I’m in quite a tricky situation, and I need to know if I’m overreacting. I’m attaching the email I sent to the urgent care clinic so I won’t explain everything again here, but here’s the gist:

Penny, 8 y/o FS DMH, experienced a complete urethral obstruction caused by a bladder stone on July 3rd, 2026. She underwent an emergency cystotomy after retropulsion was used to flush the stone back into the bladder.

Here’s the tricky part: I took Penny to an urgent care clinic on April 25th for an unrelated issue. Her radiographs showed significant abnormalities within the bladder, which were neither identified nor addressed by the veterinarian we saw. I discovered the stone on the radiograph myself. When I called back to express my concerns, I was essentially told, “yep there’s definitely stones in there, but you don’t need to worry about it yet because she’s female and obstruction is practically unheard of.” Two months later, she became obstructed.

I understand that obstruction was extremely unlikely, and I understand that many cats with uroliths live completely normal lives without intervention, and there was no way to predict the future complications. However, I can’t help but think about how the outcome could’ve been different had the stone been identified on the radiograph, or if I’d been advised to address the issue in a timely manner.

I sent my initial email on July 5th and have yet to receive a response. I plan on calling and asking to speak with the practice manager if I haven’t heard back by the end of the week.

Although I explicitly stated I wasn’t seeking reimbursement in the email, I do plan on requesting partial compensation if appropriate. It took a while for the financial impact to hit me, but it did, and it hit me HARD. $8,000 is an incomprehensible amount of money for me, and on top of my student loans, I’m going to be in debt for a long, long time. I’m just not sure how to initiate the conversation to request reimbursement.

I’m just at a loss right now. But, more than anything, I’m glad my baby is alive. I’d appreciate any insights or thoughts on this situation.

(Not a minor, in the U.S.)

Info: im 27 but i live with my mom and whatever she says goes when it comes to our cats (she thinks she knows better because her way of doing things has worked so far). Canada, vet available but my mom does everything she can to avoid seeing one because we dont have a lot of money so if we have to see a vet i think i would have to pay for it and idk if i can do that... one of them is 1 year old, the other im not sure but adult (we are pet sitting her) both females and neutered.

Two of our cats have been throwing up a lot the past 2-3 days, mom thinks they ate one of her (toxic) plants since its missing some leaves. I havent seen either of them eat personally but one of them is throwing up food so she must be eating, i have no idea if any of it stays down though, the other is only throwing up liquid. The one thats eating has been acting normal aside from the vomiting, and the one thats throwing up liquid was at first but today shes been hiding and didnt come for treats. Mom is convinced that we can give them pepto bismol (she hasnt yet but shes planning to eventually when she has the time) because a vet prescribed it to a different cat decades ago, some online sources say this will kill them but a few say its fine in small quantities, so idk what to do if i should let her or not? I know she has given it to other cats before but im a little scared and unsure... should i try harder to convince her not to give it to them or should i just let her?

TLDR: Stray colony cat has choked on food a few times recently, and is now scared of food and is not eating.

Hi everyone, I could really use some advice on what to do. My parents watch after and feed a colony of stray cats. One of the cats, Moxie, always eats her food very fast. The past few weeks she choked on food three times because of how fast she eats. She coughed out the bit of food and kept it going the first two times. However the third time was worse and since then she’s been scared of food.

My parents have tried everything — just wet food, mixing the food with a lot of water, broths, chicken and beef baby food, kitten food, even fried chicken. Yesterday my mom boiled some rice and made chicken broth into a nice porridge. She looks like she wants to eat but is scared of the food. She has barely ate the past few days, only a few nibbles when she gets really hungry.

I have never dealt with this before. We can’t even catch her and take her to the vet, because she would only let us pet her/get close to her when she eats. And now she doesn’t eat and we can’t even get within 5 feet of her.

Any advice on how to encourage her to eat, or on how to catch/trap her without food?

——
My age: Not a minor
Country: US (NYC)
Vet info: A vet is accessible. We have called and tried all their food suggestions.
Cat Age: Unsure, maybe 5-7 years old
Cat Sex: Female, spayed
Financial Situation: We can afford a reasonably priced vet visit (max $500). If it is more than that, I will reach out to the community cats organization so she can get vet care at the ACC.

Hello everybody(not a minor), Tinky is a female, spayed, 3 year old outdoor cat. Yesterday, I noticed that she had her mouth slightly open with saliva and her tongue peeking. I immediately brought her inside and showered her but was worried she was having some form of heat exhaustion. I tried giving her wet food and water but she didn’t care to get up from her spot. I left her inside my home, then let her outside when it wasn’t hot for a couple hours in case she needed to pee or poo, then brought her back in. I took these pictures today and she really doesn’t seem much different than the day before. (We live in Los Angeles, CA, hot weather as of now.) In the last picture, it seems her mouth may be swollen which also leads me to believe she could possibly have a dental problem? The right side of her whiskers are also covered in brown/greyish saliva. I’m very worried and don’t know if i should take her to a vet or not. I’m in the process of moving and so I haven’t been able to really keep an eye on her. As of now, she’s been resting in the restroom and away from everybody. As of now, I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t have any money for even a diagnoses. If anybody has any advice on otc products or what steps I can continue with, I’d greatly appreciate any information.

Her poops have been so weird lately. I basically do not know what to do. I want to preface this by saying I’ve taken her to the vet already they are going to do a fecal test and no diet changes have been made in her food. I have had her for 3 months now and there were no issues up until now
Essentially, this is what her poops look like:
\- Day 1 (of issues): mostly solid with a bit of liquid poops
\- Day 2: same as day 1
\- Day 3: poops are back to normal
\- Day 4: Same as day 1 but now we see bright red blood in it
\- Day 5: took her to the vet and they suggested a fecal test her poops still had blood in it
\- Day 6: poops are back to normal
\- Today: wet again with a bit of blood

The blood is accompanied with some mucous and the wet poops are always the most stinky poops

I am so sad for the little kitty she is such a nice girl I want her to feel better but I can’t help her without knowing what might be causing this.
Her energy levels and appetite is still great

I would appreciate any help from knowing if your cat has experienced something similar and how you you helped your cats!

Thank you everyone!

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what this could be. The scabbing is never on the head/neck area, mostly mid back to base of the tale. There is usually between 4-5 scabs at a time randomly spread. My cat is a neutered male bengal who is 9 years old. I’m in Canada and have access to vet care.

I adopted a kitten a month ago in Finland, he is now 5 months old. He's a mixed but mostly short-british hair. He burned his paw two days ago when he jumped on the stove :( it's not terrible but he has to wear a cone. Sometimes I remove the cone so he can wash himself, but I make sure he doesn't lick his paw. I started to notice that he scratches his ear maybe more than usual? And shaking his head. But that could be because he doesn't get to wash himself anymore as often, now he does it twice per day when I remove the cone.

I took pictures from inside his ear and it looks quite full of stuff, not sure if it's just wax though. I called the vet and she told me to just get some ear cleaning solution from the pharmacy, and told me not to worry. I mentioned that his ears have lots of black spots or like black wax. He will get his second vaccine and spayed and neutered in around 2 weeks when his paw is healthy, snd she told me she can check him then.

Should i be worried? Should I take him to the vet sooner? I already spent quite a bit for his burn, but of course if he needs the vet then it's worth it.

I appreciate all the help i can get, thanks! (Last pic is added for cuteness cuz the first 3 are gross :D)

Update 1: Getting a ride to the ER for the cat bite and finding a vet to look at him after I'm taken care of 🙏

Update 2: In my county they need to quarantine the animal for 10 days. The sheriff called and told me we also need him to get 3 vet appointments. I'm so heartbroken but I'm on antibiotics at least.

Me:

I'm an adult, 30. USA.

Vet is hard not a lot of vets here do weekends. We live in the middle of no where. We can afford it it's finding one with availability is the issue.

Cat:

5 years old, long hair ragdoll (looking like a long hair Siamese), neutered

I feel a bit dumb, but I need some advice.
I recently adopted two healthy, bonded sibling kittens. I wanted to get them to a vet before bringing them home, so I found a clinic near my house that could see them the same day. The visit went well overall — they just had some fleas. The vet gave me complimentary NexGard, and the fleas were gone within 24 hours. I was really impressed.
We started their vaccination series (working up to rabies). The first visit was around $200 for both. The second visit jumped to $400 because I mentioned we’d be flying with them. Before I could even finish asking about options for the flight, they prescribed a $50 bottle of gabapentin. I had seen recommendations on Reddit for pheromone-based solutions instead, but I went along with it.
After the trip, I wanted to schedule spay/neuter appointments because the brother was showing aggression toward his sister. When I mentioned it at the clinic, they offered to do the neuter the same day. I was excited to get at least one done quickly, so I agreed. After the rabies vaccine and neuter, that single visit came to $1,300. Then they quoted $1,100 for the spay.
It felt high, but I really liked the vet… until I asked Grok about it. I was told I was being charged roughly 10x the typical rate for many services and being pushed things that weren’t necessary. So I’ve decided to switch.
My main questions:
• Has anyone had good experiences with low-cost options like Snip It or the Humane Society for spay/neuter? Are they trustworthy for healthy kittens?
• I’m also open to recommendations for good, reasonably priced vets in the Orlando area.
Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello I’m a 45 year old cat pops from the US, I do have access to a vet but it’s a bit out of my $$ range to go see, I have 4 month old kitten who’s getting neutered next week, Found what looks like saliva next to his water fountain.

Hi! This is my cat’s water bowl and it has algae growing in the corners. I just changed this water, please ifnore the kibble on the bottom, he likes to make kibble soup lol. I’ve tried cleaning the algae but it’s in a hard to scrub corner. Anyone know how to fix this? Also I’m pretty sure this falls under cat care, but let me know if this is the wrong sub.

My mother’s cat (10ish year old spayed female, named Sammy) was recently diagnosed with IBD and needed a vitamin B12 shot weekly (now monthly) and daily pills. Sammy has always been anxious but she was sweet and she loved my mom.

Ever since mom started trying to treat her, Sammy has been a nervous wreck. She went from affectionate to not letting mom near her. She just hides all day. My mom is absolutely heartbroken.

She needs to be treated for the rest of her life but mom is wondering if it would be kinder to just put her out of her misery.

Please, is there anything we can do? Even if we get a new medication that’s less invasive, how do we rebuild the trust?

Other info: we’re American and have vet access. I’m not a minor, I’m just worried about my mom and Sammy.

Edit: just wanted to add, mom uses pill pockets and Sammy doesn’t mind their taste but often won’t eat them on their own so she has to be force fed. That’s scary to her.

I found these wounds under my outdoor cat's chin, I'm wondering if it is a scratch from intensive playing with his sibling which is larger than him despite being the same age or ringworm.

Poster Age: 20

Country: Malaysia

Vet Accessibility: Yes

TL;DR: is the wound under his chin a ringworm infection or scratch from larger sibling, and should I bring him to a vet

Cat Age: 4-5 months old

Cat Sex: Male, not neutered

Financial Situation: I can afford vet care

My cat Yuumi (6 months) has been zooming around, and making a weird purring sound constantly. I’m worried that she has a behavioral issue, or is this normal for cats?

I have been spending the past week relentlessly preparing for my departure and ensuring that my cat has everything he needs to be healthy and safe while I’m away. He has a history of urinary problems and the only way he stays hydrated is if there’s fresh water in his food bowl while he eats, so I put together a whole set up that does that for when I’m not at home. He will be alone for 4 days (a friend is coming to check up on him every evening after work), after which my parents are coming to watch him.

I had finally found peace knowing all was set, but it was short lived. This morning I wake up to remains of a yellow dollar general plastic bag that I had forgot to throw out. I’m not entirely sure how much he has ingested of it, but it appears that one of the handles is completely missing, and the bag looks like Emmental cheese from how many holes are in it.

I leave this afternoon, and I genuinely don’t know what to do. I’m quite panicked and terrified that he will have an internal blockage. The emergency vet doesn’t open until tonight, and the first appointment I can get at my regular vet is at 12pm, leaving only 4h to do whatever needs to be done. They usually have to sedate him for any sort of examination as he’s very aggressive with vets. I would delay my departure but that doesn’t appear to be feasible at the moment.

Has anybody’s cat ingested probably large chunks of a plastic bag? What happened? What should I do?

Really appreciate any kind of advice.