Dr. Magnifico- I have a 14 year old CKD/CHF/Anemic cat that is having some heavy breathing and very weak! She is on Varenzin however, I believe she needs an Iron Dextran shot. She was on Aranesp previously (had to remove her due to her having seizures from the medication) however, it was tanking her iron, so she had an iron dextran shot and it helped a lot. I’m having troubles finding someone that can do this fast. Is this something you offer and how quickly could she receive it? I believe she is tanking but VEG just quoted me $4-6k to bring her in!!!! I’m already at $30k and just don’t know I can do that right now. Also, if she is at the point of needing a blood transfusion, where can I get that done and NOT spend $4-6k???

What to do: Chronic [minor] rectal prolapse in my 8 month old kitten. Since the day I got her she’s had a swollen rectum and we have gone through every non-intrusive mitigation. An important note: I found her deep in the backcountry of Idaho as a kitten, likely dumped by her original owner. She has tested negative for all abdominal worm parasites through multiple fecal exams. We despite that did two rounds of de wormer. She is on a specialized sensitive stomach diet, we did topical steroids, probiotics and lactulose which she still takes to help control softer stools. Her prolapse as not gotten any better and in earnest seems to be the most swollen its ever been. Dr suggested Coloplexy surgery but stated the risks as we don’t know what the root cause is. I worry she is dealing with sphincter issues and may come out of the coloplexy with incontinence. + that surgery is no joke and invasive. I wonder if there are any other parasite cleanses that would be suggested that are not worms- or if letting her live with it as she has could also be a choice. She does not struggle to poop and doesn’t show signs of stress of pain. Any advice ( and words of encouragement ) would be so helpful.

Hi!
I have a 9 year old Pitbull mix with history of mast cell. I noticed a lump on his chin in April and brought him to the vet for aspiration. It came back mast cell. The vet put him on a dose of prednisone and I continued giving him his daily Benadryl. His surgery for removal was scheduled for 3/19. We did a mass removal and dental at once. When he was finished the vet called and said the prednisone made the mass disappear completely so she did not operate on the site at all. A month later, now that his pred course is finished, the mass has returned on his chin and is clearly a mast cell. I don’t know what to do next because I spent the money I had on his surgical visit on 3/19 with the expectation that his mass would also be removed. Do you have any recommendations on what I should do? Thank you in advance!!

Hi Dr Magnifico,
I have a 6 year-old female cat who came to us as a stray and always had noticeable creaky purring sounds. She was about 1 year old when we got her. She has recently developed noisier breathing and almost whistling, and the vet said the sound comes from her nose or trachea, not from the lungs. Bloodwork normal, they don’t think it’s allergies. No nasal discharge or coughing. I saw your videos and think it may be a polyp (the vet said it’s possible). another vet quoted me 1800 for ct scan and 1800 for removal. I can’t possibly afford that. Prednisolone helps for 5 minutes then it starts again. I have not tried an inhaler. She is quieter (sometimes completely quiet) when she is asleep. No mouth breathing at any time. Dr says most likely not asthma.
Do you have any suggestions on what else we can try and also would you be able to see her and check for polyp without an additional ct scan (due to cost)? Thank you.

I took my cat to the vet to get unblocked and not 24 hours later he was blocked again. I paid a $2000 vet bill and now they’re telling me that I have to pay another 2000 to do the blockage again but I don’t have the funds to do that And I’d like to get a PN so this doesn’t happen again, but I don’t have the funds to do it, and the vet told me to euthanize him. But that’s not fair. I wanna try to save his life if I can They told me to surrender him please. I need some advice. I don’t know what to do. I’m just blowing my eyes out every day.

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.

My male kitten is almost 1 year old now.When he was 5 months of age, rectal prolapse occured for the first time .we went for purse string sutures, two times since then but problem was not solved.when he strains,prolapse comes out easily,mostly when he suffers from diarrhea orconstipation.he is otherwise healthy.Now for the past 4 days he had his prolapse out,it didn’t retract within a day unlike past occurrence post suture times.Tissues are red ,moist on its own ,soft .it started with diarrhea which was controlled with medicines our past vet prescribed during his first prolapse time,only doddyoff,rajmet,rantidine etc.he had vomitted once a day,and was controlled by rajmet.Initially for 3 days he was on plain water,fish boiled and chicken boiled water and on forth day he had a little bit cat food,wet jelly,tuna.But prolapse remained out,swelled,sometimes reduced,sometimes same again. Now,I have booked vet consultation,but suture failures are so common with him and I feel underlying reasons must be treated too.I don’t want any aggressive intervention or excessive medicine which my kitten was given during sutures healing.Can you suggest any process which will be beneficial for his health still prolapse problem would also resolve except colopexy.

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.

My seven year old, 27lb beagle Olivia had her first run in with IVDD in December of 2024. It was very mild and was mostly pain with little mobility issues. An X-ray at that time showed some possible compression in the rear third of her back but nothing significant. She was treated very conservatively with Rimadyl and the pain resolved within two weeks without crate rest. She led a fairly normal life since then.

Last Monday evening here in Northeast Ohio, it was about -8 degrees outside. I let her out to urinate and she was walking normally. She crouched down, used the bathroom, and came back in dragging her legs behind her with an arched back. She had trouble urinating and defacating due to the pain in her legs and back. She could put some weight on them but would lose footing very quickly.

Her doctor has placed her on strict crate rest (which she hates! She has worn a sore into her snout from barking and running her nose across the top of the crate when I am not home). This is even on 200mg of Gabapentin 3x/day and Prednisone 2x/day. The doctor has advised he wants a full week of Prednisone in her before we refer to a neurologist. I pick her up to potty and only let her stand as long as necessary to relieve herself. Within two doses of Prednisone she was able to squat almost normally (with jelly legs) to relieve herself. Now that her pain is seemingly better, she has been moving quite a bit around her crate despite my efforts to restrict her.

I don’t know what I should do…Should I insist on a visit to a neurologist? It hurts me so very much to see her like this and I feel absolutely hopeless thinking that I’ll have to crate rest her for months on end. Your videos helped ease my mind a little bit, but the doubt and worry are consuming me about my poor girl. I have a second beagle, Rex (he is five), and now I’m afraid to let him use the stairs in my split level house, or act like a beagle in general!

I never thought my life could be so overturned by such a horrible canine disease. My dogs are my family. Anything that one could offer so far as assistance would be so very much appreciated.

Hello and thank you. I have a 12-year-old Pitbull mix named flower who had heartworm and she was treated with the three shot series back in June of 2025 and then 3 weeks ago she had a mammary gland tumor removed. Three days after surgery she started honking heaving and coughing. I’m afraid her heartworm has come back. She still eats and drinks and gets up but doesn’t look comfortable All she does is walk around and cough, spit up . I don’t have the strength to put her down but I’ve also spent thousands and I’m at a loss of what to do. Any advice would be helpful Thank you