Ask questions and share about your pet's health to help others.
Hi pawbly friends….
One of our GSD, Butch, is in his twilight years, approaching 14. It has been very eventful here with the addition of two new GSD rescues since July, and there have been some scuffles, but everyone is managing great now. All the “teething troubles” seem to have been worked out. When we lost Butch’s best bud, he stopped eating and lost about half of his body weight. The rescues kind of helped put some pep back in his step and he is doing great. He’s still underweight, but not like before. My question is, I’m worried about preventatives. With so much of him gone, I’m afraid to give him his dose of parastar, but I also fear Lyme disease, especially given his age. Being that it isn’t winter, I hate to admit, I haven’t been giving him his dose. Now that spring is around the corner, I am more concerned about ticks because of the warmer weather. Thoughts on preventatives? Should I give a lower dose? Regular dose? Every other month? I’m just worried because he is compromised enough and underweight, but Lyme is also very serious and would be awful for him as well. Any advice is very appreciated. Thanks!
In tears over a feral cat that I recently trapped for tnrv; At the vet, a rectal/anal prolapse was repaired. After release , I noticed it has the prolapse is back. He appears gaunt and dying; Hes untrappable at this point because he’s afraid of the trap. Will he slowly die in front of me day by day? Is he sufferring? in pain? Or will he die rapidly from this condition? Without a dart gun, hes untrappable. I thought the vet would have euthanized him to stop his suffering, but I’m at a loss at what I can do. The vet said to bring him in as soon as possible; but he’s Feral for God’s sake! You don’t get a second chance to trap a feral cat. Once bitten twice shy. Help! any ideas? Kristen Magnifico directed me here. Shes so compassionate. Thank u all!!!
Hi –
I’m so sorry you have to watch this going on. Is there any way you think you could get a larger trap and sort of attempt to camoflauge it? My thinking is, if the trap is bigger, there is more room and the cat may not expect the same thing. And I wouldn’t skip on the bait fir sure… ham, tuna…something super smelly and tasty so that the cat can’t resist. I hope this helps.
Sarah, ty for the quick response. That’s a great idea; Im trying to track down a “drop trap” but theres very few in this area. Our local organization only has two and you literally have to monitor them 24/7 to catch the specific animal. Your idea is a good one. TY!
Hello. I’m sorry about your kitty. I hope you can figure out some way to get him back to the vet. These cases are so frustrating. And often heart breaking. But I applaud you and your vet for trying. They all deserve a chance and a compassionate friend to look after them. Best of luck
You’re so right! They have so few voices out there, especially feral animals. Reducing the massive increase in population through tnr is helpful but when they r ill, it’s doubly challenging. Thanks for giving us hope out here and Please know you are making a difference. I so very much appreciate your unfiltered rants re: your frustration at times with affordability. I think the law in this country stating that People cannot be turned away in emergency rooms in this nation when presented with an illness, regardless of ability to pay, should extend to our furry friends. You’re doing heroic work.
You’re so welcome!! Stand strong and know that you are doing amazing really important work. And that you aren’t alone.
I am helping someone who rescued a young female stray cat a few weeks ago. No microchip. The plan is to get her vetted and adopted. She tested positive for ear mites , & tapeworms. She has had 2 applications of Revolution , 2 weeks apart, per vet instructions. She had an ear hematoma that the vet drained and sutured. The vet gave her virbantel dewormer tablet , and she is now due for her second dose, the info with this product states it is for dogs and puppies only. She didn’t get that 2nd dose, will consult with vet about it – recheck visit tomorrow. My question is about the virbantel tablet, is it safe for use on cats? What are the risks ? She has had other symptoms that we thought were unrelated , now I am wondering if the 1st dose she received at the vet had some side effects. Also she was shaved to check for a spay scar, I attached photo. Looks like there were two incisions. Any thoughts and or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Hello,
If you are under the care of a veterinarian then please forward these questions to them. It is not possible for us to answer what is it is not safe for your pet as we don’t know anything about their current health status or history. These are obtained during a physical examination with your veterinarian.
Good morning pawbly friends…. a couple of our dogs are on meds right now. Rontu is on antibiotics for a wound and a Riva is on pain killers for an unknown issue that our vets are working on with us trying to figure out. Both dogs are between 70 and 80 lbs. Riva spit out her pain pills… 75mg of carprofen and Rontu I guess, thought it was food and ate it. I tried to grab it out of his mouth, but couldn’t get my hand far enough. I managed to grab the other pill (gabapentin) but he swallowed the carprofen. What should I do?
Hello,
No worries. They will be fine. Those pups. Never a dull moment for you.
My male approx. 8 yr old cat’s blood and urinalysis came back with some abnormal results. He has a little blood (+1 according to vet’s scale) and protein (+2) in his urine. However, we ruled out kidney failure/issues. He has passed a stone in the past and had noticeable blood then, but the vet is saying he doesn’t know if that’s the cause now and wants to treat it as idiopathic cystitis, thus no known cause = no set treatment.
For various reasons, I have had suspicions that my vet is not acting honestly in all regards (from severe misdiagnosis, offering unnecessary treatments as only options, and charging me for services that I wasn’t asked/ told about) but will be moving in a month so will see a new vet anyway.
For now though, I want to address any possible issue before the move seeing as stress may worsen it. So this vet is saying since they don’t know what the cause of the test results is but want to give me various antibiotics and meds to treat all possible causes. But he himself said that the medicine he’d put me on (Orbax, 10 day supply) has less expensive alternative options but “they don’t have flavoring so it’s harder to get cats to take them” and I’d have to potentially give it 2x a day instead of 1x. But I don’t care how often and I honestly don’t care how much it costs, but I really care that my vet is acting in the best interest of my cat NOT prescribing just because he can. What’s more, Feline idiopathic cystitis seems to be diagnosed by things he didn’t do as he didn’t culture the urine (and said he doesn’t want to because it’s only 50% accurate), didn’t x-ray, and didn’t ultrasound (source:
https://icatcare.org/advice/cat-health/feline-idiopathic-cystitis-fic).
Based on the urinalysis results and clean blood work, has anyone had any similar experiences that could be a cause? I’d rather not put my cat on antibiotics he doesn’t need and potentially mess him up more… especially if proper steps of diagnosis haven’t occurred. Any advice would be very, very appreciated!
If he’s passed a stone before it’s likely he may have another. Male cats have a really hard time passing stones or crystals since their opening it very small. Was the cat showing signs of a uti, or was this routine labs? Do you know if they looked at the urine to check for crystals? Sometimes it could be an infection and a round of antibiotics clear it up, but id be weary of that diagnosis if they didn’t look at it under a microscope.
I have a question of my own, My mom’s dog has been pacing since 2 am. She’s probably 12 years old, has arthritis, partially blind, totally deaf. She keeps running into everything, and falling down, most likely from the arthritis, Any ideas what it might be besides old age? I recommended to put her in a smaller room or kennel so she calms down, but I don’t have any other ideas. Update, she’s walking in big circles around the room, so probably vestibular disease? No nystagmus, head tilt, or ear infection. I told her to check with her vet and get something to relax her.
Hello,
I think your dog needs to see your vet ASAP. It could be many many things. Too many to guess. I think that an exam, bloodwork, urinalysis and blood pressure are all indicated. After all of these are addressed y’all aboit cognitive dysfunction assessment.
Hi pawbly friends- 2 questions. First, is there a number to report dead bald eagles to? We have 2 (pretty sure it’s 2) carcasses in the feed field behind our house which I find quite strange. Second, our 2 younger GSDs got ahold of part of one and got into a scuffle over it. One got the other in the forepaw with a canine and punctured it. I have antibiotics (cephalexin) and have cleaned it with the blue solution we have from the vet for such unfortunate events. I’ve put antibiotic ointment on it and have it bandaged up. Vet office is closed at the moment….will make a phone call tomorrow to them. Thinking we are ok or the time being. He is running around on it no problems at th moment.
Hello!
Call Pheonix Wildlife about the eagles. They can help.
Second about the pups. Keep doing what you’re doing. Start the antibiotics and soak the foot in the nolvasan. I’m at the clinic tomorrow. Let me know how they are doing. You can send me a photo and call me I’m at the clinic.
My vet says my dog has a severe loss of bone density and that its genetic. Apparently he tried giving vitamin d, calcium and phospor to some other dog with the same problem but it didnt help at all. Apparently it was even worse.
DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW CAN I HELP MY DOG? He already had 2 surgeries (fho, patella). He is only 2 years old. 🙁
Good morning? I’m sorry about your pup. If it were me, I would talk to my vet about a specialist, and if they were at a loss then I would start calling around for second opinions. I would also call local shelters and ask them if they have ever had a similar issue and ask them who they dealt with and what was done. I hope this helps. Best of luck!
Hello,
I don’t know where you are or if you have access to a second opinion from a specialist? I also typically only hear of these kinds of cases if they haven’t been fed the correct diet so I would discuss that. Next it is important to understand what your dog is presenting with ( the reason you sought veterinary help to begin with) to understand the severity of the condition. I’m aorry but we need more information for me to offer any real help or direction. Therefore I would get a second opinion from a specialist as the best next step.
Ok I ll tell you the story from the beginning. I found Lucky when he was an older puppy – on the street, he was a stray dog. He was lying injured who knows how long, obviously hit by a car. I took him to myself and brought him to a vet (to a vet in bosnia who does all the ortho surgeries). He told me his hip is misplaced and that he has to do an fho surgery (Lucky was around 4-5 months old at the time). Surgery went ok and Lucky uses his leg (not perfectly, but acceptable). He has grown in the meantime from 35-40cm of height to 60cm of height, the shortnes in the leg with operated hip was obvious, and he was somehow rotating it while walking. I knew he will need an fho surgery on his other hip very soon as well. In the meantime he jumped awkwardly and injured his crucial ligament and he developed an obvious patella luxation (I had to put it back by myself every time his patella popped because he just froze and got very frightened), I brought him to the same vet again. He examined him by hands (he hasnt done an x ray) and told me that Lucky needs a patella surgery immediately, so I agreed. He is now 5 weeks from patella surgery,. We went to the same vet the other day for control checkup, even though he limps on his patella-fixed leg, the vet says its ok, it will be better after some time, and the vet has done his “healthy” hip x ray. Thats when he told me that Lucky definitely needs an fho surgery on his “healthy” hip as well, that he has very low density bones and that I have to take extra care of him because they might break easily. I asked are there some solutions to it, can I improve it with calcium supplements or something (I already give him glucosamine and omega 3) and thats when the vet said he had the same situation before with some other dog and he tried with supplements -vit D, calc and phosphor but it didnt help, it only made it worse (weird). The same vet told me Lucky has patella luxation grad 1 on his other knee as well, but no ruptured ligament and that I have to take him to that surgery as soon as possible, that I shouldnt wait until it ruptures.. So Lucky apparently needs another 2 surgeries and he has that weird issues with his bones. At the moment I have nowhere else to go (except maybe outside the country, but Im afraid it would be all much more expensive, even this here I can hardly afford. Lucky mostly eats liver and rice, sometimes canned red meat or fish very very rare kibble (he is not a fan). I also give him yogurt and cottage cheese. I wouldnt say its a bad diet.. I dont give him bread and other carbs except rice. Im sorry for the long message, but I could really use every advice possible Thank you both for responding, Im afraid I dont have much options, here in Bosnia when dogs have a lot of health issues, poeple mostly euthanise the dog 🙁 but that is not an option, Lucky is my whole heart.
Thank you both so much!
Ok- here is what I think I would do. I would have a heart to heart with my vet. Explain to him that you want to do what is best for Lucky and that right now euthanasia is not an option. Be upfront about your budget and whether or not you have any flexibility in it. Ask if there is a way to space things out and manage Lucky’s condition so that you can build up your money saved in between possible surgeries. Ask if you could pay in installments, like $50 a week for a certain amount of time to repay for the surgery or surgeries. If you have a relationship with this vet already, I am sure that they can appreciate that you have Lucky’s best interest at heart and will do whatever they can to help you. Good luck.
My pug is getting like small red bumps in his fur are they allergies should i be worried
It could be allergies, or it could be a parasite, or something else. Your best bet is to have your vet examine it and check your pup over to be sure. Best of luck!
I agree with sarah. Please see a vet. Bumps can be just about anything. But I always start with suspecting fleas first.
So Stella, our almost 3 year old Morkie has some possession aggression issues. Particularly with things like socks or things that don’t have a firm middle when she bites in (like soft stuffed animals). We have tried bribing her with treats and bones, distracting her with play and love, forcefully taking these items from her (that didn’t work well), and finally today we did something that worked! We asked her if she wanted to go “out” to take a “walk” and though he ears perked up she still didn’t drop this stuffed Aflac duck she found in my office. However, once she had her leash on and saw the great outside at the bottom of the stairs she dropped it and never looked back. Do you think this trick will continue to work? Is there anything else we can do when she’s decided something she has a bite on is something she’ll get aggressive about? Thank you all for your insight and help!
Hello,
I think that the “exchange” option, i.e. “I’ll give you something of higher value to surrender the item you have” will work for a little while. But it leaves you constantly set up for being her servant. Life is all about compromise, but, not fear based “I’ll bite the hand that feeds me to get my way” compromise. Respect is earned, not traded. I would strongly recommend a basic puppy and obedience class. All should be based on positive reinforcement methods. If you try to reason with her by intimidation or reprimand she will up the ante and retaliate with excessive force (is my guess). good luck
Hello,
Preventatives are always tailored to the patient, their environment and risk of exposure. They are also dosed based on ideal body weight or current body weight in cases of current physical body status. In some cases I also use a drug that I am more comfortable with or have used for a longer time and have more experience with. I also always recommend that clients keep notes on when they were given and note any adverse reactions and then further tailor from there. I understand your concerns. For the last year of my pup Jekyll’s life I was very sparing on these. I only used them sporadically. But I did check a lot of fecal samples. I hope this helps. Xox to you all.