Ask questions and share about your pet's health to help others.
IVDD – Beagle.
Hi, I reached out a few weeks ago because my dog was diagnosed with IVDD but could not use the bathroom on his own and it was next to impossible to express him. After a couple of weeks of manually catheterizing him, he started to use the bathroom on his own regularly. He also started to regain a lot of strength back, especially in his back legs. The problem area is in his neck but he is able to wag his tail and turn his neck all around. He still cannot walk, he can hold his backend up but his front two paws continue to knuckle and go under him when he tries to walk. I watched the videos on Hank and I know he had a similar issue but you did not go into depth as one video his front paws didn’t work and then the next video all of a sudden he was walking. Is there anything I can do to speed up this process or help him? I’m so proud of how hard he’s come and I don’t want to give up now.
I have an 9 year old spayed female pit/terrier mix with a history of liver disease. She has recently been getting hairless black spots showing up on her sides and legs, especially in the rear. Her biopsy came back as possibly ischemic dermatomyosits. The antibiotic that her vet put her on seems to have made no difference, and the fish oil and vit E are A) difficult to give her and B) she hasn’t been on them long enough to know if they are helping. She has no apparent muscle involvement. Would doing blood studies for autoimmune diseases help me get a better plan for treatment? What specialist would be best to manage her care? Any information or help in this problem would really be appreciated!
Hello,
I think that asking for a referral to a specialist is always a wonderful idea. The more help you can get to care for your pet the better your pets care options are. I am not sure if the spurs are related to the condition or not but if you are contemplating auto immune issues you should see an internal medicine or dermatologist. I hope this helps. Please keep us posted.
Could the liver disease be associated? She had no localized lesions 3 years ago on U/S. But her labs have been improving while she has been on Royal Canin Hepatic and Denamarin.
My male cat has trouble passing urine today, went to the vet and was diagnosed with idiopathic cystitis. He’s not completely blocked only passing tiny dribbles of urine. Was prescribed an anti inflammatory, pain meds and new wet food. He’s been drinking lots of water and not eating since we got back from the vet. I’m worried about him. Was told to wait and see and then come back if no change or symptoms worsen. He’s been hiding under the bed no improvement. Won’t eat. We have some calming spray and topical drops coming in the mail soon just to see if that helps with any stress. Would love to hear anything you can contribute.
Hello,
For cases like this when I have a very worried and devoted parent I ask them if they would like to learn how to palpate their pets bladder to be better able to monitor at home and also to give sq fluids to keep the bladder as flushed as possible. If you can afford it hospitalize your cat for iv fluids and have them monitor. Then I recommend you switch to a urinary formula canned food and maybe even add water. Also products like cranmate or dasaquin might help. Ask about what you can do at home. Ask about pain management and follow up urinalysis. Ask your vet to be as personally invested in your cats health as you are. If they aren’t find a different vet. Try a cat specialist. Good luck.
I was just wondering if a skin scraping was done could you tell from that if a dog has skin cancer my dog had one done to see if she had mange and my vet said she had skin allergies and allergic to grass but she kept getting worse I took her to a second vet and was told she had skin cancer I was just wondering if it was possible to tell that from a skin Scraping
No. A skin scraping cannot diagnose cancer.
Ok thank you
Check this out, nice youtube channel explaining freestyle libre pro CGM
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8dT4WhHEd82fa6xmIAla0w
Can Interceptor cause bowel problems. Our 1 year old Golden seems to have tummy issues a few days after her heartworm
Hello,
Yes. It can cause gi upset. Please call the vet who prescribed it and speak to them about any possible adverse effect.
My two year old jackabee has started expressing his anal glands all over my furniture! This has become a new thing over the past year for him (maybe once every three months) but this week he has done it four times and my husband even emptied them for him once this week! There have been no changes to his diet. He eats a spoon full of pumpkin every day.
Please give me some advice!!!
Hello,
I have loads and loads of patients with this problem. I wrote a whole blog on it. In general many pets have this issue. I think a few things are important to discuss. One of you are emptying them make sure it is with a recital approach. Lots of people are not willing to insert a finger into the rectum and therefore they aren’t emptied completely or fully. Second I don’t think diet or pumpkin does much good. Third if it is a constant chronic problem ask your vet about anal sacculectomy. Or surgical removal of the anal sacs. This should be done by an experienced surgeon. Lastly try not to get upset. Your pup can’t hwlp it. I hope this helps.
I have a senior cat who goes into labored open mouth breathing when he is in a hard purr and also has wheezing and snoring but otherwise acts normal – eats, drinks, and is active for his age. The snoring is even when he’s not in a deep slumber and it can be an airy rattle if that makes sense and he has a little squeak when he swallows. I saw your video on the cat with a polyp and thought maybe this could be what he has except that he’s almost 17 so the vet suggested it probably isn’t since that’s more of a young cat thing but did suggest a scope and CT which will cost me 2500-3500 and he will have to be put under. In reading about breathing, heart disease can also cause breathing problems and since he has heart disease I would hate to spend all the money and put him through that to be told the scope didn’t show anything. I’ve also been reading about asthma, but my regular vet nor the specialist even mentioned that it could be that and from what I’ve read, it’s hard to diagnose. He’s a flame point Siamese and he has early ckd and some heart disease (stage 3/4 systolic murmur and hypertension), so I’m nervous about putting him under. Aside from these “old man” things, the specialist and my regular vet say his labs are spectacular. The specialist said when she is presented with a cat that has these conditions, they bloodwork and labs never look this good. So I certainly don’t want to put him down if he looks good but I also feel like he can’t be comfortable with these breathing episodes. One thing to note, when they did bloodwork a couple of weeks ago, his eosinophils were elevated which I have read can be linked to upper respiratory and asthma. Im putting the link to videos of the wheezing and purring to see if you’ve ever seen such a thing in a cat. I sure wish I had you closer by. Thank you so much!
Jill
Wheezing https://youtu.be/gaf7WCRzu80
Purr/breathing https://youtu.be/kqnd4YORenY
hello,
i reviewed your videos, i think that it is appears as if the wheezing is in the oropharynx area. It also appears to be primarily it the inspiratory phase of the purring/breathing.
There are internal medicine specialists who focus on this kind of clinical sign. I am not sure if there are any in your area though? I think the best place to start is at a feline specialists office. They tend to be more affordable and accessible. See if they can help start to rule out things before you jump into a scope.
In my practice for cases like these a typical work up looks like this;
1. exam,,, use your brain,, its your best diagnostic tool.
2. radigraphs,, to look at the lungs.. lots of older cats have chronic lower resp disease,,, and unfortunately, we are also looking for signs of cancer.
3. blood work,, a full cbc, chem, urine and t4.
4. oral exam under anesthesia,, i look at the whole oral cavity, remove a polyp if i find one, flush the nares if the patient has had chronic nasal discharge, and then I also take skull rads, esp of the nose/nasal passages.
if all of this fails to produce any helpful info endoscopy is the next step.. or CT, but endoscopy allows helpful info and you can do something (biopsy, etc) if you find something.
I hope this helps..
PS i agree about your theory and feelings about the corp practices..
good luck,
please keep me posted,, i would love to hear about how things turn out.
PSS i do think that your kitty is a little old for a polyp.
My friend took her kitten to the vet this morning to get spayed. When she went back to pick her up the vet told her the cat vomited 10 minutes after surgery & the vomit went into her lungs… Is this
a common thing that happens ?
Hello,
No in my experience this is not common. I don’t allow my clients to feed their pets for 6-12 hours before surgery. And I try to avoid using an anesthetic that can cause vomiting. I would ask your vet for more details and info and what follow up measures or precautions you should take.
Hi Dr. Magnifico. I realized the geriatric diet is chicken based, which gives Dottie hives. Would the liver diet work with some kind of supplement we could add to it? Maybe some pumpkin or something? I have been trying to find low protein, fish based geriatric foods for dogs with liver and kidney problems. Thank you!
Hello,
I can call the nutritionist and ask. But I won’t be able to do it until Monday. Can you call me on Monday and remind me to talk to Sami about it. Anytime between 9-4. Hugs to you all.
Got it!!!
I have 3 cats and have some litter box issues. I used to have the covered boxes, but noticed that one of the cats was peeing outside the box. So I removed all of the lids. The problem seemed to stop, but then started again on occasion. I bought larger boxes, (I have three of them) and the issue still occurs. I finally discovered it was my cat with colitis. She does pee in the box, but gets so close to the edge or stands instead of squats that it goes outside the box. Is she doing this because of the colitis or a behavior issue? perhaps higher sided boxes would help? I keep the areas lined with pee pads, but they are no match for cat urine. Suggestions?
Hello,
I’m so glad to hear that your dog is still with us and improving. I also think that your question is wonderful! Here’s what I did with Hank. I did lots and lots and more lots of massage and passive range of motion. I also placed him with support and encouraged him to just stand. I would hold his sternum and place his back legs (a little wider than normal) and just try to hold him there. Like teaching a baby to walk. I did this all the time. I know people are afraid of hurting them but the problem with paralysis is muscle atrophy. Which happens really really quick. Like in days. So I pushed him hard to keep trying and to wake his brain up to talk to his muscles. I hope this helps. Good luck. Keep us posted.
Great news! So happy and thankful to report that after three long, tough months, my dog is walking again!! The only thing that really helped was putting him in a pool and doing water therapy with him every day.