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My dachshund Lucy is now starting her 3rd week of conservative home care for IVDD from C1-2 with paralysis of front and rear legs with deep pain present in all extremities. She is currently on gabapentin, prednisone, pepcid, and methocarbamol. I’m trying my best to stay hopeful however she still has pain with any movement. The only time I move her is for repositioning, cleaning, and feeding. I can’t afford surgery due to spending several thousand at the ER vets where she was misdiagnosed numerous times. I will however do anything in my power to keep her happy, functional, and pain free. I’m fine with her ending up in a quad chair if that’s the best we can do. Am I doing my best?
This is the third day without Atlas — Apollo’s littermate, alpha and captain. We lost him due to hemorrhage and dehydration. He just recently turned 4 months. Apollo hasn’t been eating and drinking water today. Was asleep all the time, too. Previously, he wakes up at night and cries so he comes to me in bed to wake me up. Last night he started vomiting and having loose stools. I can also here rumbling in his stomach, and i think is passing gas. Earlier that day we went on a walk and had munched a few plants/weeds on the way. He has also accidentally taken in expired milk he left the other day. Today the stool had a few blood patches in it. I’m worried he might end up his brother. Is he only suffering from dog depression, or is there other medial conditions?
This sounds very serious… the lethargy, the blood in the stool and loose stool. Not how a four month old puppy should be acting. I would make an appointment with the vet right away. The first fear that comes to mind is possibility of parvo… which can be deadly. I hope your puppy is ok.
Thank you so much.
I agree with Sarah. Anything abnormal in a puppy goes to the vet immediately. Period.
Hello. I appreciate your input.
8 month puppy was bit at the dog park. He devoleped a big lump filled with loose fluid a few days later where it started smaller and then grew to about the size of a baseball in under 1 week. I didn’t think the event at the dog park was was a factor because there was no blood or any sign of skin puncture at all. He also seemed to be happy, eating normally and still crazy full of energy as usual.I took him to the vet where they said it’s a seroma and should go away on its own in about a week. Ive been doing a warm compress but it doesn’t seem to be working to shrink it, and it has gotten even bigger and tighter 5 days later now. It still doesn’t seem to hurt him, and he is acting completely normal/happy. It has now been about 10 days since the seroma started, and 5 days since the vet. My concern is that it has gotten a bit bigger, and wasn’t as loose as before and is now a bit tighter/harder. I can still feel that it’s moveable fluid but just tighter. The vet didn’t tell me to cut down on activity, and I have been going on runs and playing a lot with him. Should I be trying to avoid activity? His harness is about 6 inches away so it doesn’t rub on it directly, but still fairly close to the bump. Just wondering if I should keep away from running/walking and try to keep him calm until it goes away? (not likely as he is high energy)
Hello,
I consider every dog bite or fight an infection. And if it isn’t healed in 5-7 days I consider it a problem to keep monitoring closely with the help of your vet. Please go back to your vet or get a second opinion. Your puppy is too young to not have healed quickly and completely by now in my opinion. Better safe than sorry I always say.
Thanks so much krista, I REALLY appreciate your input here and for taking the time! I will be taking him in again
My cat is about 14 years old. Male. Last week really noticed he goes to litter often but doesnt go. But sometimes he did have a few times of clumped urine litter. So took to emergency clinic Sat 12/13/30. They could not get any urine to test. Sent home with antibiotics antiflamatory- pain meds and told to get in see regular vet.
Took to vet today 12/15/20. They were able to get a good stream of urine out as well as these blood clots tissues. See image. Said that I would need to ck his bladder ongoing to make sure it doesn’t get rock hard baseball sized. Gave me a medication to help dilate. Did blood panel and Im waiting to hear back on any other medications.
I feel like imaging should be done like yesterday.
If this blood clot tissue can happen again should he have been keep at vet to do something ?
Was this blood clot a actual plug and blockage. So since they got it out the blockage is gone at the moment?
I am just worried and dont want to make a mistake and not know if he has a full hard bladder.
Or did this clot coming out as he is good currently. How long would it take for another clot to form?
Any input advice would be much appreciated
Hello,
I think that all of the questions you pose are excellent questions to ask yourself vet. I also talk to parents about feeding watered down canned food. I often add a steroid and I give cats Sq fluids daily to help flush the bladder. Just things to talk to your vet about. I get super aggressive with these guys. And I offer lots of options for parents to do at home. Along with showing them how to palpate a bladder to monitor at home. I hope this helps. Good luck.
My baby (who is 2 and a half years) I noticed has this bump on his snout. It showed up basically over night and he’s had it for about 2 weeks now. I’ve done some research and think it might be a histiocytoma. If someone could please help me and give me some info. I saw a home remedy using apple cider vinegar to treat it, but wanted some others opinions before doing so. He’s not bothered by it and doesn’t seem to even know it is there.
Thank you in advance! (:
Hello,
It is not possible to diagnose a lump or bump with just a photo. If you’re worried about it you should contact yourself vet. No one should be diagnosing over the Internet nor should they be providing treatment plans based on a guess. If it is a histiocytoma it is self limiting. Nothing will hasten it’s departure other then time. Also lumps snd bumps are best diagnosed by pathology. That is sending a tissue sample to the lab for analysis. Please see a vet if you are worried. For cases like this I tell clients it is the safest $45 you can spend. Snd often we just chose to watch the mass and remove it when needed. If you elect to do that one day it’s nice to have a vet you already know.
I would make an appointment to have my vet check something like that… just to be sure it isn’t anything serious. It is always hard to tell from a picture- better to have someone check it first hand. Hope it isn’t anything serious ????????
My kitten’s splint was removed today after a month of immobilization. She had a complete humerus fracture, we assume from her jumping off the couch or playing with our older cat (regrettably too soon which I had not realized). It was an angular break, and the vet did his best to place the bones and splint them, but today we learned the bones healed together improperly, on somewhat of an angle, and her elbow will not bend. She can use the paw and applies some weight to it, but the vet said we will have to keep her confined and wait and see how it progresses, or amputate it worst case. I feel sick about it because I had hopes she would heal, we could not afford the $6k surgery. Her skin is also red with some patches of missing fur. Do you have any recommendations of anything else I can do while we wait and see if she begins to heal more? Can I treat the skin at all? Thanks so much for all you do for these animals.
I attached an image of the original fracture. It is healed with a “knot” around the break, but healed crooked. That doesn’t seem to be what’s causing her leg to stick out crooked, it seems to be the elbow that seems “stuck”.
Hello,
I’m so sorry for the delay. I tell clients in this position that there are only three options.
1. Spend the money on a surgeon to correct it. Often this is >5,000
2. Leave it as is and this cat must be kept indoors forever.
3. Consider amputation down the road if needed to keep her comfortable and pain free
Thank you! I appreciate your response! I feel awful that we couldn’t and likely won’t ever be able to afford such an expensive surgery. I had hoped by splinting her it would at least heal a little bit better. Do you ever see kittens that have improperly healed bones improve over time? I was reading that in children bones tend to straighten out over a few years even if malunioned, but I know pets are also not children! I just feel so sad that she is so young and now has a messed up leg. She will definitely be an indoor cat, along with our other 6 month old cat.
How can i get my dog with IVDD to lay down?
Hello.
Is he too painful to lay down? If so please call your vet to ask for more help with this. I have lots of information on IVDD on my blog and YouTube channel.
In June my Labrador developed a lesion on her side. She was treated with antibiotics and a medicated shampoo with no success. Her hair started thinning and she developed a lesion on the opposite side. Bloodwork was run to test for Cushings which was negative. As she started to take a Cushings type appearance her docs followed up with an ultrasound. In October she had a punch biopsy. She was treated with Apoquel with no improvement. She has lesions on her chest, both sides near her hips and one near her hind end. I have never seen her itching or chewing. The lesions are crusty and pretty dense. Hair loss is only on her trunk.
A little history: my dog is 10 1/2, has spay induced incontinence, history of frequent UTI’s, frequent urination, and megaesophagus. She is on Dasuquin, Cranmate and Welactin. Despite her plethora of health issues she has never had skin issues. Typically her coat is blue-black, thick and shiny.
She doesn’t seem to be uncomfortable but she seems to have a pretty high pain threshold.
Thank you for your time.
My small 12 pound terrier/chihuahua mix has suddenly (in the past 24 hours) stopped jumping up on things – couch, chair, etc – which is very unusual because she prefers to be on the furniture. She will stand and stare at the couch and seem like she’s going to jump, she even starts to a bit, but then she won’t follow through. If I pick her up and put her on the couch, she will not hesitate at all to jump down when she’s ready. She will let me touch and move all of her legs and has not vocalized in pain. She walks and runs normally and will come up and down the stairs with no problem. I assume she has injured something. Is there an injury to a specific place that would cause her reluctance to jump up but not affect other behavior? (I should note that she is very independent and doesn’t like to be picked up, so it’s not that she’s preferring to be lifted up)
Hello,
Well I would start by saying that I wouldn’t encourage jumping on or off of the couch. I would get her a ramp and train her to use this. My concern is that someday she will land wrong and either strain/sprain/fracture a leg or injure her back. Next the best way to try to understand what’s going on now is to have your vet examine her. I can’t tell you what is going on here without an exam.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I called the vet but she seems to be back to normal now. I will still keep her from jumping for a while just to be sure.
My cat had a cancerous tumor removed approx. 1 1/2 yrs ago (at JVC) She has had this black (not sure how to describe it) crusty substance under her chin, on her front paw and I recently spotted more underneath her and on another paw. Could this possibly be caused by her cancer if it has returned? Other than that she is acting normal.
Good morning-
It is hard to tell from a picture. The only time we ever had a cat with something that might be similar (and I too was worried about it) it was also on his chin. Turned out to be some sort of kitty acne that I had to cleanse. I do not know if this is the same thing though. When is your next scheduled visit? If it is fairly soon- maybe wait until then. But if it isn’t for a bit, I think I would call to get her seen just to be safe and to also get instruction on what to do. Best of luck!!!
Hello,
I have two cats who have very dirty chins almost all the time. I always tell clients that they should use glass, ceramic or stainless steel bowls (no plastic) jic it is an allergic reaction and that some cats just have dirty chins. For the cats like mine I do the following; I use the chlorphenaramine scrub called nolvasan that we have at the clinic, and the ketohex wipes (also at the clinic) and I keep the chin clean every day. If your cat is current on their annual exam with us I am happy to fill these for you.
If you need any hwlp with this please call me at the clinic.
Krista
Hello,
Without knowing the doses that you are using I would say it might be helpful to see if you can get into a neurologist ASAP. I would also ask about increasing the doses of the meds with your current vet. Also acupuncture might help. Lastly I think that at this point you may have to consider rechecking xrays to make sure this isn’t a fracture or neoplasia. I guess I would suggest to regroup and reassess. I hope this helps. Good luck
It does help. We do have an appointment to see a vet acupuncturist but with the holiday they are booked until Jan. 13. We have consulted on Zoom with a neuro who read her CT. Thank you!