Cat, 1yr, male, neutered, domestic shorthair, 11.4lbs

Smudge has been healthy in the past except for an issue with worms when he was a kitten (got him as a stray). He is normally very active strong and playful.

About two weeks ago, 3/5 of the cats in my household came down with something. We don't know what but every single one was vomiting, not eating/drinking, diarrhea, and lethargic. 2 cats got over it easily after a day or two, one had to go to the vet because it lasted for multiple days. They gave her an antibiotic shot and medicine to go home with that my parents didn't give her.

Now Smudge is sick with the same symptoms except he's doing much worse. He hasn't ate or drank since Tuesday or peed. He's had a tiny bit of diarrhea maybe 3 times. Every two or so hours he goes to three different litterboxes to strain and nothing comes out.

Vet gave him fluids, antibiotics, probiotic, and appetite stimulant. He got an x ray that the vet said was "suspicious" but after sending it to a radiologist to review there were no conclusive answers. The vet thinks he swallowed a string because he has some air bubbles and his intestines look a little bunches up. He has a history of eating stuff he's not supposed to, but he's never had issues before. He has eaten string in the past but it was thick and no more than 2 inches and he threw it back up. He likes chewing on pant strings until he gets a piece off.

Went back to the vet yesterday and no improvement. They did x rays again and they looked the same. They gave me the option to do an exploratory surgery to see if he has anything in his stomach, but I declined and went with an inflammatory shot, more antibiotics, fluids, and an anti nausea shot.

The vets aren't confident he swallowed something and can only say that the x ray looks suspicious but said it could just be "him being a cat". I think the likelihood of him swallowing something at the same time all the other cats got sick is very low especially because they have the same symptoms, his is just lasting longer.

Regardless he won't eat and drink and he's declining. If he has the surgery and there's nothing inside him, I don't think he will recover from it while being this sick. We checked the whole house and there's nothing suspicious the cats could have gotten into.

Do you think the surgery is the way to go? Is there a way to know for certain if he swallowed something? Should I get a second opinion? He hasn't lost weight yet and has gotten lots of fluids, but no appetite and no peeing and very minimal diarrhea.

USA

Age 6
Male, neutered
Breed mixed shepherd

Fever 105 for 2 days, platelets 168
Fever 102-103 for 4 days
Fever 104, loss of appetite 2 days, platelets 75, started on doxy and pred
Fever 105-106 for 2 days, 1 tarry stool, unless hospitalized with IV fluids. Fever causing extreme lethargy, no appetite, muscle shakes, labored breathing and grunting.

Does fever affect prognosis? I’ve read online research papers saying initial platelet count doesn’t have a significant affect on long term outcome. Other factors and readings in the blood panels can affect outcome though.
Many posts on Reddit don’t list fever as a symptom of ITP but research papers do.

What have you seen?

I took in a stray cat roughly five months ago on June 15th. Her name is Alice and she's the sweetest most loving girl. She had a clipped ear and so we are pretty confident she was TNRed and mistaken for a feral cat. We know she was never fully feral because she has had teeth pulled and although very scared she did warm up to human affection. We did check for a microchip and searched local missing animal social media pages but nobody seemed to be looking for her.

She is a domesticated long haired, estimated to be around 7-8 years old and has mild dental disease, mild heart murmur, she's dehydrated and has severe ongoing diarrhea. She had no parasites when we took her in and got her stool tested but we did give her a dewormer just in case. Her blood work came back very healthy. Her ultrasound showed nothing concerning and her x-ray showed these little grains in her intestines that could be cat litter.

Her diarrhea was so bad her back paws were caked in litter and feces. So was the tip of her tail and the area around her bum was pretty nasty. We think she consumed litter from attempting to groom herself. It took us a very long time to get Alice cleaned up because she showed heavy signs of being physically abused. She often flinched if you moved to fast or raised your hand. She was extremely protective of her tail and we think she has had it pulled. While she did allow head pets, it took a very long time to build trust. She didn't let me touch her back for about 8 weeks when we first got her and it took four more weeks after that for her to raise her butt and ask for full body pets. We couldn't get her professionally groomed because she hasn't been vaccinated yet because of her diarrhea. Our vet did not want her vaccinated until she was healthy and gained weight. She is cleaned now. Alice fully trusts me now, she lays down against my body, she asks for pets and has come a long way. She hated the bath but I was able to give her one successfully. Unfortunately I did make her matts worse because she hated being brushed and I was scared of hurting her. She will be getting professionally groomed when she is vaccinated. She had this bath about two weeks ago now.

Alice was around 5lbs when we took her in back in June. Her fluff hid how severely emaciated she was. We got her to gain about 30oz and she stayed 5.3lbs for months. Alice has been given fluids every vet appointment, she's a had vitamin B shots and stuff. We have tried several medications and treatments for her diarrhea and now we are on food trails. Within the last few weeks she began to lose weight, 4.8lbs and then 4.5lbs. Thats when we did x rays and ultra sounds but again nothing came up.

Then we started a new food. Hills prescription gastrointestinal biome. She had three cans of the wet food and BAM solid stools. We only had three cans, samples from our vet, so we bought fancy feast wet food with similar ingredients while we waited for our order of more of the hills food. She continued to have solid stools whilst on the fancy feast. She was on the fancy feast for four days before the Hills was delivered. The day after she started the Hills again she had diarrhea. It was different than before, it was more solid and chunky vs pure liquid. Since then she has had mostly solid stools with occasionally chunky diarrhea.

We haven't heard from the vet as our doctor is only in office three days a week. The hills food cost us $70 for 24 cans. Alice eats 3-4 cans every day as we are working on gaining weight and she always begs for more food. We dont want to feed her too much too fast so she gets her cans spaced out throughout the day. 7:30am breakfast, lunch anytime between 12-3pm, first dinner between 5-8pm depending on when she had lunch, and then she gets a late dinner around 11pm if she starts asking for more food.

I leave for work early in the mornings and my mom works nights shifts so when she wakes up from her naps she gives Alice her lunch which is why the time for her lunch varies so much. I am at work so I am unable to give her lunch myself.

Anyways, paying that much money isn't sustainable for how many cans we go through in a week. As you can imagine, I have already paid hundreds in vet bills. I just need advice on what to do while I wait for the vet to call back. It's Saturday and Alice's doctor wont be in office till Tuesday. We only have 11 cans left. Should I order more of the Hills biome diet? Should I do one Hills can a day and the rest fancy feast? Is there a dry food I can feed her? I really want her to have dry food as that last longer and I can have a bowl always available for her and then I can do wet food for breakfast and dinner.

It took us five months to get her to have consistent solid stools. Now we're having mostly solid stools and occasional more firm/chunky diarrhea. Any advice and information would be greatly appreciated. I just want Alice to gain weight and finally have energy to be a cat. She's lethargic most of the time and has zero interest in toys since I took her in. She just sleeps, eats, and poops.

My 15wk old kitten has been acting strange the last 24 hours. He is normally very hyper and high energy but there has been a noticeable drop in this, sleeping a lot and generally just being very chill. He is still eating and drinking water (if anything he’s drinking more water than usual), his temperature seems normal, and he is not hiding.

It feels like a change in his personality more than anything.

It’s been very hot where I live, so I wonder if it’s the heat. Should I be very concerned? Is this an emergency or just something to monitor?

Hi everyone, I’d really appreciate your opinions and advice about my kitten, Yuki. She is 5 months old and was taken to the vet on Wednesday morning with suspected antifreeze poisoning.

They did blood tests, and since then she has been receiving IV fluids every day to help flush her kidneys, as the vets told us that her results suggest possible kidney damage.

Her blood test results are:

- UREA: 46.4 mmol/L

- PHOS: 5.20 mmol/L

- CREA: 367 µmol/L

She also seems to be experiencing abdominal pain. She spends most of her time lying down and only gets up occasionally to walk to her water bowl, where she drinks. Unfortunately, she refuses to eat.

However, she still responds to us when we call her, and sometimes she even purrs when we pet her.

She urinates once a day, and until today, she had been having bowel movements every day. She hasn’t had one today, though.

Do you think there is still a chance that her condition could improve? Has anyone been through something similar with their cat and seen them recover?

I’m really worried about my little girl and would appreciate any advice. Thank you.

My dog is a 3 year old Poochon (Toy Poodle & Bichon mix). He's very active too. He doesn't put weight on his back right leg.

He often lies on his right side when sitting around and when he gets up, he lifts his right back leg for a bit while walking and eventually puts it back down to walk.

He runs normally and sprints a lot in the yard, jumps normally, doesn't yelp when the back leg is touched or slightly squeezed. Doesn't show signs of pain. But we notice that he doesn't put weight and he often lifts it when walking and eventually puts it down. What could this be? We will for sure have him evaluated.

4 yr old neutered male cat around 10 lbs

I’ve recently noticed a huge lump on his lower lip

He is currently being treated for ringworm on his back and I’m wondering if that has any correlation or if this is a completely separate issue?

Still eating and drinking fine, acting normal.

https://imgur.com/a/R08BAYu

My cat has almost a collar of scabs around her neck and we cant figure out the cause. The poor baby is always itching her neck and tail causing a bald spot by her tail. We got rid of fleas then thought it was an allergy to chicken. Removing chicken helped a bit but it seemed to come right back. Weve been trying fish oil to see if it helps. We took her to the vet a while ago and they kept saying its an allergy to fleas but doesn't improve even after nearly monthly flea treatments. Shes never had a proper bath and my other two cats dont have anything similar. Has anyone's cat dealt with his or any vets know what may help? I would greatly appreciate any advice.

hello, i have an older kitty (14 years) who got sick recently. she was lethargic, weak, and had thrown up a lot two days ago, and has this really icky smelling breath/drool, and so yesterday i took her to the vet first thing in the morning. they did a full blood panel and even an ultrasound and found nothing abnormal about her aside from an elevated temp/fever.

breakdown of the services:

Hemogram - CBC
Superchem IH
Catalyst Pancreatic Lipase Test
Ultrasound
Fluids - LRS
Anti Nausea inj Cerenie/Emprev
Maropitant 16mg Anti Nausea

they said there was nothing remarkable or abnormal with her results, and more than likely she’s just caught some type of bug or is just feeling under the weather.

they had me go home with two tablets of the anti nausea and to feed half to her every 24 hours. i just gave her the first half this morning and she still won’t eat. i will say her energy is still low but she’s more responsive to things than she was the night before. she sleeps a lot still, but seems a little stronger in the legs (not entirely, but throughout the night i would wake up and find her in various spots around my room, a lot of which required some climbing and hopping down. or when we’re sitting together with me trying to feed her or have her potty, she’ll walk and rub against me real slowly) but she’ll perk up at sights and sounds and look around once in a while, and she purred for the first time since getting sick when i made her a little blanket cave to curl up in which she’s always loved.

but still, overall, shes still very tired and despite perking up once in a while at the smell of food—still won’t eat and drink. i called the vet and no answer back yet, they close within the hour. what should i do?

My 8 year-old, 96-lb German Shepherd has recurring sores on his paws and hocks. They sometimes start as black spots, turn red, and become open sores when he licks or bites them.
He’s taking Apoquel (24 mg daily) and has been prescribed Simplicef for secondary infections. The antibiotics seem to help temporarily, but the sores keep coming back. I’ve also tried medicated wipes with 2% chlorhexidine and 2% miconazole for about two weeks without much improvement.
Should J switch to Cytopoint?

My dog has a broken nail that seems to be cracked close to the top of the nail bed. It doesn’t seem to be bothering her too bad, licking it once in a while. We don’t have many offices open on the weekends around us besides emergency. She also isn’t a huge fan of the vet. Any suggestions?? Don’t want to trim ourselves and cause more damage. Is this okay to wait till Monday to get her seen in the office or should I try to be seen asap?! In the meantime any suggestions to keep her comfortable?

She’s a 6y/o Australian shepherd

My 8-year-old dog has been lethargic but is still eating. He had ticks on his body, and his urine was dark brown for about 2 weeks but has now turned yellow after hydration.
He was treated for fever a week ago and has been on antibiotics since. He was on IV for 4 days alternately. His blood report is concerning (attached), showing severe anaemia and low platelets.
I live in a village in India, where access to veterinary specialists is limited.
Could this be a tick-borne disease like babesiosis or ehrlichiosis? What tests or treatment should I prioritise, and could he need a blood transfusion?
Any guidance on what I should urgently ask a local vet would be greatly appreciated.

CBC blood test results:
Red blood cells:
Haemoglobin: 4.6 g/dL
RBC count: 1.87 million/µL
PCV/haematocrit: 14.6%
MCV: 77.8 fL
MCH: 24.7 pg
MCHC: 31.8%
RDW-CV: 12.8%
Platelets:
Platelet count: 52,000/µL
PCT: 0.069%
MPV: 13.2 fL
PDW: 30.0
P-LCC: 37
P-LCR: 70.8%
White blood cells:
Total WBC: 7,660/µL
Neutrophils: 65.4% (absolute count 5,000/µL)
Lymphocytes: 25.3% (absolute count 1,940/µL)
Monocytes: 8.3% (absolute count 640/µL)
Eosinophils: 0.5% (absolute count 40/µL)
Basophils: 0.5% (absolute count 40/µL)

I’m concerned because my cat started drooling. he only did it for a small amount of time and it was while he was purring and being cuddle. Is this a happy response or should I be worried?

Our 8 1/2-year-old tripod boxer mix was just diagnosed with large cell lymphoma. It's been tough to come to grips with but I'm getting there. We're starting initial chemotherapy next week with CHOP. Our vet oncologist told us that there's a test called ImpriMed that basically will test her cancer cells against different treatments using an AI model at Stanford and determine which treatments could work best for her. He's going to start with CHOP first so it wouldn't affect that decision but he said depending on how the results turn out it could impact what we try next if chop doesn't work well or after chop when she relapses if we want to retreat her it could help us determine what next treatment to go with. The test is about $700 and we are on the fence about doing it. On the one hand the additional information could be very useful but on the other maybe sometimes too much information is not the best thing either and could cloud our judgment in making what the best decision might be for our dog and the family. Just wondering if anyone had any personal experience with this particular test and if you may suggest or recommend it. Our girl is so strong I feel like she's going to get through this but I know with cancer and chemotherapy all bets are off ..

Going to make this short.

My cat has diagnosed asthma, she's a scared and hard to handle kitty. Inhaler/mask training has failed despite multiple and current attempts to introduce it.

She has been taking decortin/prednisolone every 48H along with aminophylline. These were her prescribed meds,and I was told there was nothing else orally they could give. I have been to countless vets in my country. The answer was the same,and no country near me supplies this specific active ingredient.

My cat's flares are not inconsistent,she can snore,and cough multiple times a day even after being pilled.

Usually, aminophylline helps for 12h and then wears off.

Decortin used to hold her for 4 days,but now wears off after or even BEFORE 48h are up.

I am looking, begging,for an alternative human medication that can be given orally with a specific dosing schedule.

Her dosing schedule for decortin is: Minimum 48h,use when needed. 1/2 of a 5mg tablet

Aminophylline: 1/8 of a 100mg tablet

Any help is appreciated.

No injections (long term) are available here, dextamasone as an injection IS available,but is difficult to come by.

Thank you.

Hi all, as explained in the title, my parents fed my dog 3 crisps which I later (30 mins later) found out were sea salt & white wine Chardonnay vinegar flavoured. The seasoning is 11% and made up of lactose and Chardonnay vinegar powder. Dog is 24kg Labrador. Google and websites say she’s fine because distilling it removes toxicity but should I phone my vet just in case?

Hi, thank you in advance for your time. My dog was put on Prozac for anxiety this week. Today is day two and I’m a little concerned. I know we are in the “loading” phase for up to 6 weeks, according to our Vet, so I’m trying to figure out what’s normal and what’s concerning enough to call our vet.

Age: 8
Breed: Shar Pei
Sex: male
Neutered
Weight: 45 lbs (vet says he’s in perfect condition)
Comorbidities: canine paroxysmal dyskenia
Allergic/Intolerant to: Keppra and Phenobarbitol
Meds: Prozac, 30mg/day and Simparica trio, once per month

We noticed already yesterday and this morning increased anxiety, pacing, whining, excessive licking on his body and also on me. Refusal to eat unless I am standing next to his bowl.

He did have his annual physical and vax boosters. It was a 3-in one for: distemper, kennel cough, Lepto. I think it’s called DLP? No Lyme and rabies is current through next year, so I didn’t boost rabies. Snap was negative, never had fleas or ticks, and bloodwork shows all kidney and liver values are normal but they didn’t give me copies of those labs. Vet did say that he was mildly dehydrated but he was fasted overnight from food/water prior to bloodwork for his annual. Other than that overnight (which was Tuesday night), he has free access to fresh water.

Is this just typical for him getting used to the Prozac?

Thank you.

Hi, my cat got misdiagnosed with diabetes and was described insulin, after which she fell into a hypoglycemia coma after a month of taking it, the vet makes it look like its our fault to not have double checked the blood faster, but that was after he ALREADY diagnosed her and gave her 4 stripes of insulin in a 40 syringe 2 times a day, he also didn't explain that we had to give that AFTER food, our cat went into a coma yesterday, her temperature went down to 33 and her sugar was almost non existent. We paid alot for everything and we have a big trauma from it all, do you think the vet has to make this right? He also never checked her urine or anything else, her sugar was slightly higher but still in a very normal range, she has alot of annoying symptoms such as obsessive eating and drinking and peeing an pooping all over our house, but that could be many reasons and could be many ilnesses. We feel so angry, so defeated by it all. Luckily she made it, hopefully the weekend goed well. I feel like he has to fix this or pay us back a part of the expenses.
We almost don't have any money left for food and this situation cost us almost all our savings, but the biggest issue ofcourse is that this was deeply traumatic. We went to more vets and also the clinic and all of them told us this in not diabetes, and the blood results don't say anything obvious proving the diabetes, they were also shocked, what do you guys think? After all of this craziness we still don't know what her real illness is.

Good Morning -

My dog (15lb intact dachshund/7 years old/no underlying conditions) ate unidentified rat poison a week ago (found in an open container in the dining room of an extended family member's home). They were small green crunchy pellets. They induced vomiting within 20-25 minutes after the incident. A couple green pellets were present in the vomit. Poison control was contacted and because the poison was unidentifiable the vet was instructed to treat for all three types of poison. They gave charcoal and fluid behind his neck. All his blood work for the day of and three days post incident came back perfect. He was on cholestyramine for every 8 hours for 72 hours after.

He is taking Vit K twice a day. He is experiencing some mild symptoms such as nausea and being tired. Last night he got very excited on our walk and when we got home he was panting more and for longer than I would have expected. This morning he vomited white foam. He is acting normal but a little tired and has less appetite, but still eating.

I called my vet but they said that because his blood work came back normal, they aren't concerned unless there is something significantly wrong.

I'm starting to suspect the gastro issues could be from the Vit K.

Any advice, guidance and/or reassurance is appreciated please.

She licked a little bit of rice cakes with sour cream and onion and I'm concerned her gums are very pale. She definitely did not lick off much considering its very little powder but I am still very concerned. She seems fine and alert otherwise. Runs and plays like usual and does not seem lethargic. It's been >8h since. Im very ill right now, otherwise I would have taken her already :(

TODAY: https://imgur.com/a/ak0kIvA

Best reference picture I have for "usual" (though this was after surgery) https://imgur.com/a/EPCvIyw

• Species: Cat
• Age: 2
• Sex/Neuter status: sterilised female
• Breed: Regular cat
• Body weight: 3kg
• History: None, except sterilised
• Clinical signs: s/a
• Duration: Hard to say, its been at least 8h. Im too sick to really follow passage of time well. But it was yesterday evening between 18 and 22.
• Your general location: Sweden

Hello everyone, my 16 year old kokoni mix was recently diagnosed with brain cancer after having her first epileptic seizure. Given her age and state our vet let us know that she won't survive radiation, chemo or a surgery. She's currently on cortisone for her seizures and it was made clear that there's not much we can do at this point. She's still eating though not as enthusiastically as she used to which is understandable. She spends most of the day lying down or sleeping and even though she seems to still enjoy walks, it's evident they've become painful for her. There's always water next to her and she is well fed and given meds on time. What I want to ask here is advice on how I can make her more comfortable and alleviate as much pain as possible. Also I'd like to get an approximate estimate on how long she has left since I don't have the guts to ask the vet myself at this moment. Please be respectful as we know she's nearing the end and are trying the best we can. Thank you in advance .

Hey everyone,

my dog has been having issues with her back paw, I’ve been putting ointment on it everyday but she ends up just licking it off. I can’t afford a vet visit but I’m not sure what the issue is or how else to help her. It’s like in between two of her “fingers” is puffy, swollen, and wet. She’s either limping or not using that paw at all. Any help is appreciated!!

American bully

5yo

Female/ not neutered

Weight- not sure

History- she’s has some skin issues

Her paw has been like this for maybe a week now

Hi, so I am in my early 20s, and I have two male cats, one about 10 years old and another 5+ years old. A few months ago I realized my younger cat had worms since we adopted him in 2023. I had seen the dried segments in my bed and saw him licking and I realized it was coming from his end and realized that probably wasn’t normal, but the adoption center said he was fine and I trusted it that point further stupidly.
Now once I realized it I took him to the vet and he got shots for it and we separated him for a few days from our other cat, sprayed everything down, and moved forward.
Now a few months later I believe he’s thrown up brown stuff at the bottom of our steps and when I was cleaning it up I think I saw some tapeworm segments and the dried segments in it possibly? But i spoke to my parents and they think it was too long ago to just now be coming out but I disagree because he had it for years; maybe it took longer to exit is my logic but I’m completely unsure.
This is also after my younger cat left a smallish poop on top of his tree and that’s never happened before and we found orange throw-up on the middle section of the steps (these happened before the brown throw-up) and I found before all of these diarrhea on the side of one of the litter boxes.
(I have realized now that all of these are worrying now I didn’t realize they could all be the same thing or tied together until now.)

So i wanted to see if anyone could relate or if this is all linked to him having worms or if i have to take them to the vet to determine who it is and why I just want a little bit of clarity or advice to figure out where to go with this.

Guys need help and 2nd opinion . My cat is 1.5 years old .. she is eating too less from last few days.i have attached the report and doctors are advising blood transfusion . I cannot afford this treatment , is there any alternate treatment

My cat has had his third eyelids showing little in both eyes for about 1 and half week, then more and more. He has otherwise been eating and drinking.

Yesterday he suddenly started avoiding putting weight on his front left paw/leg. At times he seems weak in it, but later in the day he seemed to have more strength and could use the leg a little better.

There is no obvious wound or clear swelling that we can see. He can still use his claws and has been able to pull/scratch at the sofa. But he seems turn his feet little different while he tries to walk

Has anyone experienced something similar where bilateral third eyelids appeared first and then a cat developed pain or weakness in one leg? Could these symptoms be connected, or did your cat end up having two separate issues?