We have just adopted a Romanian rescue puppy who is a mix of mainly black lab / collie.

We started him on royal canine dry puppy food with James well beloved wet puppy food. He didn’t take to it well and his stool became loose until it turned to diarrhoea. There were small streaks of either dark purply / red blood in it to some with bright red drops in it (not massive amounts).

We got him probiotics and changed his food to chappy dry food and his stool became much firmer.

He’s been chewing a lot of grass and small stones which we now get him to drop and either give him chew toy / cardboard which he doesn’t swallow or a small treat instead. He seems to only eat from our hands.

Normally we would take him to the vet right away but he is massively traumatised from the trip to the UK, he has never had a collar / lead / harness on and hates them at the moment. We could coax him into a crate and take him but I feel that will traumatised him again. He has been very reactive to other people so we can’t arrange a home visit. Throughout this he has been playful at times but the past two days he has slept most of the day in the front room and only goes outside when he gets desperate for the loo. Something seems to have spooked him in the kitchen a couple days in.

When we do go outside he plays fetch and will rip up cardboard.

It would be great to get a few opinions on this because I know taking him to the vet will traumatise him again and it will set back how far we have come with him. He seems to want to chew a lot at the moment.

He did test positive for Anaplasmosis which he has finished receiving treatment. Also his belly is soft to touch.

About two weeks ago now my nine year old cat had saddle thrombus. He survived, and is no longer in pain, but his hind legs are paralyzed.
I'm away from home, so I can only rely on what my family tells me.
They took him to the vet several times since then and the vet said he's stable enough to take him home. He's been able to bring himself to pee and to his water food and bed on his own.
But he doesn't show interest in playing.
But past day he hasn't eaten I don’t think. I think he may have eaten a little. I don’t have the full information.
He just seems so sad in the videos I see of him. I don’t know what to do. His days are now just resting and sleeping and hoping for a recovery.
He had some side effects from his medications that wore off. But I don't know what to do.
I asked my dad if he's in any pain, and what the vet said. I asked him if the vet thinks if putting him down is the best choice. The vet said it’s not necessary, but I don’t know if I believe that. Animal care where we’re from isn’t the best.
I don't want my cat to suffer, but I don't want to give up on him.
I only come back home in mid/late December for winter break since I'm away for college. I don't want to put off letting him rest just so I can see him one more time. As much as it pains me.
I just know that these days might be horrible for him, and I don't want to make him suffer longer. But is euthanizing the right thing to do? I'm too emotional to make a decision. He's my first baby. And my only support in hard times growing up.
I don't know. And since it was saddle thrombus too, l already know we don't have much time anyway. I read the median survival after the initial saddle thrombus was 77 days, which would be right before I come back home from college.
But I don't want to continue making him suffer. Man I don't know what to do.
I’m truly heartbroken and I don’t know how to manage this.

My two-year old corgi has been diagnosed with significant hip dysplasia, and there's clear subluxation in both her hip joints. I had her x'rayed because she would walk slowly and cannot work more than a mile -- she tires out going down the street.

My vet recommended daily rimadyl for proactive treatment, but I'm a little hesitant because it can be hard on the liver. Is this my only option? What other things can I proactively do for my pet? I'm still trying to understand what her pain might look like throughout the course of her life, whether it would be more proactive to do a total hip replacement, and things like that. Still very much trying to educate myself on this, and appreciate and guidance. Thank you.

Veterinário online: quando vale a pena buscar orientação veterinária pela internet?

Quem tem cachorro ou gato sabe como é: às vezes surge uma dúvida sobre alimentação, comportamento, cuidados diários ou algum sintoma, e nem sempre é fácil saber qual deve ser o próximo passo.

É nesse contexto que o atendimento veterinário online pode ajudar os tutores a encontrar orientação e entender melhor como cuidar de seus animais.

Mas como funciona um veterinário online? E quando essa modalidade pode ser útil?

O que é atendimento veterinário online?

O atendimento veterinário online utiliza recursos digitais para facilitar o contato entre tutores e profissionais veterinários, conforme as possibilidades e os limites de cada modalidade de atendimento.

Dependendo do serviço, o tutor pode esclarecer dúvidas, receber orientações sobre cuidados preventivos e entender se determinada situação exige uma consulta presencial.

É importante lembrar que o atendimento remoto não substitui todas as consultas presenciais. Exames físicos, procedimentos e situações de emergência podem exigir atendimento direto em uma clínica veterinária.

5 situações em que a orientação veterinária online pode ajudar

1. Dúvidas sobre os cuidados diários

Orientações sobre rotina, higiene, alimentação e bem-estar podem ajudar o tutor a tomar decisões mais conscientes.

2. Mudanças de comportamento

Quando um pet começa a apresentar comportamentos diferentes, uma conversa com um profissional pode ajudar a entender quais informações observar e quais medidas tomar.

3. Cuidados preventivos

Perguntas sobre vacinação, prevenção de parasitas e acompanhamento de saúde podem ser discutidas com um veterinário, respeitando a necessidade de avaliação individual.

4. Orientação sobre os próximos passos

Se o tutor percebe algum sinal diferente, o profissional pode orientar sobre a urgência da situação e a necessidade de uma avaliação presencial.

5. Mais praticidade na busca por orientação

Para quem tem uma rotina corrida ou mora longe de determinados serviços, soluções digitais podem facilitar o acesso inicial à informação veterinária.

Importante: dificuldade para respirar, convulsões, sangramento intenso, suspeita de intoxicação ou outros sinais graves exigem atendimento veterinário presencial de emergência, sem esperar por uma resposta online.

Como escolher um aplicativo de atendimento veterinário?

Antes de utilizar um aplicativo de atendimento veterinário, vale verificar:

Se os profissionais têm registro e qualificação adequados.

Quais modalidades de atendimento são oferecidas.

Como funciona a privacidade dos dados do tutor e do animal.

Quais são os horários, custos e limites do serviço.

Como o aplicativo orienta o tutor quando é necessário atendimento presencial.

Uma boa experiência digital deve combinar praticidade, transparência e responsabilidade com o bem-estar animal.

Conheça a Dr au au

A Dr au au faz parte do universo de soluções digitais voltadas ao atendimento de tutores de pets. Para quem pesquisa veterinário online ou busca um aplicativo de atendimento veterinário, vale conhecer a proposta da marca e verificar quais serviços estão disponíveis.

Ao escolher uma solução, o mais importante é entender como ela funciona e se atende às necessidades do seu animal.

E você, já utilizou um veterinário online?

Como foi sua experiência? Você procurou orientação sobre cuidados preventivos, comportamento, alimentação ou alguma preocupação específica?

Na sua opinião, qual é o maior benefício do atendimento veterinário online: praticidade, facilidade de acesso ou rapidez para entender qual deve ser o próximo passo?

Compartilhe sua experiência e ajude outros tutores a conhecer melhor essa modalidade de atendimento.

I recently took my dog in for routine bloodwork, and everything looked pretty good except for his kidney values. His creatinine came back at 2.1 (reference range 0.5-1.5), his BUN was 34 (reference range 9-31), and his SDMA was 14, which is still within the lab's normal range. My vet recommended bringing him back for a urinalysis and further kidney evaluation.

The thing that's making me second guess things a little is that my dog seems completely normal. He has an excellent appetite, eats all his meals, drinks water, loves his treats, has normal energy levels, and acts like his usual spoiled self. The only thing I can think of is that he's always been picky about water. He'll drink plenty, but he strongly prefers "fresh" water and often waits until he sees us refill the bowl before taking a drink. Other than that, there have been no signs that would make me suspect illness.

Looking through his bloodwork history, his creatinine was lower in previous years (around 1.3-1.4), so I can see why my vet noticed the increase. The lab notes also mentioned that elevated creatinine can sometimes be related to things like sample issues, normal fluctuations, post-meal effects, stable kidney disease, or heavily muscled dogs, and they recommended evaluating other kidney tests and performing a complete urinalysis. I am also slightly worried about him peeing at the vet. He does get very nervous and does not do anything but shake my lap. I know he won't pee there and I really do not want him to get a catheter.

I guess I'm just trying to understand whether a urinalysis is considered the standard next step for mildly elevated kidney values like these, even when a dog is acting completely healthy. If this were your patient or your own dog, would you move forward with the urinalysis right away, or would you consider repeating bloodwork first to see if the values were just a temporary fluctuation? What is stopping me is the pricing. I just paid $500 for his yearly visit. I plan on doing another blood test next year so I am not sure if I should wait till then or do it now.

I'm definitely not trying to avoid recommended care. I just want to understand whether this sounds like a "better safe than sorry" recommendation or if these results are genuinely concerning enough that a urine test is important. Also, my dog is 12 and super healthy. Also want to add that he eats JustFoodForDogs and loves it.

Hi 👋 Not asking for medical advice. Just opinions. I am pretty upset. And sorry in advance… this is a long post.

Yesterday, I brought my dog in to the vet for a double ear infection. The vet tech came in, swabbed his ears, then the vet told me she saw bacteria and yeast and would be prescribing him Surolan. The vet techs then took him in the back for a cleaning.

I brought him home to give him a bath, since he wouldn’t be able to have one for the next couple of weeks, dried him off and administered the first dose. Three times that night he yelped randomly and was shaking his head and wincing anytime I touched his ear flap to look.

Also, after I was already home, I thought about it for a second and I realized that at no point during the exam did I see her actually look into his ears.

This morning, I called the clinic at 7:30am and said that I believed he needed pain medication to tide him over until the treatment started working. They said they would ask their medical team as the vet I saw yesterday was not in today. I also asked them to verify in his medical notes, whether or not an ear examination was performed when he was in the back, because I know it did not happen in the room. They confirmed that there was no documentation that the ears were examined.

The receptionist then asked for photos, said the medical team thought he may be allergic, then told me I should come back in asap. I asked if there were any openings today, she said no, but they could upcharge me for an emergency work-in if I wanted to bring him in today. Anyways, it was a lot of back and forth with them (4 calls) where I repeatedly requested pain meds which were never filled, asked if there were any cancellations for a regular appointment, this is all kinda beside the point but it’s just been a rough day.

By 4pm they still didn’t fill a pain medication prescription or call me back about it whatsoever so he sat in pain until I said fuck it and gave him my other dog’s leftover carprofen from surgery.

(It was unexpired - the dosage was a little less than he needed weight wise, but a lot of research told me it was safe to give him as long as he was not on oral steroids and has no liver/kidney/bleeding disorders. He is also not pregnant lol.)

Anyways, finally I called the clinic again and got a 5pm appointment for today. I brought him in, and asked if the vet on staff today could examine his ears. She did, then told me she did not think this was an allergy, but she could not see an intact eardrum in either ear. She said it seems to be completely missing and the ear looked very red but that she wasn’t able to compare it to how he looked yesterday since it was a different vet. And like I said before, that vet didn’t look in his ears.

I’ve had him 6 months and I feel like it may have been that way for a while. I clean his ears regularly and never saw wax buildup, so I thought maybe he just had allergies. I should have brought him in sooner as he’s been shaking his head for over a month. That’s on me and I feel awful about it.

The vet today said I should not have even prescribed Surolan as it’s not the best if their eardrum is ruptured and could be contributing to his pain and inflammation. I asked her: had the doctor yesterday actually looked in his ears, would she have known not to give him Surolan, and she said that was correct. She also said his ears look like his tympanic membrane is severely damaged and may not recover on its own. She comped me for the exam and refunded the Surolan cost, which was really fair.

The reason I am upset, on top of the inadequate pain management, is that I understand that this is a drug with potential for ototoxicity, specifically contraindicated in dogs with a ruptured eardrum. Had I waited it out, he could have balance or hearing problems. Thank goodness they gave me a new medication. I also just don’t know how to move forward. I think we need a new clinic, however this wasn’t our usual vet, and I really do like her, so maybe I just avoid this doctor. I understand people make mistakes, this just seemed totally negligent to me. Would love your opinions and if you think I’m overreacting, please don’t rip me apart in the comments.

We recently moved to a new state and I took my 15 year-old Chihuahua in to get established at a local vet. During the examination she found a small tumor on her anal gland. She’s recommending surgery to remove it, but is unsure if it is metastasized. I was completely caught off guard because I was literally just checking her in for a check up. I love my dog very much and for 15 years old she’s still pretty spunky but I’m wondering at what point is the surgery risk worth it. She said it’s possible to it isolated and removing the tumor will be all she needs but I also know putting a 15 yo dog under anesthesia can be risky. Also wondering about the risk of this particular surgery and what the recovery might look like. Anyone with advice or questions I should be asking. Thanks.

i will not be adding all the necessary information as i feel like its not too relevant in this case (listed below) but i've been prescribed minoxidil and well i've got a very dear and cute chihuahua at home. i love him dearly but hair loss makes me feel terrible about myself so i've decided to start this treatment.

i'll be using liquid minoxidil on my scalp as i couldn't choose capsules (oral). and well i am aware that its deadly and toxic for pets, but i really couldn't get the best option prescribed. i've done research on how to avoid intoxicating and killing my dog, id be so heartbroken if he died because of me. but i still dont feel so sure about this. i am so scared my clothes or hair or bed sheets or scalp or anything really about myself, no matter how much i wash or desinfect it, will be stained forever and deadly for him. hes a very stupid and cuddly dog, licking and eating and snuggling against everything and everyone. so im scared hes gonna get sick and die, ive read even small amounts can be deadly.

id like to know if any veterinarians have encountered this situation. and how have their patients succesfully started minoxidil treatment without harming their pets. i've been postponing this for some months because i love my doggy so much but i also want to be nice to myself. for the past 3 months ive been shedding awfully, my next appointment is in 5 months and i cant wait so much to beg for oral minoxidil. my hair has gotten terrible. please provide me information about this (taking minoxidil safely with my pet being at my house) and what i should do to make sure hes fully safe, appart from basic stuff like applying it in a room without him, washing my hands very well with soap, changing my clothes and putting them into the washing machine, cleaning the surfaces of the room.

dog (chihuahua)

around 3 years old

male

4kg

My sweet kitty has an appointment for in home euthanasia tomorrow morning at 9am (a little over 16hrs away). I’m not sure if I should wait for that or take him into the vet er immediately.

He is obviously sick but is breathing ok and is “outwardly” ok, except he is hiding under the bed which is not a normal spot for him and he is sighing sadly intermittently. He’s not really eating and has fresh blood in his stool. The vet did not seem to think that would mean he should go in immediately. If he seems like he is in unmanageable pain or otherwise goes further downhill I will take him in overnight.

He has been through a lot in the last month and a half, and I hate the idea of him being terrified getting stuck into his crate before getting taken to the vet again. However he doesn’t feel good/comfortable/happy/healthy which is all I want for him.

Is it better to let him “relax” at home until the morning, or stress him out but take away all of his pain quickly.

He has IBD and asthma, and developed diabetes from the prednisolone to treat the IBD. He hasn’t been able to get stable on his medications.

I caught it on video but doesn't let me attach here. It's a wheezy high-pitched sort of cough, only after she drinks water. Sometimes just one cough, sometimes a few more. She gets over it after a few seconds and is completely back to normal. Not sure what it is or if it's a concern? The only other time I hear a slight wheezy sound from her is when she's being naughty and I pick her up, she gives a sort of defiant whine, and from the motion of picking her up it can come out sounding wheezy

Ts first time i am 11 my dog is probably 1or2 years older she is a pecunese x jack russel her eye withe is pretty red she prefers to keep her eyes closed never been like that

Hello,I took a cat to a vet to get sterilized yesterday, the surgery went well and she came home fully awake and purring,now she ate small amounts of wet food as vet instructed, she didn't drink water yet, at least i didn't notice,she popped yesterday,but the main issue now is the litter is untouched, she didn't even enter the litter box ,let alone peeed.

Now important thing is she is an outdoor cat,this is a first time she is inside,so first time having litter,she also is wearing a cone idk if that has anything to do with it.

She is in a summer kitchen in the yard so I'm not with her 24/7 so technically she might have peed and it dried out while I was awake.

I might be stressing out for no reason bcs she is super happy,calm,she keeps purring,making biscuits, and eating well,she is basically acting same as always, so nothing points to an issue except the fact I haven't seen her pee.

So if anyone has experience with this,and has some advice, maybe few words to calm my nervs🫠 id appreciate it alot.🩷

I need advice.

We have kittens we been taken care of since birth. Ferral mom and her kittens have all came inside as of a couple weeks ago. They were kept in a safe secure spot where only we and momma cat could access. On camera and everything.

Out of 8 females, 2 have died from nuroligical symptoms.

Runt died within a 2-3 weeks or so at birth.

I got them to the vet every time.

The last one that passed a month ago randomly developed wobbley cat syndrome & then passed away at vet when she was found after a seizure with blood coming out of her mouth.

Fast forward to now, another Kitten whove we got attached to is now struggling to walk on her back legs as of last night. Shes falling over doing the same thing again.

I took her to VET hospital last night and they found an ulcer in her throat but that was it. They tested for Feline panleukopenia virus and it was negative. Because her personality was decent they gave us pain meds and to call if things get worse.

They just dont know what to test for they said.

They said it could get better or could get worst. And its getting worse. Qe dont know what's wrong with this litter and why all the other cats at the appartment havent had to deal with any of this.

They said it could be incest, unknown infections, ect.

Has anybody else gone through this ? Healthy kittens randomly getting wobbly then dying.

What should I pay for test to run. I asked about the cat aids one and the other one but they said they didnt think it was necessary! Maybe they were trying to get me discharged or they were tired but this is absolutely heartbreaking man.

This cat was healthy 2 days ago it seemed.

I dont know about the ulcer in her throat, I dont know about the wobbling now.

Can someone point me in right direction. I posted the video on the feral cat sub..

I'm new to bird keeping, I have no clue on he's/her age y'all got any tips to tame it and just keep it in good health idk if it's sick or not but it seems to act weirdly the whole day resting it's head in its shoulders and eating and drinking and doesn't rly go to it's perch often.

My 16 year old Dachshund mix had a dental cleaning with extractions two days ago. He had abscessed teeth that were not responding to antibiotics. Due to his age he had extensive pre-anesthesia blood work. The only thing that was off was moderately elevated BUN and creatinine. The vet prescribed Enalapril 5mg 1 x day with a recheck in one month. I like to research any new drugs for my pets or myself regarding usage and side effects. It seems like 5mg is a high starting does for a 12 pound dog and that a recheck much sooner than a month is recommended. I will be reaching out to the vet with these concerns but I am also interested in other's opinions. Overall, I was very happy with the care that he received and he is recovering so well it's hard to tell that he had surgery 2 days ago

Our 10 year old female whippet was found to have heart issues around August 19th this year and was immediately prescribed chewable Vetmedin tablets to help treat it. We started giving her Vetmedin twice a day (12 hours apart) starting around August 21st.

A week into giving her Vetmedin she started to have diarrhea so we contacted our vet and was told to put her on a chicken and rice diet and start giving her probiotics. We used a mix of fortiflora and proviable probiotic powder on her food and that did seem to help.

After a couple weeks we started trying to slowly reintroduce her normal dog food but that resulted into diarrhea again, so we stopped and went back to chicken and rice.

And it seems like ever since then her stomach has not been good—we are consistently seeing diarrhea and soft poop from her even with the probiotics and chicken and rice diet and it’s been a number of weeks since trying to reintroduce dog food.

I’m at my wit’s end right now because I know she shouldn’t be on a chicken and rice diet this long but every time we reach out to our vet they just tell us to keep her on this diet with probiotics.

We always make sure she gets Vetmedin consistently 12 hours apart and she is given it with food. I don’t think she has a chicken allergy because we’ve given it to her previously other times and she’s been fine on it. She does have a very sensitive stomach in general (for example, eating grass makes her throw up) and this has always been the case for her.

She recently also got diagnosed with both MMVS and DCM and received an additional prescription for Spironolactone but we have yet to start her on that. The only other thing we recently got prescribed for her is a 10 day prescription of an anti-diarrhea med which we just started her on.

I’m looking for ideas or things I can probe my vet about to help with her diarrhea. We tried pumpkin briefly but that was around when we introduced her dog food and so we ended up stopping that. We also use the probiotic paste that comes within the proviable package and that has helped the most to get her diarrhea from liquid to semi-soft but every time we stop using it she goes back to having liquid diarrhea and it’s getting expensive for us to continually buy it.

Sorry for writing a novel 😭 Please please give us some help 🙏 we really just do not know what to do at this point.

TLDR: we started giving our dog Vetmedin for a newly discovered heart issue and we’ve tried a number of things to get her diarrhea under control while on the medication with nothing seemingly able to keep it under control long term. Looking for ideas on what to think about doing next.

 https://postimg.cc/gallery/dK2yhN5

My 6 month old puppy small breed had neuter (with rabies shots and puppy shots) a week before x-ray was taken.

He was throwing up his food few days after neuter. Otherwise he acts normal, has puppy energy, no diarrhea, holds down his water, has appetite (too much), no blood in stool or vomit and poop normal. He seems to throw up his food after few hours as he would gobble his kibble, drink water and play. Read that neuter makes puppies more hungry and slows down their metabolism. We brought him to the vet as we were concerned as its been a week since his neuter and shots and the anesthesia and pain meds should have been out of his system and not making him nauseous (if ever that was the case).

Vet took xray and found no known foreign bodies. No parasites in fecal, no fever, no dog pain from his examination. But he suggesting radiologist to check x-ray as from x-ray could be possible enlarged esophagus and possible abdominal object. Which when he showed as the x-ray, he said, "all good and clear, but what is that to the big cloud on side of x-ray, I don't know what is that. You can do ultrasound or surgery right away. If we find something we will take it out, if we don't, we will close him up". That scared us. He prescribed us antivomit/nausea medicine. Vet said to call back if he throws up and next step would be for radiologist to check the xray for the possible enlarged esophagus and possible foreign body.

My dog hasn't vomitted since the vet visit a week ago and even after the anti vomit medicine is gone. We switched to slow feeder, spaced out his meal times and switched to Purina Pro Plan salmon Sensitive stomach dry food. He still acts normal energetic happy. As we suspect its him eating too much too fast and then go play. Or the food he eats. No issues so far.

But we are still concerned with the vet comment of what is that in the x-ray. Can someone look into the x-rays if they see any foreign object we should be worried about? As this is scaring us, since we just lost our 6 yr old dog recently to IMHA and we scared to lose him too. Thank you.

hi guys! i am getting a splenectomy for my irish wolfhound x bulldog cross dog who is 9 years old, and he is a bit on the overweight side; around 43 kgs. we had one ultrasound done about a few weeks ago, which basically revealed there was an incidental 3cm tumour growing in his spleen. the general vet has recommended a splenectomy.

my worry is, that because of financial issues, we may have to opt for my dog to get his splenectomy done at a vet clinic (by an experienced vet) who will complete the surgery and discharge him on the same day. however, i am worried about the potential for post-op complications, as i have heard being overweight can increase my doggos' chance in developing an arrythmia, etc. would it be fine then to transport my dog from the vet clinic, after they have discharged him, and take him to the hospital for overnight care? or would it be better to just get the hospital to do it? (although this may be limited for me to decide due to external financial factors). would it also be fine for me to take him home on the same day?

i live around 20-25 minutes from the nearest 24/7 pet hospital, so if something were to happen to him during the time he is at home, i am not sure we would be able to make it in time.

any advice is needed - i am genuinely so anxious and i don't want something to happen to my dog in the midst of me getting caught up of all of this. he is otherwise healthy despite his spleen issues (apart from the mild arthiritis). :(

Few months ago during annual vaccination, the vet mentioned my 7 year old cat needs teeth scaling due to tartar build up. She does have bad breath.

I have another vet for second opinion which is more affordable and second vet said blood work should be done first to ensure she's okay for scaling. Once blood work come back fine, then scaling to be done within the two weeks from blood result.

I'm obviously hesitant and resistant due to the risk of anesthesia but if she really needs it, then I'll go for it.

Anyone can share their experience with their own kitties?

My babylove was acting different about 5 days ago. She's usually a velcro dog and cant stand to be outside without me for more than about 10 minutes, then she knocks. An hour went by and I had to call her in. That night she I noticed her genital was swollen. Next day, a light pink discharge in puddles about the size of the palm of my hand. Day after that, no discharge, acting normal, playing. Now today the discharge is back. She hasn't been eating much, which I summized was due to new dog food. Has not been spayed. I was ready to make a spay appointment before this started. No fever, no urinating issues, no diarrhea, no vomit. Id like to add photos but I dont see an option for that.

on tuesday morning i noticed that my 3 year old kitty girl was acting strange, she was laying in the dark furnace room (probably because the floor was cold) and then she came out and looked hunched with her fur sticking up along her back and tail. i picked her up and she meowed so i put her down. i immediately knew something was wrong so i took her to the vet, she had a fever and we did a blood test showing she has low white blood cell count, extremely low. she got an xray and a belly scan? i think is what it was, and he said that everything looked normal on there, no fluids. he told me i should hospitalize her but that would be thousands of dollars, as much as i would love to do anything i can for her, im not working right now so it wasn’t really an option. so he put her on a steroid to suppress her immune system in hopes that it’s just hyperactive and doing this would hopefully help her start producing more white blood cells. he also put her on antibiotics. she refused to eat or drink even after putting her on mirataz (appetite stimulant) so she didn’t eat or drink for over 24 hours. i took her to the vet again today (wednesday, so the next day) and they couldn’t say much except force feed her so she doesn’t get liver issues and they gave her some fluids under her skin but i think they only last about 6-8 hours. this was 8 hours ago and ive gotten her to eat a bit a couple times (maybe a teaspoon amount) and then i just fed her an hour ago and got her to eat about a table spoon size. the food is wet food from the vet that he said is packed with nutrients and whatnot so he said it’s best to feed her that if anything. she’ll only eat off my fingers with strong encouragement but luckily she didn’t make me have to force her the second time. she’s been nonstop sleeping and she’s not super responsive when she is, but if i get her up, or she hears the door to outside open she lifts her head and is then aware. she’s my bestfriend and i want what’s best for her and i want her to push through. just sitting here on the couch while she sleeps i can’t help but think worst case scenario. i guess im looking for reassurance, she lays comfortably and stretches out, she just licked my fingers like she normally does because she’s an affectionate girl. i think these are good signs but i just don’t know what to think. how soon should she start looking up? should i be really worried that she’s sleeping so much and not as responsive when resting? im going to make sure she eats every couple/few hours and i check on her every few minutes when im awake, i haven’t left her side. any input please, the vet couldn’t tell me a whole lot and its so hard not knowing what could be going on. thanks

edit: i forgot to mention i have a male cat who is acting normal and my cats have been exposed to my upstairs neighbours 2 cats, both female.

newest edit: she just threw up the food):

Hi, I am asking here because I need some guidance on how to handle this situation with my grandparents, geriatric cat. (sorry for any typos, using voice to text for some of this) So I (22F) have grandparents in their 80s that should not be living alone, but miraculously pass, any cognitive test thrown their way. my grandpa largely immobile and my grandma has undiagnosed dementia. (it’s a whole situation, but this is important context) they don’t answer the door. They don’t go to doctors appointments and the only people allowed in the house on regular basis is me and my older brother. All this to say they have always had cats, most recently they had 3…then 2…now 1. The older my grandparents get the worst shape the cats have been in. In the past, when there was still two cats, I offered to take them to the vet, practically begged to no avail. Then one of them passed and many members of my family have tried to ask what they did with the body and we have gotten no answer. Now they have one cat left, Max. Max is somewhere between 15-17 years old at least. I just saw him for the first time today in AWHILE, and he is in BAD shape. Matted all over, down to the skin.
Claws that you can hear clicking on the floor when he walks, no doubt curled back into his paws and Sores around his eyes. I wanted to cry looking at this poor cat. He desperately needs to be euthanized. I tried to ask what happened to his eyes and got no answer. I have also heard from my dad that this cat has had a long history of convulsions. my family has always said there’s nothing we can do but it just doesn’t feel right. This cat is suffering and there is nothing I can do to end it? if I reported them to animal control, there is no way the animal control could get access to the house. I called an emergency veterinary clinic and they said without my grandparents consent that they can’t do anything, not even a nail trim. So now I come here to ask…is there anything I CAN do for Max? With any advice, assume I can’t get consent from my grandparents to do literally anything with the cat, asking to cut this cat’s nails would probably be a stretch if the cat would even let me. Any advice you can think of helps. I just can’t stand by and watch another cat go like this and except that’s just how things have to go.

9-year-old dog diagnosed with a grade 3 sarcoma after her 3rd abdominal surgery. Looking for advice on treatment and outcomes.

Raven: almost 9, spayed female Lab/shepherd mix, ~ 70 lbs

History

June 2025: A 13 cm mass on her spleen plus enlarged lymph nodes. She had a splenectomy, and pathology came back benign (a hematoma).

April 2026: An 8 cm mass grew where her spleen used to be. The first pathology read suggested lymphoma, but further testing (immunohistochemistry and PCR) ruled that out. The final diagnosis was a benign, reactive lymph node. She also has a ~3 cm right adrenal mass we're monitoring, which has stayed fairly stable.

October 2026: Ultrasound showed two new masses in the same area. Both were removed on Oct 12. A suspected liver mass seen on ultrasound wasn't found during surgery. Chest X-rays before surgery were clear.
Biopsy results (reviewed by 3 board-certified pathologists)
Larger mass: high-grade (grade 3) sarcoma, likely a splenic stromal sarcoma. They believe it grew from leftover spleen tissue (ectopic spleen) left behind after the splenectomy.
Mitotic count over 20: a measure of how fast the cells are dividing, which makes it fast-growing.
Smaller mass: benign nodular hyperplasia, also in leftover spleen tissue.
Margins were clean on both: the masses were fully removed.
Plan: Her surgeon and his oncology colleague are both recommend chemo. We have an oncology consult coming up.

Questions
Has anyone dealt with splenic stromal sarcoma, or a sarcoma growing from leftover spleen tissue? How did your dog or patient do?
For a high-grade sarcoma that was fully removed with no visible spread, did you do suggest chemo (IV doxorubicin or low-dose oral)? How did your dog/patient tolerate it, and did it seem to help?
Did you recommend a CT scan for staging beyond chest X-rays?
Has anyone used turkey tail or other supplements alongside chemo?

Senior Cat's condition not improving and I'm fearing the worst.

I'm a 20 year old living on their own with my 13 year old tortoiseshell cat. We have a vet appointment starting next week.

Lately, I've been really tired and upset, and I don't know how to stop feeling frustrated taking care of her. It's been a new problem every day.

She was throwing up a lot every night, I mean constantly previously, but still having a strong appetite. I took her to the vet, she was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. Then after a month of methimazole treatment, all her levels were stable and good. Her t4's in good shape, her kidneys great. She was drinking bone broth/water with her wet food. She was eating two weruva low phosphorous a day and eating pumpkin puree. Her stool was back to normal. However, my dumb ass didn't realize the pumpkin puree was just a bandage to a potentially bigger problem.

Her lack of appetite was abrupt all of last week, it started out with her only eating 1.5 cans, then 1. Then last Sunday, she wouldn't eat half of 1. I had to go to class, so in two hours I'd come back to see if we could try again. When I got home, she threw up around the entire apartment for the first time in a long time. The first thing I heard the moment I opened the door was her screaming vomiting. so I scooped her up and took her to an emergency vet.

They said everything was fine, and that through the xray, she had a little stool in her colon but it was a normal amount for a cat. They said it was potentially arthritis. They then rehydrated her with SQ fluids, put her on lactulose/appetite stimulants and sent me on my way.

She ate all of yesterday and had really bad smelly diarrhea into the litterbox, then she shit OUTSIDE the litterbox. She hid all day the next day. I did my best to replenish her, and her appetite/thirst still good.

But now, day 3 of lactulose, and appetite stimulation. She refuses to touch her plate, and acting confused, and sleeping a lot. She's been fed bone broth, hydracare, and now doesn't want to touch it today. Like, she's barely used the litter box today. THEN she threw up nothing, no yellow bile, no vomit, then had some water to drink.

It feels like a vicious cycle. I don't know how to feed her because it seems like she'll throw up without the pumpkin puree or lactulose, and that just doesn't seem right to me because it's ALL food. So it can't be just a food sensitivity. It's like nothing works. I'm scared there's something worse wrong with her, that our 5th vet visit still somehow hasn't caught.

She has good days and bad days, but the bad days are starting to feel more frequent because it's every day I come home to a mess. She's having all these problems that are happening at once, like her condition is declining super quickly right in front of me and all I can think of is why didn't I help her sooner?

But there's just a voice telling me like what if she doesn't get better, or I don't even know what the point of my entire post was. I'm lost. These incidents and vet visits are also becoming frequent and stacking up. I know taking care of an elderly cat isn't easy but sometimes I get so angry at her condition because it wakes me up in the middle of the night or I come back to an apartment smelling of vomit or shit. Then that anger turns into fear and sadness because I can't imagine how my cat feels to constantly feel sick or bad.

My questions are:

• Could unmanaged arthritis pain alone cause this cascade? (If it hurts to squat, she holds her poop --> gets constipated --> nauseous/vomiting --> stops eating). We are discussing Gabapentin at our next visit.
• What diagnostic should I ask for next? She tested negative for pancreatitis, CKD, her T4 is 1.3 and liver levels good

Is she nearing the end of her life? 13 just feels too young to die. She's been with me since I was 7

So two months ago my dog started limping out of nowhere after some light playing, never yelped or anything so gave it a couple weeks before going to the vet. We take her in and he was pretty sure she had torn her CCL and sent us home with some medication and wanted us to come back in in two weeks to check it again and then look at having surgery. Well conveniently we were home because we got married and we were leaving for our honeymoon that week and not returning back home because we work on the road. So we followed his instructions on really babying the leg and taking this medication til we could get in a vet where we work at. Today we went to this vet and she immediately said the CCL is torn (didn’t say partial or total) and said we could do some different injections before committing to surgery. She didn’t love the idea of doing surgery on her unless we could commit to the full 8-12 weeks of constant watch. She’s an ACD so you know she’s chaos. I can’t for the life of me remember the one she most recommended, she compared it to cortisone injection, or the PRP. She suggested the first choice so we are going to give it a whirl but I feel like this so just going to make her more comfortable and maybe buy us sometime for surgery? I really would feel much more comfortable having her surgery at our primary vet clinic but we won’t be back there til Christmas time, which also we will have two weeks off of work to be able to really start strong with the healing process. So I suppose if that’s all it does then that’s helpful? Or am I totally wrong and need to abandon this.