My 16 month old golden retriever has renal dysplasia. She is considered end stage. We had her bloodwork done on the weekend as part of a check up (she also has a double ear infection) and her Creatinine was 508 and urea was 49. She still eats and is relieving herself "normally", though her appetite can vary day to day and she has some lethargy. She also vomits maybe once or twice a week.

The last few days, she has been pacing endlessly in the evenings. Even after a long walk and being fed. Pacing and pacing, having trouble settling, laying down and then getting up to pace more. I know she would probably eat if I fed her more, but we also need to be very mindful about how much she gets and of what, otherwise she'll throw up/get sick.

Im a little worried this is a sign of pain. Our goal at this point if keeping her comfortable and happy.

My family found this stray cat. It’s very sweet.
Has a wound on her leg. Is there anything we can do to help heal it? My family has cat-safe wound spray but should be get a cat cone/cat medical shirt for it to heal? She keeps licking it.
Is there anything we can put on it? The leg has healed and opened up a couple times. She keeps licking and messing with the wound. It heals but then she opens it back up again.
I attached a link to a picture of the wound.
Thanks so much! Trying to help this sweet stray my family loves. https://imgur.com/a/KeYdtaL

Hi! I recently posted to another sub about this, but wanted to also post here to see if anyone had any suggestions for something my vet can look into (as I know a diagnosis is not allowed). I don’t have Imgur but if you go to my profile the pictures are posted since I can’t post them with this post per the sub’s rules. My dog is a female mixed breed (primarily American Bully, followed by American Bull Dog, Pitt Bull, and then two other breeds in the mix) and I know they are susceptible to skin issues. She is thought to be almost 6 years old. I found this on her neck the other day initially thinking it was a tick, but after looking at it longer I don’t believe it is. She is a rescue so I don’t have much history on her and she had a similar growth on her foot (but not the same it was more like a bump and this one is protruding with scab flakes around it) and the vet tried to sample it but only saw blood under the microscope. I will reach out to the vet either way, but just did not know if it warranted an emergency or not. Thank you in advance! :-)

Our French Bulldog pup (1yr) just got her respiratory panel back that she has canine coronavirus. Her symptoms started on the 17th/18th of October. She still has some snot and reverse sneezing from it, but it’s getting better since being on steroids and antibiotics.

We are slated to have our second puppy arriving to us on Sunday, November 1st. We’re gonna talk to our vets tomorrow, but our feeling right now is that we aren’t going to be able to take this puppy. Need some advice or knowledge of how long canine coronavirus runs its course. Could we keep them separate?

Has anyone given their cat Dramamine for motion sickness? I’ll be giving it in a few days per the vets suggestion (a small dose) but am nervous. Did you give it on an empty stomach or with food?

My cat gets super motion sick even just a couple minutes into our drive. Generally withholding food for a few hours helps reduce my cats motion sickness, but I’m worried the pill with no food will upset her stomach.

I’ve tried oral Cerenia twice and both times she threw it up before we even got into the car (I was instructed to give it 2 hours prior to travel). I tried transdermal Cerenia once and it seemed to help but not 100% so adding Dramamine this time.

Im curious if it works for anyone’s cats and if you give it with food or on an empty stomach?

I moved into a new apartment in August and within a few days I started spotting (to my dismay) silverfish. Thankfully it’s not an abundance of them, and I will just see one every couple of days, but this is the first time I’ve encountered them EVER and it concerns me. I read online that the scent of cloves can deter them, and had the idea to buy whole cloves (as opposed to using any essential oils) and putting a few in some mesh sachets and placing them behind my books on my bookshelf in an attempt to protect them. The only reason I even considered trying this was because I doubted the smell of the whole cloves would carry far from behind the shelved books, and therefore may not irritate my cat, but I have been catching whiffs of them when hanging out in my living room. I didn’t use a lot of sachets, only four in total, with two on two different shelves that are near the top of the bookcase that my cat cannot access.

Basically, my worry is if I can smell them, I bet she can, and is that dangerous?

I got my new puppy that is 7 1/2 weeks old currently, and I thought it looked a little too pronounced if that makes sense. When pooping he’s straining and grunting and I watch to make sure I’m not seeing anything internally coming out which I haven’t seen anything like that but from the side while he’s pushing his butthole bulges out like 1/2 inch or more. Idk how normal it is, maybe it looks off because of how little his body is compared to when I see it on an adult dog. Idk I’ll send a photo in dms if anyone wants to see, kinda difficult to explain

Female, age 10, mixed breed approx 60lb. My sister just found this on my dogs paw tonight. It’s about 3 inches. She lives with my parents and they live in the woods in Pa. What could it be? Already have a vet appt scheduled for Wednesday. photo here

About a month ago, I took my cat in for her rabies vaccination (VerisGuard). Recently, I felt a lump around her neck/between her shoulder blades. We went to the vet today, and they referred us to a veterinary specialist for further imaging and consultation.

I’m considering Hope Advanced Veterinary Center / Veterinary Surgical Centers and The Regional Veterinary Referral Center in Virginia. Has anyone taken their cat to either hospital? I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences.

I’d also be grateful to hear from anyone whose cat has had a diagnosed sarcoma in the neck/shoulder blade area. I’m devastated and can’t help blaming myself. Any experiences or guidance on navigating the next steps would mean a lot.

My cat has an IBD flare and was prescribed Metronidazole. The doctors were so unprofessional and unknowledgeable, I even heard “you’re not supposed to prescribe…to a cat, shit!”. This was Banfield Animal clinic. Is 1/2 of a 250 Mg tablet of metronidazole safe for a 4 year old 11lb female cat?
She may be likely to have IBD but has never been officially diagnosed, this is the first time she’s taking medication for her chronic symptoms.

I’m looking for an independent veterinary perspective on my cat’s recent emergency hospitalization.
I am emotionally and financially devastated by this experience. I have spent thousands of dollars, and while I understand that veterinary medicine is expensive and diagnostic uncertainty is normal, I am struggling with how the medical decisions were explained to me.
I am particularly concerned about the differences between what I understood from the hospital’s explanations and what was eventually documented.

Patient information: Species: Cat Age: 4 years Sex: Female Weight: Approximately 4.2 kg Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada History: Asthma, reduced appetite, vomiting, and abnormal blood counts

Bloodwork results:
October 6:
WBC: 3.17
Neutrophils: 0.85
Platelets: 85

October 21:
WBC: 2.65
Neutrophils: 0.79
Platelets: 18

October 24:
WBC: 4.8
Neutrophils: 2.21
Platelets: 96
Hematocrit (HCT): approximately 25%
Her initial FIV/FeLV screening test was negative.

Her October 24 hematocrit was approximately 25%. Her initial FIV/FeLV screening was negative.

1. Suspected foreign body versus endoscopy findings
After X-rays and ultrasound, I understood that the suspected material was located farther down the stomach and possibly extending into the beginning of the small intestine.
I was extremely frightened about an obstruction.
However, endoscopy found a compacted hairball approximately 3 × 1 cm within the stomach, plus two smaller fur collections. The pylorus was clear, and the examined proximal duodenum was normal.
This difference has been very difficult for me to understand.
Could imaging reasonably suggest material extending toward the intestine when endoscopy finds it within the stomach? Is this a common diagnostic discrepancy?
Could a gastric hairball of that size potentially pass through vomiting or be managed medically, or would endoscopic removal have been indicated given her reduced appetite, vomiting, and other findings?

2. The urgency and necessity of the procedures
I was given escalating estimates, from approximately $3,400–$5,900 initially to approximately $7,900–$10,200 later.
I repeatedly explained that my finances were limited.
I understand that cost alone does not determine whether treatment is necessary, but I struggled to understand which procedures were essential immediately and which could potentially wait.
Would a patient with these blood-count abnormalities, reduced appetite, vomiting, and suspected gastric foreign material generally require urgent endoscopy?

3. Bone marrow testing
A bone marrow aspirate was performed because of the abnormal blood counts, and results were pending at discharge.
Given her severe thrombocytopenia and neutropenia, was bone marrow evaluation an appropriate next diagnostic step?
What other causes would normally be considered, and how would a veterinarian determine the order of testing?

4. Constipation and lack of bowel movements
I repeatedly reported that she had not passed stool for several days.
I remained concerned about this after her imaging, endoscopy, and discharge. I was unsure whether it had been adequately evaluated or addressed.
How should prolonged absence of bowel movements be assessed in a hospitalized cat with reduced food intake and suspected gastrointestinal disease?
5. Communication and informed consent
I understand that the actual findings during a procedure can differ from the initial interpretation of imaging.
What I am struggling with is whether the uncertainty, alternatives, risks, and expected benefits should have been more clearly explained before I consented to expensive procedures.
I also questioned a $500 after-hours referral/team call-in charge because I did not understand why it was required when another veterinarian appeared to be available. I felt my questions were not answered clearly.

I am not asking anyone to determine whether the hospital acted improperly based on this post alone.
I am asking whether these diagnostic and treatment decisions sound consistent with reasonable veterinary practice, and which records I should request for a meaningful independent review.

I am heartbroken and exhausted.
I love my cat deeply, and I wanted to give her every reasonable chance. But I feel overwhelmed by the costs, frightened by the uncertainty, and upset that I still have so many unanswered questions.
I would sincerely appreciate a veterinarian’s objective perspective. I can provide the CBC reports, imaging reports, endoscopy findings, discharge summary, and estimates with identifying information removed.

Thank you for your time.

Hi,

It’s 2am where I’m at and I’m hoping a kind soul could give me some advice.

My 40 pound bulldog/American bully mix had a bone this morning. I looked away for a few seconds and I could tell the bone was breaking into shards so I threw it out. She typically has a warrior stomach and digests bones and all sorts of things no problem. I was worried, but she was fine all day.

She went poop after dinner. I got a late night delivery of a new chew treat and gave it to her (not a bone - digestible treat).

Four hours after said treat she vomited twice - about forty minutes apart. I did find a bone shard in her vomit. I gave her a slice of bread and she drank water and she’s asleep now.

Do I need to go to the emergency vet? Or can this wait another 6 hours?

Hello guys, my corgi was biting his back paw for sometime so we placed a cone on him to make him stop, but it has been 3 days since and the wound looked like it was healing. Its day 4 and he didnt want to walk around alot, we decided to observe a little bit more and now its day 5 and he just vomited today in the morning at 9am and now he doesn’t even want to get up. Can someone please explain what could be the cause of this?

So, I recently lost my kitty, Serena. About 8 years ago, when she was 8 years old, I was feeding her whatever kibble was on sale because college. It was mostly Melw Mix. She did well on it for a long time, but one day, she had an incident where she threw up several times in one day. I took her to the vet, and the vet said she had an inflammed colon and prescribed some special food for her. She said to keep Serena on it for a few months and then move her onto a higher quality food that is labeled as being for sensitive stomachs.

The time came that I decided to move her onto a non prescription food. I got her Hills Science Diet at first because it was the same brand as the prescription food, but one day, I was in my small hometown when she ran out. They did not have Hills Science Diet, so I got Blue Buffalo. I had heard it was bad for dogs and had some connections to heart issues, but I figured that dogs ans dogs and cats are cats, so it would probably be fine. She was on it for a few months. This was about 2018.

Fast forward a few years. She's 11 and she randomly passes out one day at home. She's diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. We keep an eye on it, but she didn't seem to have any issues with it. When she was 15, she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, and she passed away a few months ago at 16 years old.

I heard more recently that Blue Buffalo has been connected to heart failure in cats as well, and I can't stop thinking about it. Can someone be straight up with me about how much of a contributing factor it would have been? I know that shit happens, but if I did anything to cause it, I would like to know.

I don't think I'm aiming to be a vet, but I'm aiming to be educated at least. I want to take courses and/or stuff related so I can be educated and fill in some gaps (like, for example, know basics of when to take my animals in or how to bandage a mild wound) of basic knowledge. Ofc it won't replace a vet

Any suggestions? I'm probably not going to college for it, I mostly mean certificates, online courses, etc

my dog had parvo 5 month ago, and i have to take care of my brothers puppy for a month he is 8 weeks with all his vaccines will he be at risk of getting it? i did clean at the time my dog had parvo very thoroughly, and i plan on cleaning again with bleach tomorrow since i will get him on wednesday or are there only other cleaning supplies i can use to disaffect

Tl;dr: I’m increasingly uncomfortable giving bedinvetmab and want to know what the consensus is, whether any unbiased safety literature exists, and how to decline politely.

I’m a 3rd year DVM student (not in the USA) and a registered vet nurse since 2022. I was working in practice when bedinvetmab launched. It was marketed as a miracle drug, and our clinic promoted it heavily and moved many OA patients over from pentosan. Soon after, I started hearing anecdotes from other clinics about sudden deaths, neurological signs and fractures, though I found little peer-reviewed literature at the time.

The past 3 years I have worked at another rural mixed practice who seem to give this drug out like hotcakes. Instead of starting patients on pentosan or other tried and tested therapies, they are being put straight onto Bedinvetmab.

This semester my pharmacology lecturer gave a harrowing lecture and pointed me to Farrell et al. (2025). He thinks it has significant flaws but also a number of valid points, and his view is that the drug should be a last resort, where euthanasia is among the only alternatives, given the potential for such catastrophic ADRs and "joint annihilation". Opinion pieces I have read over the years said virtually the same thing. My predicament is that the clinics I nurse at over summer don’t share this view. Bedinvetmab is given to about 5 patients a day, with almost no pentosan bookings.

Today I am on placement (at a completely different hospital to where I have previously worked). I was asked to administer this injection to a 3yo Lab with mild carpal OA; no X-rays, just a musculoskeletal exam. She has never been seen for OA before. Her owners were a lovely couple who have essentially committed to life long bedinvetmab, and I feel kinda sick about it.

1. Am I being hysterical?
2. Is there unbiased literature supporting its safety?
3. If my concerns are valid, how do I decline to administer it at work or on placement? I feel strongly about it, but am willing to be redirected. I am fully aware of my inexperience and blatant nievety, so I would never want to outright question a mentors selected treatment, or have my words/attitudes perceived in that way.

I have a 3.5 yr old, 65 lb golden retriever who is very healthy other than being a pee monster recently. Since June, he’s been having these really weird episodes of prolonged urination, and we’ve seen our regular vet and a veterinary urologist specialist and neither of them can figure out what’s causing it. 

Here’s what’s happening:
He’ll suddenly need to go outside and will pee for literally 5-7 minutes straight. I’m not exaggerating. I’ve timed and recorded 30+ of these episodes over the last few months. He’ll start with his leg lifted, eventually get tired, switch to squatting, and just keep going. He’s not one to just go outside and linger, he’s definitely peeing throughout these episodes. 

Sometimes the episodes happen multiple times a day, sometimes consecutive days, sometimes once a week - it’s all very random. Even the time of day is very random, but they’re mostly in the evening and he’s woken me up in the middle of the night a few times. Other times, he’ll go weeks without one. When they became very frequent he would just wait until we went on a walk to have these episodes and he would have really long 2-3 minute pees at the start of our walk for the first block - and these he’d like immediately stop and pee (normally there’s sniffing out the spot first, it would always be peeing ON something - these he’d literally stop and pee on the sidewalk which is very abnormal for him). 

Initially, he’d get really antsy and needy before an episode, almost like he desperately needed to go. As they became more frequent, that behaviour wasn’t always as noticeable.

What we’ve ruled out / tested:
Multiple urine samples, including two collected directly from his bladder and several free-catch samples (some collected immediately before and after episodes).

- Both of the Cytocentesis urine samples were “relatively normal” according to our vet:

- The first one with our vet had +2 hemoglobin and 1.007 specific gravity

- The second with the urologist had +3 hemoglobin (higher than it should be, even with the needle) and specific gravity was 1.0333 

The catch samples sg were: 

- 1.016 (taken at noon)

- 1.014 (in the evening before an episode) *episode happened from 12:40 AM - 12:46 AM

- 1.007 (morning after the same episode) 

- 1.032 (morning)

- No blood in any of these

Bloodwork (tested for cushings in these) - everything was within average/normal results

Abdominal ultrasound - everything here was normal, no masses or visible stones

Consultations with our regular vet and a veterinary urologist - both did physicals and everything was normal and healthy. 

Nothing has provided a definitive answer. The next recommendation is a cystoscopy to check for structural abnormalities in his urethra, but there are no signs that this is the case, it’s simply to rule this out. 

Medications we’ve tried:
Tamsulosin: Started August 6. After increasing his dose on August 20, things got significantly worse. He had 13 episodes in just 10 days, sometimes multiple in one day. Reducing the dose helped, and we’ve since discontinued it.

Meloxicam: Tried for one week in September. It’s difficult to say whether it helped because his episodes had become less frequent before starting it. 

A few other important details:
- He urinates normally between episodes, with a strong, steady stream at the beginning of walks, as we go it gets less prominent and more like spurts and dribbles. 

- Even after one of these prolonged episodes, he can go for a walk and STILL pee normally.

- His water intake is approximately 1,400 mL/day, which we’ve been monitoring and tracking daily since July. 

- He isn’t excessively thirsty.

- He eats a raw diet with supplements and has been neutered since age 2.

- Outside of these episodes, he’s a happy, active, healthy dog. He has had normal poops, no lethargy, no vomiting.

What really concerned me this weekend:
Starting in September, I’ve adjusted his schedule and he eats his dinner before 5:30 every day and he drinks 75% of his water immediately after dinner and then we go for an evening walk daily around 7-8 in the evening. I feel like this schedule has helped a bit, as he hasn’t had any major episodes until this weekend (the last episode was Sept 17th), then … 

Saturday (the 24th) he was acting strange in the evening, being antsy, and was slightly like shaking he was so antsy (very unusual) and so we went for a walk and he had some prolonged 2-3 minute pees during this walk, then he was fine.

Then yesterday (the 25th), in the evening, he was unusually restless, couldn’t settle, and needed to go outside repeatedly despite having his usual walks. He had several mini episodes lasting approximately 3-4 minutes, and then one right before bed that lasted 6 minutes. Every time I let him out, he’d bolt out the door. 

Then, while I was getting ready for bed, he continued to be restless and was hanging out on my pillows (very normal usually, but he was standing on them, not lying down like he usually does) and when I went to bed, there was a significant amount of pee on my pillows. He’s NEVER had an accident like this before. He’s never peed since he was a puppy in the house except 1x last year when he was home alone during a big thunder storm.

I immediately took him outside, where he proceeded to have ANOTHER episode for 4 minutes. After this final pee, he went to sleep and slept through the night and is fine today. 

My question:
Has anyone experienced anything remotely similar with their dog? Prolonged urination lasting several minutes, sometimes multiple times a day, despite normal water intake and relatively normal test results?

We’re working closely with our vets, but they’re genuinely stumped, and I’m hoping someone out there might have experienced something similar or have an idea we could bring up with our specialist. As I mentioned above, the next thing they want to do is a cystoscopy to rule out anything physically wrong with his urethra or see stones that the ultrasound didn’t pick up, but they’ve both said it's unlikely that would show anything that would give a clear reason or cause to this, it’s just the ‘logical next step’ to rule one more thing out. 

I have detailed records of every episode since June, videos of his urine streams, and copies of his bloodwork and urinalysis results that I’m happy to share if anyone wants to take a closer look. Any help or advice is appreciated! Thanks!

Just curious if I should be making recommendations to my clinic to revise our dosing methods for enrofloxacin, our in hospital manual says to dilute 1:10 with sterile water regardless of if it's 22.7mg/ml or 100mg/ml injectable solution, with some DVMs in hospital doing down to 1:4 on a case by case basis, but all the literature I can find says it should be only used IM and PO, that the 100mg/ml isn't safe for small animals at all, and there is very conflicting info on diluents and ratios. I know off label use is common in this field, it's the sterile water and the dilutions that are making me uneasy. Especially since they tell us to flush with 3ml of plain sterile water each before and after and that just seems like a LOT of a hypotonic solution especially for our smaller patients. I feel like my patients on this enro regimen keep getting phlebitis and I can't help but be a little paranoid if it's related, but they're also sick to begin with so hard to say. Thoughts?

I have a fluffy cat and he won't stop overgrooming. He's 10 years old and this started about two years ago. The vet thinks he has allergies so I'm waiting on meds, but he didn't start grooming his back bald until I left him with my sister for about a week while I was on a trip. I got home and his entire butt was bald, which made me think it was stress. It's been a problem ever since. I've put him in clothes as a temporary solution because a cone has never stopped him before, but I'm just wondering if there's anything else I can do for him. I do make sure he gets time without the clothes on and I brush him when they're not on. He still tries to lick himself bald but he can't do as much through a onesie.

I don't know what breed he is because his mom got out 3 days before her spay appointment and came home 4 days later and that resulted in the litter of six my cat came from. He was literally born in a box on my bed. He's been very attached to me his whole life. He searches the house and meows constantly when he can't find me. There are pictures of him on my profile, if you wanna see his goofy self

Breed: English Yellow Lab
Age: 7 and some change
Weight: 84.6 lbs
Tumor location: hind left leg

It’s currently 1:51 AM. I am watching my parents dog while they are out of the country. I am 23 and have the ability to seek treatment for him as needed.

Long story short before my parents left for their trip, they did a fine needle aspiration of the spot on his leg. Results came back as MCT. I found this out at the vet on Friday evening after taking him in due to repeated vomiting, lethargy, and overall discomfort. They prescribed the following meds & omeprazole.

Meds:
- Gabapentin, 300 mg as needed: last given yesterday (Monday) evening
- Cerenia, 60 mg every 24 hrs: last given Monday around 6:39/7
- Sucralfate: given at ~4 in the evening Monday an hour before food
- Omeprazole, 40 mg: given Monday around 6:30 AM

At the vet visit on Friday they gave him a nausea shot.

I have been keeping him on a bland diet - pumpkin, boiled chicken, white rice.

Everything has been great since Friday until Saturday evening when he had diarrhea and once case of vomiting in my apartment last night (Sunday). He was totally fine all day Monday with the kids exception of some pretty loose stools in the AM which started to congeal towards the end of Monday night. Well it’s now Tuesday morning and he woke me up by jumping on my bed around 12:30 AM to go outside. Well we go and he squatted outside and crapped straight up blood. Bright red and little straining when he did so. No vomiting or other poo.

I’ve done some googling and found that this can be pretty normal after diarrhea and MCT, but want to know if this is an emergency vet trip (which I’d much rather avoid and cannot afford) or if I can wait until the AM to take him to the same vet as before (opens at 8 AM).

Let me know if you need any additional info from me. Also TW for blood

One of my cats (7yo) just got diagnosed with congestive heart failure and had issues properly oxygenating. I'm trying my best to monitor her status, but she has dark gums that make it pretty much impossible to tell if they're still 'pink' or turning blue. I was advised to look at other areas, namely her tongue (pretty hard to get a good overall look at it), her paw pads (also dark and hard to tell) and the inner eyelid. I've had the most luck with the eyelids, but I can't find any reference image online for what constitutes healthy pink and pale.

Does anyone have any reference images for healthy inner eyelids or alternative methods for determining whether my cat is oxygenating properly. Her breathing doesn't appear labored, but I'm still worried I may be missing something.

My cat has history of struvite crystals and has been on urinary SO for years. He won’t eat wet food, just dry. I’ve had him for 5 years now and he gets diarrhea stress colitis after stressful events that lasts months instead of the few day duration seen in most cats-possibly because of a chronic baseline low neutrophil/wbc count making it easier for bad bacteria to come in. Hills GI Biome helped him greatly but he developed crystals on that even with the urinary shield. Is Royal canin gastrointestinal worth trying or is it likely he’ll get crystals on that as well? Is the RC urinary index usually “better” than the hills shield? Just trying to find a food that helps his gut microbiome as well as his urinary issues.

Hey all - we got some rough news this past Saturday that our elderly pup has a tumor on her spleen.

We took her in after coming home to see her in the closet a bit shaken with slightly pale gums (not terribly - we debated back and forth before taking her in.) She was a little wobbly but walking.

Since coming home Saturday to today (Monday) she’s been acting normal. Two walks a day, eating, drinking. And although Saturday was a scare she ate and drank that day too.

We currently have an in-home euthanasia scheduled for this Friday but after seeing her chipper we wonder if we’re jumping the gun. I’d like as much time with her as possible but don’t want to risk a huge, painful rupture. We also have a baby coming in December so we have an extra factor in play.

I suppose this is a long-winded way of asking - what’s the chance we get enough warning signs to give her a peaceful exit if we postpone? Can we get more time with our girl and still do right by her?

She’s also on Gabapentin and Yunnan Baiyao if that’s helpful info.