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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 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
Hello,
I think that it is best to quell your concerns by seeing your vet. The heartworm should have been resolved with the treatment you were given. But your dog should still be on heartworm preventatives.
I also think that you should follow up with whomever did the surgery for you. It might be post op tracheal inflammation.
My 14 year old cat has undergone a wedge excision of submandibular tumor (AC) with skin flap 12 days ago. Surgery was rather successful, margin was cleared, drain was removed at post op day 6. He started to develop soft swelling (feels like a pouch of fluid) over his wound site and rather noticeably with some tension on the wound. He didn’t seem to be annoyed by the swelling (craving for food as always) and the site wasn’t warm. He was supposed to see the vet in a week time for off stitches. We wanted to consult the vet earlier but he’s out of town, anything we should be aware these couple days? Please help. Thank!
Oh just saw this now. I hope he is fine and you got to see your vet?
Sometimes fluids build up after a tumor gets removed. If he’s not in pain and eating normally I would say its okay to wait a week. Of course if it gets herder, the skin gets discoloured (red or bluish) you should go ealier.
My question is about urinary crystals and cat blockage. I specifically want to know about jaundice after surgery, but also to know if we should have done anything differently, we lost our little sweetheart a few days ago to urinary crystals.
Details: 4 weeks ago our little fellow, a 2-year-old neutered male, got worms. We brought him to the vet and, with medicine, successfully treated them. They stressed him, and he didn’t want to eat much, but the vet said this was normal. He seemed to get better, but a week ago started acting stressed again, not eating much, drinking very little, but still eating and drinking. Seeing his pee was not possible due to having 2 other cats (and not knowing what urinary crystals are, much less know what to look for)
We called the vet Friday morning, they told us he would probably need another dose of worm medicine, and scheduled an appointment for the following Monday. Keep in mind we had never heard of urinary crystals before, we thought he had worms again.
On Saturday evening, it became clear it was more than worms. He was lethargic, not going potty at all, and just wanting to lay down and close his eyes. We called the vet clinic which was closed, several other numbers for local cat places (adoption, care, etc) and could not get him seen but got the same phone diagnosis at every step, “probably a stomach tumor”.
It was 5pm Sunday before we got lucky, found an animal hospital 2 hours drive away, got a hold of an actual vet through their emergency number, and she agreed to open the hospital late on a Sunday and see him immediately for $1000. We got there at 7pm and by 7:15 he was in surgery to unblock him. She immediately knew what was wrong. His temp was already low, he was very weak and barely moving but alive.
The next morning, we found out he survived the surgery and was recovering with a catheter and IV fluids. The plan was to keep him in the hospital for 3 days and to let him come home if his pee was clear and his blood work for liver function was acceptable.
We got a phone call early on the second day telling us he was occasionally moving in his cage but wasn’t eating or drinking. She said he seemed depressed, and we could visit at 4pm to see if it perked up his spirits. It was the earliest time they could let us visit so we took it.
On our drive to see him, the hospital called us and said he wasn’t doing well. They asked if we wanted the blood work done immediately instead of on day 3 and told us he had become extremely jaundiced. During our visit he could only manage a couple of steps, so we held him, he was clearly exhausted and under the effect of pain medicine.
The hospital had taken the blood after the call and said his sugars were 3 times normal and other things “5 times normal”, and he was a deep greenish yellow in color around his ears. They brought him warm food but he was not interested. They explained organ failure and said his lungs would fail eventually, but he was breathing well.
In seeing us did perk him up a little, he focused on us, but he quickly faded again, preferring to lay down with his tongue out after 20 minutes. We didn’t want him to suffer and linger with no hope of recovering, and he was heartbreakingly euthanized at that point.
Again, I didn’t know anything about crystals before he went into surgery, and I have questions in case his brother, or any cat, is in that situation.
My questions are….
– Was the jaundice a terrible sign or could it have been from the IV fluid, exhaustion, surgery and lack of eating? IE was it normal after surgery, or recoverable?
– Given what I’ve described, should we have waited another day? Could it have been just needing more time to recover? Or is the jaundice and blood work at that point enough to know he’s fought all he can?
We just want to know more. We’re still in shock and miss him terribly, but we felt alone in making decisions, the hospital clearly didn’t want to influence our decision either way. We’re just not sure now that 24 hrs recovery was enough to make a decision, or how serious jaundice is when he didn’t have it pre-surgery/IV.
Any advice appreciated, we found this site via a YouTube video on urinary crystals. Thanks.
P.S. We aren’t second guessing or wanting to hear we did the right thing, it’s too late to help him, but we want to know more in case it helps another cat.
Also, the hospital took a deposit from us when we agreed to the $1000 fee, and said they would accept payments since there was no way to forsee this type of thing. They did seem caring and knowledgeable, but clinical, and would offer no advice on euthanizing or not. We felt alone with that specific decision…. and in hindsight aren’t even sure it needed to be made yet… or did it?
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your cat.
It sounds like there are multiple issues here and I don’t know how they are related. I don’t expect the crystals caused the jaundice. Most of the time I see the crystals because of poor diet or stress. Stress can be many many things. I suspect this was either a cat with underlying conditions like FeLV fiv or fip. Also I suspect the jaundice was either hepatic lipidosis or parasites.
You sound like you really love your cat but never had a vet who was invested in your cats care. It is my biggest gripe in vet Med now. We don’t care for people who care about their pets. We need to do more in providing both care and advice.
I am also very concerned about the vet who took the deposit and didn’t do pre op blood work. Or talk about the possibility of all of rhe things that can happen if there are underlying conditions or post op complications.
I’m sorry for your loss.
Dr magnifico
Thanks for your time, I’ll try to keep it shorter.
Yes, we loved him and his brother dearly from the day we found them in our barn, a couple of weeks old at best. His feral mom didn’t return, we watched with remote cameras. After bottle feeding him and weaning him to soft food, we got him dewormed, neutered etc. He seemed happy and normal in every way, clean bill of health.
– The jaundice first appeared 24 hours after surgery to unblock him, and he’s never had it before.
– The vet said the surgery was too urgent to wait for tests, and after surgery said testing was pointless until he was ready to leave. She ended up wanting it on day two when he got jaundice, so it did feel a bit irregular.
That’s why I want to know more about what the jaundice meant. We really thought the jaundice and other signals + a bad test result was what the vet needed to know he was not going to recover.
Was that normal with meds? Post surgery? After not having eaten much in a few days?… Or was it the terrible sign we thought it was? It’s so emotional to experience.
We weren’t being told what we SHOULD do, but were asked to make a decision anyway. It’s so hard to do what’s best for him at that moment, especially with how things happened.
We had to leave either way, the hospital was closing. Leaving him there alone for the night, in that condition, felt wrong. Bringing him home for the night felt like it might just make him suffer more. The IV couldn’t come with us she said, it’s illegal, but she would leave the catheter in if that’s what we choose.
It was a “decide now” moment… and then he rolled to his side with his tongue hanging out, exhausted. It’s truly heartbreaking.
We live in a rural community and the only licensed vet is over an hour away. The only local cat care is from a local donation based feral adoption service, run by a woman and a Facebook group of like-minded people, but without a full time vet.
This happens strictly on donations to have a vet visit regularly. Resources are always stretched. Spending lots on one cat means little is available for others. I get that, but we were willing to pay.
What we did is what people usually do at that point, she said, but we don’t care about that, we wanted him to live. Did we do the right thing? It’s too late to help him, but an answer may help another cat in the future.
As you said, premature end of life for avoidable reasons is such a needless loss.
I did call the hospital to ask about the jaundice afterward, what it meant, and was told it was his organs failing and cells breaking down. Again, not technically wrong, but of no help to a non-vet to decide if it’s time.
I can answer any specific questions you might have.
Thanks again.
About hepatic lipidosis, he was a fit 2.5-year-old cat that passed away at 12.8 lbs and had been exactly 13 lbs a month earlier when he was given worm medication.
He was solid, lean and strong in appearance, like most young cats. He was a long-haired male cat often called a Tuxedo, if breed matters.
I wouldn’t describe him as anorexic, though he had stopped eating as much 3 weeks prior, and stopped eating at all 3 days prior. He didn’t have kidney stones, but it was enlarged at the time of his blockage surgery.
He also had crystals in his bladder. She showed me a picture of it opened up with pink colored crystals, which seemed to have worried her more than anything else.
He did pee afterward, and the color was good, but it got dark a day later when jaundice set in.
I’m not sure what else might give you a clearer image, but I can find out, I feel like he still had hope. Also, she wanted to know what specific food brand we had been giving him because he was the 4th complete blockage that week, which is a lot in her practice.
Sorry for the triple response, more information. He was given warm wet food after surgery and didn’t touch it. He hadn’t eaten for 3 days prior, and hadn’t been eating much since he started showing what we thought was worm related behavior, or about 2 weeks before that.
Would it be normal to see jaundice appear in an already exhausted cat AFTER surgery, if likely hepatic lipidosis was not treated immediately by feeding him nutrients through a tube? It all seems to have progressed so quickly.
He was never given a feeding tube, and in hindsight, I don’t see how he could have been expected to take a bite and swallow, he was too weak.
The jaundice though, it was entirely absent pre-surgery and extreme 12 hours later. I can’t help but feel it was not a sign of the end but a sign of hurry up and do…. ??
Closure – When he was diagnosed with worms, the vet missed that he also had urinary crystals forming, likely from being stressed. The change in behavior was attributed to the worms, and we didn’t know until it was too late.
A lot of things went wrong, obviously.
We’ll never know if a young male cat could have survived through the jaundice, after an unblocking surgery, with bloodwork showing levels 5x too high and not an ounce of energy left in him.
The grieving has been difficult through the sense of guilt for not having been able to figure things out in time. I don’t believe in ghosts, but regular activities trigger memories of when he’d join in or watch… which is like a ghost, but the memories bring smiles too.
He touched our lives in such a meaningful way that he’ll never be far from our thoughts, still bringing those smiles.
My dog has been sneezing frequently over the past few months. We are now noticing a small growth and change in shape on his nose as well? Any advice or help would be much appreciated, thank you!
-Mitch
There are numerous things this could be. Please call your vet and ask to be seen. I always start with an exam and a good history and then talk about potential possible causes and discuss rhe myriad of treatment options In some cases we chose an antibiotic. In others we talk about dental disease and it’s affect on the nose and discharge. We also talk about cancer and nasal flushing for foreign bodies. Even allergies are a possibility.
Please see a vet for which might be most likely in your dogs case.
Help Dr. Magnifico of Jarrettsville Vet Our beautiful 13 year old Husky/beagle mix Sadie was struggling with getting up and climbing stairs because we thought her arthritis was getting worse. We took her in to the vet to get some pain medicine and they discovered that she has a large tumor on her spleen. We were told that the surgery is quite expensive. We are unable to afford much due to our current financial situation. The doctor suggested that we should euthanize her if we were not going to try to do the surgery. we have scheduled an appointment for tomorrow. 6/3 with lap of love.
My husband was looking for solutions because she is walking around and it is so hard for us to imagine putting her down. We saw the article by Dr. Magnifico. We tried to call Jarrettsville vet and they told us our only option was to put a question on here. Beth.a.acton@gmail.com
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your dog. I am happy to see your pet at my vet clinic in Maryland. It is the only way I can offer pertinent advice that is specific to each patient.
Without a biopsy it is impossible to know whether this is benign or not. Also in some cases the mass may be an incidental finding (no clinical relevance). We should always treat the patient and not make presumptive decisions, especially euthanasia.
I feel it to be morally and ethically dishonest to ever recommend euthanasia without a definitive diagnosis AND a suffering patient.
I hope this helps. I apologize for the delay.
a while ago my cat became sick, around the same time we noticed he had been leaving our house and stealing cat food from the neighbors who leave it out for other stray cats (therefore he was eating after other cats) his lymph nodes became swollen, he stayed in one spot all day and rarely moved, he wouldn’t eat or drink, and lost weight. We brought him to the vet and they examen him and did x-rays and said that it appears that he could have cancer/a tumor that has spread to his lymph nodes already as well as some other things like fluid/pus in his chest. They said the cancer was very aggressive since it’s already gotten that far and we just noticed it. A few days later his lymph node swelling went away, he started eating and drinking again, and he was acting like himself. We brought him back to the vet and they performed FNA on the tumor which came back inconclusive. They were also shocked that his lymph node? weren’t swollen anymore, and they said the tumor had moved places, and they started to question their diagnosis saying that he could just have an infection. The gave him antibiotics and sent us home. Since then the tumor has gotten bigger and moved places, it feels sort of soft and moves around easily. I’m questioning if this is just a lipoma rather than cancer because of the way it feels and moves, it has also been about 2 months since we very first noticed this, and to me it doesn’t appear or feel to have spread anywhere, his vet was also talking like he wouldn’t live more that a week or two and it’s been 2 months. No one can really come to a definite diagnosis… so if anyone could give advice or help on this i’d appreciate it very much!! (i’ve also included a photo below of the tumor though it’s a litte difficult to tell)
Honestly, I’d be looking for an oncology specialist to determine if it really is a tumor of some sort.
My parents’ cat, Oso, is not doing so well. He’s been needing subcutaneous fluids administered via IV and he had not been eating every meal for a little over a week until we started giving him an appetite stimulant.
He also is having labored breathing, mouth closed 36 – 42 inhales/ minute. Here’s a link to a video so you can see: https://www.dropbox.com/s/elf32wwm5z06ygn/OsoBreathe.mov?dl=0
An image of an X-Ray is attached – The comments below and the color arrows were provided by a mobile radiologist that came over to see him – I didn’t understand the notes, but basically she was pointing out tumor(s), cancer and fluids building up inside his body there.
We are continuing with the fluids and with the appetite stimulant he is eating. Steroid once month shots have been suggested and were just started 2 days ago.
Any advice here is very much appreciated and welcomed.
My cat had a cancerous tumor removed approx. 1 1/2 yrs ago (at JVC) She has had this black (not sure how to describe it) crusty substance under her chin, on her front paw and I recently spotted more underneath her and on another paw. Could this possibly be caused by her cancer if it has returned? Other than that she is acting normal.
Good morning-
It is hard to tell from a picture. The only time we ever had a cat with something that might be similar (and I too was worried about it) it was also on his chin. Turned out to be some sort of kitty acne that I had to cleanse. I do not know if this is the same thing though. When is your next scheduled visit? If it is fairly soon- maybe wait until then. But if it isn’t for a bit, I think I would call to get her seen just to be safe and to also get instruction on what to do. Best of luck!!!
Hello,
I have two cats who have very dirty chins almost all the time. I always tell clients that they should use glass, ceramic or stainless steel bowls (no plastic) jic it is an allergic reaction and that some cats just have dirty chins. For the cats like mine I do the following; I use the chlorphenaramine scrub called nolvasan that we have at the clinic, and the ketohex wipes (also at the clinic) and I keep the chin clean every day. If your cat is current on their annual exam with us I am happy to fill these for you.
If you need any hwlp with this please call me at the clinic.
Krista
Our 7 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback / German Shepherd mix, Duke, had surgery a couple weeks ago. He came home with a small fluid pocket where his tumor was removed. It ended up becoming bigger, and retaining a lot of fluid. As of now it is getting smaller, at least a little bit, but I noticed it’s feeling a little more solid on one end. I’m not sure if that is normal. He seems to be doing fine in all ways otherwise, no discomfort or any other noticeable changes to his behavior. I’m not sure if I’m starting to worry over something that may be normal, but the portion that feels more solid is still engorged and it doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t know if it will start to feel more solid, if that’s normal… I don’t know.
Hello,
Did you discuss this with the person who did the surgery? That’s the best place to start. I wouldn’t assume anything. It’s best to have it rechecked.
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.