Hello Community. I have a wonderful 7-YO spayed female snowshoe named Poppy. Poppy has been the picture of perfect health since I first got her with her litter mates. at 7-8 weeks. She is an indoor/outdoor cat who leads an active social life, and has always had a healthy appetite powering her Alpha status in the household of 5 cats. She and her housemates only get the best food possible and carbs were cut out completely about 1.5 years ago. She currently eats Dr Elsey’s wet food (Turkey or Duck/Turkey), Stella & Chewy’s freeze dried raw morsels, along with some lightly roasted chicken meat with a multi-organ/glandular freeze dried blend for added nutrition.

Last week I noticed Poppy had a hard lump on her left hind leg on the outside of the upper thigh about 1 inches below the hip joint and just outside the leg’s leading edge. It is a hard mass about a dime in size, raised and moves with your finger just a little bit. It is under the hide and above the muscle and feels attached to the muscle or sinew tissues. I took her to her vet last week and they attempted to aspirate but got no fluids, and so have recommended surgery to remove the cyst and biopsy the tissue. While I await their cost estimate I got a second quote from a local board-certified surgeon and that came back at $2500-3000 not including any imaging, biopsies or panels.

I am asking if anyone knows what a likely market price is for such a surgery or has recommendations on alternative treatments? Poppy is behaving normally and has had no change in diet or activity, and does not react at all to touching the cyst. The cyst was first noticed about 10 days ago, and I am constantly handling this cat so it has developed very rapidly. I had first thought it must be from a playful bite from one of her wrestling matches with my 2-YO male, but there are not external signs of any such play. Any insight is appreciated. Especially a means to get this cyst removed and biopsied at a price much more reasonable than that already quoted.

I have a 5 week old kitten I’m fostering that broke it’s leg last night at the elbow. We saw a neighborhood vet that said we could take it to a surgeon, which would be very costly. Or just let it heal on its own. He said if we let it heal then we shouldn’t put it in a splint or anything because of where it’s broken. I feel it should have a splint. Thoughts?

My Brother-in-Law’s cat, Bandit, was missing for 8 weeks. When he was returned, he was walking with a periodic stumble. Our Vet took X-rays and determined he had a broken hip, which would cost $3k to $7k to have a surgeon evaluate and repair. Bandit does not seem to be in pain, and is able to walk, run, and jump without much difficulty. Once in awhile he stumbles. Would cage rest be enough for it to heal. We do not want to put him through the pain and risks of an operation if he doesn’t need it. Cost is also a factor, but we want to do what’s best for Bandit. X-rays are attached.
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I just learned from Dr Magnifico that little white dogs love their bladder stones.

I have a little white dog. She does not have bladder stones as far as I can tell and I’d like to keep it that way. She’s a maltese, about five or six years old, a puppy mill rescue I adopted about seven months ago. I also have a 13-year-old dorkie and a vet I’ve been seeing for almost 25 years.

I’m lazy and don’t count on myself to brush my dogs’ teeth so I’ve always fed my dogs Hills Science Diet t/d (large size kibble). They also get rawhide chews sold by my vet. The maltese’s stool is very dry compared to the dorkie’s.

Is there anything I should be doing to reduce the risk of bladder stones? Half wet food half kibble, maybe? Flavour their water?

Thank you!
Alison

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

My 12 year old male dog has two tumors on him and I took him to the vet but they said there wasn’t anything they could do about it because of where he is so old what should I do about these tumors I just need somebody to help me with him I will travel. He is a lab mixed with a beagle and is 12 years old

was wondering if I could ask a question.
About my Shih tzu MeiLing:
MeiLing is not having symptoms. My question is related to lab values. She is 14 years old and just acts tired at times.

1. The paperwork shows that she is positive for Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Her vet did not offer any treatment advise on this or even mention this to me during the visit. I happened to find it later when reviewing her lab work. I have never found a tick on her since I rescued her 9 years ago.

2. Other lab work:
BUN 41, had been 33 year prior, one month after that was 29;
ALT 227 was 134 year prior, one month later 117;
ALP 673 was 668 one year prior and 1040 one month after that;
MCV 59.3 was 61.1 year prior and one month after that was 59.8;
Platelets 504 was 542 year prior and 561 one month afterwards;
Plateletcrit 0.62 was 0.66 and 0.68 one month later.

Based on some of the labs in point 2 the vet started MeiLing on Hepato Tru Benefits which supports healthy liver function and is telling me that we should do an MRI.

I love my dog and would like very much to do whatever is necessary for her health. However, I am retired, living on social security and am not able to afford a monthly payment for health insurance for her much less $1000 or more for an MRI. So my question is, with these labs, considering she is having no symptoms, granted she is not as lively as she once was but she is 14 years old, in your opinion how necessary is it that she have an MRI? Also why would he have not even mentioned the Anaplasma phagocytophilum? Should I seek another opinion?

I don’t expect that I will be able to afford other treatments revealed by an MRI.

I know I am asking a lot here but if you could just help me with a little guidance I would deeply appreciate it.

Thanks for any info you can give me.

Rottweiler, female, 11 years old.

Vertically split nail; under vet care but I think we need to get more decisive.

The vet trimmed the nail half way with local (dog has bad reaction to sedation protocol, narcotics, etc). Still hurt and vet said it would cause undue pain. However, the nail continues on splitting.

How common of a procedure is cutting the nail off all the way to nail bed? How does that improve outcome? How much faster is the recovery?

By what percentage is anesthesia risk lower with such a short procedure? (Has to be anesthesia as explained above). Last time, after anesthetic procedure, she had heart rhythm problems and other problems; became critical and almost died. But was also full of drugs and had pancreatitis as complication of splenectomy. I’d assume the shorter the time under, the lower risk of complications?

I’m concerned about putting her under but I’m also concerned about dragging this out for weeks, taking valuable time from her, and having to do it that way anyway eventually.

I really don’t know what is the best thing to do for her. Hubby leaning toward waiting if it heals but I’m not seeing it healing any time soon if at all. (Photo of the present state of the nail attached.

I’m sad, depressed, concerned, and don’t know what I should decide for her.

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.