Hi. We have a family friend who recently passed away 2 days ago. She lived in assisted living and she had a companion cat who is 1.5 years old. The assisted living wanted him out the following day. She did not have family or friends that could take the cat (we actually met her through my grandma. My grandma lived at the assisted living and they were best friends. After my grandma passed away, our who family stayed friends with this lady. She was our new adopted grandma). I took the cat home with me yesterday with the intention of either finding him a good home or placing him in a no-kill shelter (I am planning on giving a hefty donation to one of these shelters and I am willing to drive 100 miles or more to find him a good place, so that is not the problem. Here is the real problem. He is very depressed. I don’t know if I should have him get attached to our family only to have him move on to another place and get depressed again. I have no problem keeping him for about a month, but I don’t know if it is best for him to stay with us a while or get relocated asap! I would love to keep him, but I already have 2 other boy cats and the younger of the two is extremely territorial and I can not let them be together. He would probably severely wound or kill this new cat. By the way, I have them separated. I have this new cat in my oldest daughter’s bedroom for now. Please help! I just want to do what is right for this cat. I want this sweet kitty to have the best life possible, but I just don’t know what to do.
I have a one year old female hamster and she has bilateral swelling and slight redness above her private region that feels soft. She recently suffered a 2cm wound on her back that is already starting to scab over and it seems like she’s losing a little bit of hair. Also, it looks like her private region has some yellow discharge that’s already dried up, but I’m not sure if it’s residual urine or a possible symptom of infection.
Hello Emily, I am not an expert on hamsters, and truthfully, I don’t know if any of us here is…but in an effort to provide you with some help I am going to jump in. Although I know it might sound a little silly to some, I think you need to bring your hamster into someone who can take a look at her. There are many vets who see pocket pets and I think that it is a good idea to search for one in your area. They will do an examination on your hamster and identify if it is… Read more »
HI Emily, What you are describing sound like a few things I am familiar with when dealing with hamsters…First thought is “wet tail”..it’s a infection that really needs to be treated with antibiotics or it can get worse quickly. Wet tail is caused from several reasons, stress, cage not being cleaned often enough among other things. Other things it could be….How did your hamster get the back wound? Is your hamster alone in a cage or with other hamsters? If a random wound appears and the hamster is alone it could be self inflicted, or it could be a skin… Read more »
i have a 13 year old male cat who has a flea issue. i have tried numerous shampoos and a new flea collar. the treatments are not working and he now has open wounds on his back. he has also started exhibiting seizure like activity and urinating uncontrollably at the same time. i need to know what to do
Hello Roger, Thanks for the question. I think it is best that you bring your cat to the emergency clinic immediately. Many flea shampoos are toxic to cats and the first sign your cat may display is a seizure. I would also recommend that you never buy a flea shampoo or collar over the counter. Especially if it says "not to use it on cats." Cats are very sensitive to many ingredients used in dog products. Even if you did use a cat product, some cats are sensitive to these ingredients. I have seen over the counter flea and tick… Read more »
My miniature pinscher recently developed some sort of skin condition and I don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend at the vet trying to figure out what it is. We did have a skin scraping done, with the results of "no mites found." She has severe dandruff, from head to tail. She also has scabs on her ears and legs, and is losing hair from between her eyes, her ears, and her legs. When this first started I had changed her food to a grain free. As soon as I noticed an issue, I changed her food again to a different grain free. The condition continues to get gradually worse so I’ve changed her back to her original food and am now giving her coconut oil twice a day. She was on antibiotics (Clavamox) for 10 days to prevent infection in a bite wound, but it didn’t seem to help. I have three other dogs, one of which has no similiar symptoms at all. The other two both have a very light case of dandruff. My vet wants me to treat it as mange and put her on ivermectin, even though he didn’t see any mites on the scraping. I really don’t want to expose her to unnecessary medication at this point. Is there anything else I can do for her? Are there any other things this could be? My vet said it could be ring worm, but no one else has any of the symptoms, so I’m relucant to spend the $80 (that I really don’t have!!) on the test for it. Please help! I have heard wild alaskan salmon oil is also good for the skin. Can I use this with the coconut oil or is it one or the other?
Hello Kate, Thanks for asking your question. Dermatology is one of the most frustrating animal conditions that we see. I can hear the frustration in your note, and I empathize completely. It sounds as if your dog needs to be seen again by a veterinarian. There are far too many possibilities of what the skin condition could be for me to be able to provide you any direction for treatment. Without a diagnosis of what is causing the skin problem, and we shouldn’t prescribe a treatment plan if we don’t have at least a presumptive diagnosis I know that many… Read more »
Thank you for being so good to this little cat! However, it will be best for him to minimise the duration of disruption, rather than let him get settled and then move again, especially as one of your other cats is not so friendly. So try rehoming centres, but if he is used to being a companion cat for an elderly person, also try any local charities or organisations that involve elderly people, or ask your local vets, as they may know of someone looking for a cat.
Good luck,
Eleanor Wood