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We recently got a 5 month old Great Dane. She was in several homes before we got her. She wants nothing to do with us and after 4 days of working with her she refuses to go outside and growls when I come near her, but she continues to lay down. She will not take treats from me either. I want to try to make this work but don’t know how to gain her trust. I’ve tried setting and talking to her.. ignoring her… positive reinforcement.. petting her when she comes up to me but all she wants to do tonight is lay there and growl at me. I would love some help and don’t think I can wait to get a trainer to come.
my 8 year old beagle has a re-occurrence of IVDD. He has had surgery in his lumbar, thoracic and cervical areas – all within 2 years. His most recent 2 surgeries were thoracic in June 2019 and cervical in August 2019. He is now displaying symptoms of another disc problem. Help. Surgery is not an option anymore. He moving his back legs but seems to be getting worse. We have confined him but …. I don’t want him to have a life of paralysis. Is there light at the end of the tunnel here if we stick with conservative treatment. He does not appear to be in pain. We have been in contact with our regular vet but he can only do so much. Our neurologist always says the same thing to get an MRI and the MRI is another $2,000. I hate to bring money into this as a factor but I really think this will continue to happen. He lost over 12 pounds, got his harness, restricted his activity. We thought we did the right things. Has anyone had similar experiences. What about a doggie wheelchair. Any thoughts.
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your pup. I always tell my clients to never lose hope. Trying to make a decision as to whether or not to proceed is a personal one. I can’t answer it for you and no one else should either. I have known some dogs to do very well with weakness or paralysis. But it takes a dedicated family and lots of TLC. I tell people to give it two to three weeks IF they can manage pain and the care it entails. I hope this helps and I wish you the best.
Thank you for your message. Have you ever heard of dogs with recurring IVDD. We are both committed to doing what we have to do. We are both home full time. We have decided this is not about us but about Kody. Is there something in addition to IVDD like a progressive form of this disease that some dogs have that would cause multiple episodes so close to each other. My husband thinks he is pre-maturely aging.
Preferably Dr Magnifico (our vet)
I am wondering about prebiotic and probiotic to help with a healthy digestion for our 3 dogs. Do you recommend and if so, what brands?
I recent watched this video below and it all made sense to me but his brand is kinda expensive. Between eating grass, eating poop, stinky breathe and itchy skin, my dogs could all benefit if it’s true.
https://caninecodes.com/index_191127A.php?n=fb
I like fortiflora (available over the counter) or proviable. The world of probiotics in vet med is very poorly overseen or regulated so stick to a credible manufacturer. If you have questions let me know. Ideally a healthy dog on a good diet with an adequate exercise plan and emotionally balanced home life shouldn’t / doesn’t need them. (In my opinion).
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!
Hello,
Thank you for saving this kitty. In some cases these guys are chronic upper respiratory kitties, or herpes, or a few other harder to treat things. I would talk about a nasal flush and long term lysine and even rotating antibiotics. See if there is a feline specialist near you. And be honest about your budget. See if they can help. I wish you the best of luck!
Hi,
I took my 15 year old cat to the vet because she wasnt eating. He gave her a shot for nausia and 1/4 tablet of mertazapine. It has been over 12 hours and still has no interest in food.. She has not gotten blood work yet. But I cant get to the vet untill Monday, it is Sunday. What should I do? Thank you
Hello,
The problem is that you don’t know what’s wrong with your cat so it is not possible for me to offer solutions. The problem isn’t that she can’t eat it’s that she won’t and there is a reason she isn’t. So you have to uncover that. ASAP. I don’t force feed cats, although in some cases we will try to gently syringe feed, but it is critical to understand that even this comes with risks. Like if you force food into the mouth and she rejects it or fights it, the food can accidentally go into the lungs which can cause aspiration pneumonia and make a bad situation worse. For cases like these I always recommend the following; exam, blood work with urinalysis and xrays. If your cat is at risk I discuss FELV and FIV testing. I also recommend hospitalizing and starting iv fluids. For some cats they just need to be rehydrated and treated medically for a little push of help and then they do ok. Others need a feeding tube placed. It depends on the cat and the diagnosis.
Thank you Krista for answering. My next step is blood work. Thank you
My 6-year-old cat has recently had some trouble breathing. She gets a deep sounding snore when breathing in and can’t seem to take a complete breath. The snoring only seems to occur when she is breathing in, and not out. The snoring does sometimes stop. This mainly happens when she is sleeping, her breaths are softer and she seems to be able to breath better. I have also noticed that when I hold her mouth open a little bit, she is able to breathe in and out without any problem. She occasionally has sneezing fits, but they are very rare to see. There is no discharge from her nose, eyes, or ears. She actually has a very dry nose. I have also noticed that she has been eating less than before, but she is still able to eat and drink water. We took her to a vet, but they told us they would only be able to diagnose her with an endoscopy, which they said would cost us around $1,300. I’ve looked online for symptoms similar to hers and cats that had similar breathing patterns/sounds. The closest thing I have been able to find is something called a “nasopharyngeal polyp”. I’m a little lost on what to do. Should I continue with the first vet, and get a concrete diagnosis? or get a second opinion and maybe bring up what I found while researching online? The cost of the first vet is kind of high for me as I’m a college student, but If it is what my cat needs to be able to breathe comfortably again I’ll pay it.
Hello,
I think that it perfectly acceptable to go back to your vet and express your concerns. I also think it is completely inappropriate to not have offered loads of options, everything from medications to inhalers, to humidifiers your supplements to referral in this case. I also think that all vets should be willing to do a sedated oral cavity exploratory exam to look for a polyp. But that’s just me and lots of vets think I am too generous with my patients and clients. So maybe you should talk to your vet and ask friends family and all local cat people for a referral to someone who will give your more help and meaningful treatment options. Let me know what happens. Good luck!
We have a lab almost a year old. She wont eat out of her bowl. She will eat the dog food if we put it in our hand but she wont eat it out of her bowl. She will eat other treats and table food. She also seems very lethargic per her usual self. We have been watching to make sure she is still pooping but something just seems off. What should our next steps be? Should we try changing dog food? Could she be going into heat?
Hello,
Bowl aversion is one thing but acting lethargic is a reason to see your vet. We always have to be worried that there is a medical condition going on and with that the vets should be seen.
I just had my 5 month old kitten spayed on Friday Dec 13, 2019. On Sunday there was a good amount of bruising. Today is Thursday and day 6 of recovery and there is a bump a little smaller than a ping pong ball that is under the stitch line. Does this look like it is just a fluid sac or do you think a hernia? She runs, jumps, is and has been very active, eats, pee, poop, everything else is normal. I push on it and no reaction from her, there is no fever to it either.
First picture is the bump on day 6. Second picture is her stitches on day 6 of healing. Third picture is what her belly looked like on Day 2 and 3 after spay.
Hello,
Lots of kittens get some mild localized swelling at the incision site. But there is a little more bruising than I think is normal. I’m not particularly overly concerned if she is acting completely normal (eating, drinking peeing, pooping and active happy), but, I always always think it is best for the vet who did the surgery check any questions or concerns the pet parent might have. If you are a JVC client please let me know and I will have someone check tomorrow. Or i am happy to check on Sunday (open 1-3). We don’t charge for our own post op rechecks. Sincerely
Dr magnifico.
That bruising is gone now, it was there on day 2 and 3 then started to fade away. I am calling my VET in the morning to check and see if they think she should come in or just wait and see if it goes away. I am in VA so I am not a client of JVC but I do have an outstanding VET who sees all my fur babies and did this surgery. She is just the first kitten who is this light in color so the bruising was shocking at first, and the energy she has is crazy. I have had one other female that I adopted before she was spayed but she was calm and the older cat we had did not mess with her during healing. This little spit fire I have now won’t slow down and our older cat and her love to chase, stalk, and rough house with each other so its been a rough time keeping them apart. My boys were easy as the incisions are smaller and healing was faster. I think she has a Seroma as its squishy and no pain when I push on it. I would guess a hernia would hurt and slow her down a lot due to pain.
Hello!
Sounds good. Please let us know what the vet says. Happy holidays!
I have a 12 year old female cat. She was obese for several years. I managed to get weight off of her a few months before these issues. There has been a lot of urination outside of the box. The urination has been going on a long time and initially I thought it was behavior because I adopted a rescue dog in October 2018 she hasn’t been thrilled about the dog. Right around the time my cat turned 12 she started with the urination… February or March.
In the last couple of weeks her thirst increased significantly. Also just laying on her side on the floor, not wanting to be in her bed or on the furniture. She’s losing weight /muscle mass and she is hoarse. She is still eating, I had to coax her a bit one day so I made chicken broth from drumsticks she’s been drinking a good amount of the broth and ate chicken and her canned food. She’s actually been gulping the food down.
I can’t tell if this is kidney related or diabetes. I have not noticed bad breath. I am in a real bind and need to figure out what else to do for her till I can get money for a vet.
Inappropriate urination is often the first noticeable sign something is wrong. Increased thirst means this has been going on long enough to be a total body problem. I would put a lot of effort into getting her seen sooner than later…going too long can and will cause further damage to her already very sick body.
(Dr. M told me bad breath is kidneys. Expect a full urinalysis and bloodwork, plus the possibility of subcutaneous fluids and prescription diet.)
Hello, I have a 2.5 year old desexed female cat and a 4-month-old male kitten. We moved house 4 months ago, and adopted the new kitten about 3 months ago. In our previous house, we used to let the older cat out during the day to roam the neighborhood, although she never went too far.
Since we’ve moved, we only let her out once or twice a week as there are a lot of cats here and she gets into more fights and has gotten injured once. She seems very stressed out, wanting to go out constantly.
We have tried everything to ease her stress: playing with her a lot, brushing and cuddling her daily, giving her a mix of wet and dry good food (that she likes), putting up Feliway diffuser around the house, and she plays with the kitten daily.
However, she still exhibits signs of stress, ie hiding, minor crouching, hissing or growling from time to time to us or the kitten, sleeps more, meows more, generally less affectionate towards us.
Do we have to let her go outside daily like before, so she can be less stressed, or is there any other way to lessen her stress? It has been 4 months and I am worried it will become chronic stress for her.
Have you taken her to the vet? Those are signs of stress, but they’re also signs of injury and illness.
OH, I forgot to mention – you could always build a catio for her to spend time outside, SAFELY, protected from the other cats. There are tons of videos and plans online for this. If she truly wants to be outside, this might be the best option for everyone.
But get her to the vet, first, to make sure something isn’t actually wrong.
Hi Laura, thank you so much for replying.
We actually brought her to the vet a few months ago because of a fight bite she got from one of her outside trips. While the wound was not anything to worry too much about, we talked to the vet about letting her outside and expressed our worry (she’s gotten scratches before but it was the first time she got a bleeding bite wound), and the vet agreed that she should stay inside from then on.
Aside from the wound she was overall fine, thus why I believe these are stress symptoms…
As for the catio option, we are renting, and while we do have a garden, we share it with the landlord, so I don’t think it’s a viable option right now.
Hello,
Thank you for giving this girl a chance. I guess I’m a little confused abo to how you manage the bathroom and what, if anything, she has had that has worked. I would start by calling everyone and anyone you can think of. Including the breeder. And start asking for resources to help. I also think this is a long and slow road in some cases so you really have to be prepared for that. And understand that each failure sets her back immensely. So I hope that you can find help. She is afraid. The only way to treat that is with time and patience and absolute dedication. There aren’t any tricks of fast cures here. Use everything you can to gain trust. Treats. Food. Anything. Some dogs will respond to other dogs. Some respond to men or women or no talking and just reassuring rewards. But it all takes time. I don’t know how you started out but I’m worried that it left you little negotiating room. We always start with an assessment. A leash walk. Understanding them. And train from there. It sounds like you need help. So please start calling. But please be vet upfront about only using positive reinforcement. It sounds like all of her previous experience might have been brute force and domination training which is part of the reason she already has trust issues. Also call a Great Dane rescue and see if they can help. I hope the others answer too.
Thanks, I tried a rescue, they weren’t much help. All they said was to get a trainer and they didn’t know any in the area. She was letting my husband carry her outside and once out she would walk with him, if I try to join them she doesn’t want anything to do with me. He’s away for work tonight and she won’t do anything for me despite taking my time and talking to her, trying to give her treats and feeding her. She went to bite when I was going to put the leash on. I try to let her have her space except for going out that’s the only thing I “force “ her to do. And when I take her out we go at her pace and as soon as she’s ready I let her go back in. (She let me take her out this morning)
Good morning-
Thank you so much for helping her. This is going to take a lot of time and patience. I would talk to my vet and find a reputable dog behaviorist that will come to your home. It will be time and money well spent. They will be able to see everything both you guys and your dog are doing and be able to assess the entire situation. This will make it possible for them to give you specific guidelines on how to help you and your dog. Until you can get a behaviorist out there- again I cannot stress that enough- I would start with walks. Walks help enforce a good bond and trust. This dog obviously has trust issues, and until she trusts you, you’re at a bit of a stand still with any other behavior changes. If your husband is the one she seems to trust more, he might have to take the reigns on this to start out and slowly you will have to incorporate yourself. On the flip side, if he is away, you’ve no choice but to try to find a way to bond with this girl on your own- which is quite possible. It will just take time to figure out what will help her let you in. Just know that time is key. Having said all of this, please know that it is a long road but definitely possible. Our household is living proof of that and what was once our most difficult rescue has turned into the best dog we have ever had????