My two year old cat has been mouth breathing to the point of his entire mouth being wet from drool for the last two hours. His tail is swishing back and fourth and he’s yelling everytime I pet him. He’s extremely food motivated and when I tried to give him a piece of kibble, he wouldn’t take it. It’s definitely really strange behavior. If there’s no improvement tomorrow morning, I will absolutely take him to this vet as soon as possible. I just didn’t know if he needed to go to the emergency vet immediately.

I cant get a picture because the website wont work on my phone for some reason but my cat lost one of his whole back claws, there is dried blood along the top of it should i be worried? He is sleeping rn and a little bit ago he was walking around like he wasn’t in pain, is this normal for cats? He got back from the vet about a month ago for an abcess on his neck from one of my other cats being a little too rough and bitting him, could this be the same issue of the cats playing too rough and his claw got ripped out?

10 year old cat with nasal polyp?

I tried multiple vets and hundreds of dollars but nobody seems to have a solution. One vet said it was an upper respiratory infection, they gave him a shot of Convenia and prescribed Clavamox, nothing. Fast forward a couple weeks, he wasn’t eating for an over a day so we took him to another vet that prescribed Cerenia which helped temporarily. They said he could have trouble smelling his food so he wasn’t eating. But it’s still not gone. Xray was clear. Now the vet referred to a specialist that wants over $2000 to anesthetize and do an endoscopy JUST to diagnose. From Jersey, can I drive 3 hours to MD so you can maybe look a him? I’m scared he’s gonna pass away from troubled breathing.

Background:
He lived with my dad who recently passed and I took him in. In the last year I noticed he has had difficulty breathing but some days it sounds clear, most days it’s worse. It sounds like something is restricting his airway.

He does sneeze often and when he does it’s usually 15+ sneezes in a row like he’s trying to get something out. Last night I counted 21 sneezes in a row. He also sometimes sounds like he’s choking or trying to spit something out but nothing comes out. He does have greenish/yellow boogers once every couple of weeks and also has discharge from his eye.

I know it’s the holidays but I’ll do anything for a chance to help my little guy that reminds me of my father everyday. *Update, just made an appt for 12/30 at 11:30am!

We learned this week that our 9yo female domestic cat FIV+ has bilateral ear canal polyps more severe on the right. Our local vet does not perform the surgical removal of these polyps. How to find a vet to perform surgery or a dermatology specialist? A video otoscopy was recommended. In Maryland, Harford County. Willing to travel though don’t want to stress cat out too much with a looonnggg ride. Thanks in advance.

My 2 yr old springer sleeps with me but some nights she is on the bed off the bed which means my sleep is interrupted. Why is she doing this as she doesn’t want out.

Can a cat live with a nasopharyngeal polyp that is not easily removed (it’s not near soft palette when placed under anesthesia)? Our 6 yr old spayed female is honking and has nasal discharge unless she is on antibiotics. Prednisone /prednisolone were not effective.
She is a poor surgical candidate (she stopped breathing when the endotracheal tube was removed during exploratory). An ear polyp was removed successfully. Discharge and ear polyp are/we’re on the same side.
We cannot afford endoscopy at this time. Can she be maintained on antibiotics? She has coughed up a large polyp twice before we owned her so we are hopeful that will happen again soon.

Hello,
My cat was cleared from urinary blockage.
Now we need to prevent this from recurring.
You mentioned quality can food for this.
If you can give me a list of your favorite quality cat can foods I would appreciate that.
Thank you

Colin to Dr. Krista : May I pick your Brains?

Dear Dr. Krista,

I’m writing to ask your advice about a stray cat I found last month. See images attached.

But first I want to thank you for the polyp videos you made, which were refreshing, as well as impressive.

One of my strays was snoring, so I was eager to pluck out a polyp hiding behind his soft-palate. (He didn’t have one, but I’m gratefully alerted for the future.)

Last month I found a stunted stray ginger cat outside a 7/11 in North Thailand, where I’m a self-financed Christian missionary.

Can you help me diagnose, and treat the problem?

At first I thought it was simply FVR / Calici and chronic snuffles.
But when I opened her mouth, she had only 4 teeth in her head!

Yes, she had calici tongue-ulcers, but little sneezing, no ocular discharge, and has been eating like a horse from day one. She’s happy and bright in herself, apart from the ugly sore nose.

Her mandibular Ln were big and hard, so I put her on antibiotic tablets, with a little dexamethasone (actually 2.5mg Prednisolone tab. daily.)

Then after a week or so I sedated her, and examined her mouth more closely, no observable polyps (drat!) but one of her molars was loose and covered in calculus, so I pulled that one out, and cleaned up the remaining molar and two premolars, otherwise the poor thing would have zero teeth.

There was of course gingivitis and pharyngitis, but pink, not red like “dragon-mouthed cats” on dcf.

For the last month I’ve given her a course of floxacilin (30 days) with amoxycillin, and tried all sort of creams on her nose and lower eyelids which. as you can see, are raw and sore.

Her Ln are almost normal now, +but that nose is no better+, and she tries to rub as though it is itchy.

(I made up creams mixing; 10% flours of sulphur, betamethasone, ivermectin, and vaseline)

There’s a temporary lessening at best, but no lasting improvement.

So what is your differential for her?

In NZ where I locummed, cat leprosy was common (Mycobacterium from mice and voles) so that was my diagnosis, but the floxacillin has made no impression.

I’ve trimmed her claws and taped her fore paws to stop her making her nose raw.

I’m stuck, and thought of asking you Doc.

I’d guess she’s 3-4 years old, confident, unvaccinated, entire, lived wild all her life eating left over fast food, and possibly DCF from neighbours.

Since October I’ve been feeding her raw chicken frames, tinned sardines, vitamin syrup, and no DCF.
She loves raw chicken :), and eats whatever I put in front of her and still looks for more.

Apart from her nose you would not think she was ill in any way.

Thanks for your advice.

Colin

PS. For some reason, Depo-medrone has been taken off the market here, not even local vets can get hold of it.

Colin Melbourne English missionary in Asia
https://www.born-again-christian.org/news/
https://www.born-again-christian.org/news/ไทยคริสเตียน/
https://www.born-again-christian.info/aboutus.htm
https://www.born-again-christian.com (Asian languages)

Hi Krista,

I discovered your YouTube videos yesterday and found your advice on cat care incredibly helpful. My wife and I are caring for our 18-year-old Birman cat, who is in stage 4 kidney disease with significant muscle loss. She’s also struggling with constipation and has other health issues, including high blood pressure and a heart murmur.

Currently, we’re feeding her a mix of wet food (chicken broth, chicken, pumpkin, and egg yolk), and providing SubCut fluids (50ml/day), along with the following supplements:

– Epakitin (0.5g/day)
– Pet-Tinic (2ml/day)
– Lactulose (3ml/day)
– Phos-Bind (0.2g/day)
– Potassium chloride (0.19g/day mixed in the broth – though we’re concerned she’s not getting the full amount since she’s unable to finish the broth).
– In addition, she’s on Amlodipine (0.25ml/day) to manage her high blood pressure.

Despite this, her weight has decreased significantly over the past year. She was once 3.3kg, but a year ago dropped to 2.5kg, and three weeks ago, it dropped again to 1.8kg, despite our best efforts to feed her.

A week ago, we had an enema done at the vet, which relieved some diarrhea, but there was still hardened stool near her anus. We’ve been massaging her abdomen and anus daily to stimulate defecation, and were able to help her pass a large, hard stool last Wednesday. Since then, she’s only passed small amounts of stool – mostly liquid or dark – and has had a lot of difficulty.

Today, we used a Pedia-Lax suppository (1ml), and after about 30 minutes, she passed a larger stool with dark liquid diarrhea. The stool was slightly hard, dark, and very smelly. She’s now very exhausted and resting, but did purr a bit before falling asleep.

For hydration, I gave her 10ml of SubCut fluids before the suppository to prevent dehydration. We’ve seen three different vets, but none have been able to provide lasting relief.

We’re reaching out for advice on whether we’re on the right track and if there’s anything else we can do to help her feel better and poop more easily. Any suggestions, given the circumstances, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your time and any guidance you can offer.

Warm regards,

Joel and Sonia

Hello. My 4 year old male cat had a urinary blockage they did a catheter and unblocked him sent him home and he wasn’t getting better 2 days later took him back and now he has a bladder infection. Sent us home with Amoxocillin. Took him back to er and now he is blocked again. Another catheter is in. My question is if they pull the catheter will he block again due to the bladder infection he still has? My thoughts are can they leave it in longer and keep the urine flowing until his badder infection clears? Lastly the urine culture hasn’t been verified yet to know exactly what antibiotic is needed apparently that takes a week. They just guess Amoxocillin. Please let me know your thoughts.