Ask questions and share about your pet's health to help others.
Please help diagnose this cat.
My sister in law has a cat with a huge belly. I have told her multiple times that she should take it to the vet. She agrees but never does. I’m sure it’s because she can’t afford it. I would offer to help, but I’m sure it will be extremely expensive. I just had a baby and taking on this expense is also something I can’t afford right now. Every time I see this cat, I always feel bad for it. It looks miserable 💔
My 11 year old Cat has slowly developed noisy breathing. For a long time it was bearly noticeable, then over time I noticed she was getting worse, a snoring/snorting sound when sleeping and occasionally after playing or running. A short time after that I noticed she was having trouble eating, specifically swallowing. That was when I knew somthing was definitly wrong. I callled my vet and explained everything, they got us in, the vet checked her over and said everything seems fine.. not an emergency. Told me it was potentially a polyp in her throat, but said they cant do “scoping” at that location and said I would need a referral to another clinic. This annoyed me because I explained the symptoms on the phone while booking and they didnt mention their limitations. So they charged me ($200) to basically tell me they cant help. Luckily my cats symptoms subsided a bit while we waited for the referral. Some days are worse than others. This is when I found Krista Magnifico’s video removing a cats polyp!! It made me feel so much better know it might just be that simple, hopefully. I finally got the call back from the referral, they said they need to do a consultation first before anything else ($330) then after that they would need to sedate my cat, do a CT scan ($3000) and if my cat needs surgery I would need to come back, sedate the cat again and surgery would be roughy ($4-5000) This was devastating to hear…. now I completely understand vet bills arent always cheap and working people need to be paid, but this seems excessive… Any advice is greatly appreciated. I dont know what do to at this point…
Hello,
In my experience polyps are unlikely in a cat this age. I would ask for a few rounds of either an antibiotic or anti inflammatory to see if these help. In cases where clients struggle with the cost of diagnostics we often try various treatments to see if we get a favorable response. You can also ask for a sedated exam to look for a polyp behind the soft palate. Like I do in the video.
I hope this helps.
I have a cat who seems to be having tooth pain. The gums are slightly red around the tooth and it’s discolored. Could we try antibiotics or maybe a simple extraction? Looking for options or the best way to help her. She is a rescue and we have a lot of cats. We already have 2 with liver problems that have costed us a lot of money. Any ideas or options are greatly appreciated!
How old is she? It is possible that the gums are simply inflamed. But in my experience, even if not much is visible above the gums the roots may already be severely affected (FORL). Antibiotics don’t really help with this, the tooth has to be removed. But only a vet can see that with an x ray.
I hope you find a good solution. I wish the best to all your cats!
Thanks! She is about 8. It’s definitely more than just inflamed. There is also some weird build up on the tooth. It’s definitely going to need to be removed unfortunately. Just hoping to find an affordable way to get it removed
A cat has a puncture wound up on his shoulder blade now limb and elbows swelling a couple days later
Hi Timothy – this sounds like an infection. Please get your cat to the vet if you haven’t yet.
We have a male cat who is almost eight years old. He will urinate in a litter box but prefers to defecate on the concrete floor underneath my oil tanks in the basement. I discovered this earlier in the year. We also have two female cats so there are multiple litter boxes. I moved one of the litter boxes next to the oil tanks and have so far tried three different types of cat litter. I have seen him urinate in the litter box and then go under the oil tanks. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
cat had bloody soft poop, and we found a big long dark brown stringy thing running almost all the way through it. I couldn’t get a picture but it looked like a worm but it wasn’t moving so idk. A few years ago he had a uti but i dont think its that cause he isn’t going back and forth from the litter box and he pee’s just fine and doesn’t seem in pain but idk what else it could be
Hello,
You can bring a fecal sample to your vet. They should be able to help.
Not sure if Pawbly is still in operation. Does anyone know if Dr. Magnifico does the Urethrostomy surgery on male cats? We have a much beloved cat (Blackie) who is peeing just everywhere. Has been peeing and spraying for years but it’s gotten much, much worse. (His urine contains no crystals, according to our vet.)
As a next-to-last resort, we want to find a vet who can do this surgery. (You know what the last resort would be.) Thank you for any help, tips, info, etc.
Not sure if you answer this but had a question about our 5 year old cat. Since November she has been experiencing a fair amount of nasal discharge. We tried to rounds of antibiotics, a flush, and the vet searched for a polyp using a spade hook on her soft pallet while she was sedated. The vet was unable to see a polyp and the nasal xray didn’t show much either. A month later we saw no improvement on the nasal and over the past ten days our poor cat has been breathing terribly. When she is standing up and moving around it is clear her breathing is obstructed and it sounds like she is snoring. We have noticed a large decrease in her nasal discharge but her breathing is just awful. She is still eating and drinking as normal. We have been referred to internal medicine in St. Louis but aren’t excited to spend $2-3K for a CT Scan and scoping. Is it possible the poly behind her soft pallet has grown since they first looked for it or could a polyp be some where else? Do you think a CT scan us necessary or should the scope do the trick. We love our cat but are reluctant to spend $3K on her only to find out the couldn’t do anything to help her.
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your cat. I’m also sorry everything in vetmed is so expensive right now. It sounds like your vet has done what I would do for my clients and that the next step is a CT scan. You can certainly see if another vet will look for a polyp for you, but you may be back where you are now if that isn’t productive.
There are also CT scans available outside a referral hospital for a lower price (I don’t know if this is the case in your area), but the dilemma there is that this will only help diagnose. You may still need that IM vet to help with the treatment plan.
I hope things work out for your cat.
Dr Magnifico
Hello,
We have a cat who has been sneezing, making noise when breathing, and has had discharge (sometimes bloody) from a nostril. She has had these symptoms for several months and they seem to be getting worse. Our regular vet has treated our cat with antiviral, antibiotic, and steroid medications. The medications have not helped.They are not sure of the cause of these symptoms, but a visiting vet suggested our cat may have nasal polyps. We were referred to a specialist vet who suggested testing (biopsy, CT scan, X-ray) with a quoted price of $8,000, which is more than we can afford. We saw your video on nasal polyps and wanted to see if you are able to help us and our cat, Koshka. Thank you very much!
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your cat. I’m also sorry it’s so expensive to do these cases at referral centers.
If you have not looked for a polyp in the oropharynx yet I would start there. If you cannot afford the referral hospital and referral vet see if you can find a vet locally who will help. If you cannot afford find anyone locally I will do my best to help but I am not an internal medicine specialist and I don’t have a CT scanner. If the polyp can’t be found you may have no other options other than advanced diagnostics (CT or endoscopy).
Best of luck
Dr Magnifico
Needing help with a blocked kitty! My baby Latte, 8 months old, by all appearances, seems to have a blockage. She has been vomiting it’s all just been clear or pale yellow with white foam no blood no worms. We don’t know if what she ate is passable, and it’s been 2 days since she’s eaten anything but a lick of food. She isn’t drinking much water either, and she hasn’t gone #2 since this all started to boot. We have an appointment tomorrow t have her x-rayed but I have no idea how much it will cost. I’m really nervous I won’t be able to avoid surgery if it’s a blockage. What are my chances it’s just really bad constipation, or if they can remove blockage without surgery? Or if surgery is needed how can I get financial help for it?
Hello
Until you have a diagnosis it’s hard to speculate the rest of it you are concerned about cost I would recommend seeing a veterinarian who is in a privately owned practice and not a vet practice owned by a corporation. They are often more affordable and might offer payment options.
You can also ask for multiple treatment plans. If they examine your cat and then only offer one treatment plan option that you cannot afford ask for others. Tell them you are on a budget and ask for treatment options that are affordable. Ask them to provide everything in writing. You can also look into starting a crowd funding campaign like waggle.org.
If your cat is blocked you can ask for at home conservative options like pain meds antibiotics and sq fluids.
I have also allowed people to monitor their cat at home with a urinary catheter in place for days to help relieve the obstruction and inflammation.
Ask lots of questions and remain steadfast on finding help that works for you and your cat.
It is possible to find affordable help. You just have to not give up.
Good luck. Keep us updated
Hi Sandra.
I would struggle with your SIL’s deliberate neglect of her cat’s health. This cat absolutely needs to be seen by a vet – no one can diagnose this online, this cat needs hands-on exam, likely xrays/ultrasound, definitely bloodwork.
If she cannot afford to care for her cat, please encourage her to surrender the cat so the cat gets care.