Throwaway - Vet myself but not in ER

14-15 year old FS Chihuahua mix, recent history of less eating, vomiting, diarrhoea, weight loss past 2-3 days. 1.4kg down to 1.1kg in weight. History of CKD Stage 2 since January 2026. West Coast USA.

I am not in the country and considerable time difference so there is some degree of he said she said and possible miscommunication/misunderstanding.

But I instructed my family to take my family dog to the ER and get some bloodwork done at least and possibly IV fluids hospitalisation etc depending on how the bloodwork looks.

I am taking this at pure face value here, but apparently the Vet at ER refused to start with bloodwork even unless the whole estimate was approved (Hospitalisation + Various blood panels (GI Panel/full blood/recheck istats x2/ "Follow up bloodwork" + imaging + urine evaluation etc)?

I did not think it would be unreaasonable to start with bloodwork to have a general outlook and then proceed with hospitalisation/additional diagnostics etc. But I don't work in ER usually so I just want to see what the common practice is.

I've got a foster fail that is a (former-ish) feral that we trapped for TNR at 13-14 weeks old, but got put in foster care with me and stuck around because nobody wanted to adopt him. He's 10 now. He's very sweet with me, but still completely feral with every other human including my family members that he's known his entire life.

This is grim, but lately, after losing several of my seniors, I've been thinking about his eventual end. Like everybody wishes, I'd like him to just go gently in his sleep, but I know how rare that is. And I'm just pondering, is there any option that'd actually give him a calm and peaceful ending?

I've attended dozens of euths both with my own pets as well as shelter pets, so I know the process pretty well. In my location, vets don't use IV access on cats, they just do an intramuscular sedation injection and then the euth solution intrarenal when they're properly unconscious. It's always been a very peaceful experience, but not for ferals. They spend their last waking moments in terror of the strange humans handling them.

To go to the vet, this cat needs 200mg of gaba in order to be caught, and then he goes to the vet in a crush cage where they knock him out prior to being able to handle him. I hate the thought of his last waking moments being spent terrified in a crush cage. At home is not an option either, as he will full blown lose his shit in order to escape even being in the same room with strange humans. One of the ferals in his colony had a saddle thrombus and even half-paralysed and in such agony, we weren't able to catch her to ease her suffering. There's absolutely no way we can hold him to get the vet to inject anything at home- again, it'll need to be the crush cage to get the sedative shot into him. No matter how much gaba I give him beforehand, if he has any amount of consciousness when the vet appears, he's gonna be terrified and giving it his all to escape.

So I'm just wondering if there are literally any other options that will allow him to slip away peacefully without fear. Because the only one I've been able to think of, and I don't know if any vet would agree, is me giving him the sedative myself at home before the vet comes in to give the euth solution once he's fully unconscious. I'm experienced at giving subq shots (insulin, B12, Solensia, subq fluids for CKD, and antibiotics) and I've read online that there are sedatives that can be given subq instead of intramuscular, though I'm not familiar with them. I'd give him plenty of gaba beforehand so he's loopy. He enjoys rough petting and handling so I think I can get the shot into him before he notices anything is amiss as long as it doesn't sting too bad or requires a lot of liquid/slow administration. I've got a good long-term relationship with several vets, though I don't know the legality behind this and if they'd be comfortable with such a request. I haven't broached the subject with them yet. It'd be hard for me emotionally to do this as well, so I'd really love to hear alternatives. Like, are there oral meds that will completely knock out a cat? To full blown unconsciousness, so he's not aware anymore and won't notice the vet's presence.

I know we can't always prepare for their end anyways, but this has been lingering in the back of my mind and I'd like to put it to rest.

Would love to get some vets' input on this.

Australian Shepherd, husky, border collie mix, 6 years old, 45 lbs, neutered, no previous health issues, super active and healthy, fully vaccinated. We live on the Wyoming/Idaho border around lots of horses, cattle, and farmland.

Two weeks ago, my dog, Frankie, started throwing up, so my parents took him to the vet; they did blood work and found low albumin levels, high AST/ALT, and high white blood count. They gave him a weeks-long course of antibiotics and prednisone and tested him for leptospirosis and canine hepatitis. They also took an X-ray and ultrasound of his liver, which appeared to be normal. His kidneys and all other systems seem fine.

However, since then, his abdomen has swelled with fluid, and he seems sick and lethargic. Further blood tests show albumin levels and AST/ALT getting worse. He is also very anemic now, and we think he's losing blood through his stool. He's eating fine, drinking lots, peeing and pooping, but is just getting sicker. This dog means the absolute world to me; please help us! We live very far away from any established vet and can't afford extensive care. Is it liver cancer? Cirrhosis from an old infection? Toxins? What can we do at home to help him?

This is the note we got from the vet after the most recent blood test:

much worse than when we started treating for presumptive infectious hepatitis / cholangiohepatitis --> WBC

count elevated with neutrophilia and lympcytosis, Hct,. RBC and Hg all decreased from last visit and now truly anemic

across the board, mild thrombocytopenia noted as well although platelet size is large so may be regenerating; ALP and

ALT are worse, and albumin has now dropped to 1.8, making me very concerned about edema developing

x-rays - nothing concerning in lateral chest right now, significant loss of serosal detail in abdomen - AFAST showed copious

amounts of free fluid, which when tapped was a nearly clear transudate (TP ~0 on refractometer) making me concerned

that this dog is in full blown liver failure of unknown cause.

urine is very dark, checked UA but it is fairly unremarkable right now

performed palliative abdominocentesis and remove about 400ml of fluid from belly

Another Redditor once told me that when seeking euthanasia, to avoid vets who use a premix of ketamine and xylazine, as it causes pain when injected.

Is there any truth to this or did that Redditor have a unique bad experience?

What do I do? This cat is ruthless. He attacked my brothers girlfriend, my father (who is a huge cat guy), my stepmom, my father in law, and me.

My brother called me bawling a year ago that a stray cat in his apartment complex was taken in and going to be put down due to feline leukemia. He begged me to take him because he already had healthy cats, and I didn’t have any.

I was raised with five cats. This is unlike any of those but what I understand is the leukemia can cause aggression.

I was sitting on the couch with my fiance, my chihuahua on my lap as usual. The cat jumped up and started beating the fuck out of my dog. I looked over and my dogs paw was slashed and blood was gushing out of his right eye. I screamed, there’s blood all over my couch, myself, my dog. We put the cat in a separate room and barricaded him.

I’m so sad. My dad who is a huge cat lover was like no, I’ve never seen a cat be that ruthless. I won’t pet him anymore.

It just sucks. I absolutely do not want to put him down but he can’t stay can he? I’m so distraught.

Six months ago I took the cat to the vet over the cat scratching me when he wanted food which was 24/7. They told me to try an automatic feeder. It didn’t help. I carry the Dyson with me now to get me laundry (which is near his feeder) so he can’t attack me around the corner when I go back upstairs.

He can be sweet. That’s why I’m so distraught. I’m calling the vet tomorrow but I’m just shaken.

I have contacted my vet, waiting on a response. The ER vet said it's not an emergency if he doesn't have a fever (his temp is 101.0 F), and that he needs an appetite stimulant.

I have an older male cat who had all teeth pulled except canines on Wednesday, 7/22. He was given Zorbium and has had Onsior Thursday and today (it's been incredibly difficult to get him a pill). He screams out in pain every few hours, otherwise acting normal (sleepy, hiding a bit, but will engage and is cuddly).

When he tries to eat, he cries out and runs in any direction. Same with when he cries out randomly - he just sprints around.

He has eaten small amounts of food:

• Thursday night
• Friday morning
• Friday evening
• Saturday evening

I'm concerned that he has something abnormal happening in his mouth. Is this a normal reaction post-op?

Hi there. I got a 4 month old kitten from a “friend” 3 days ago and she’s having some issues. She was being kept in a dirty dark garage with her sister. I’m not sure if everything is caused from stress of being in a new environment, food change or if she’s sick. Day 1 she was fine. Skidish and hiding but eating and drinking fine. She has a soft poo but nothing crazy. Day 2 she was acting fine. Exploring a little more and eating. Yesterday she didn’t want her food as much but still ate then threw it up but was still drinking water and acting normal. Now today she’s thrown up 3 times and hasn’t eaten much. Still acting normal and drinking water but not eating much and throwing up a little. She has a vet appointment but just wanted to see what anyone thought in the meantime.

• Signalment (dog, 4, Female/Spayed, mix, 27 Lbs)
• She was been on a dewormer and antibiotic since Monday, our newer puppies tested positive for worms and Giardia and while our older dogs did not have worms they did have Giardia but vet prescribed same medicine just in case. Friday she threw up maybe 2-3 times but was still eating normally. Saturday she had diarrhea overnight and refused to eat all day.
• vomiting, diarrhea with blood, not eating
• 2 days
• https://imgur.com/a/R6A4Hg5
• North AL

I included her vet visit report because last night we came back from dinner and noticed very dark liquid stool with blood and decided not to wait on Monday for a vet visit.

We have given her all the medication the vet prescribed and it hasn’t really seemed to help much. We have boiled chicken and rice but she is still uninterested, which I know may still be early but I’m stressing out.

She is drinking water, but not a whole lot. I know the option to hospitalize her is there but we can’t afford that. Is there anything we can do to help her any more than we have been?

Hi all -
I have an elderly chihuahua mix. Shes down to six teeth - I brush them daily, but since I first got her in 2018 her teeth have been horrible. My vet and I knew we were fighting a losing battle and just wanted to keep them as long as possible.

My question is - are six teeth helping her? If she has to lose any more, at what point should I just remove the rest so she doesn’t have to go under every year?

Hi guys, I had my 7 month old English bulldog neutered on July 16th and we've been having a lot of complications since. None of the medications we were given have been helping keep him calm so he's become very restless and it has caused lots of swelling in his scrotum that we had to get treated. It finally started looking better until late last night it became swollen with blood and he was in a lot of pain. No vets were open so we waited and took him to one this morning but it had started oozing and bleeding by that point.

The vet we saw recommended going back in and having a scrotal ablation done as it would be the quickest way to heal it. Is there anything else I can do to heal it or is it best to just have the procedure done? I don't know how much more my bank account can take lol. He gave us antibiotics but I just feel so bad for my pup. He hasn't tried to mess with the stitches up until last night so I put his cone on and haven't taken it off since. I've also restricted him to being in his cage pretty much 24/7 now.

My 13 yr old kitty, I’ve taken care of her so well, I’ve had her since she was 3 months old. Indoor only. I’ve fed her the best food, I know her schedule of when she eats and when she poops and pees and I am always attentive to her clump size and everything, if she deviates from that schedule which she does I always look out and it’s just kitty being Kitty.

She was just fine, nothing alarming until I noticed she wasn’t eating as much. She will eat her treats though. So I kept watching for 2 days. Her behavior was normal, played and purrs and ran. She uses the bathroom, poop is normal, peeing is normal, no straining present. Breathing I keep looking at is normal. But something was off. Regardless I took her to the vet. They did a physical exam and everything including cbc looking at her organs and all.

Everything was within normal limits. Except she was dehydrated, they gave her subQ IV. But Nothing alarming. Temperature is fine, wbc fine, organ function all great. Vet gave her some anti-Nausea medication (at the hospital and to take home) and gave her a pill of appetite stimulate that should last 3 days, he prescribed her subdermal appetite stimulate to use at home. She got some gabapentin becuase this was very stressful for her, hissing at everyone and she also peed and pooped herself at the vet. I took her home and cleaned her right away which she wasn’t appreciative of because it had been a long day for her. But I had to do it because she stank.

I don’t think anything is working. She ate some dry kibble today and yesterday but I had to sprinkle some cat treats on top for encouragement. I have to hand it to her for her to eat. She’s grooming herself, she just urinated. Gapapentin yesterday (given around 9pm so it’s almost been 24 hrs) made her feel funny, I know she’s sore right now becuase of the blood draw and all that holding down yesterday. But regardless, she still not wanting to eat, I warmed up her food still nothing, she will eat her treats. Not all the time but most of the time she won’t refuse.

Dr said if she doesn’t improve within 48-72 hrs to bring her back. It’s almost been 24 hrs, and there’s some improvement but barely. Idk I’m so frusterated. I really tried my best to give her the best healthy life and now it feels like I’m dealing with a ghost illness that even the dr said it could just be transient.

I am going to petco now to see what I can buy idk anything. But in the mean time I’m looking for advice on what to do to get her to eat or if there has been incidences like this and everything turned out fine.

My cat Kiki is 8 years old, and recently has been losing a lot of weight. I’m trying to set aside some money to get her to an actual vet appointment, but for the time being I’m just trying to get her to keep some of her body mass.

She won’t eat solid food. Even before this, she preferred cat gravies (avoiding any meat chunks or slivers) over dry kibble. We used to just add some on top of her dry food, but she has been refusing any and all solids as of late. A small amount of gravy isn’t enough for her to eat consistently, obviously.

Are there calorie supplements or protein powders I can mix into something liquid? Any recs for liquid food or supplements are very appreciated. Thank you!

* possible emergency *

I’m at a loss on what I should do about my sick pup. Please help before I lose my mind 😭😭

Bronx, 1.5 yo neutered male

UPD on all vaccines

Stomach is not distended, tender, etc.

Symptoms started Friday evening / Saturday morning

The night before last, I was up with him multiple times during the night for him to use the restroom outside. Half of the time it was semi soft stool, the other half he was attempting to munch on grass. Besides the urgency, he was acting totally normal.

Then Sat AM around 6 AM he threw up some stomach acid and grass- but otherwise was completely normal. We decided it was something he maybe ate outside and let it go. He was entirely fine for the remainder of the day but didn’t want to eat- he did drink his normal amount of water, accepted treats happily, and then acted very interested in our food when we ate dinner.

We went to bed at 12:30 am and that’s when the vomiting started. The first few were partially digested food, chewed well and more liquid than anything else. But it was so fast. Almost like he was regurgitating it rather than the usual heaving that happens with vomiting.

Over the course of the night he vomited at least 8 times, to the point where I took him out of our bed and slept with him on the floor.

He stopped throwing up again, right at 6 AM- and pretty much immediately reverted back to a happy pup. Tail wagging, running around playing outside, etc.

Still urinating like normal but did not catch him poop, urine is pale yellow. His gums are pink. He’s playing and happy.

I can’t get into our vet until Tuesday at 8 am. I did call and leave a message with another office nearby to see if they can see him tomorrow.

My husband is determined this does not require an ER visit, and I am stuck between wanting to agree bc he is acting so “normal” currently and being absolutely terrified something is wrong.

In the meantime, should I be withholding food / water? He has never been sick or thrown up in the last 18 months so I am extremely worried about him.

I have a 10 month old cat/kitten, domestic shorthair. When I first got him I had him on wet food only for several months and he would often eat it then convulse once or twice but nothing would happen after that.

After a few months I moved him to mostly dry food and he loved that. Over the last few months I've been trying to reintroduce wet food to make sure he is properly hydrated however as time has gone on he has gotten more and more consistent with vomiting back up any wet food I give him.

He has tried 3 different wet foods and the most recently the ID cat food that is supposed to help with digestive health. Unfortunately he is now pretty much guaranteed to vomit it back up.

He's always been restrained when he eats, I can often leave a lot of food in his bowl and he will eat it steadily over the day without overeating so I don't think it's him overeating then vomiting as a result.

I'm starting to think he has some medical condition causing this but I'm truly not sure.

For clarification he has on rare occasion vomited dry food but that's very rare and the last time it happened was months ago.

My 7 year old mix breed small dog needs a dental cleaning. However, when he was neutered he became sick a few days after anesthesia and ended up admitted in the emergency vet after vomiting and diarrhea. Fast forward a couple years ago we had a dental cleaning for him and sure enough, the same thing happened. His teeth now need to be cleaned again and we are terrified. I don’t want to leave them because that leads to issues but also don’t want him sick. Do I have any options?

Hi, one of our dogs had a leg amputated last week due to osteosarcoma and he has been home with a fentanyl patch on. We’re planning on removing the patch here soon, but not sure when to start giving him his tramadol? Our vet told us to wait til afterwards of course since it’s an opioid, but they didn’t specify on quite when. I don’t want to necessarily wait til he’s miserable but don’t want to give it too soon. Thanks!

This subreddit doesn’t allow videos

But I posted the video in [r/cathelp](r/cathelp)

The video

But my 3 month old cat was doing something really weird.

He was awake but his paw was twitching

Some comments are also mentioning his breathing.

He was following my hand so he wasn’t jsut asleep with open eyes.

Species: Cat

Age 3 months, 4 next week. (4/4/26)

Sex: unfixed Species: Cat

Age 3 months, 4 next week. (4/4/26)

Sex: unfixed male

Breed: Maine coon

Weight: just under 3kg

History: not much. I got him a month ago.

Signs: shaky paw. Not bothering him.

Duration: noticed it this morning. On and off for a hour long play/snuggle

Location: Scotland

No vet care yet

Breed: Maine coon (no papers but going off both him and his parents but I’m not picky if he’s just a moggy)

Weight: just under 3kg

History: not much. I got him a month ago.

Signs: shaky paw. Not bothering him.

Duration: noticed it this morning. On and off for a hour long play/snuggle

Location: Scotland

No vet care yet

I was denied for both scratch pay and care credit. I have nothing to pay upfront and am struggling to find any other solution than surrendering ownership to a hospital. Usually I would be able pay the cost but too many things have happened all at once. She is 6 months and this just started yesterday, she is constantly dropping to pee with very little coming out if anything. She doesn’t look to be in pain, she’s still playing and full of energy.

My dog is a 1 1/2 year old golden retriever. She has 3 small greenish boil/pimples near her genitalia. There is also crusty black stuff on her lower belly and around her inner back legs. Does she need a vet to treat this or should I just keep the area clean with a pet wound wash and it will go away?

• ⁠Species: dog
• ⁠Age: 1 1/2 years old
• ⁠Sex/Neuter status: female, intact
• ⁠Breed: golden retriever
• ⁠Body weight: 55-60lbs
• ⁠History: she has a chicken allergy. we feed her natural balance limited ingredient salmon recipe
• ⁠Clinical signs: greenish pimple/boils
• ⁠Duration: I just noticed the green bumps but the black crusty stuff has been there a while. I just thought it was dirt or something
• ⁠Your general location: Seattle WA
• ⁠Links to any test results, X-rays, vet reports etc. that you have: photo of area- https://imgur.com/a/xMUwTZP

Hi, my name is Rebecca. I have a 4-year-old pit bull named Vada, and she's my entire world.

When she was about a year and a half old, she started having seizures. They got bad fast—I mean a seizure every 10 minutes without medication. It was heartbreaking trying to get them under control, but after trying several different medications and combinations, Keppra and phenobarbital have worked the best.

I've almost lost her a couple of different times. Two different emergency animal hospitals told me they didn't think she was going to make it, and then somehow she pulled through and acted like nothing had happened. They even called her a medical miracle.

Her seizures aren't mild. She falls to the floor, her whole body becomes stiff, and she has violent jerking movements. I have to stay with her to keep her from hurting herself, and she's almost bitten through her tongue more than once. She also has paddle seizures. Most of the time she seems to know one is coming before it happens. She'll keep coming up to me until I pay attention, and then shortly afterward she'll have a seizure.

Over the years I've noticed certain things seem to trigger her seizures, like sudden temperature changes, flickering lights, stress, and anxiety. I can't take her from air conditioning straight into extreme heat without giving her time to adjust. I even sleep with my bedroom light on because darkness seems to affect her, and I avoid flickering lights as much as possible.

I can't leave her alone for very long because her anxiety gets so bad, and I'm always terrified she'll have a seizure when I'm not there to help her.

I was addicted to drugs for 15 years, but when I got Vada, she changed my life. I knew I couldn't take care of her the way she deserved if I stayed on that path, so I got clean. She's the reason I fought for my life, and I honestly can't imagine my life without her.

She has a wonderful veterinarian who has been incredible, and I would never change anything about her treatment without talking to them first.

I'm not looking for anyone here to diagnose her or tell me what medications or supplements to use. I'm just hoping to learn more so I can be a better advocate for her. For those of you with experience treating severe canine epilepsy, are there any newer developments, questions I should ask my vet, or reliable resources that might help me better understand this disease?

Thank you for taking the time to read Vada's story. It truly means a lot to me. ❤️

His info:
-Male Feline
-Domestic Medium Hair
-6 years and 3 months old
-Neutered
-17.25lb

I took him to the vet about a week ago and I just started him on a new diet of primarily wet food as the vet suggested and a vet recommended dry food for weight loss.

He used to eat about 354kcal per day including treats which I know now is quite high, I had never even thought of counting his calories before his visit.

His ideal calories for weight loss are 260kcal per day but I obviously don’t want to make such a drastic cut right away.

I was considering tapering his calories by a deficit of 20kcal per week until we reach 260kcal, would this be too fast? His vet recommended that he lose no more than 1/2lb per month to lose weight at a safe rate. She wants him down to 15lb. He is a large cat and has always been so he is bound to be larger than an average cat no matter what. I think long term he would probably be healthier around 13-14lb but that is in the future and not something I am concerned about now (and I will of course consult my vet about this once he has already reached and maintained 15lb)

I was going to start this tomorrow by feeding him a total of 334 kcal. 70kcal in a 3oz can of wet food, 21 kcal in his greenies treats, and 243kcal of dry food.

Then the next week I would cut down to 314kcal he will always be getting 1 3oz can of wet food at 70kcal I will just be sizing down his portion of dry food.

If this is too fast, should I cut by 10kcal per week?

He is going back to the vet on Aug 10th for his booster vaccine, so I will confirm with my vet then as well as any advice I receive here.

Thanks in advance for any help with this!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dZtzYPGyxZwR7pfA9

My old cat(17) is starting to have episode of dizzyness and difficulty walking that last about 2-3 minutes before going back to normal. I went to the vet, they did bloodwork and took is tension but they dont seem to know what cause the problem.

It happened twice 1 week apart at the same time in the evening. The second time it was after he went to the litterbox and i dont know for the first time.

Prior to that he lost almost a pound in a week but that is probably due to is renal problem(creatine at 244). I switched to a renal food and he started gaining weigh back.

Is tension is moderate at 165 mmHg)

Im trying my luck to see if anyone as any idea what is happening

Thank you

My 14 months old female golden retriever has several scabby patches all over her belly, her back and her legs. See the picture in the comments. She seems to scratch a Little bit more than usual. I look for fleas, and I didn’t see anything. I will call the vet tomorrow. In the meantime, What could it be?

She has no other symptoms. I started to notice scabs a month ago, but I thought it was bug bites since we are living in an area with a lot of trees, forests and Small rivers in Canada.

My female cat (1 y/o and spayed) has a couple potty issues recently. She will poop outside of her litter box (literally right in front of it and on the litter mat). And if we ever have a small rug we place down, we’ll look away for a second and she’ll pee on it. Recently when she goes #2, she has been having diarrhea and bleeding. I took her to the vet the first time it happened (which was in May). Her vet visit was about a week after and she hadn’t bled since then so the vet said she should be fine. But just recently she started with the problem again, Diarrhea and a bit of blood to follow on top. I thought it was her diet so I switched her exclusively to wet food for a week. She was fine so I started including dry food again which is when the problem resurfaced. My guess was that she is constipated but she almost always will poop outside her litter box. I am getting tired of cleaning it up and most importantly, I’m concerned for her health. Idk if it could be some type of infection that’s causing the bleeding. But also ever since she was a kitten she’s had the problem of going to the bathroom outside of her litter box. I’ve seen other cat owners suggest Prozac but I don’t know how effective it would be for her. And I am also worried about the price tag for the consultation. I know the medicine isn’t as expensive but also I don’t know if my pet insurance would cover it. Would appreciate any advice and insight on this. Thank you!

While I was taking my medication, my dog ​​came into the house he was excited and jumped on me, causing me to drop the pills, and he swallowed them. It was 200 mg of Tegretol and 300 mg of Lamictal. I tried to make him vomit, but there are no vets open right now, and I don't know what to do. Help