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My almost 8 year old Golden/Lab mix has the worst breath I have ever smelt. We have looked in his mouth and do not see evidence of any tooth infections or abscessed teeth. Our Current vet told us that “some dogs stink.” It is to the point that we cannot invite people over our home with the fear that he will touch them and make them smell. It is nauseating. We were told they could put him under and evaluate further for $3k + but that is not in the budget. Are there any other solutions? Can you help @Jarrettsvillevet? @jarretsvillevet@gmail.com
My 12 year old border collie mix has had this sore for awhile now on her hind leg. After some research, I believe it’s a sebaceous gland tumor. Can someone confirm? What should I put on it? I try to be as organic as possible. She keeps licking at it. Should I take her to the vet?
Hello,
We shouldn’t ever diagnose via a photo. We should only make a presumptive diagnosis in person after a history and examination is completed. A confirmatory diagnosis is made with a biopsy submitted to a pathologist for microscopic evaluation. But this does appear to be consistent with a benign skin growth.
Hi Dr. Magnifico,
I have an 18 yr old male cat (Eddie) that has been having trouble breathing because of an obstruction in his nasal cavity. Eddie’s primary Vet Dr. Klutz at Abby Animal hospital preformed an x-ray and determined he would probaly need a CAT scan and rhinoscopy for a better diagnosis. I was referred to AVIMO in Hunt Valley and went for a consultation. That visit cost over $800 with some blood work. I was given an estimate for the CAT scan procedure of $4426.00 to $5258.00. This is a lot for me to pay out at one time since I have 5 other cats that are in their senior years with some health issues of their own. If your practice or if you know of another facility that can provide a cheaper price I would appreciate your input.
Hello,
I just had this conversation yesterday with a client.
Here’s my thoughts on this situation.
Most cats this age are more likely to have a mass in the nose than a polyp or anything else benign. Age matters in statistical likelihood of a disease. Or, it can be infection or long term inflammation. Both of these have treatment options. I would start with them. I like cerenia nasal drops. Nebulizer treatments and even an inhaler. We also have options like atopica and Solensia.
Next we try rotating antibiotics. Like doxycycline and azithromycin.
The he reality is you will likely spend a lot of money on a diagnostic that leaves you little to no good treatment options. We HAVE to talk about that BEFORE we ask people to spend money (often that they do not have) on expensive diagnostics.
I hope this helps.
Good luck.
Hello!
I came across your youtube video about ivdd. I have a 6 years old mixed breed dog (around 20-22lbs, not overweight and actually pretty active) that suddenly showed limping and abdominal pain. I went to the vet and at the beginning there was just a suspect of pancreatites + muscle strain and started a 5 days treatment with gabapentin and metacam. The fifth day seemed almost back to normal, but the week after she got worse than before. The vet than suspected a ivdd, blood test was perfect, and suggested cage rest and new medications (gabapentin, robaxin and metacam). Now, it’s the nineth day but don’t see much improvement. She doesn’t limp as before, actually she walks pretty ok, she is just very stiff and walks super slowly, no wobbling. She doesn’t like to be manipulated so it’s extremely difficult to lift her up to bring her outside to go to bathroom or turn her. Once she lies down she keeps that position for hours. I just wondering if you have any advice or technique for dogs that growls if approached. I’m pretty sure it’s just a fear response cause she doesnt bite but i don’t want to hurt her and once she screams, even out of fear, i dont know if I’m doing something wrong. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
Our Puppy is 14 weeks old and he seems to have no control of his bladder- Can this be related to his testicles putting pressure on his bladder since they have not dropped yet? I read that can take up to 6 months?
This is a baby puppy. You didn’t specify the size – if he’s a small breed, they have absolutely minuscule bladders. I think your expectations might be a little high.
What does your housetraining look like? He should be going out every half hour, before and after every meal, playtime, and crate session. I would also take him out in the middle of play sessions. Furthermore, he should be leashed to an adult if he isn’t crated.
Thank you for the response- he is a Lab. This is our 6th pup we’ve owned and we have never had this issue in the past. The weird thing is the discharge does not even smell like urine- it’s clear as water. We take him out several times a day as you mentioned above. This is only our 2nd male pup, so it may just be how it is with boys, but our now 2 year old male lab was potty trained with ease- but not all pups are created equal!
…okay, at this point I’d encourage you to speak to your vet. i don’t want to scare you but diluted urine is something we encountered with our Doberman puppy, and it turned out he had one barely functioning kidney.
I have a 9 year old female spayed cat. I took her to our normal vet because she was not acting herself. She had recently had a checkup with no issues, however, I had noticed she was spraying in different placed in the house which again is not like her. We have 2 doxies in the house as well. They did x-rays and said she had bladder stones and a couple in her urethra and they called so we could go over to their other emergent location to see if they could possibly flush those out. So I then took her to the emergent location and they took her back and were able to get a catheter into her and push the stones back but said when they did that, they came right back into the urethra. They then suggested that I start her on the special diet right away and hopefully that would help in time to shrink the bladder stones and maybe she could pass them. They said I should bring her back in about 6-8 weeks which will be towards the end of this month to do repeat x-rays. If she still has the bladder stones, they suggested her getting a cystotomy and said it would be over $3000. They also told me to closely monitor her to make sure she doesn’t get blocked and if she does to take her to the ER right away which I know would be even more expensive. I was hoping you could offer some insight on how much your practice would charge for a cystotomy and should I just go ahead and get that done? I have been monitoring her but I am so afraid she will end up blocked and I don’t want that. I have seen many of your videos helping the cats that have been blocked and I am so thankful you have been able to help them. I hope you can help me navigate the best direction for my kitty.
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your cat.
We have some of the prices of some of the surgeries we do available in the storylines section here.
A cystotomy is about $1500-2000. It really depends on how long the surgery is. In general cats are quicker and easier than dogs, but, little stones can be real buggers to remove.
There are lower cost clinics available. They can be found on our Jarrettsville veterinary center website.
There is a possibility they might dissolve, but, I had found this less reliable for cats than dogs and the real possibility that they slip into the urethra and obstruct the bladder from emptying is a potentially fatal consequence, therefore I had to advocate for surgical removal asap.
Let us know what happens.
Dr Magnifico
Good morning!
First and foremost, thank you for doing the work that you do!
I have a 7-year-old orange tabby named Milo. He started having seizures a couple of years ago. It became frequent enough that the vet decided to put him on the antiseizure medicine Phenobarbital. That was working okay, but then I started to notice that he was losing weight. Now, just to be clear, Milo enjoys his food, so he could benefit from losing some weight. However, he lost a considerable amount of weight in a short period. He also became lethargic.
I took him back to the vet, and after bloodwork, it was determined that it was affecting his liver, and he was anemic. The vet wanted to put him on Zonisamide instead. It was expensive, but we didn’t mind. We were told that the options were limited as to what he could be put on, and this was the only other suggestion that she had, so we took it.
Fast-forward a couple of months. It became nearly impossible to give him this medication. Milo would hide all day, and when we dragged him out of hiding to give him this medication twice a day, he would foam at the mouth and run back to his hiding spot. He was traumatized (I think!) from taking this medication.
My husband and I sat down to talk about this. We decided that we were going to take him off the medication because we wanted a better quality of life for him. At this point, he is back to being healthy overall (except for the few extra pounds he still carries).
He still has seizures, and on average, I would say that he has two a month. They are always at night. I’ve read that nighttime is a trigger because of increased brain activity. When he has them, they typically last under a minute (I’ve been woken up by him when he has them because he sleeps with us). He loses control of his bladder and will pee. He will foam at the mouth. Once he “comes out” of his seizure, he will then circle and meow for five (ish) minutes after. He is typically back to normal within 30 minutes.
Here are my questions:
(1) Would you recommend that he go back on antiseizure medication?
(2) Are the seizures affecting his brain? Or are seizures typically harmless?
(3) If medication is recommended, are there any other options besides the two that we have already tried?
Thank you for any insight you can give! I just want what is best for our Milo Man, and if that is medication, then we are fine going back down that route. But, at the same time, I do not want him to live in fear of taking the medication.
Hello,
Ok this is a tough one. It’s one of those that is so tough I defer to a neurologist.
If you can’t get to one see if you can find a feline specialist. They might want to talk to you about gabapentin or Keppra.
When it comes to seizures we have to feel like they are frequent enough to warrant life long medication. IMO your cat is having them often enough to consider treatment.
Next, this is a cat. They make everything a little more challenging. They like life on their terms. Period. Hard stop. So, you have to be willing to compromise and make a plan B, ( and then C-Z).. 😉
I empathize with your dilemma. I just can’t give you an easy answer.
Best of luck.
Please keep me posted
Dr Magnifico
To add: This started about 2 years ago but has gotten progressively worse over the past 6 months- 1 year. We have switched his dog food brand to see if that would help but he has always been on lamb and rice as he has a chicken sensitivity. I have tried powders, drops in his water, cleansing wipes, and raw hides with CHG. Nothing even touches the smell. I would describe it as a decaying wound smell.
@kristamagnifico
Hi Allison, Jarrettsville Vet’s dentals are usually about half of that if that’s what’s needed. You can call the clinic and make an appointment for an exam and have one of our vets take a look.