Blue is an approximately 7-8 year old Rottweiler. I recently adopted her last year from a family that had adopted her 5 years before when she was brought to a Rottweiler rescue as a stray. Recently have some issues with her licking paws and biting at the hair on her legs, also severe dandruff with scaly scabs along her flank with leathery skin, also scabbing along the outer ridges of her ears. I initially suspected an allergy as have had rottweilers before and experienced their tendency to have allergy to food etc. Visited the vet about the skin, did antibiotics and it subsided but not completely cleared up. I decided to change food and in doing so she had 2 bouts of diarrhea that both had to be treated with metronidazole. In this process comes the problem, on one of those visits my vet discovered her spleen was enlarged. confirmed by xray, no masses just enlargement. In process of having her thyroid checked by a 3 panel test as I think the vet is going in the direction of a low thyroid causing multiple ear/skin infections which in turn is enlarging the spleen. I did check with previous owner and she has had skin/ear infections in past, treated by Keflex and allergy shot but never confirmed as to why. Vet stated she has little confidence at this point it could be cancer, but possible. we are embarking on finding out why her spleen is enlarged… My question is has anyone had a similar situation and or what do you think will be the outcome? Also if this does play out as a thyroid issue, given proper treatment will the spleen return to healthy size or will it need to be removed? I am aware of the possibility of hemangiosarcoma and do know what that outcome would most likely be.

Hi there, I’ve been feeding some stray cats near my work place and recently I noticed one of the male cats has crusty lesions on several places of its body like on the nose, the cheeks, the balls. I googled some pics online and his condition seems to match feline herpes virus. I tried to trap him for a vet visit but he just won’t let me. I asked some vets in my area but they insist on me to bring in the cat. So I think that option is pretty much impossible. Is there any kind of human antibiotics or supplements I can give to the cat? Something I can sneak inside his food? Thank you!

It has been about 3 weeks since my stray cat Snow had her stomatitis flare up again, she will eat periodically if I cut up deli meat very small or mash Max cat venison canned food for her, the randomness of her eating isn’t likely enough to sustain her but as I mentioned before she won’t let me trap her for a vet visit. Is there something over the counter I can add to the food that I manage to get in her to reduce inflammation and is there a normal time frame that inflammation will subside on it’s own?

I seen the you tube video on a stray cat with stomatitis and how the care giver was taking her into his home to care for her. I have a cat that had been diagnosed with stomatitis in Sept 2019. I managed to trap her while she was in one of the outdoor shelters and took her to a vet after she stopped eating and acted like she was afraid of her food. Up until about 4 days I have helped her manage the issue by getting her to eat pate foods that I add some water to and make more like a soup or lickable treat. Now she won’t eat that, and she won’t even come near me. If I go out to visit her she runs like she is afraid of me even though she typically allows me to pet her. The next problem is she isn’t using any of the shelters so I have no way to tra her. I know she won’t go into a trp on her own and I can’t lure her with food. So my question is will this subside over a period of days so she can eat again or will she just starve to death and not allow me to help her?

Hello! I rescued a stray domestic shorthair that came crying at my door about 6 months ago and named him Koda. He is the sweetest boy of about 5 years (not too sure about his age though) and I am so grateful of the love he has shown me. Since I’ve had him, there has been nasal discharge on one side of his nose. He began sneezing after a while and I noticed large chunks of hardened mucus would come out. I took him to the vet and he was put on antibiotics and they cleared out most of the build up. The vet also did an x ray and it showed that one side of his sinuses were completely backed up with mucus, so he did a blind bioscopy to look for polyps and could not find anything. The antibiotics seemed to work at the time, but now looking back I’m assuming it was because the they had cleared out most of the mucus, because the symptoms came back after about a week after stopping antibiotics. We are now looking at constant snoring sounds, occasionally gasping for air, sneezing and decreased appetite due to not being able to smell his food. The vet recommended us to someone that had the proper technology, which would be a scope and a ct scan to go in and look for any polyps, and remove them if found. This would cost me $1500-$3000 which I cannot afford since I am a college student 🙂 I went anyways to get their opinion and stupidly spent about $1000 on more testing, appetite stimulants, and more antibiotics that didn’t work. I am considering trying steroids to try and lessen the symptoms just so that he can have an easier time breathing if they worked, but I am afraid of the cost and especially the side effects, if it it doesn’t help that will be more wasted money. Recently, the nasal discharge has spread to the other nostril and he has more bloody mucus than ever before, and as of three days ago, a mucus-like mass has protruded from one nostril and has slowly turned black and bloody over these few days. I tried to remove it but it was very stuck and started bleeding, and I could tell the poor baby was in pain. It may be a polyp that has slowly moved out of his nose, so I will be calling a vet tomorrow to hopefully get it taken out.
I am looking for another opinion on what might be going on or of any similar stories. If anyone knows any good vets in the Tampa, Florida area I would be forever grateful. I am willing to take Koda anywhere in Florida if it means I can find help for less money or just more straightforward people who care about animals and not just the money! Koda is still a happy and loving cat but he has slowly become less playful, and I can tell he does not feel his best becsause of all of this. I am afraid of how much worse it can get. Thank you so much for any help in advance!

My question is about food for my cats and dogs.

Cats
Ive always been told to keep dry food out at all times so I do but I also feed them in the morning and at dinner with a mixture of wet and dry. They are all 6 years old and they are putting on weight. Should I take up the dry food so they don’t graze on it all day and just feed them their 2 meals a day. Is that enough?

Dogs
I have always fed my 13 year old once a day with a mixture of wet and dry and of course he gets tid bits from our plates through the day. Lol. He’s always been a healthy weight and seems very happy. I rescued a dog a year go that was a stray and she was 1. I kept dry food out for her all day, as suggested by my vet, and also feed her with her brother at diner time with the same mixture. I have recently taken up her dry food and only feed her once a day Now with the brother.

Am I doing the correct things for my animals. I don’t want to overindulge them and have them become overweight and have the many problems that come along with that. But i also don’t want them hungry. Not sure what to do.

Thanks

I work front desk at a vet and a client brought in a stray. No chip and shelters wouldn’t take her. She was going to be released outside since no one would home her and it’s so cold in VA.. so I took her in. I got her shots and tested for FIV, FeLuk, etc to know if she’s safe around my 10 yr neutered male cat. Then the vet said she seems to be pregnant but the ultrasound was inconclusive. But she definitely matches the description of “pinking” and has no hair around her nipples. But I have no idea how far along she is! Last week we didn’t see kittens on ultrasound but now they think she looks pregnant for sure. How do I know? Vet doesn’t want to stress her with more imaging. Also, what do I do when she goes into labor?? Will my male cat be okay around her? They’ve been ok the few times I’ve let them interact but will she change personality when she has kittens? Is she’s likely nicer now than she’ll be after just since she’s “nesting”? Is the stress too much to introduce her to my cat? She’s scratching through the door to get to the rest of the house so I’d like not to keep her cooped up 24/7. Also, when do I know labor is starting? Will she pick a place? How can I make that not be the bed or couch? Or can I cover them? And she eats like she’s STARVING! She looks so tiny to be pregnant.. I read you feed them all they want at a certain point; when is that? How much should I give her each stage? I have Hills ultimate care adult. I went ahead and got some Iams kitten food but when do I start mixing it in? I’m even more lost not knowing how far along she is. I’ve had her 1 week so at least that far along but I could use as much help as possible. Especially regarding labor. I know she’ll most likely do it all on her own but I see so much of what can go wrong working at a vet and I’d like to be prepared. I’ve attached pictures of her. Please help me help her.

I have a kitten. She was a stray so I’m assuming she is about 11 months old. She recently has stopped eating, drinking, and can hardly move. Within the past few hours we have noticed there’s a knot that’s came up on this inside of her on her side. Please help. She has an appointment in the morning with the vet but I’m worried sick!

I have an 18 month old male cat, Chubbs 🙂 – he was a stray that we took in from the neighborhood as a kitten, vaccinated and neutered and we just adore him. On Monday this week, I noticed he was having urinary issues – lots of in and out of box and no action. Our vet was full so we drove about 30 minutes to another town to take him to an emergency vet. Vet told me that he did not have a urinary blockage, but his urinalysis showed evidence of infection and crystals. A chicken and the egg situation he said. They gave him subQ fluids, antinausea med, anti-inflammatory med and send us home with a supply of pain meds and antibiotics. He was low key the next day, but seems back to normal as of yesterday. However, still lots of urinary urgency and frequency attempts with dribbles here and there, but is producing actual normal appearing size voids 3-5 times a day. No blood, no howling. Bowel movements seem a little looser, assuming from antibiotics but no diarrhea. Is this expected behavior? Can male cats have partial blockages that wax and wane like this? Will this continue on for 1-2 weeks while treating the UTI component? Emergency vet told me to follow-up with our vet in ~2 weeks for repeat urine.

I am helping someone who rescued a young female stray cat a few weeks ago. No microchip. The plan is to get her vetted and adopted. She tested positive for ear mites , & tapeworms. She has had 2 applications of Revolution , 2 weeks apart, per vet instructions. She had an ear hematoma that the vet drained and sutured. The vet gave her virbantel dewormer tablet , and she is now due for her second dose, the info with this product states it is for dogs and puppies only. She didn’t get that 2nd dose, will consult with vet about it – recheck visit tomorrow. My question is about the virbantel tablet, is it safe for use on cats? What are the risks ? She has had other symptoms that we thought were unrelated , now I am wondering if the 1st dose she received at the vet had some side effects. Also she was shaved to check for a spay scar, I attached photo. Looks like there were two incisions. Any thoughts and or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!