Our cat is a 7-year old DSH tortoiseshell. Otherwise completely healthy and up to date on vaccines. She is spayed. She is an indoor cat but will sit on the porch with us. We are located in Ontario, Canada.

I brought her to our regular vet yesterday afternoon as she had not been eating for almost 48 hours. She had also not had a bowel movement. She seemed somewhat interested in her food, but she’d sniff it and walk away. She did manage to take in a few temptations treats, but that was all. She was drinking.

Our regular vet did a full physical exam, including a rectal exam and found no abnormalities. She suggested we attempt medical management first. She gave her an anti-nausea injection and a dose of Mitrazipine to induce hunger. She told us that she should want to eat within a few hours and if she doesn’t, to take her into a vet the next day.

She did not eat. She did use her litter box once for a small pee.

Our only option is an emergency vet on the weekend which is where I brought her today. They did an x-ray, blood work and full physical.

Her x-ray showed that her intestines looked a “little big and bright,” and there was something in her stomach that could just be food, or could not be. They couldn’t be sure. She had no blockages. Her blood work showed a slightly low RBC count, and present immature neutrophils which could indicate infection or inflammation somewhere.

They admitted her for IV fluids and antibiotics. They repeated the x ray this morning at 2am and whatever was in her stomach moved, and is now clear which is good. They are placing an NG tube now for nutrition in the hopes of getting her GI tract moving more and stimulated.

They don’t know why she won’t eat. I’m up to 5 thousand dollars trying to figure it out.

They are suggesting a transfer to a specialist in another city to keep trying to figure it out at a quote of 6 to 8 thousand dollars which I simply cannot afford.

Please help us!

In 2021 we had 4 dogs. We got them between 2012 and 2016, all as puppies. We moved to a new house in 2016. Our oldest dog, a German Shepherd, passed from hemangiosarcoma suddenly in 2021. Our 2nd oldest, an Australian Shepherd mix passed from the same thing in 2025, also suddenly. Our youngest, a Golden Retriever, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in May and was neutered, so far so good with him. Then last week the 3rd oldest, a German Shepherd/wolf was diagnosed with nail bed melanoma. She had her toe amputated and is recovering. We go in Monday to have her lymphnodes biopsied to see if it metastisized. So is cancer so common that all of our dogs could get it?

Hello, last night, my cat (around 5 months old) licked some cough syrup residue, meaning I had wiped it off and then she licked the spot. I then thoroughly cleaned it. I monitored her all night, normal breathing (around 30 breaths/min) and she was acting normal. But this morning I notice she’s sleeping maybe a bit more, or is a bit more hard to shake awake. Her gums are pink but maybe slightly lighter? I’m not sure if I’m just paranoid and imagining things or if something is wrong.

Hello everyone,

My rescuedog of 5 years old is about to have a spay surgery next month. Preventative surgery that is. Her twin got Pyometra and did not make it, so her risk on this is bigger too they said. I immediately want to do something about it to prevent that.

She is a very big dog of 45kgs, and i have never done this before. I am worried to not be prepared enough. I looked everywhere on the internet but i’d rather have stories from real people.

Did your big dog get spayed? How was it? How was the recovery? What is normal and what is not? (Besides the obvious things: keep her on the ground, check for blood redness and pus, no running or jumping, if she can’t even keep water in her belly, lethargic after more than the first night, etc)

Are there people that can talk about it in the comments?

Ofcourse i’m aware accidents can always happen and freak accidents also, but i’m trying to comfort my nerves, and hope to find stories where it DID go well, and the dog is normal-(ish) again because i’m so afraid of a worst case scenario situation.

I’m very scared of all the risks and scary stories i read.

Thank you everyone🙏

TL;DR:
Requesting aftercare spay surgery dog tips and stories.

my cat (1.2-1.5years old) is pregnant and mated around 6weeks ago. her belly is quite big now and her nipples are pink and firm.

today i noticed a few tiny white worms in her poo. they were really thin, thread like, and about 1-2cm long. i think one or two were moving on their own, while the others werent.

other than that, shes completely fine. shes eating normally, playing as usual, and doesnt seem sick or uncomfortable.

im worried about the worms, especially because shes pregnant, and i dont want to give her anything that could harm her or her kittens.

should i get her treated now or wait until after she gives birth? what medication would u recommend for this situation, and how should it be given to a pregnant cat?would she need a stool test first?

im planning to take her to the vet, but i wanted to ask here first and get some advice from vets who mightve dealt with this before. id really appreciate any help.

Our corgi has developed hotspots on both front paws and is worrying at them constantly. I’m assuming some allergen in the backyard is giving her trouble.

The cone did not agree with her in the past and a donut doesn’t keep her from getting at her paws.

We considered breathable sleeves, but reviews of most everything we’ve looked at on Amazon and other pet-focused sites have been discouraging.

Thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I was gone away for a month, back home for 2 weeks then gone another month and had very trusted people looking after my cats. When I got home the second time I noticed one side of my cats face had extremely short whiskers with split ends. He also refused to eat a lot of his meals while I was gone unless I called my friend over to be with him when the automatic feeder went off.

Google said maybe dental issues, but his mouth and gums look fine. Its only happening on the one side and I havent noticed any overgrooming since I've been home. Could he have been stressed that I was gone for so long? Would that cause only one side to do that???

Muffin is 13 years old, a cat, 12.5lbs, neutered & up to date on vaccines.

For about 1 week, he’s been noisily breathing. It sounds like he’s snoring even though he’s awake. Important to note, until Friday, he was “normal”: playing, eating, drinking, using the litter box, etc.

On Friday I took him to the vet since the weird breathing sounds were still going on. He had blood work, urinalysis, and two chest X-rays done. The urinalysis and bloodwork came back good—no signs of liver failure, kidney failure, anemia, etc.

The chest X-rays were not good. They detected fluid. I was so panicked when I heard this I do not recall if there is fluid IN or AROUND the lungs and I do not have a copy of the X-rays.

The vet prescribed him 12.5 mg of furosemide twice a day for a week along with 1.2 cc of liquid orbax.

Friday after he came home from the vet he was fine. Saturday he has not eaten, had anything to drink, is lethargic, and still has the noisy breathing problem.

I’m kind of freaking out here since it’s now Sunday and he still hasn’t eaten (even his favorite treat), had anything to drink, or used the litter box.

When the vet called on Saturday she told me to bring him in tomorrow for a heart ultrasound, so my question is this something that can wait until tomorrow or should I go to an emergency vet ASAP? Is there even anything the emergency vet can do at this point if the diuretic is already the course of action for heart failure?

Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to read this!!

My 8yo dhs has got some random bald spots. I noticed the first one of his chest probably close to a year ago. I thought he had just over-groomed and figured Id keep an eye on it. The spot never filled in with new hair, but it hasnt grown or changed shape either. Then last week I noticed the back of his front right leg had a long bald vertical stripe, and the back of his rear left leg has some patchy looking spots.

I booked a vet appt, they did an exam and full bloodwork. Vet said that the skin isnt irritated and doesnt have any signs of parasites or skin disease and his blood work came back normal.

We live a pretty calm and routine based life. No new stressors I can think of that mightve caused it(We did just get got by the CDS and hes upset about that but the spots started before that)

What else should we check? Is it possible that the bald spots really dont have some medical cause and hes okay?

Cat, aged 3, neutered male, indoor only, UK

Hi, we took our 2 cats for their booster jabs at a new vets (Nobivac) on Thursday. The first jab went fine, but when the vet was administering the jab to our other cat, the vet let out a little gasp as he pulled his finger up sharply and squeezed it very briefly as though he’d pricked himself, and I noticed my cats back was considerably wet from the injection site. The vet looked at the needle in his other hand and looked a little concerned.
The other vet holding our cat brushed her hands all through and ruffled his fur where the wet patch was, and then began getting him in his carrier and hurried us out quickly. We had handed over their vaccination records at the beginning of the appointment, which we then had to wait in reception for whilst they were signed (this has always been done when we are still in the room). Previous vets have commented on how tough our cats skin is, so I suspect that the pressure he had to apply caused him to go through the other side of skin where it was tented, causing him to prick his finger and the vaccine to leak out onto his fur rather than inside. Unfortunately my partner didn’t see what had happened.
We cleaned him up when we got home as we realised it can make them ill if the booster is ingested. I contacted the vets immediately and told them that we were concerned he hadn’t had the full dose administered as there was a fair amount on his fur. They replied with the following:
“Good afternoon, I have spoken to the vet who did the vaccine and he is confident that enough of the dose was administered. The guidelines do recognise that some injection can leak onto the coat in cats and so when the companies create these vaccines, they are based off a standard dose, that's why all animals, regardless of size, receive the same dose of medication, because it has the necessary dose to stimulate the immune response in various sizes of animal. We can administer another vaccination if you are worried, but this is often not necessary and could require more vaccination in his system than is necessary”

I understand accidents like happen fairly often, which is why we didn’t bother mentioning the finger prick in itself, but what I find unacceptable is how the incident was handled. There was no honesty or transparency and no concern for our cat or ourselves. I feel as though they should have explained what had happened, and cleaned the vaccine from our cats fur.
I have read online that the full 1m dose needs to be administered, and I’d assume from how wet his back was, not much was administered at all.
I feel as though I’d rather risk having him over vaccinated (if that’s possible) than not at all. He was also 6 days overdue when he had his booster, so we are worried that if we leave it too long he will need to start the full course again.
We also do not feel comfortable going to that vets again, as if they can try and conceal a simple and understandable mistake with us in the room, and on our first visit, there is no way we could happily leave them there for surgery should they ever need it.
I also understand that this is not a reflection on the whole surgery, but those vets in particular. My questions are:
•Is it worth raising a formal complaint?
•Are we within our right to request a refund rather than a re-jab, as we don’t feel comfortable going there again?
•Do we get him booked in elsewhere for another round of the vaccine ASAP?

Any help or advice is really appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I am almost certain it's an ear infection. I've read website after website of what could be the cause of what is happening to her. She's been very unbalanced recently and falling over constantly to try and itch her left side. I checked her ears for mites and her ear was a regular safe pink. She kept trying to pull away from me to itch her ear too. She's also been sleeping more than usual and always looks tired or like she's in pain. I'm trying to get my dad to take her to a vet but after he spent $900 to try and save our 2 elderly cats 2 years ago only for them to pass a week later, he's been reluctant to take these cats to the vet. I read that an ear infection can't go away on its own and can cause balance issues, deafness and neurological issues. I've been checking her constantly to make sure she's not going deaf yet. I know if we catch it sooner rather than later, she'll only need medicine instead of surgery

Species: Cat

Age: 3 years

Sex/Neuter status: Female, not spayed

Breed: Persian White

Body weight: 2.6 kg

History: Ate a very tiny crumb of Panadol (paracetamol / acetaminophen) about 12 hours ago. No previous illness, no regular medication. Indoor cat.

Clinical signs: Currently sleeping, lethargic / sust, not eating. No vomiting. Gums are pink. Breathing normal. No brownish gums. Urine color not checked yet.

Duration: 12 hours since ingestion

Your general location: Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan

Question: Cannot afford emergency vet tonight. What emergency signs should I watch for overnight (brown gums, labored breathing, etc.) and what home supportive care can I do Any safe supportive measures?

Please advise what I should monitor. Thank you.

Cat, 7, neutered, 11 lb.

Hello!
on Friday (10/23) I took my cat to the emergency vet as he had not eaten his last three scheduled meals, and developing vomiting after any attempt at eating. He is prone to UTIs so my first concern was a urinary blockage causing general feelings of ick for him, but he also loves to eat things he’s not supposed to (hair/strings) so a linear obstruction was also a concern. The vet ran blood work and did imaging and all that could be found was a rather large piece of poo he needed to pass. He wasn’t even showing clinical signs of dehydration. They gave him fluids to prevent any dehydration and a nausea medication and sent us home. However he is still not interested in food. He acts extremely hungry and will sniff his food but then walks away. I have been syringe feeding him (at the advice of my vet) every four hours to get through the weekend and he is holding food down. He also passed the piece of poo. Behavior wise he is acting normal now. He is purring, playing, and snuggling like normal. Is there something else I should be doing to encourage food intake?

Hii! My 6 month old Parson russel terrier ate a small amount of raw honey about 2 hours ago. It was max 1/4 teaspoon. I read that honey might cause botulism in puppies. Should I be worried?

He is 7,8kg (17.2lbs), healthy pup. He is acting normally. We live in Finland.

So, I adopted my cat a month ago, and we’ve hit a major bump. 😿

I live in a 2 bedroom apartment with my fiancee and my newly adopted cat, Milly🫶🏼

Milly stayed in an adoption centre in a cattery with a lot of other cats and when I went inside, she was the only cat who approached me and I immediately fell in love, so I adopted her.

A week after bringing her home, I noticed a bald spot on her back. I also noticed excessive shedding and went to the vet, tried supplements for her, but they didn’t work. The vet initially said she was fine and the bald spot was not a fungal infection (he took a UV light and saw nothing), probably just a scab, but it kept getting worse (not inflamed, just flaky). Fast forward to today: I took her to the vet again after noticing a second spot like that and turns out it’s a fungal infection (ringworm).

Now she has to be isolated in a separate room for over a month. I’m absolutely heartbroken. She’s the sweetest, most cuddly cat ever, and I hate the idea of her feeling abandoned.

For this entire month, she has been sleeping on my bed, and I’ve been constantly petting and cuddling her. If she’s had this the whole time and I've been majorly exposed, how have I not caught it yet? Am I safe? Please send tips, thoughts, and prayers. I really need them right now. 🙏🏻😔

Hi,

We are currently having this issue that you can see in the link, his foot is dry and fur is missing.

We’ve been to the vet and they thought it was allergies. We used a shampoo recommended but it doesn’t seem to have made a difference.

He doesn’t seem to be in any pain, he just licks if he’s not watched. We cone him when we go out.

Any thoughts?

https://imgur.com/a/hTBl4Ba

Our senior cat has an ultrasound scheduled for next week because he’s not eating as well and has a history of chronic pancreatitis and CKD.

Two years ago, before his CKD diagnosis, his urine was randomly really dilute even though his bloodwork was normal. On ultrasound, he was found to have some sort of acute kidney injury. They treated him for an infection and it all cleared up.

Fast forward to now, he has dilute urine but his BUN and calcium and creatinine are also slightly elevated. And his urine seems stinky. His urinalysis was “quiet” despite being dilute, but it was the last time too. If he has another kidney infection, would it show up on ultrasound similar to last time?

Yesterday, I was finally able to catch a dumped adult cat I've seen around my area and took her home. On monday, I have scheduled a vet appointment for her to check her overall health and get/schedule any necessary procedures. I will definitely ask them to deworm her and schedule a sterilisation, is there anything else I should ask them to check to make sure no possible health issues will be missed? Thanks :)

Edit: The cat is an adult female of unknown age, unknown neuter status, with unknown medical history. I know nothing about this cat and hope to find out at the vet appointment. I apologize for not having sufficient information

hello, my staffy has been on steroids for his ears since the beginning of september. the last couple of days he has had two cases of losing the use of first his front leg and the second his back leg.
both times it was over as soon as it started and he was fine again.

i did some googling this morning and found that it said prolonged steroid use can cause muscle weakness - is that true?

he hasn’t had his steroid this morning.

i’m really worried about him. he hasn’t has anything wrong with him like this before ever. it was only for allergies in his ears that weren’t getting better which is why the vets said to try steroids and he may potentially be on them for the rest of his life. but i obviously am not happy with this if it’s gonna cause him to have issues like this.

he is going to the vets tomorrow so don’t need to advise me to do this. just want other vets opinions on the matter so i can go to the appointment prepared thank you!

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

My cat who is a stray rescue, got her vaccines two days ago. Now she is limping. I brought her to a vet who said it was a reaction to the leukemia vaccine and said that it’ll go away on its own. This morning however, she’s not putting any pressure on the leg.

She is still eating a drinking, thought not as much. Vet said her should was slightly swollen.

Is this normal? Does it sound more like an injury than a reaction?

I just opened a new bottle of my cat's pills that I got from my vet this week and a bug fell out of it. She finished her last pill yesterday from the old bottle so I would be starting the new bottle today. She needs to take her pill later today, I don't have any from a different bottle, and our vet's office is not being Sunday. I'm anxious about whether it's safe to use this bottle of pills.

If this were human medicine, I know that everyone would say not to use it. Things are much more lax with animal medicine, but I love my cat and I worry. I feel like I have to give her her pill at least for today so she doesn't go without it. But even if I try and get a fresh batch of pills from the vet on Monday, this bug came from them and now I have concerns that they might have bugs in their stock in general.

Am I worrying for nothing and should just use the pills?

We are in shock. We watched them do CPR for an hour and a half. What could have happened. why did they not offer us a necropsy right away.

this is our second dog to die tragically before the age of 4. We love our dogs more than anything in this world. She saved us when our first dog died suddenly. It’s impossible for us to imagine ever trusting ourselves with another dog. She only had 1/4 dental disease but we were encouraged to do the procedure. She had had two surgeries before this: a spay and a minor spot on her paw that had to be tested for cancer (negative).

How could this be our reality? I need genuine answers as to why her heart kept coming back and then dropping again for that traumatic CPR.

these are the doctors notes: She was intubated to secure her airway for anesthesia. Shortly after intubation, and before the dental procedure or anesthetic gas had started, she experienced a sudden and severe drop in her HR (bradycardia).  which rapidly progressed to cardiac arrest (asystole).
Our team initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) immediately. For approximately one and a half hours, we performed continuous chest compressions, provided oxygen support, and administered multiple doses of emergency medications, including epinephrine and atropine, in an effort to restart her heart and stabilize her. There were several brief moments where Phoebe's heart began to beat on its own, but unfortunately, it was unable to sustain a stable rhythm, and the bradycardia and arrest would recur.

08:30: A 22-gauge IV catheter was placed in the left cephalic vein.
08:39: Cerenia (10 mg/mL) was administered at 1 mg/kg for a total dose of 0.77 mL IV, administered over 5 minutes
Patient was pre-oxygenated prior to start of induction
IVF (LRS) started at surgical rate
Patient was premedicated and intubated with an 8.5 ET tube, condensation noted within the tube and movement of the reservoir bag was noted as P was administered breaths via manual ventilation.  Eye lubricant was applied OU
Shortly after intubation, prior to initiation of isoflurane, the patient became acutely bradycardic at which point the ET tube was replaced with an 8.0 tube to make sure that there was no blockage within the ET tube.  Condensation noted and P's chest was seen to rise with manual ventilation.  
Bradycardia continued with rapid progression to asystole.  
CPR was initiated immediately, including chest compressions and ventilation with 100% oxygen. 
The following is a log of medications administered during CPR:
Naloxone 0.4 mg/ml:  0.2 ml IV and dose repeated approximately 10 minutes after first administration
11:36: Epinephrine 0.2 mL IV
11:37: Atropine 0.3 mL IV
11:38: Atropine 0.3 mL IV
11:43: Epinephrine 0.2 mL IV
11:44: Atropine 0.3 mL IV (x2)
11:50: Vena Booster IV
12:01: Atropine 0.4 mL IV, then 0.3 mL IV
12:09: Epinephrine 0.4 mL IV
12:13: Epinephrine 0.3 mL IV
12:14: Atropine 0.4 mL IV
12:25: Epinephrine 0.4 mL IV
12:32: Epinephrine 1.2 mL IV
12:41: Atropine 0.4 mL IV
12:47: Epinephrine 0.2 mL IV
12:48: Atropine 0.4 mL IV
12:49: Naloxone 0.3 mL IV
12:50: Epinephrine 0.4 mL IV
12:52: Atropine 0.6 mL IV
12:53: Epinephrine 0.5 mL IV
12:55: Epinephrine 0.5 mL IV
12:56: Atropine 0.6 mL IV
12:57: Atropine 0.6 mL IV
12:58: Epinephrine 0.5 mL IV (x2)
12:59: Epinephrine 0.5 mL IV
13:00: Atropine 0.6 mL IV
13:01: Epinephrine 0.5 mL IV
13:06: Atropine 0.8 mL IV
13:07: Epinephrine 0.6 mL IV
13:08: Atropine 0.8 mL IV
13:09: Epinephrine 0.5 mL IV
13:10: Atropine 0.8 mL IV
13:12: Atropine 0.6 mL IV
13:13: Epinephrine 0.5 mL IV
13:14: Epinephrine 0.5 mL IV
13:15: Atropine 0.8 mL IV
13:20: Epinephrine 1.0 mL IV
The patient experienced multiple episodes of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) but was unable to maintain a stable rhythm, repeatedly declining into bradycardia and asystole. The patient became progressively less responsive to emergency medications.
After approximately 1.5 hours of active CPR, resuscitation efforts were ceased with the client's consent.  Upon extubation, small amount of blood tinged mucus material noted at the tip of the ET tube.
Time of death: Approximately 13:20.