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I am trying to reach out to Dr. Magnifico. I have a 10 Month old cat that started to puke and it was unusual for him so I paid closer attention and realized he was going to the litter ofter and straining at first I thought maybe he had a blockage with the puking then after taking him to the vet on 3/31 and after x-rays they determined that he was constipated but at that time didi not have mega colon they had me try Laxatone and probiotics he was still having bowel movements daily so I was was still concerned as he was in the litter often straining though and Then on 4/3 I took him to a different animal hospital because they were walk in and i could be there before i could get ahold of his original vet and I Didn’t think I could afford an ER visit but that appointment cost me over $800 for blood work and X-rays and they gave him Anastasia and manually cleaned him out. at that point I was calling his original vet he he regularly see and originally saw for this problem because the vet that did the procedure just gave me prescription dry food and sent me on my way so I wanted to make sure it was the right action plan to get him back to normal. My original vet never called me back until I called to ask for his records thats when they decided to get him back in. So on 4/8 He started vomiting again and his original vet saw him and said he needed fluids but his stool seemed soft and like it should pass. they gave me pain meds for him fpr 3 days and metocopramide for 4 days. along with a different prescription wet food and Hydracare. Then I noticed on mu bill i was charges for Lactulose which they didn’t tell me wasn’t in stock and i would have to wait to get but it was weekend and they closed so per a megacolon group i am in i gave him 1/8tsp of mirilax a day he still has had at least 1 goof bowel movement a day but the problem I am having is that he is in the litter box straining constantly to the point of falling over and his back side is so swollen and raw! I called the vet numerous times to just ask for guidance and am not getting anywhere I have spent over $1600 which I definitely do not have and I would think by now I would have some answers. All I want is for him to not be in pain. I don’t know if there is anything I can do for his swollen raw bottom. It feels like its never going to end there is constantly poop on his bottom on-top of it I am trying to keep it clean for him but It is so painful for him for me to clean. I guess I just want to know if this will stop or will he be constantly trying to stain and go? They said that his colon can go back down in size since it just happened and he is so you but I just feel so defeated right now!
Male Himalayan cat eyes swollen and red and ears itchy
I have A male himilayan who seems to be having an allergic reaction to something but I’m not sure if it’s a reaction or something else. His eye lids are swollen red and puffy and he keeps scratching his ears till they bleed. My vet told me to open the windows and air out the house which I did For 7 hours and it has gone down a bit but he still looks uncomfortable. It has been on and off for the past week of getting puffy and there was a wall diffuser my mother in law kept plugging in and when it was unplugged it got better but then she’d plug it in again. It has now been removed for good and it’s been almost 12 hours and he’s still puffy. Any suggestions or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Nothing else has changed in the house that I can Think of for another cause of allergies or irritation. I am Trying to get him into a vet tomorrow.
Hello,
Eyes are one of those things that absolutely have to be seen in person to assess. In some cases I need to stain the eye to look for corneal damage. In others I had to take ocular pressure. And in some we just try an ophthalmology antibiotic and an ecollar. For allergy cases I might send home an eye flush. But they are all based on the in person exam.
See your vet as soon as you can and do not let your cat run her eyes. That can cause major cornea damage.
live in the Pittsburgh pa area. I have a cat with the nasal polyp issue. …
I live in the Pittsburgh pa area. I have a cat with the nasal polyp issue. He’s 5 yr old. I don’t have $2400 for the surgery at the specialist I was referred to. If you could point me in a direction. He keeps getting cold symptoms every few months. Can they suffocate? I know they don’t breathe out of their mouth. I’m so worried.
Hello,
Have you tried to find a vet near you who will sedate your cat and look for a polyp in the ears or behind the soft palate? Local rescues and shelters might also be able to help.
What if the breathing issues is not a polyp? And it’s not asthma or a respiratory infection. What else could it be in your experience?
We do a very poor job in diagnostics to provide a firm diagnosis for pets.
To help decide what is going on with your pet we should be doing things like X-ray, ct or mri, BAL (bronchiole lavage), culture airways, full blood work and a fecal. Anything within any of those is a possibility.
I would not rule out asthma or infection without having done all of those. Which no one can ever afford to do.
I have a 1.5 year old male Himalayan who has been having issues with his chin for about 7 months now. It started off with a little black build up on his chin that looked like acne so I didnt Pay much attention to it. It then started to get a lot worse to the point it looked like he had wet food cemented onto his chin. I took Him to the vet and they told me to change his bowls from stainless steal so I did And I’ve tried plastic, ceramic, glass, any kind of bowl you can get and that has not changed anything.
We went back to the vet and they were stumped on what it could be so he went on steroids to see if that would help and it did for a couple days and it came back worse. We then tried an antibacterial shot and that slightly helped but then came back worse again. Tried steroids once again and made no difference this time. We ran some tests and swabbed the chin and they concluded it was staff infection. So he was treated for that and it didn’t help at all. We then tried another antibacterial shot I believe It was and it cleared up completely. But it is now back again and just keeps getting worse. The chin is raw, red, bloody, black scabby looking things, and so so itchy for him. They have now said I should Try a different food but he is on the urinary s/o Royal canin because my other cat recently had a urinary blockage and I cannot afford to put them both of different vet foods. I do Not think it is a food allergy because I have Tried numerous different foods with him but I could Be wrong. I clean it daily with a medicated soap they gave me and it doesn’t do much except keep it clean obviously, it hasn’t helped it improve. Has anybody dealt with something similar or have any possibly ideas of what this could be?
I will try to Add images to the comments , it won’t let me add them to the post
Hello,
There is no way for me to help without a diagnosis. To get this you may need more diagnostics. Which I know is going to cost you more money. But if it gets you the answer to the cause you can direct the treatment plan. You are at a place where you either need a dermatologist or a biopsy.
I wish I could offer more help. It sounds like you have done quite a lot already.
Best of luck.
Hello,
I will contact my vet and see if I can get either of those options done. It is very confusing not having an answer for him and seeing him in pain. If I end up getting an answer I will update my post for others who may be facing similar issues.
Thank you for your advice.
Rottweiler, female, spayed, 11 years old
Just recently lost a toe to nailbed squamous cell carcinoma (hind foot). And now this has cropped up on her front foot. Not limping yet, but some weight-shifting away from it and licking at it. What are the odds that it’s the same thing again? 
Hello!
So nice to hear from you.
This is tough for me to answer because I don’t know enough about the way the scc was diagnosed nor how it presented. I also don’t know if there were surgical margins or amputation of the digit? Was an oncologist seen?
I have not had any patients with scc of the toe. But I have had scc patients have multiple areas affected. This is really best answered by your vet and an oncologist. I hope this helps. And very best of luck
Krista .
It kind of started the same.
– her licking at her foot for a couple of days and were unable to figure out why
– then she misstepped and became lame and there was bleeding
– vet determined it was likely a nailbed infection at the first visit
– wasn’t healing with topical treatments
– in the meantime, the toe came off completely
– the next visit, a different vet, figured it was potential cancer
– while we were organizing a biopsy, there were many cock-ups so we decided to take a step back and revisit with another vet
– that one convinced it was infection–long-term antibiotics (that trashed her digestive system)
– continued for weeks and weeks
– then, when I no longer believed dysbiosis was all there was to the diarrhea and insisted on imaging, they found a splenic mass
– I insisted I wanted the spleen out asap and agreed to biopsy at time of surgery
– surgeon looked at it and convinced it is cancer so I agreed to toe amputation at the time of the splenic surgery–it was confirmed to be SCC. Bone margin was clean, not enough soft tissue to judge.
– x-rays and all clean–no metastasis
– that toes is no perfectly healed
But this is starting the same way. Last time she lost weeks of life and in pain. This time, I definitely don’t want to loose all that time again. Don’t want to put her through surgery for nothing either, or have another pop up in a couple of months again
Seemed to look better this morning; been doing Epsom salt soaks; vet appt tomorrow
Just saw a vet, and she says it is a nail injury, and everything looks good to her/that’s the one to be the first to suspect cancer the first time around. So HOPEFULLY, that’s correct, and it will resolve speedily. *sigh of relief.
Also did a wellness check, and everything else looks good too. My little girly looks like she’ll be well and able to finally have the fun she deserves once this thing heals.
I live in the Pittsburgh pa area. I have a cat with the nasal polyp issue. He’s 5 yr old. I don’t have $2400 for the surgery at the specialist I was referred to. If you could point me in a direction. He keeps getting cold symptoms every few months. Can they suffocate? I know they don’t breathe out of their mouth. I’m so worried.
Writing to Krista Magnifico again–we are trying to find vets who can perform the polyp removal on our 7 month-old maine coon, but the clinics either have no availability until the summer or are not responding. At this point we are worrying about our Maine Coon who is making noise when he is breathing. We are trying to find any clinic that can work with us to schedule a surgery soon.
Hello,
I’m sorry you are having so much trouble. I will do my best to find some help. I know you called the clinic and I will follow up with you as soon as I can.
De magnifico.
I have a 6 year old German shepherd who has his raised pink lump on her snout. I noticed it 2 weeks ago. I asked to a previous vet I used to work for years ago and he said apply animax ointment for a week and see if it goes down. If it goes down then okay cool , if not we need to sedate and remove it fast. I did not really want to have her sedated but I mean… I’m more curious about what it looks like and how fast it grew. It’s never happened before and it’s solid. No bleeding yet. I did forget to mention she has two. The one in her nose is different than the white one I found in her left shoulder. Is it just age ? Also , it bothered her when I touched her nose
Hello,
It is not possible to diagnose a lump or bump by a picture. This should be done with a veterinarian at an in person exam. After the exam a list of possibilities. But to truly know what it is you need cells or tissue from the mass. Like a biopsy.
Of all the possible things it could be a histocytoma is on the list. Ask them about this.
I hope this helps.
Krista.
I am agonizing over the hardest decision we have as pet parents…euthanasia. Our 12 1/2 year standard schnauzer has been having various behaviors and symptoms the past 6 -8 weeks. Excessive panting, fatigue, decreased appetite. We brought him in and he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He finished all his meds and we brought him back in for follow up X-ray and labs. He really wasn’t much better. X-ray confirmed pneumonia had cleared but lab work, which had been normal 2 weeks prior, now showed probable pancreatitis. He has declined rapidly the past 3 days. We are trying to get him to take meds, Pepcid, Cerenia, Carafate but we literally have to force them down his throat. He will not eat and I have tried everything , rice, scrambled eggs, bread, even doughnuts He is isolating, going upstairs instead of being with us. He still has labored breathing, his legs give out, he is restless. He has a strange odor. I have had dogs my whole life and all this points to end of life. I know this in my heart. When do you know when is the right time? I really was hoping he would pass naturally. Thank you for listening
First off: I’m so very sorry. I know how much this hurts. I know how much it sucks. My biggest regret was not letting my cat go earlier. I couldn’t be with him when he crashed, and it absolutely destroyed me.
It’s always, ALWAYS better to let them go too early than to make them suffer for our need to keep them with us. We owe them that for all the love they’ve given us.
Self isolation is a big sign. So is the refusal to eat, the general restlessness. It sounds like he’s miserable. I would give him the best day you can, and let him go gently.
I’m so sorry to hear this , I myself was and still am angry about putting down my kitty who was very young due to a UTI going south and after much attempts to solve the issue , I am angry for this being the 2nd time , and I’m angry that no one seems to prevent this food from being sold that slowly kills male cats and that no matter what efforts I took to upgrade the food, give him supplements, take him to the vet or whatever , nothing helped ! It only managed to give him another 8-9 months to live .::: but … for me that’s not good enough…. Why can’t we stop this from happening before it happens to male cats !? I don’t get this fail system government and greedy people that only look to get paid rather then save a life. So, with that being said, I am so sorry you lost your pal woof woof ???? I know how u feel , and that it’s better to let them go in peace then suffer this dreadful painful bs life .
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Here are some photos and comparative x rays of how quick it got to Megacolon
Hello,
I’m sorry that you are having such a terrible time trying to find help.
I think that most cats with constipation have it as a result or something else going on. So I am worried that a 10 month old cat would have such an issue. It’s really important to find a vet that you trust. Go on social media and ask everyone you know if they can recommend someone to help.
Without knowing your cat it is impossible for me to guess about what’s going on. But I am worried that a few things might be contributing to his problems.
One is he eating a good high quality wet food. I really prefer canned to dry with cats and colon issues. Next is getting enough exercise. The colon is a muscle and under muscled animals have problems. For constipation I do recommend miralax or lactulose. I also like learning how to give sq fluids at home. You also need to learn how to palpate his colon to know when it is getting distended.
For other things that might be causing the problem look at old pelvic issues. I’ve only seen young cats get this because they had previous pelvic trauma. Also FeLV or fiv positive?
His rectal area is raw bc of the colon issue. So that has to be fixed to get his butt to heal.
Good luck. I hope this helps.
Thank you so much for responding! He defiantly needs more exercise I was giving him Iams dry food as he really doesn’t like wet food and I have a 14 year old cat that has never had an issue. But I have been trying to get him to eat wet food. where I adopted him from tested him for FeLV and Fiv and he was negative and I just got it ran again 2 weeks ago and he was still negative. I am so overwhelmed because the vet I am using comes so highly recommended on all of the social media groups around here. I defiantly want to look into fluids for home I called his vet again today asking if i could bring him in just for fluids and they wanted me to do a whole appointment again and i honestly can not afford much more.