I have a 10 year old female cat. I found her outside two years ago. The past few days she has been running and jumping. Today I fed her and now I noticed her colon is inlarged. She has poo trying to come out but cant. How can I help her? What home remedies can I do? Feed wet food? Or give her a laxative?? She won’t let me rub her tummy or back.

Last summer my healthy, energetic 6 year old cat stopped eating, became lethargic. A trip to the vet turned into a trip to emergency where he spent a day and a half. The dx was hepatic lipidosis – or at least that’s what was happening to him due to something else. He got better. Didn’t return to previous weight (which was okay – he was a couple pounds overweight at the time) but he was back to his happy self.

A couple of months ago, he dropped a bunch of weight, but was still eating. Off to the vet for a blood draw. Low RBC. A trip to the emergency, where he got a transfusion, an ultrasound, and a huge variety of in-depth blood tests to find out what was happening. My vet thought cancer, but the results weren’t showing cancer. The results weren’t showing much of anything. I had no diagnosis. He was placed on prenisolone and an antibiotic. He went for weekly bloodwork. No significant change – and then it was going down again (RBC). Off the antibiotic since it wasn’t doing anything.

We were going to start him on B12 (cobalquin) and then he took a turn for the worse. Hiding away, no eating, no moving. I used a syringe to feed him and still gave him his steroid. He hid in his cat condo, peed in there but wouldn’t move. I set up a temp litter box and feeding area by the condo, and slept on the floor with him. I didn’t expect him to live through the night. In the middle of the night he came out and sat on me. The next day he moved more. And then – he got better. Moving, eating, jumping. Except for being too thin, he was acting just like his normal self.

That was about a month ago and I have been working to give him calories to have him gain weight. A week ago – we’re slowing down again. Sleeping a lot, not eating at the food bowl. So, I have begun using syringe feeding with kitten food (for higher calories) and a calorie/vitamin supplement. He gets B12 and the prednisolone daily. I’m assuming he’s going through the lipidosis issue again, but now that I recognize it I can catch it early and get feedings going.

My questions – how often should I be syringe feeding? I know my cat will only tolerate so much before he gets irritated and walks away, but I can get 10-20 ml in him at one time. I understand a feeding tube would probably be easier, but this cat has been through a lot and I’m trying to make him comfortable and happy and relaxed.

What could be causing this? My vet has been great at trying to find solutions, the specialist/internist didn’t really have any other suggestions, and I’ve been trying to find anything online about illnesses that could cause this drop in health so quickly. (This is an indoor cat, and my other cat is fine.)

Thanks for any help!

Recently every time my 7 year old black lab retriever jumps into the car he holds his back leg and whines a little or acts funny then lays down and is okay. He’s out running and seems fine any other time just does this when jumping up into the car. Any thoughts? Im going to purchase steps to help him into the car. Maybe just a sprain

I have a 14 year old Yorkie who has been off since Saturday afternoon. She hasn’t eaten much but is still drinking and urinating. She is extremely wobbly and not able to keep her balance, as her back legs keep giving out from under her. I took her to the ER yesterday evening and they mentioned she had a bulging disc. They did prescribe some medication and recommended 2 weeks of rest (no playing, going up and down the stairs, or jumping off the couch). My biggest concern aside from her inability to walk is her continued lack of appetite. She has hardly eaten since Saturday and no matter what I try to feed her, she is not interested. Any recommendations?

My 9 yr. old Megacolon cat Eli wasn’t able to poop. It happens sometimes. He’s on Cisapride and Merilax daily, but he still get’s backed up. When he started vomiting after not being able to BM and jumping out of the litter box I took him to the vet. They did an enema on June 20th. He’s still backed up! I can’t afford 1k plus to have a vet manually extract the feces (this is Washington, DC area – everything is very expensive!). He hasn’t started throwing up again, but he’s not eating much and I need to find out if there is something I can do more at home to get him through this emergent time. I can’t just watch my cat suffer. I have Pedi lax, but don’t know if that would help or hinder at this point. I watch videos on palpitating the colon to try and break up the feces. I know there are specific enemas to give cats at home. Is it too late to try this? My vet is frankly bad and too busy to bother, so she said to just go to the emergency. It sure seems like there are other steps that can be taken ,,,at least I hope so becuase I just don’t have that kind of money left with the cost for caring for my hospice Husky, Loki. Help!

IVDD Advice – my two year old Frenchie has recently been diagnosed with IVDD. Two weeks ago he was playing and suddenly started laying on his side and couldn’t get up. I took him to the vet the same day and they did an X-ray and tests that the vet suspects IVDD. The nearest clinic for an mri is two hours away and the cost is more than I can afford

He has been on trazodone, gabapentin, and muscle relaxers for two weeks, but after the fifth day he returned back to his normal self. I’m having a hard time keeping him calm and he tries jumping in the crate and pulls on the leash when I walk him outside to potty. I’ve gotten multiple kongs and slow feeders but he’s still bored. I even got a dog stroller with a screen on it but he’s still too active. Any tips?

Also how do I keep this from happening again? I have another Frenchie that he loves to play with. Can he run and play after the crate rest?

We have a young dog who will not stop licking our older dog in the mouth. She is out of control with this, its not a normal greeting type of lick its always full speed jumping all around & non stop licking. The older dog hates it & tries to get away but cant so then it turns into the older dog getting loud & aggressive but that doesn’t even stop the other dog…

We don’t know what to do, or how to make her stop. She’s very bullheaded & stubborn almost impossible to train. Any advice would be wonderful. Thank you for taking time to read my cry for help

JoAnn

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”.

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)

Hi!

I have a 10 year old tabby named chunk — he is overweight hence his name. Roughly a month or two ago we noticed that he started to limp. While he isn’t holding the paw or crying while walking, it is a noticeable limp. He is still jumping up on the bed and off, walking up and down all the stairs in the house, eating, drinking, and grooming himself. We can’t touch the paw, rub on the paw, and Chunk does not react in anyway as if it hurts him. My question is, his one paw is somewhat swollen at the knuckle. Could this be arthritis? I don’t want to take him to the vet because he does not handle that well and I’m worried about giving him a heart attack or other health issue by taking him to the vet for something that might be nothing. You can see in the picture the differences in his paws. Thank you in advance!