I have an 8 year old Dalmatian that out of the blue started crying out in pain when lying down or getting up as well as being unable to shake his head to itch ears. Emergency vet has suspected IVDD as likely problem. He is not dragging, going to the bathroom fine and seems energetic but cautious because of pain. I just watched a video by Krista Magnifico on IVDD recovery without surgery should I be crating him as much as possible for time being? The doctor sent him home with anti-inflammatory, steroid and pain meds.

Hi,
Madonna vet suggested I post on here to get some advice. I have 3 cats, one is around 7 1/2 and the other two are around 4 1/2. Last week I noticed one of them had pooped out side of the litter box and there were drops around it that had bright red bloody mucous around it. I tried looking it up and found that this can happen sometimes and not to be too concerned as long as the stool was formed. So I kept an eye out when cleaning and scooping the litter box to see if it happened again and who it was. I hadn’t noticed any more blood until today, I found some in my bathroom (picture attached). One of them is over weight and likes to eat random things sometimes, but none of then are acting any different than usual. Without trying to sound super weird i tried to inspect all 3 of them, but i can’t tell who it was so i can take them to the vet (it would be impossible to get all 3 at the same time especially with this whole pandemic going on). I guess I’m just hoping for some advice on what to do and whether or not to be super concerned. All of the vets I’ve called to talk to are booked, and I’m not really sure how to go about it.

My rats (2 months old) are sneezing. Sometimes it’s one, sometimes its like three in a row, but it is not consistent. I have read that this could be linked to respiratory issues, but they have no other symptoms. They ping, brux, boggle, play fight with their siblings, eat, socialize with me and other members of my family. They are not secreting porphyrin either. They do sleep a lot during the day, which I thought may be a symptom, but they are also still babies and are EXTREMELY active during the night. Should I be worried about the sneezing?

Hi Dr. Magnifico. We took Boogie to VRA in Gaithersburg, MD, a couple weeks ago, hoping to have the Radioactive Iodine Therapy done for his hyperthyroidism, but Dr. Conway said she did not think he was a good candidate for it and was very concerned with his constipation.

She did bloodwork, an ultrasound, chest x-rays and more. We took him there on 4/16 and again on 4/27. I asked her to send all results to you and I hope you have received them by now.
Dr. Conway said he has a tumor or mass on his kidney but no abnormalities found from the chest x-ray.
She quoted me $5,000-$6,000 (gulp) to do the surgery, but I can not remember if she said that was to remove the tumor from the kidney, or remove the entire kidney.
She also mentioned something about his blood being thicker? I really can not remember exactly what she said about that, but it didn’t sound good. It may have something to do with his red blood cell level being high due to the tumor on his kidney.

She said to cut back his methimazole to 1/2 pill every 12 hours. *Dr. Conway told me that his hyperthyroidism is very mild.
She also said raise his dose of cisapride 5 mg/ml from 1 ml every 12 hours to 1 ml every 8 hours (three times a day), and she said to raise his dose of lactulose to 3 ml every 8 hours.
I started all of the above on 4/17.

He has since sprained his leg and is limping. He’s been hiding under the bed more, but not completely. He will still come up on the bed to visit me once or twice a day, but just not as often as he used to, and is still coming up on the bed to sleep with me. I’m not sure if he’s not feeling well because of Dr. Conways findings, because of his sprained leg, or both, the reason he is under the bed more.

Here is the last email I received from Dr. Conways office on 4/29, after his ultrasound on 4/27:

1) His calcium results was fine and within normal limits. Dr. Conway suspects the prior calcium elevated was due to lab error.
2) His thyroid level is good on the lower dose of Methimazole – please continue as directed with this medication.
3) His blood cell count shows his red blood cell level is HIGHER – this is due to the tumor of his kidney. If you are not interested in pursuing surgery for Boogie, Dr. Conway’s recommendation would be an oncology consult to discuss any palliative care options.

Please let me know if you have any questions.
​
Julia Conny, RVT
Internal Medicine Lead Technician
Veterinary Referral Associates
301-926-3300

Dr. Mag, We have been clients of yours for several years, as four of our cats are all seen by you and your wonderful staff. We are begging you on hands and knees to please help our Boogie boy. He is only 12 years old and we are not ready for him to go. Can you please do the removal of the tumor or kidney? We realize it is a very risky surgery, but we would feel better knowing we did something, than not. We know you are a big advocate of doing everything you can to help bring pets back to health, instead of just giving up.
I’m in tears as I write this. Can you please look at all his records you have at your office asap, and also what Dr. Conways office sent you. Please, can you help our baby?

Terri and Steve

Dr Krista – I am a YouTube watcher with a 22yo cat that may have nasal or ear polyps. We have spent 8 weeks trying every antibiotic, nasal steroid drop, antibac nasal drop and still fighting the snorking sound and her inability to breathe. Did nasal swab wk of 4/20 – found 2 bacteria, getting compounded anti bacs at this point since both bacs are super resistant apparently – Citrobacter freundii and pseudeomonas species. Antibacs will arrive to me in California by Thur 4/30 . She has a grade 3 heart murmur and hyper thyroid (on 5mg Methimazole daily). Just as your YouTube vid about Stripes with polyps (2/23/2018), I think I may be in the same situation – I have a vet telling me to go to a specialist for $$$ because everything we are throwing at this isn’t working. How in the world do I find someone like you who is willing to help me for a reasonable cost? I am calling all over for vets and everyone is ‘specialist focused’. Do you have tips on what to ask, experience, and honestly, I need someone with your confidence to do this. Or I need you 🙂 I have been in cat rescue over 30 yrs and ‘get; the lingo but have never had such difficulty finding a vet who could assist. Thank you in advance!

is there any symptoms of my cat having a heart murmur that i could tell at home?

I have a semi domestic cat with maggots at its tail on uper body. It’s not completely a house cat and can be very aggressive when in pain. Lives mostly in parks in front of my house. I want it help but vets are all closed due the covid 19 lockdown. And the infestation of maggot is really bad. There are 3 wounds on its tail.
I need some tips to sedate it at home so that I can treat it. Any tips?

My vet thinks my cat has a nasopharyngeal polyp but he needs to go under anesthesia so he they can know for sure and get it out, but he was also listening to my cats heart and said he has a grade one mitral heart murmur and that he needs to have xrays and ultrasounds and such done to make sure his heart is ok before going into surgery because they said his heart could fail while under anesthesia and he could die. My dad said they we should just go ahead with the surgery without spending $550 extra dollars because he doesn’t think he has anything serious wrong his heart considering it was only a grade one heart murmur and my cat was already very nervous about the car ride and being at the vet and that could have caused his heart rate to be off a little. Would it be necessary to look into his heart further or just go ahead with the surgery considering it would only be a 20-60 minute surgery? Would a cat with any type of heart conditions die during surgery? What should I do next?

IVDD – Beagle
My 9 year old beagle is displaying symptoms of IVDD. Currently he is still able to walk. He holds up a paw when he stands but does have pain in the neck area. He has been displaying these symptoms for a month. This is the third times he has had issues with this leg which we always assumed was so sort of sprain and was helped by rest. The nuroligst wanted to do an emergency MRI and possible surgery if the MRI confirmed IVDD. However, his symptoms don’t seem nearly as bad as other have expressed. Is surgery really the way to go if I can afford it to help him heal the quickest? I want him to heal as quickly as possible, but I am nervous that the surgery seems risky. Any advice?

Hi there. My dog Ruby had sudden onset Mast Cell Tumors present about 3 weeks ago. She’s an energetic 4 year old pit/great dane mix (I know because I spent a billion dollars on a DNA kit). I noticed about 7 subcutaneous lumps on her left side while she was outside playing. They felt like little oblong marbles under her skin. Our vet is an hour away. We had moved a few months back and kept our vet because we love him so much. We still see him for routine care. There is a vet very close to our home and I have read good reviews and have had email conversation previously when I was deciding whether or not to switch vets. I was concerned Ruby would have cancer, I just felt it, and didn’t want her to have to make several long trips to our vet if she were to require surgery, etc. So I decided to take her to the new close to home vet. As it is Covid-19 season, I did not get to go inside the vet’s office with her. They aspirated one of the lumps and were concerned. She was scheduled for surgery in the following week. I talked to my other vet about this, and he was not pleased to hear they aspirated her, because he was worried that the histamines from the tumor would cause it to spread. I was alarmed and researched Dr. Google for 2 days. It seemed to me after my research that the aspiration was standard course of care. Ruby had her surgery and had 2 large masses removed. They could not take all of them because there would have been too many incision sites. Directions for care included keeping her inactive for 10-14 days, not an easy dear with an anxious 65 lb lap dog. On day 7 of recovery, I noticed a fluid buildup around the incision site. Back to Dr. Google, I decided she had a seroma. I called the vet the next morning and we took her over and my suspicion was confirmed. They told us to call if it got worse. We still haven’t received the pathology back on the two masses that were removed. This morning I decided I needed to do more research, as two new masses have cropped up (the tumors, not seroma). Ruby is in good spirits and just wants to play and run with our other dogs. She’s mad at me, I’m sure of it, for making her lay around all day. Is it normal to have a seroma after surgery? Why do these tumors pop up all of a sudden?