal bone on his front right leg. He has been wearing a splint/cast for a month and just had his 4 week X-ray to check healing and unfortunately it doesn’t appear that much healing has happened. Ultimately my vet had recommended that the fastest and most effective way for him to recover and walk again. Would be to amputate the tie up to the knuckle. I am just concerned about his ability to walk after the surgery and how other people’s dogs, particularly older ones have handled this type of surgery. Because of his age and a previous herniated disc in his back which causes some weakness in his back end he has been unable to walk since the injury. Just hoping to find the right solution to get him back to normal as soon as possible. Any information you can provide would be helpful. Thank you!
Hello Community. I have a wonderful 7-YO spayed female snowshoe named Poppy. Poppy has been the picture of perfect health since I first got her with her litter mates. at 7-8 weeks. She is an indoor/outdoor cat who leads an active social life, and has always had a healthy appetite powering her Alpha status in the household of 5 cats. She and her housemates only get the best food possible and carbs were cut out completely about 1.5 years ago. She currently eats Dr Elsey’s wet food (Turkey or Duck/Turkey), Stella & Chewy’s freeze dried raw morsels, along with some lightly roasted chicken meat with a multi-organ/glandular freeze dried blend for added nutrition.
Last week I noticed Poppy had a hard lump on her left hind leg on the outside of the upper thigh about 1 inches below the hip joint and just outside the leg’s leading edge. It is a hard mass about a dime in size, raised and moves with your finger just a little bit. It is under the hide and above the muscle and feels attached to the muscle or sinew tissues. I took her to her vet last week and they attempted to aspirate but got no fluids, and so have recommended surgery to remove the cyst and biopsy the tissue. While I await their cost estimate I got a second quote from a local board-certified surgeon and that came back at $2500-3000 not including any imaging, biopsies or panels.
I am asking if anyone knows what a likely market price is for such a surgery or has recommendations on alternative treatments? Poppy is behaving normally and has had no change in diet or activity, and does not react at all to touching the cyst. The cyst was first noticed about 10 days ago, and I am constantly handling this cat so it has developed very rapidly. I had first thought it must be from a playful bite from one of her wrestling matches with my 2-YO male, but there are not external signs of any such play. Any insight is appreciated. Especially a means to get this cyst removed and biopsied at a price much more reasonable than that already quoted.
Hello!
Unfortunately lumps and bumps are a case by case scenario… some may not be worrisome while others seem to change drastically.
Cost all depends on everything being done and the severity of the case.
I am glad your kitty is doing everything normal and overall a healthy fur baby.
Removing lumps can give us answers and hopefully lead us to ways that can help treat.
Hope this helps some,
let us know.
Please respond fast I am not sure how long he hasMy cat pepper is a 2 and half year old male nurtured cat I am a 13 year old that tries his best to take care of him recently found out about his uti and don’t know what to do took him to a vet where we’re giving a bill of 500 dollars and pain killers for the cat we could also let him stay at the vet for 3k but our family can’t afford that and I don’t know how to help me cat if I ever loose him I will not be able to handle it
I’m so sorry to hear about your cat.
I’m not sure what your cat needs now? Please clarify your question.
I have a 12 month old male rescue kitten that in the past three weeks has blocked twice. We’ve spent thousands to unblock him. The emergency vet hospitals in my area have all quoted me a price of over 8,000 dollars for PU surgery. He is currently not blocked but is having trouble and discomfort while urinating and his volume isn’t great. He’s on a prescription diet and we’ve done everything we can to keep him healthy. But we feel that PU surgery is inevitable and is our only option to save his life. The emergency vet told us that if we couldn’t afford surgery they would euthanize him for us. He’s the sweetest boy and deserves a chance at a long life. We are desperate for help. We would be willing to travel in order to get him what he needs if that’s what it would take. Please help us! We love our little Loki
Hello,
Im sorry to hear about your kitty, I get this question/request A LOT!
It sounds like he is doing well now.
There are a lot of things you can do to prevent and prepare for any future episodes. You could find an online group to help educate and support you. Or ask to volunteer or work at a cat clinic to help understand how to monitor and care for your cat. Also reach out to your vet for advice.
Call and ask everyone you know about finding local affordable resources.. If you do please let me know.
Things to ask about now, to try to prevent future issues are;
learn how to palpate the bladder at home.
learn how to giv sq fluids at home
ask about starting prednisilone
ask about adding cosequin
ask about a prescription urinary diet
have an emergency plan ready
ask about adding gabapentin (for stress and pain)
if you need a pu surgery call the clinic and i will do all i can to help
here are some of my blogs that might help;
https://kmdvm.blogspot.com/search?q=blocked+cat
I hope this helps
keep me posted
i am trying very hard to help these cases but it will only happen if the public helps me too!
krista
Dear Dr. Magnifico,
First, please let me say a big thank you for getting back to me. We are so grateful for your time and knowledge.
Yes at this moment Loki is doing ok. Friday evening we became very concerned. He was spending a considerable amount of time in the litterbox and making an awful face as he was trying to urinate. I found a considerable amount of urine mixed with light pink blood Saturday morning on my kitchen floor. So we know at the moment he isn’t blocked.
I have exhausted a lot of the suggestions you made without much progress or success. None of my local vets will entertain PU surgery as they feel it is too complicated and dangerous.
Some things we have done at home:
Feliway diffusers all through my house
added extra litterboxes
We started him on prescription science diet food but it has come to our attention that every time he needs more food the emergency vet will need to see him to do a “re-check”. So we put him on non prescription Royal Canin urinary food and have gotten him off almost all dry food and on mostly all wet.
We got a supplement called Tinkle Tonic.
We have gabapentin from his hospital stay but they will not give me more.
I also have a cosequin supplement but want to supplement slowly.
I’m just bringing you up to speed on the measures we have taken so far.
I would love to be able to volunteer it would fulfill my heart. But right now I’m a stay at home mom raising daughters! It’s not my season just yet.
Thanks again for responding!
Vanessa
I just read your blog from April 2023 and I’m devastated because this was my exact experience with Loki except I’m nearly 4,000 in the hole. I’m doing everything I can at home and I’m absolutely terrified that he is going to re block and then we will be out of options all because of how much we’ve already spent. I’m crying even as I type this. Because it is absolutely unethical. He’s just a baby…
What is this red thing hanging from her torso? I thought it was a swollen nipple but it gotten worse and now there is a red … thing coming out of it.
Hello,
My best guess is a skin tag with irritated tissue. But the only way to diagnose anything is with a biopsy. Please ask your vet.
Hi I want a few options to give our teething 11 week old puppy to chew on safely. We do frozen soft rubber toys, frozen carrots always supervised with both. Could we offer a yak cheese chew to her as well? Our older dog loves them.
Hello,
I tend to stick with the old faithful king toys. Always pick a size larger than the diameter of the neck. Just so swallowing is not possible.
Thank you!
Hey, my 11 month, 5 week pregnant cat, suffered a very high fall yesterday, after she managed to escape from the house, and she returned with inability to walk properly on both her back legs, and i suspect it is a pelvic fracture, I’m a broke college student and Cannot afford a surgery, what limited research i did online made to think that euthanasia is the only solution, but I’ve been constantly monitoring her, she is comfortable, resting in her favourite place, she is purring, i fed her with a syringe and gave water to her the same way, i kept her litter box near here, and she did get up and pooped in it, what can I do, please help me save my baby????
If you cannot afford proper care, please consider surrendering her for adequate care. She needs to be seen by a vet immediately…ESPECIALLY if she’s pregnant!
I saw a video on YouTube saying that if they are able to poop and pee, given enough rest, they are able to recover, is it true? I’ve also booked a vets appointment for tomorrow to get their openion. I just wanted to know if this strict resting method works or not, I also arrenged enough to get a surgery
Depending on how the pelvis is broken, it can recover without surgery. You’d need an x-ray to see how it’s broken and if it can recover without surgery. She will need pain medication and her movement needs to be restricted.
The problem is: she is pregnant. Giving birth with a broken pelvis is not only extremely painful, it can kill her and/or the kittens. She may not be able to push them out herself, or they may get stuck.
So even if she does not need surgery right now, she may need a c-section. She needs to be monitored closely if she starts to give birth you need to have a vet where you can go immediatly if she needs help – or depending on how exactlky you know er day of pregnancy plan the c section beforehand.
I wish you the best of luck with her. It’s great that you try to help her and managed to get some money together. It really means a lot that you are going to help her.
Hello.
I’m sure this isn’t what you are hoping for.. but my advice is:
I strongly recommend that you have your cat spayed now. If she suffered a pelvic fracture she may not be able to deliver the kittens and they will die inside her which will kill her.
She also needs to be in a cage 24/7 no exception. If she is rested in a cage for 8 weeks the bones should heal. (I have never had a young cat heal), but I am serious about the cage rest and the spay. I know you are worried about finances but your cat needs to be spayed anyway so let’s try to avoid a bigger problem and more devastating sequela.
Dr Magnifico
Hello, our one year old male neutered cat (domestic shorthair) has been having soft bowel movements for the past few weeks. The vet prescribed him the Hills Z/D diet to help with it. He had some improvement but we weren’t told to stop other treats until recently which we did. He is now exclusively being fed wet Z/D and only a few pieces of the dry Z/D.
His blood test showed elevated eosinophils and the vet suspects IBD.
Three days ago we noticed a few millimeters of rectal prolapse after he had a bowel movement. The tissue went back inside and I gently wiped his backside. There was a little bit of blood. We called and took a vet appointment and he’s being seen in a couple of days.
Since then he’s had the prolapse each time he poops, and it retreats about 30 seconds later. I am very worried that this will become a chronic problem requiring surgery. I would like some advice please on what questions I should ask the vet. What if they suggest surgery? Should we get an ultrasound done, or a colonoscopy? Thank you.
Hello,
I would call your vet and discuss this with them. I suspect the diarrhea is causing constant straining and this is causing the prolapse. So I would ask about something for pain and get the diarrhea under control.
At my clinic I would talk about trying gabapentin or a steroid and adding a probiotic. Or ask for a second opinion from a feline specialist. Also ask about diagnostics available. Like a fecal or maldigestion profile.
Thank you so much for your advice. We will ask the vet these questions tomorrow. Our cat’s bowel movements are not diarrhea anymore but he is still prolapsing. Is it possible that the high fiber in the Z/D diet could be a factor? Maybe it’s making the poop too wide?
Looking for personal advice as my husband got bit by a close friend’s parent’s dog yesterday unprovoked and it was a pretty aggressive bite. Her parent then told us he bit someone a month ago. I’m a nurse and am comfortable managing the wound, but as an animal lover and friend, I feel so guilty reporting it as I know what the outcome will be.
So…I’m the owner of an unpredictable/aggressive(?) dog I purchased a year ago from the shelter, and I manage her interactions VERY closely to avoid bites.
I would also not hesitate to euthanize her if she were to injure someone. She is a large dog and could do someone very serious damage, even kill a child if they happened to be the victim.
My questions:
What have the owners done to figure out the cause of the aggression?
Is the dog up to date on vaccines(rabies, distemper both come to mind)? When was the last time they did bloodwork for things like thyroid?
How do they intend to make this up to you as the injured party?
What if the injured party were a child?
Have you talked to YOUR friend about this? What do they have to say about it?
I would take my husband to the ER for the bite because that would force a report. But that’s just me. A dangerous dog NEEDS to be reported, because eventually they’ll kill someone if not managed correctly.
Hello,
I’m so sorry to hear about this.
I totally understand your predicament. I would struggle too.
From a legal and personal indifference standpoint your husband should go get medical care at a medical facility which will set a few things into motion. The note will be followed up by the appropriate authorities. From the emotional standpoint (and I am not going to lie I live here), it is hard to feel responsible for the actions of animal control intervention. With that the next person might be a child and this is hard to live with.
I guess just follow your heart. And I wish you the best of luck.
Hi, where are you located? My cat has something wrong with her esophagus, I was told by the vet after I did (X-rays, blood work, urine exam and it was like $1000.00) that I have to go to a specialist and they said they need to put a camera to see what it is and that alone cost $2200.(they said that would be just to look at what is going on and does not include treatment.) I cannot afford it because I live alone. I have two cats and I’m just doing my best, (I just moved as a single young woman by myself with my 2 cats to a new state and just trying my best) if I had the money I would’ve definitely done it right now.
The vet gave me some thing to coat her esophagus(SUCRALFATE) to try to help but I don’t see a difference(she licks her food and coughs & it discourages her from eating but I know she wants to eat) and I don’t know what else to do. I feel so very helpless, I was wondering where you are located, maybe I can get her help,she really needs help right now. Her name is Penelope and I love her.
My email is sheenar2265@gmail.com
Hello,
I do not have an endoscope. These are typically only found at a specialty office.
Has your vet taken an X-ray? At my clinic we sue them and forward them to a radiologist. They are often able to give a diagnosis.
We are in northern Maryland. Jarrettsville Veterinary Center
Hello,
Have you spoken to your vet about splinting or using a half cast to allow the broken bone to heal. I only amputate when I am concerned about cancer.
Also this fracture seems very high in the foot to allow amputation unless you remove the leg? And oh my that sounds very aggressive. Please ask for a referral to an orthopedic specialist or get a second opinion. Also it is imperative (!!!!!!) to cage rest. Strict cage rest with limited mobility. Your pet should only be leashes walk to use the bathroom. No free ranging or unsupervised activities.