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!

Hi,
I need advice on how to calm my cat.SHe is normally nice but ately she acts a little aggressive when she hears other noises like,cars,dogs,and other cats.She is not acting as nice toward her own collar and grooming time with me. Do you have any answers how i can get her to act nice again?

My 14 year old boxer bulldog mix (probably pittie) fractured her tibia (confirmed by vet) but they want 100 bucks a week to change the splint. Can you give me a reference to an accurate how-to video on how to properly wrap it myself? She has a plastic splint that a youtube video called a “quick splint” (see photos). We have rewerapped it two or three times and the first time she got right up and ate a whole bowl of food and put weight on it. The past two times she hasn’t put weight on it and she’s barely eating, only people food. I can tell she’s not happy cause she won’t let me stop touching her. I have no idea what we did the first time that was right vs what I’m doing now that is wrong, but I think there is some slippage happening (see photo of knee joint). I’m making sure to line up the joint and the splint, but when I take it off, it isn’t lined up. How do I prevent slippage? Also, I’m going to wash her before I rewrap, her skin is very dry and she needs conditioner. She also has significant blackheads and chafing- I was going to use the benasoothe shampoo, should I take any other precautions?? I was thinking I would try some clay and apple cider vinegar for the blackheads?? She started licking her leg so I just put a little extra wrap on it so she can’t irritate it. What signs should I look for as an absolute NEED to return to the vet? Swollen toes, what else? Please respond ASAP

my cat is maybe 1 1\2 – 2 ish years old. she is not fixed but she has always been very healthy and active and very into food and snacks. i couldnt find her for dinner time and thought maybe she was just sleeping somewhere hard, when she finally came out she did not seem interested in me making her food, i showed her the can and she slowly walked into the kitchen, no meowing or jumping on the table as usual. when i put her food down she sniffed it and walked away. since then she has been laying down, she has an odd expression on her face that seems very blank. her stomach seems to hurt as she stayed hunched over when she stands or moves and growled when i was trying to feel it. when she does stand or move she does it very slowly and as if she doesnt have enough strength to do so. she tried to stretch once and her back leg only shook a little, she tried to get up and move and meowed in pain. every now and then her ears seem very warm. she has recently had her first hairball from her new sister cat that has long hair. she has eaten the same dry food and about a quarter of a can of wet food at night and in the morning. shes not eating or drinking and she has not vommited since a hairball the other day or had diarhrrea.

Hello. My vet suspects my cat has one or more nasal polyps. I’ve been going through this process of getting towards his surgery for a while. The vet told us he has a heart murmur, but only a grade 1 out of 6, I brought him to a 2nd vet and they said his heart sounds great, I went back to the first vet and they looked at him again and the doctor said he has a murmur and even his vet tech looked over it and didn’t hear it the first time and the doctor had to tell her where to listen and she finally heard it. They said we would need some test on his heart before during surgery to make sure his heart doesn’t fail while under anesthesia. I got an x-ray done of his heart which came back fine and i also got blood test done which came back fine. The test he got were included in the basic wellness screen. I’m thinking he has a intermittent heart murmur because of his heart rate going up due to stress of being in the car and at the vet. The vet is still telling me i can have an echocardiogram done to be really sure his heart is really fine. That’s another $390 on top of the $500 i’ve already spent and i just can’t afford it. I believe if 2 vets could simply look over it, and it’s only a grade 1/6, and the test and x-rays came back fine so far, he should be good… right? Well another thing is they don’t know how many polyps he has or where exactly they’re located, we asked for a throat/head xray and they told us they can only do it if he’s under anesthesia first. They are adding on so much stuff i feel like he doesn’t even need and gave us a price estimate from $450-$1,500. We asked the other vet and they said they can do a head x-ray, but they don’t even know if the procedure of removing the polyps is even anything they can do, and he might have to go to a specialist. Can the polyps for sure be seen on the x-rays because i really don’t want to waste any more money on something that doesn’t even help get down to the problem. I’m thinking i can just skip over the echocardiogram because it doesn’t seem it’s really needed, i get an x-ray of his head, find the size, how many, and where the polyps are located, then get a real price estimate. Can someone please answer my questions or give any advice! Thanks:)

Hi i was wondering what a good dog food is for liver problems my dog was diagnosed with a high liver enzyme and she cant digest regular dog food due to severe diarrhea so ive been making her food myself everyday i boil chicken, rice, parsley, carrots, cauliflower and mash it up and she loves it and we dont have any problems with diarrhea however it gets exhausting and becomes alot of work im looking for a new food that would be good for her even if its a perscription diet im sure i can get approval i love my dog and want whats best for her shes old shes around 12 years old, but yes we dont know whats caused her liver problems i think its old age i use to have her on casars wet dog food and she kept diarrhea and i tried a few other foods for her as well and had no luck i even tried grain free and that didnt help either its frustrating cause at one point she had diareah for a few weeks and i didnt know why i took her to our local hospital a few minutes away and they ran tests and gave her metronidazole finally when i took her off the food she stopped sorry for this long post i just wanted to give all the information to figure out the best food for my baby so i can orser it for her or if you know a brand i can buy over the counter thats good please let me know

My 15 year old lemon hound pees four to five times more than normal and has been for over a year. Been tested many times for bladder infections, kidney issues, and other normal things. The pee is as clear as water and can have strong ammonia smell at times. She drinks a lot but vets have told us to make sure she has water available at all times. Other that aches and pains from arthritis, she seems not to have any other issues. Any ideas of rare conditions that may be causing to peeing trouble?

Thanks,
Bubba

I have a question about dog food. Years ago, we had a german shepherd who was allergic to chicken. We switched him (and our other 2 dogs) to grain free and they all did amazing on it. We mixed proteins and had no issues. Now, years later, we have a german shepherd pup (9 months old now). When he came to us at 8 weeks he was eating Victor grain free active dog and puppy. Our vet is anti-grain free and recommended Purina Pro Plan large breed puppy (chicken). We transitioned over a couple of weeks, but he had soft stools or diarrhea all the time and was itchy. He ended up having anal gland issues. We added pumpkin, bananas, yogurt and nothing helped.
We switched to the sslmon/sensitive skin and stomach puppy formula but it didn’t get better. We ended up adding Victor back in, and he got better. Now he is back on the Victor puppy grain free, mixed with the Victor grain included formula. No issues. But our Vet has us worried about heart issues, and I’m worried that we’re going to get a lecture because she only recommends Purina Pro Plan, Science Diet, RC, Ian’s – big companies with a vet on staff. Should we keep trying these, or stick with what’s working? (Our previous vet retired 🙁 ) We want to do the best thing for our puppy.

Scooter, my cat for over 21 years slept by my chest every night. He became sick earlier this year and had to be euthanized. Within days of losing him one of my other cats has decided to do everything in her power to keep me up at night. She will knock things over, turn off my cpap machine, etc. until I finally give in and get up and go downstairs with her. I usually will do stuff on the computer or straighten up. She usually just sits by me and after about 2 hours I can go back up to bed followed by her for about 5 or 6 hours. She is healthy, playful, friendly. Lately she has gotten worse and wants to be up more often. Tried locking her out of our room but she has clawed the carpet and the door. I cannot lock her in another room because she will do the same thing. I have been so exhausted that on a few occasions I have put her in the carrier for a few hours so I can get some sleep. She goes in willingly and makes bo noise while she is in there. I have tried to keep her up several hours before going to bed but nothing works.

Any suggestions. Oh she is about 10 years old. One odd thing is that if one of my other cats is sleeping with me which is rare, she will not bother me.

Thank you

Anyone know whether half a Xyzal tablet would be okay to give a kitty? (My spouse says “It’s the same as Zyrtec minus one stereo isomer,” whatever that means.) We currently give him half a Zyrtec when he gets super itchy, and it helps. Reason we are wondering is we have a huge bottle of Xyzal but no more Zyrtec.

He is treated monthly for fleas, does not go outside, and we’ve tried every way we can think of to help him other than meds. But sometimes he still scratches so much he makes his ears bleed, poor guy. The meds help him a lot.