I adopted my three-year-old female dog from the shelter last week and was told when adopting her that she needed to stay an extra day to be spayed. I picked her up the next day from the clinic and was sent home with medication and a cone. When seeing her roll over the first time, I noticed that her scar seemed faded to me. It looks like it’s at least several months old, not from a recent surgery. I called the shelter a few days later, put in an inquiry and they confirmed that she had had surgery on the day I picked her up. The spay was included with her adoption, so I’m not worried about being charged for it, but I don’t want to wait for a recovery that she doesn’t need. Am I being delusional, is this what the new scar should actually look like?

Belly picture:

https://imgur.com/a/yG1Xe2V

Edit: to clarify that the spay was free with adoption.

my vet recommended boiled chicken and boiled beef (no seasoning obviously) as my cat’s main diet for life, with tiny amounts of vegetables (pumpkin, zucchini, or carrot) occasionally and commercial cat food only as treats. he told me this is what he recommends to all of his clients and that in his experience, cats do better on it. my beautiful void who is a very active kitty already, has actually become even more active, more affectionate, lost weight in a healthy way, and her coat is shedding less since switching.

so.. is this considered a nutritionally complete long term diet? has anyone else’s vet recommended something similar? i’m honestly confused and torn

EDIT:

i just wanted to say thank you to everyone that took the time to reply. we will never go back to that vet again and i will transition her back to her previous diet of schesir complete dry and wet food. i appreciate everyone’s help and support, it brought me a lot of comfort since i was worried ❤️

I am in the process of adopting a dog and feel conflicted. The rescue didn’t share with me until later in the adoption process that the dog is heartworm positive. She’s received a proheart injection and then a course of steroids and now a course of doxycycline. Is this adequate treatment? Everything I’m reading suggests the dog should get melarsomine injections to kill the adult worms. I know there are different protocols for treating heartworm though. Im also just feeling pretty weird about the fact that they didn’t mention the heartworm until all the formal adoption paperwork was filled out and a fee exchanged. The dog is being transported from TX to the northeast.

Our cat had got detected a cyst about a year ago, which was thought to be harmless as it did not grew anymore. We thought everything is super ok, and she'll be our good old lady for many more years.

Now, about a year later, she started to cough frequently like an asthma cough 4 weeks ago, which we know quite well from her brother who had asthma (but died under different and not related circumstances 3 years ago). So we thought ok maybe she also now gets asthma, but lets go to the vet anyways and check it up. They did a X-ray ofc, and the result is shattering. Something else grew there in hear chest, and is taking up her lung space. This is fucked up. We should decide in 24-48 hrs what to do. They COULD do CT and maybe surgery bla and whatnot. But she is 14 years old, had a great live, even insured, but to be honest, we do not want to send her through such an oddyssee, where only god knows what the outcome will be. Maybe she even won't survive the anesthesia, who knows.

She's doing well as usual, eats well, just doing her stuff, chilling with our two other cats, meowing at night lol, even play a bit, as she's an old lady but still cats. I mean, she's totally she as she was as usual. Maybe a 30 sec coughing, and then smiles. So what the doc said, to decide so.. fast, just really makes me super stressed.

I am very very sure, we WILL see and detect ANY change in her well-being, we always did and always do. I know this is probably very much the end, a surgery would be awful for her and us as well, and she's not the youngest anymore. So I somewhat already accepted, I have to, that this is it. But I als don't want her to suffocate suddenly or stuff like that. I am unsure in as how fast I really should decide to put her down.

bottom picture is from March 2025, top from today.
https://imgur.com/a/RD6J9Im

My poor cat (4yo sf), who has been THROUGH it in the last three months, got dx with antibiotic resistant Pseudemonas Aerguinosa in her bladder via urine culture. They put her on 1/4 tab Bactrim PO q12. She has been on it for 3ish weeks, I believe. It's miserable pilling her twice a day. Nobody has fun. She also has Lar Par so it's a little scary. The meds do seem to be working but I was wondering if anybody has seen this and if there could be alternative treatments that aren't PO? Her resistance test shows R for everything except Tylosin and Sulfonamide.

Liver and kidneys are good but she was anemic in April and had to have a transfusion.

Any thoughts?

Is this normal?

I rescued a male cat 9 months ago (the vet guessed he was about a year old at the time) and he has this weird thing where he only pees once a day ish and he will pee for like a minute straight (I haven't timed him but it feels like a LONG time every time)

He has good water intake, he doesn't seem to be strained, there's always what looks like a good size puddle, always in the litterbox (or garden), never vocalised in the litter box, his weight is good, good appetite, his coat is good, hes not lethargic.

So all in all, looks normal except the one weird thing but I know cats are good at masking their pain.

So I just wanna know, am i overthinking this? Do i need to take him to the vet?

TLDR: Should I take my cat to the vet if my male cat pees for a long time but otherwise looks in good health?

Hello,

I am being told by an animal hospital/ER that the below text is the surgical report for our cat. I don't really want to go into a lot of extra detail right now as I feel like this case will require me to ask other questions unrelated to the main topic/question of what an actual surgical record/report should include, but I really just need some help on determining if this is standard and what the vets out there would say is a sufficient surgical report, especially one that ended in death? I tried reaching out to the medical director of the facility to confirm that this is what they consider a surgical report and received no response. The same text below was included the same day (within a few hours of all this happening) in an overall report to us under "Clinic Notes / Specifics", which leads me to believe there should be a longer surgical report that would have been done in the days that followed.

* Species: Cat
* Age: almost 17
* Sex/Neuter status: F/Spayed
* Breed: DSH
* Body weight: 8lbs
* History: N/A - surgery related records question
* Clinical signs: Visual = Labored breathing, not in respiratory distress. Chest tap = Suspected chylothorax.
* Duration: N/A - surgery related records question
* Your general location: TX, USA
* Links to any test results, X-rays, vet reports etc. that you have: See text below. I have a larger set of documentation, but it isn't directly applicable to the question I have right now as I am hoping there is something more substantial for a surgery report that can help drive other questions as right now I am having to piecemeal things together from several other documents.

<<<BEGIN>>>

Procedures performed:
Median sternotomy and pleural debridement

A ventral midline approach was made to the thorax.  Copious thickened debris was present in the mediastinum and adhered to the thoracic wall, diaphragm, pericardium and lungs.  No lung abscesses or foreign objects were found.  The gross debris was removed with a combination of digital dissection, rubbing with gauze, and lavage.

 The thorax was lavaged and a 12 French chest tube was placed and secured to the skin with 3-0 Ethilon  with a purse string and finger trap pattern on both sides of the chest. 

Closure: #1 PDS for sternebrae, 2-0 PDS pectoralis s cont, 4-0 Monocryl s cont subcutis and skin staples.

Nocita:       YES    
Thoracotomy Level 1: Lateral thoracotomy, transdiaphragmatic or transxiphoid thoracotomy

<<<END>>>

Any help with this question would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance! :)

Vet said it is a fracture, crate for 2 weeks, and pain meds. It should heal fine. She only weighs 3.2 pounds. X-rayI just want to be sure we did not miss something on x-ray and if I should have requested a splint. She does try to walk on it. It happened over the weekend.

Hello, my cat has been sick for like 2 weeks and we already went to a vet but they only gave medicines and checked for viruses. It's been 2 weeks ( or more ) but he's still not eating. He drinks water and he sometimes eats but it's only in a small portion and only eats like every other day, or sometimes when it has been 3 days. I try to force feed him ( the vet says to do it ) but he mostly spits it out. Please help me

My 5 year old neutered male cat was recently diagnosed FIV positive after weeks of bloody gums that did not respond to any antibiotics or steroids.

His most recent test showed so few white blood cells that the machine could not even count them.

The vet gave him 2 months to live without trying any real FIV treatment.

I refused to give up and researched everything myself. I found that Virbagen Omega (an EU licensed feline interferon) is the correct treatment for his situation. But I cannot afford it right now.

He is currently in pain, hardly eating even soft food (significant weight loss, from around 5 kg to 3.8 kg in half a year). Even yawning hurts him.

I am looking for:

• Any advice from people who have been through FIV with critically low WBC
• Whether anyone knows affordable sources for Virbagen Omega in Europe
• Any cheap immune support that genuinely helped your FIV cat
• Any pain management tips for severe stomatitis at home
• Anyone who has used AZT (Zidovudine) or human interferon alternatives for their cat

I am so thankful for any advice or tips.

Thank you. 🤍

Im from Serbia, Europe.

Hi everyone -

This is my first time posting because this is the first solo pet I've ever had without my family. I've had my female tabby (Dom. Shorthair) Pepper for 15 years, but she was estimated to be ~1 year at the shelter I adopted her from so she is about 16 years old. She's about 8 lb at the moment, but she usually runs from 9-11 lb.

We've recently noticed she's been losing weight so we had her re-checked and bloods done. Her thyroid reads on the higher side, but it's managed with Methimazole and we've kept a close eye on it. Kidneys are slightly elevated but not abnormal for her age. We've also had to address some behavioral issues because my younger cats are not nice to her (breaks my heart!). All part 1 records here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LqNxoCnAtrAOW0Z6q-oHKrKlSSI0W2pH/view?usp=sharing

A few weeks ago we had her re-checked for weight loss and to monitor her thyroid. We were told that this office has done what it could and we should seek an internist. While we addressed the behavioral issues, we were researching our next steps. Unfortunately, in that span of time, Pepper has crashed a bit - lethargy, not eating consistently. We took her to the ER (which was also the internist referral) and we spent almost 8 hours there with not much of an update. We learned her liver is also now elevated to around 700. We were told to come back today for an ultrasound. She came back an entirely different cat - she is exhausted and slow and just wants to be in bed. I will provide these records as soon as they send over.

I can't decide if going back for the ultrasound will be harder on her stress-wise or if it's worth going in to see if there's something we can possibly help her with. I had a cat live to 23 when I was a kid so my standards might be off!

Again, I appreciate your time. My hat's off to everyone who works in this profession and I'm always grateful for your perspectives!

My girl is 9 months old and weights 2.5kg, she is a small cat with a low appetite. She has never been food motivated, I’ve tried lots of brands and types of food and she always eats a few mouth fulls and walks off. Roughly half of her wet food goes in the bin daily. She free feeds kibble. I try to give her half a tub of kitten pate in the evening but have to spoon feed her to get her to eat it.

She has started shaking her head for the last week. I cleaned her ears with some Hypoclorous acid on cotton pads and the vet looked in her ears but couldn’t see anything. I will give her spot on flea and worm treatment tomorrow.

She also pants after intense zoomies, not all the time but I’ve seen her do it maybe 5 times now in the space of the last month. I’m worried she’s not eating / not growing / small because she has a heart defect or something? She is a sweet playful girl who just got spayed last week and is recovering from that so I’m trying not to over excite her but usually we play a lot. I have to put treats in her food to get her in to the idea of eating and she LOVES churu but I’m finding myself having to bribe her to eat and drink with them. Not great practice.

Does any of this sound normal or alarming?

My parents dog got bit in his neck by another dog while they were on vacation, they went to a vet and they did surgery 4 days ago. When they got back home yesterday they went to their local vet for a check-up and he immediatly removed the drainage tube leaving a big gaping wound, which he said was alright.

Today i went to visit my parents and the dog looked terrible, he's constantly scratching the wounds from the bite and tube, he's going through the bushes and rolling in the dirt. And while i was there he was suddenly gone, we found him in a hole he dug under a bush, he was sitting there for about 30 minutes and when he finally came out he was shaking and breathing heavily constantly, he was also very restless, constantly moving around.

I told my mother we had to take him back to the vet right away but she said it's normal. After a while he did relax a little more but he still acted really strange and he was still shaking constantly. He was still eating and drinking a little when offered. My mother also said he wasn't acting that strange the previous days, it started today, 4 days after surgery.

Does anyone have an experience like this, is it really normal? He's on pain killers and antibiotics.

My 3 year old bernedoodle obessively licks his butt and paws. If we don't use a cone he'll do it all the time without fail. The cone seems to be the only things that gets him to stop, but when it comes off it's like a knee jerk reaction to go back to the licking.

We've had him on Apoquel for quite a while and have transitioned him onto an HA vegetarian diet with Purina. Things don't seem to be getting better. We're on our 2nd vet to find a solution and have had countless appointments over the last two years or so. It used to happen here and there, but now it's just all the time. I'm starting to feel hlepless because if professionals can't get to the bottom of it, how can I?

I'm looking for advice. We have a little one due in one month and I'm worried this will add to the stress. I just want his quality of life to improve and don't want him to go through this anymore. Even his ears smell yeasty and are itchy sometimes depsite daily cleaning. We bathe him at least once per week, wash his paws after walks, etc. We are exhausted! Please help.

A very sweet little kitty showed up on my porch two weeks ago and we bonded. I set up a special room for him in my house to quarantine away from our other kitty, and today I finally gained enough trust with him to get him in a carrier and took him to the vet this morning. (It was not hard, this kitty is a sweet cup of sugar)

Unfortunately while we were at the vet he had a faint positive for feline leukemia on their rapid test and I am freaking out.

Is there a chance this is a false positive? If it isn’t is it possible for him to clear the infection? I have heard that young cats have the chance of clearing it and he is estimated to be under a year old.

How can I best help him and keep my other healthy cat (who is fully vaccinated) safe?

So far I have our stray kitty fully quarantined in a separate room, with a towel blocking the edge of the door just in case, and they have entirely separate food, litter boxes, and toys. He wants a lot of love and pets- is it enough for me to wash my hands and change clothes after I pet him or should I shower before touching my healthy cat?

We are waiting for the confirmation test and should have that in 1-2 days. If it is positive should we wait to see if he clears the infection? Or should we try to rehome him immediately?

Thank you for your help!

EDIT: editing to add that he does not have any outward symptoms of an infection and is otherwise in very good health, aside from being too skinny

i got home from a 2 day camping trip to find literal bloody cat diarrhea splattered all over my bathroom. i look closer and in the bloody stool is a tampon applicator. i have two cats, brother and sister. they’re 2 years old and are bad af. usually it’s my girl cat who likes to poop in the bathroom lol but I think it might be my boy cat who ate the tampon. he’s usually super energetic but he’s been very odd since i got home, barely greated me at the door and stuff. i checked his butthole and it is RED like badly. girl cat hasn’t come out from under the bed which is worrying too, so i havent got to check her butt yet.

at first i didn’t think it was that big of a deal i was more pissed because wtf did i come home to. they’ve eaten actual tampons before and been okay and they’re weird cats who eat weird things all the time. but then i got to googling and this seems more serious? my mom says it’s just his butthole that is bleeding from passing the applicator, but im worried it may be something internally. im not sure how harmful tampon applicators really are. nobody is taking this really serious. i can get them in the vet but its like $300 and im afraid my mom will think im being overdramatic about this and will be like “im not spending $300 on these dumb cats”

i will take them and pay, i just want to know if SHOULD. or since he passed the applicator is it okay? im very worried, ive called a bunch of places i just need internet peoples opinion now lol.

My dog woke up on the 9th June with suddenly balance issues mostly when shaking his head I took him straight to the vets and he was given a full exam, ear swabs taken nothing found but yeast. No common vestibular symptoms found but was told it could be the issue was given Prednicare but little improvement over a week. Took him back to the vets the following Friday and was given Zenrelia ears were clear still no change after the weekend. Visited the vets again the Monday we agreed for a X-ray on head and ear plus skin sample and blood test everything came back clear was given cortavance topical and almost immediately saw a huge improvement. The past couple of days I’ve noticed him really scratching at his ears, went back to the vets ears looked in, swabs taken only a small amount of bacteria found but nothing to be worried about. All night my dog was scratching at his ears, very uncomfortable and was ready to go out of hours when all of a sudden a dark brown lump came out his ear when he shook his head. It was about the size of grain of rice, was very soft but had a strange eggy sweet smell which was quite unpleasant. Could this possibly of been the issue. Since the lump came out he hasn’t itched or shook his head. I feel bad to visiting the vets as I’m taking time away from other animals as I was only seen less the 24hrs ago. I’ve checked the outside of his ears during the day and I’ve noticed no discharge and the ear smells completely fine.

My 8 year old cat has been having recurring calicivirus/upper respiratory infections for more than 6 years now. It’s been a constant battle of him being on antibiotics, steroids and nasal drops. After treatment, he’s fine for a couple months (if we’re lucky) but then it comes right back.

I’d be open to switching his food but I haven’t had luck with finding something that checks all the boxes. I want food intended for a senior cat that addresses kidney issues as well as being immunocompromised.

Is there anything anyone can recommend? Even supplements?

Has anyone dealt with this and found something that actually helps? I am located in Canada.

Thanks in advance!

My dog has eye surgery mid August and I’d love help deciding whether to do pre-op blood work. For context, I was laid off June 3 so I’m trying to avoid costs as much as possible, she is 3 years old and has undergone two successful surgeries since January with no complications (she’s a new rescue). The surgeon is asking for a copy of her bloodwork from within the last 6-12 months, is saying its recommended but not mandatory. I contacted the rescue and it turns out they didn’t do pre-op blood work before her latest 2 surgeries (sterilization & soft palette surgeries). I’m having no luck securing a job so I want to avoid spending $300 on bloodwork if I can. One of her eyes has recently been infected on and off so maybe this makes blood work more important? I’d love some help deciding! Thanks so much.

I have a 12 year old beagle and I am at an absolute loss with how to manage his behavior. In recent years his behavior has been declining but it’s currently so bad it’s causing problems in my marriage. Here is a list of what we’ve been dealing with:

1. Peeing and pooping in crate. Eating and drinking it. Throwing it up. Eating that. Laying in it. I’m home with him almost everyday and he has easy access to go outside. 
2. He will finish his breakfast/dinner and immediately runs to the crate to poop unless supervised. If we keep the crate shut he’ll poop in front of it.
3. He is extremely aggressive with his crate. He has bit me and my husband and broken the skin and left bruises. Especially when he has pooped in it and we need to take him out to clean him. 
4. Snapping at our infant on more than one occasion. We have to keep them separate which he hates but we have no choice. He basically only has the kitchen and a hallway to hang out in during the day because we have to put our child’s safety first and we live in a 2 bedroom apartment. 
5. Pacing and constant whining. Extremely clumsy and falls in his poop/pee unless on grass. Steps in it constantly. Can’t go up and down stairs due to clumsiness. 
6. Extremely reactive to other dogs. Gets into altercations with our other dog especially in the crate. 
7. Runs and barks in his sleep so intensely his body physically leaves the ground. Very difficult to wake him and he will bite you. He shakes the crate with his running so much it moves away from the wall. It wakes us up at night and disturbs our other dog who will bark because he’s being woken up. 
8. Non-stop licking people himself and furniture like compulsively. 

These behaviors existed before we had a child but really ramped up after she was born. We tried dedicating individual time to just him every day and increasing his outdoor time and it didn’t help - he would get inside from being out for an hour+ and immediately poop in the house. We tried to rehome him with my sister-in-law because she loves and is obsessed with him but she had to give him back as these behaviors continued with her and were causing issues in her relationship. 

This is causing issues in my own marriage because my husband doesn’t want to give up on him and is being extremely selfish in my opinion. He goes to work all day and I am the one stuck dealing with this by myself and this dog has no quality of life. Most importantly he is a danger to my child and I’m pregnant again and won’t be able to manage this on my own for much longer. 

We are taking him to the vet for his annual next weekend. Several people in our lives have told us we need to put this dog down and that we can’t rehome a dog that bites but he doesn’t want to hear it. I will never get a pet with this man again I am at an absolute loss as to what to do here. Any advice about what to ask the vet at our appointment is welcome or just what I should do.

I got this sweet girl back in April and when I adopted her i knew she was completing URI antibiotics. After finishing them she seemed to be doing ok.

A week later she sarted to sneeze again and then one day I came home and she had boogers crusted over her nose and her eyes were super crusty. I ended up taking her to the urgent care and she was put on antibiotics again. She was put on doxycycline. I completed that and it helped. Then a week and a half or two weeks later it seemed to just come back so I took her to the vet again. This vet was just thinking that it didn’t fully get cleared up and gave me a steroid and doxycycline again. This seemed to have work. Then about 2-3 weeks again her sneezing and crusted over nose with boogers was back. I take her to the vet again and they prescribed cerenia nasal drops and pill and amxiclav. I did this for about 5 days and still saw no change. I emailed the vet and she sent in azithromycin to try. I did the full 10 days of this and still have not seen a change. I really at a loss here and don’t want to keep paying vet bills over and over. I would love advice.

I also have another cat and she has no symptoms.
Her boogers and green/yellow.

Hey I’m not sure if this is the right sub for this but on Sunday my cat was throwing up and was pretty warm and I just kinda presumed it was a stomach bug or shed gotten on the counter and ate her old food before I tipped it away or something the point being it wasn’t really concerning to me what is concerning is that she basically hasn’t eaten since
On monday she ate half a slice of chicken
On Tuesday she ate half of a weebox treat
On Wednesday she ate another half of a weebox treat
I took her to the vet today and they said they arent concerned as her gums are a normal colour her lungs and heart sounded fine and her stomach felt fine she’s dropped 0.3kg but that’s to be expected and that doesn’t take her to a concerning weight and just have her an antisickness injection incase she felt nauseous however they did say if she isn’t eating properly by Friday they will have to run more serious tests like scans and blood tests which I’m obviously hoping to avoid because that won’t be a nice experience for either of us and I also just don’t want to have to keep worrying about her
She has never really been a drinker I presumed she got all her hydration from her food but she has started drinking since not eating and she’s acting perfectly normal I went to the shop and bought every food on the shelf and she isn’t interested in any of them,isn’t interested in her usual food,things she loves,things she hates, none of it

Honestly just hoping to see if anyone has any ideas to get her eating again

Senior doggy has a tiny bit of blood when his bladder is empty and then he pees. The first couple of times when he pees I don't see any blood but in the 3rd then there's a couple of drops .To be clear he hasn't needed to go potty extra, it's just that he has always liked to mark a lot of things in our backyard. We took him in for an appointment and they did a blood and urine test, both came back good. The doctor said she did see a little blood in his urine but wasn't concerned. He has another appointment soon. He has had great energy and appetite. He seems to feel fine.