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My 19 year old domestic shorthand tabby kitty cat is having considerable weight issues. She used to be a little chonker but she is now absolutely skin and bones. Behaviorally nothing has changed, she still does all the normal cat stuff, cleans herslef, plays, eats regularly etc. She just cannot hold any fat/bulk and I worry it hurts when I try to give her some rubs and brushes and it's just all spine. She lives with my parents and I don't see her often, but my parents contemplate euthanizing and it'd definitely make my mom really sad. She mentioned something about the vet saying it's probably some old cat thyroid issue and that was it? I have no idea if they even did thyroid labs. I need to clarify more with my mom, but as a health care worker it seems really bizarre to just tell someone their old emaciated cat is just old with old problems and shrug. I've been telling my mom as long as she is still doing normal adult daily activities without issues, I don't think it's time to worry yet. The striking frailty bothers me however. Asproigerosis fucked around with this message at 05:57 on Sep 11, 2021 |
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Sep 11, 2021 05:55
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It could be a thyroid problem, in which case it can be controlled by medication. Don't leave it, as hyperthyroidism stresses every organ in the body by making it work overtime.
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Sep 11, 2021 16:57
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Asproigerosis posted:My 19 year old domestic shorthand tabby kitty cat is having considerable weight issues. She used to be a little chonker but she is now absolutely skin and bones. Behaviorally nothing has changed, she still does all the normal cat stuff, cleans herslef, plays, eats regularly etc. She just cannot hold any fat/bulk and I worry it hurts when I try to give her some rubs and brushes and it's just all spine.
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Sep 11, 2021 18:10
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That's what is bothering me about the whole thing, I have to be getting incomplete information because the idea of just not doing anything about it is difficult for me to even wrap my mind around. Hahaha looking at thyrotoxicosis on the VCA website and it's talking about doing echocardiograms and loving thyroid scintigraphy. By trade, nuclear medicine is one of my professions and the idea of doing a thyroid uptake and scan on a cat is incredibly amusing. They have to be sedated for that, right? Asproigerosis fucked around with this message at 08:05 on Sep 12, 2021 |
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Sep 12, 2021 07:57
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Asproigerosis posted:That's what is bothering me about the whole thing, I have to be getting incomplete information because the idea of just not doing anything about it is difficult for me to even wrap my mind around. No one is doing scintigraphy as a routine test in cats. If there were concerns about ectopic thyroid tissue following thyroidectomy then maybe. Cats are typically diagnosed and monitored via blood testing. Either way, kitty needs some investigations.
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Sep 12, 2021 22:37
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Oh mystery solved my mom never brought her to the vet, just googled it. Told her to bring her to a vet and I will pay for everything.
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Sep 14, 2021 14:53
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I adopted my cat two years ago, at which time she had really severe overgrooming - no fur on her tail at all, covered in scabs, etc. Had a full workup done for allergies, apparently she is "sensitive" to dust/grass/etc but not "allergic" (I assume that's the same way I'm "sensitive" but not "allergic" to various skin products?). We attempted some kind of liquid-based treatment at the vet's recommendation, but this cat is extremely intolerant of being given medicine. I love her but the experience was way too traumatic for both of us to try that again. She's regularly treated for worms and fleas, has restricted outside access, is on a vet-recommended allergy diet, and is generally easily spooked and probably has cat-PTSD. The fact that it's gotten better makes me wonder if it's not at least partially stress/behavioral/habit-based. So, questions! 1) Is it a good idea to try to redirect her if I spot her repeatedly grooming a sore spot/biting her skin? I usually get gently chomped or swiped for my trouble, so I don't know if I'm just annoying her or if it'll eventually help. If so, what should I redirect her with? She usually just goes straight back to it. 2) Has anyone had experience with this and has any tips? Anything I might've overlooked? Here is the lady in question. Note her "stylish" arm patches. 
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Sep 18, 2021 12:35
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Any pet insurance recommendations? I had a cat that was on Banfield's optimal wellness plan but their prices kept going up significantly every year and it technically isn't even insurance -- it only applied at Banfield pet hospitals and I discovered any time a cat needed something more than a cleaning or checkup, Banfield would just point me in the direction of the local emergency room clinic. So I let the Banfield plan expire last month but am now looking at getting something new for my two cats.
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Sep 18, 2021 20:56
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mycelia posted:I adopted my cat two years ago, at which time she had really severe overgrooming - no fur on her tail at all, covered in scabs, etc. Had a full workup done for allergies, apparently she is "sensitive" to dust/grass/etc but not "allergic" (I assume that's the same way I'm "sensitive" but not "allergic" to various skin products?). We attempted some kind of liquid-based treatment at the vet's recommendation, but this cat is extremely intolerant of being given medicine. I love her but the experience was way too traumatic for both of us to try that again. She's regularly treated for worms and fleas, has restricted outside access, is on a vet-recommended allergy diet, and is generally easily spooked and probably has cat-PTSD. The fact that it's gotten better makes me wonder if it's not at least partially stress/behavioral/habit-based. So, questions! Do you have other cats/pets? One of my (now former, RIP Lola) cats would lick her belly/back of legs bare b/c of stress -- she was a cat who absolutely believed she was the Alpha kitty, even trying to boss the dog around on top of three other cats. So stress is definitely a possibly. Lola never got any sores from her licking, but if your kitty does, you should probably call your vet.
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Sep 24, 2021 05:58
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No other pets, just me, ~my wife~ and kitty. Not that I'm discounting stress, since she's pretty easily stressed out in general (sources of stress include: her reflection, humans walking close to her, closed doors...) Vet was pretty dismissive last time, but I'll try finding somewhere else. Thanks for the advice!
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Sep 24, 2021 12:03
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So our cat Toki injured his back leg last week when our other cat was chasing him. We took him in Monday to get the leg looked at and the doctor sent us home with 3 days worth of Onsior pain med. He also has a heart condition and is on Furosemide and Enelapril daily. The 3rd day of giving him Onsior I gave him all 3 meds at the same time as I forgot to give him the Onsior earlier in the day, about an hour later he threw up, this was on Wednesday. Yesterday he threw up a couple more times and was not eating at all so I took him into the vet and they did some blood work on him and determined he had some elevated GGT and bilirubin levels in his liver and was also dehydrated, they think it was likely a reaction to the Onsior meds. They gave him a subcutaneous water injection, a shot of Cerenia and gave us some appetite stimulant to rub on his ear. He's still not eating today but hasn't thrown up, I've been mixing his wet food with some water and giving it to him via syringe every few hours. Any idea how long nausea from a bad medication reaction can last? He took a really runny poop last night so I assume he still has an upset stomach. I'm hoping he starts eating on his own soon.
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Sep 24, 2021 18:24
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I have an 11 going on 12-year-old Mastiff/lab/pitbull mutt with mast cell cancer. About 4 months ago, we had a lump removed from his belly, another from his neck, and about 28 nodules of various sizes taken out of the inside of his mouth. He has grown a pretty alarming number of new lumps in a short period of time since then, but due to his age and how much trouble he had recovering from his last surgery we have basically decided to put him on comfort care. He has no issues walking, running, playing with our rear end in a top hat puppy, going to the bathroom, and generally enjoying himself as much as any senior dog can. Here is my issue. Over the last 5 days, he has become absolutely ravenous. He has gone from a decade of being completely trustworthy around food to raiding the trash, stealing entire bags of dog treats and loaves of bread out of the pantry, sneaking food off the counters, and when he can't find anything to steal he paces the house looking. Can cancer cause this kind of hunger in a dog? His weight hasn't changed in 6 years, he gets fed twice a day now. I am thinking of adding another small meal in around lunchtime. I am also considering chew toys, but anything smaller than about 8" long gets swallowed whole so I am not sure what would work for that. I want him to be comfortable, not feeling like he is starving nonstop. My vet basically isn't helpful beyond more tumor removal which isn't an option for him.
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Sep 26, 2021 16:29
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Not a vet, but when my 14 year old cat had the same problem, he had hyperthyroidism. It'll just take a blood test to diagnose and it's easy to manage.
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Sep 27, 2021 08:27
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Hi, quick question for y'all. My five year old cat had what looked like a small wound in her ear last night, and a little bit of "crust" around it, and today it looks much worse. We are taking her into the vet today, so don't worry, just in the mean time my partner is stressing the hell out about it. I was wondering if anyone could lemme know what this might be, so I can (hopefully) reassure my partner and keep her from being panicky all day until we get to the vet appointment. The cat doesn't seem too phased by it, she's not scratching at it, her behaviour isn't different, and while I havent touched the wound today, when I accidentally did last night she didn't seem very bothered. Image linked since it's a tiny bit gross. https://i.imgur.com/uRGoj65.jpg edit: accidentally poked it again while giving her scratches, didn't seem fussed. Obviously not tender/painful. Edit edit: took her to the vet, she now has an adorable cone of shame. Was just a cut that looked worse than it was and should be gone in a few days . Fashionable Jorts fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Oct 4, 2021 |
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Oct 4, 2021 16:06
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My cat had his thyroid and quite a few teeth out on Tuesday. He's taking it in his stride and enjoying being able to eat without pain. My question is for how long do I need to give him pain relief? He's got liquid medication and it's one dose every 24 hours but there's no indication of for how many days.
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Oct 8, 2021 23:46
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Lady Demelza posted:My cat had his thyroid and quite a few teeth out on Tuesday. He's taking it in his stride and enjoying being able to eat without pain. My question is for how long do I need to give him pain relief? He's got liquid medication and it's one dose every 24 hours but there's no indication of for how many days. You could probably stop from tomorrow and see how he gets on
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Oct 10, 2021 13:29
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YourCreation posted:You could probably stop from tomorrow and see how he gets on Thanks, will do.
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Oct 10, 2021 17:45
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My pup (3 months old) got his 3rd DHPP on 10/15. Is he good to start meeting other dogs (in a controlled environment)? He's a German Shepherd so the clock is ticking on socialization.
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Oct 24, 2021 18:14
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Would love some internet vets to take a look at a small growth on my dogs ladyparts. She's about a 10 year old beagle mix. We did have two smalls growth removed in the last 5 years that turned out to be mast cell tumors, but they did not spread and have not reoccured - but thats why we're a bit worried.  First noticed it about a week ago. It has not increased in size. When its not ultra zoomed in for a photo I'd say its about the size of a kernel of corn.
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Nov 8, 2021 03:16
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I have an 11-year old Corgi with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease, and our vet prescribed aluminum hydroxide as a "phosphate binder" to keep the level of phosphate in his blood down, since high phosphate can make him less interested in food. They told us to mix the daily amount into his food, but since he seems more interested in drinking than eating these days I'm wondering if I can mix the powder into his water instead. I imagine that the aluminum is the phosphate binding part here, but I don't know if it binds as the Al3+ cation or if it needs to still have some OH- ions on there as well. I've resigned myself to him dying pretty soon, this idea just came to me and I at least want him to feel not terrible when we put him down 
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Nov 12, 2021 00:00
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As long as it gets into the stomach...
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Nov 13, 2021 00:20
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After two blockages in the last 18 months we're looking to get a perineal urethstolomy on our cat early next year. I know prices vary by region and all but is there kind of am expected average? The local ER quotes $3-3.5k but they tend to have an 'ER' upcharge, they charged us twice what our vet does to unblock and keep him for observation. Also I know companies exist for credit lines to cover procedures, are a good idea or kind of scam?
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Nov 13, 2021 19:04
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Macdeo Lurjtux posted:After two blockages in the last 18 months we're looking to get a perineal urethstolomy on our cat early next year. I know prices vary by region and all but is there kind of am expected average? The local ER quotes $3-3.5k but they tend to have an 'ER' upcharge, they charged us twice what our vet does to unblock and keep him for observation. Care credit is a fantastic resource provided you are confident in your ability to pay it off within the zero interest period.
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Nov 14, 2021 01:38
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Slugworth posted:Very hard to say, as you pointed out due to regional differences, but 3.5 is high sounding. I'd expect mid 2000s. That being said, it's a procedure I wouldn't recommend bargain hunting for too much. Make sure whoever does it has done a bunch, successfully. Thanks, it's not for bargain hunting but more to know how much to start putting aside. The vet has a surgeon they use so I have confidence in that, but he has a bit of a waiting list so they didn't want to speak for him with an estimate.
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Nov 15, 2021 18:37
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 My sweet dumb cat ghost has been peeing outside of her litter box. took her to the vet today, her bladder was too small to take a UA, vet prescribed amoxicillin and some cat Prozac because we weren't sure if it was a bladder infection or a stress issue. i had just gotten new couches and she peed on and near them so I figured it was new environment stress but she did it for a few days after. about an hour after getting home from the vet she peed in my drat laundry basket and I was able to see quite clearly reddish residue. I was supposed to go on a trip Friday morning and was going to have someone come check on the cats a couple of times a day. i can't decide how terrible of an idea it would be to go. probably pretty terrible considering ive spent most of the last two days going from room to room cleaning up cat piss. ive answered my own question but already typed all this out. so, veteranarily speaking, between the new couch and the trip is this the shittiest timing for a minor health issue of all time? Ghislaine of YOSPOS fucked around with this message at 07:47 on Dec 2, 2021 |
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Dec 2, 2021 06:57
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I'm struggling to get any useful information and hopeful that someone here who knows more about cats than I do can offer any insight: 5-6ish year old rescue tortoiseshell cat, history of bladder issues (but managed with a vet recommended diet.) Recently she's been throwing up several times a day, both with food in her stomach and on an empty stomach. After several x-rays and blood tests, vets have found no cause for it They tested for (maybe more, but this is what I can remember): Diabetes Liver failure Pancreatitis Hyperthydroidism X-rays for foreign objects Physical exam by vet (cat showed no signs of pain/distress or any physical signs the vet could see of intestinal/stomach issues physically) Nothing came back looking weird, other than that she has a slight heart murmur which is new but they said is unrelated. They gave her an anti-nausea shot and she was okay for a few days, but then the vomiting started again. The only thing they recommend now is exploratory surgery. The odd thing is that she still has an appetite, is behaving completely normally, and has actually gained a pound of weight since last vet visit several months ago (11 pounds up from 10) so it doesn't seem like it's severely affecting her health. Beyond the obvious fact that persistent vomiting is obviously never good. Other than letting them cut open and dig around inside this cat, is there anything I should ask my vet about? Given her lack of distress, I kind of wanted to see if there was an anti-nausea medication that was safe to use for a week or two to see if that helps her digestive system chill out if it's an inflammation issue from a foreign object she ate but passed.
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Dec 2, 2021 22:30
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There could be a number of causes. Chronic pancreatitis, food allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, partial intestinal obstruction. An exploratory surgery will allow them to get biopsies of the intestines and lymph nodes to see if there is evidence of IBD or cancer. Alternatively, you could to a medicine specialist and get a consult with them and they may offer a diet trial or endoscopy. A good start would be measuring some B12 levels and trying a novel protein diet and seeing what happens.
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Dec 3, 2021 16:28
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Thanks for the thoughts. We got her back to the vet, did some more bloodwork. Nothing came up again. They put her on an intestinal friendly diet. She hasn't thrown up in about 48+ hours, is pooping and peeing normally. It might be too early to say we're out of the woods yet but I think we might be getting better. Any chance it was just some kind of kitty flu or something? Still never found anything in her poop or vomit. Here's hoping she stays the course!
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Dec 4, 2021 21:37
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Hello. Need help concerning administering pills to cats. I am part of a cat shelter's med team, and getting my feet wet. After medding like 5 cats easily/quickly, I got a fairly sweet cat foaming and pissed at me, was able to pill them, but it really wasn't pretty. I had to try multiple times, then towel her. I got bit, I bled. I know now to not open a cat's mouth from anywhere besides the front teeth. That being said here have to be ways to make it quicker/easier. The shelter's piller devices are not wieldy at all , I thought maybe buying my own pilling gun/syringe would help me get the process done quickly/smoothly. What's a good place to shop for such devices and what are things to avoid/look for?
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Dec 7, 2021 04:56
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A better question is how can you avoid pilling at all. It's a pretty negative experience for most animals. I appreciate that some meds may be critical and need to be given, but you will never fight a cat and win (and if you do was it worth it). There are things like the Pill Putty, EzyPill, or other tasty foods. Also consider if you can use a liquid formulation instead of a pill. I will assume you're in the USA so you can get medications compounded pretty easily. What medications are you giving on a regular basis? Here's a good guide from Sophia Yin: https://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/medicating-a-grumpy-cat-you-love-part-1/
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Dec 8, 2021 13:22
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Alexithymia posted:Hello. Need help concerning administering pills to cats. I am part of a cat shelter's med team, and getting my feet wet. After medding like 5 cats easily/quickly, I got a fairly sweet cat foaming and pissed at me, was able to pill them, but it really wasn't pretty. I had to try multiple times, then towel her. I got bit, I bled. I know now to not open a cat's mouth from anywhere besides the front teeth. That being said here have to be ways to make it quicker/easier. https://www.amazon.com/Jorgensen-Pet-Piller/dp/B0002ZAG84/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=jorgensen+pet+piller&qid=1639094323&s=pet-supplies&sr=1-2 This is the piller we use at home for our cats. We put everything we can in a capsule and we're on our second bag of 1,000 count capsules so we've had good results with it. We had a kitty with chronic pancreatitis so she was getting like cerenia, pantoprazole, and/or ondansatron at different times and putting them all in to a single capsule made it a lot easier. In other news, we found out one cat has small cell lymphoma, when our puppy was going in to get spayed they heard a heart murmur that they didn't hear a couple months ago when she had her FHO so she's seeing a cardiologist tomorrow, and our dog with a sterile abscess from a necrotic lipoma we were planning to get removed at the end of the month was in pain so we took her in and they found a nodule on her spleen, so she's got emergency surgery tomorrow to remove the abscessed lipoma and spleen. Just praying to whatever is out there it's benign since it doesn't look like the nodule was causing the pain/issues, just the abscess.
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Dec 10, 2021 01:07
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What's a reliable online pet pharmacy? They all sell Heartgard a lot cheaper than my vet, but I tried Walmart Pet Rx and my order sat in "Pending Fulfillment" for over a week before I just cancelled it and bought locally.
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Dec 10, 2021 20:43
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Our puppy has pulmonary stenosis and cor triatrium dexter. We're going in for a ct scan next week and scheduling surgery within a couple weeks. The cardiologist seemed optimistic about surgical treatment, but it appears to be a pretty rare thing.
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Dec 10, 2021 21:31
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Our kitties have feline herpes. Not a huge deal, except one of them has been coughing and sneezing a lot lately. I figure she just got stressed or something. Otherwise she's doing great. At what point do I take her to our vet to get checked out? Other than additional probiotics, what can I do to support her immune system? Other relevant info; She's about 7 months old and is a very fit and muscular 8 lbs. We have other cats, 2 adults and her brother. All have feline herpes (yay animal shelter) but other than occasional eye goop, the others are not showing any current symptoms. No other pets in house. The adult cats come and go as they please, but the kittens only get to go outside under our supervision for a couple hours each night. All have been seen by our vet a couple months ago for vaccines and annual exams. All were in great health at the time, no worms. All kitties get revolution flea drops which also prevent ticks and worms. We also constantly run an air filter in our house since I have asthma and allergies, so I don't think it's allergy related. There's also a colony of feral and stray cats outside that we feed and care for. When we initial caught and TNR'd the bunch, all were given all cat vaccines, not just rabies. We flea drop, worm and vaccinate the ones that we can catch. There are a couple that are truly wild that we can't interact with at all and that are too smart to get caught by the traps. All look like they're in good health. They do interact with our adult cats. Sorry to impose. Our local vets are just stupid busy and completely overwhelmed right now. It's really hard to get in. We have 3 different vets that we use and all are booked out about 2 months in advance. The only way to get her seen in a reasonable amount of time would be to spend a whole day sitting around at the e vet, and she's just not that sick.
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Dec 14, 2021 02:11
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My dog recently had a mast cell tumor removed. Got the pathology report back today - the good news is that its low grade, no sign of spread, the bad news is that one of the margins wasn't entirely clean so they want to go back in and be a bit more aggressive in resecting the tissue. Odd question, but is that typically something we pay full price for?
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Dec 14, 2021 23:41
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Upgrade posted:My dog recently had a mast cell tumor removed. Got the pathology report back today - the good news is that its low grade, no sign of spread, the bad news is that one of the margins wasn't entirely clean so they want to go back in and be a bit more aggressive in resecting the tissue. Odd question, but is that typically something we pay full price for? If it's one where they left surgery that day going "hmm, I wonder if I should have gone a little further..", they may cut you a deal. Be polite and reasonable either way, keeping in mind that everything could have been done absolutely text book and still yielded this result.
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Dec 15, 2021 15:35
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Thanks that’s helpful. I’m just happy that there’s no spread and this is the lowest grade. The incision did seem really small (we’ve had other mast cells removed), and it was the tiniest little dot on my dogs skin - so I do wonder if they weren’t as aggressive. Obviously I can’t tell what was cut inside!
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Dec 16, 2021 17:03
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Quick question for the thread that I can't find answers to via searching. It is quite cold outside, -30C or -22F. When I take my dog outside, she's pretty fine with the cold until she goes pee. Then she seems to get uncomfortable, she constantly looks back at her body, sits down, and will even make half-hearted attempts to lick her crotch. This only happens when its around these temperatures, at -20ish she's fine, when she gets back inside the house she's fine. Pooping is fine, only urination causes issues. If I had to make a guess, she's getting droplets of urine frozen onto her body that is painful/uncomfortable. My questions are; is my guess at what's happening close to what is actually going on? And if anyone else has a dog who has similar issues, was there anything that you could do to relieve some of the discomfort?
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Dec 25, 2021 18:35
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My 6 year old kitty Noodle and I had a very stressful Christmas. He was vomiting and refusing to eat for days, but they didn't find anything at the regular vet. It got to where he couldn't even hold down water at all, so I had to take him to the ER the day before Christmas Eve. They couldn't see any foreign objects on the x-rays or sonogram, but his stomach was inflamed and the barium they gave him got stuck in his colon, so they decided to do exploratory surgery at 2 AM on Christmas morning. They didn't find any objects, just a lot of very hard poop and a lot of hair which they removed. He is now home and doing fine, and finally eating a little bit again. I have to give him a bunch of medication multiple times a day which he absolutely hates, but he's also happy and relieved to finally be home after three days in the scary hospital. The vet didn't say anything about how to prevent this from happening again. Maybe I should put him on a higher fiber diet? He eats dry food during the day and splits a can of wet food with his brother every night, but maybe he needs more wet food? He does like to drink water and is always stealing sips out of my cups, so I'm not sure why he was jam-packed with rock hard poop. This whole fiasco cost me $5,600 in total. Cat tax: Noodle is the orange one. 
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Dec 26, 2021 22:30
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It would be worth checking in with your family vets once they're back open for business. One for follow up to see how his surgical site is healing and two to come up with a long term plan. Did they definitely say the barium was stuck in the colon? Anything in the colon will usually come up and doesn't require surgery. Your cat may have had some pancreatitis/hepatitis/cholangiohepatitis etc. Would be worth getting your family vets to review the records and give a second opinion so that you can better understand everything that happened.
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Dec 27, 2021 13:33
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