I’m a proponent of spay aborts since I think we have so many animals that already need homes, but I feel like I always see it done on cats. Is that because it’s less risky for them than dogs? Are there more cats that are coming in pregnant? Do people view dogs and cats so differently that they would rather a pregnant dog carry the puppies to birth?

Yesterday I took her to the vet because I’ve noticed some behavioral changes in my 5yo unspayed rottie (got her from my mom who refused to spay her for whatever reason) like increased sleepiness, lack of appetite, and nonstop panting. I also noticed a bit of vaginal discharge running down her leg for the first time that morning which is the main reason I decided to take her in. I’m broke so we just started off with an ultrasound to see the urgency of the situation where they said everything seemed perfectly fine and they realized she was also lactating. It’s confirmed she’s experiencing a false pregnancy at this point but she still keeps producing a lot of discharge that’s a very milky yellowish green.
I was thinking about taking her in today again to do blood tests because I hate not knowing for sure whether she’s is life threatening danger or not but I was thinking it might just be cheaper if we just get her spayed right now instead of doing all of these tests.
My issue is that I’m not sure if I can just skip to the ovariohysterectomy part without doing further tests. Since she didn’t seem to have swelling or any issues in her uterus through the ultrasound does that mean she’s safe to be spayed? Or would I still have to run all of the tests before moving on to a spay. Unfortunately I am incredibly broke and trying to find an apartment as my lease ends soon so I’m wondering what’s the best move.

In desperate need of advice here. My kitty was prescribed Prozac for her anxiety, just a tiny little half pill daily. I have tried the just placing it down her throat method, crushing into food method, pill pusher method, pill pocket method, the list goes on. She will not do it. She will trash her head around until it comes out (even if she’s in a burrito), and will purposefully avoid treats that she likes because she knows that her medicine is in it. She knows when it isn’t. She’s outsmarted me and all my methods. She’s anxious, I’m anxious because she’s anxious. Please help! 🐈‍⬛

Hi all, apologies for the long post. I am 25 based in the UK I have access to a vet but worried about funds as I’ve been back and forth at the vet this past month.

My cat is a 3 years old male and a tonkinese mix, neutered, 4.56kg from 4.8kg post hospital stay.

TLDR: My cat’s nose randomly started fluctuating from bubblegum pink, he’s experiencing lethargy but eating 1 pouch wet royal canin gastrointestinal, a cup of dry royal canin digestive care, 1 pouch purina hydro life. churu treats included. not so much drinking water - two blood panels confirmed no anemia, kidney and liver functions normal.
unsure of what to do

On july 22nd miso was hospitalised for diarrhoea, a fever and lethargy. he spent three days in the hospital and was diagnosed with ileus the vets were unsure of where it came from but he wa given fluids, an abdominal scan and a whirl of medications. he was well enough to come home — his stool firmed up within a few days but he was still quiet around the house and i spoon fed him for a week until he started on his own. He was prescribed Cisaprid, Panacur and Emperid.

I took him to the vet after course of medication ended 3 days after coming home - this was just for a checkup and all vitals were good. He’d stopped drinking his water at this point too. Was told that he would likely take some time passing stool on his own and the lack of drinking water would be from having wet food only. The next week, I noticed he wasn’t passing stool at all, so went to the vet again. This was on the 4th August. He was constipated and prescribed lactulose at 1ml per day for 3 days. He was still failing to pass stool so the vet upped the dosage to 1.5ml which he was on for a week starting 7th August. Stools softened and he came off lactulose.

For two weeks he was starting to pass stool once a day, urinated normally and I started his dry food again alongside wet and a hydrocare pouch just in case as we suspected he was stealth drinking but couldn’t tell due to having multiple water bowls around the house. I noticed that on the week of August 17th his nose was beginning to have flashes of paleness instead of pink — I suspected dehydration because of the heatwave, he would be more active early hours of the day and late at night but sleep for most of the day (whilst eating). I took him to the vet 19th August and of course in the car his nose pinked up bright pink — vitals were all good and we were sent home.

On the 24th we were back at the vet as his nose had gone white a few times over the weekend and he remained sleepy during the day. Still eating — emergency vet was called and they advised to visit the clinic monday as he was still eating. Drew bloods on 24th, all came back good and we were prescribed B12 pills for the lethargy. He was with a sitter until Friday, he was doing well eating all meals and playing. Nose was pretty pink according to the sitter and videos. Blood was drawn again on the 26th to be sent off to the lab and all results came back clean. My vet was happy and said none of the expected values from the CBC or Biochemistry were out of the ordinary. (if needed I will call and ask for a copy).

Now over the weekend it seems like he has reverted. His nose is a salmon pink to pale pink most of the day, he’s toileting as normal peeing and passing stool every day. I think he’s getting tired of the royal canin wet so this evening I’ll try his regular food but he is continuing to eat the dry. Today his nose went white for a second and is now a pale pink lbut his gums seem okay.

I’m just at a loss for what to do next, he is not anemic according to the vet but he is so sleepy during the day. He started moving around a bit more today on his own but I’m still concerned. I’m losing sleep over this I’m watching him like a hawk but I don’t know how to proceed and what questions to raise with the vet next. Should I be looking for anything specific? I think I’m going to call again this evening — I spoke with them earlier about his bloods but he was looking okay then. Many thanks

My 7 year old Australian shepherd sheltie mix has oral melanoma. He had a tumor the size of a small grape on his upper lip. We had the tumor removed and they also had to remove multiple teeth. Hes healed up just fine since the surgery and is acting totally normal. Unfortunately our vet said there wasn't much else she could do other than referring us to an oncologist. We live in a rural area and the nearest one is an hour and a half drive. Further treatment is also simply out of our price range. So we really have no idea what stage hes at. Anyone have experience with this disease? Im just wondering how much time he may have left and how it might progress. Our vet did tell us she could provide pain management medicine at some point. He seems fine and totally healthy at the moment.

My dog is a 7 year old male neutered chi mix, about 10 lbs. Two weeks ago he stopped eating and developed a fever and mysterious signs of pain. After many blood tests, ultrasound, x rays, steroids and antibiotics we still do not have a diagnosis. The internal medicine doc is doing a joint tap on my dog right now, she suspects immune mediated polyarthritis. My regular vet made it sound like it was a manageable disease with good quality of life. The internal med doc made it sound like a long, drawn out relapsing disease with a fair amount of suffering. What are the vets thoughts and experiences with IMPA? TIA

Any ideas what this could be from? We're located in the east coast of Canada. Just noticed it today. She is 7 years old, 8 lbs, domestic short hair and in good health. She's an indoor cat, we moved about a month ago. We lost my older cat about 2 months ago and it's been a change for her. She's acting normal otherwise, happy and playful and eating.

https://imageupload.app/i/e25093efc25a7c08bd91

To start, I do have a vet appointment and I'm just looking for a little piece of mind to calm my anxiety till then.

I have an 12ish month old kitten from a shelter. In the last two weeks or so we've started to notice that shes losing weight. I thought it was maybe the food weve been buying so we switched it up, got some pate, chunky, and shredded wet food. She eat the wet food, but she wont eat a lot, less then a spoon full at a time. Other then this, she behaves completely normal. Doesn't hide, still using the liter box, still asks for attention, still comes when its meal time, and isth lethargic at all.

The shelter said she had mild tartar, but I'm starting to think it isn't so mild.

gave him my two sick 6 month old kitties, they were sick a week ago, fever, lethargy, they got treated for it, they were lethargic and drooling again, same symptoms as before, when he did the cbc even he was surprised he had to repeat it again.

low platelets, crazy high wbcs and two kittens, who have a high fever.

is this a bad prognosis? i dont have a job and my mothe/sister will be paying for them which already makes me feel like shit but thinking they wont even make it is making me circle the drain. gemini is telling me some crazy diagnosis and its not helping.

Hi,

My dog’s stool tested positive for EIMERIA OOCYSTS 2+.

Google said that no treatment is necessary and that dogs are not hosts for EIMERIA.

My dog seems normal but should I still go to the vet and get treatment for it?

Thanks!

Over the past week, my 13-year-old cat has had four episodes. They consist of her pulling her head to her chest, putting her arms over her face, and sitting there frozen for a very short period of time (under a minute). She’s sometimes contorted her body to the left side as well. Afterwards, she’s had trouble walking/with her balance, but she is always quickly back to normal.

I took her in to the vet and had bloodwork done, and it’s all come back normal. I have another appointment set up, but so far there isn’t an answer we can point to. It’s very frustrating, and I’m really scared. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Hi there,

I have an annual checkup for my kitties tomorrow. I currently have pet insurance, but the plan is set to renew a week from now (9/6/2026).

I'm getting paranoid that if my kitties get diagnosed with something at this appointment (on 9/2/2026), that my new policy cycle won't cover it. Is that a real risk or am I overthinking? If something comes up should I ask the vets to wait to record it in their charts ?

I’ll try to be as short and to the point as I can.

 1. We adopted a cat from a shelter at the end of January. Initially, we were told that the cat was around two years old (later, we would discover that this was not the case). She still hasn't been spayed as we were advised to wait until September, because of the medical procedures she had received.

 2. We took the cat to the vet. She was checked for all cat viruses, had ultra sounds and X rays, and all the results came back negative. All her blood work was great, but we were told that her teeth looked bad, which meant that she was much older than we had been told (nobody knows exactly how old she is). The cat had a great appetite, and the only problem was her right eye, which would water on and off. Sometimes it would be fine for days, and then it would suddenly start watering again. She was given antibiotics and eye drops, but they didn’t help much. The pattern remained the same.

 3. In late May, the cat started drooling, so we took her to the vet. The vet suggested extracting all her teeth. We agreed, and the surgery went great (three fangs were left). Everybody was happy, and all her results looked great. She remained on oral antibiotics for 10 days.

 4. In June, she started vomiting, probably because of the oral antibiotics. We took her to the vet again, where she was put on a drip, and all her blood work was still great. After a few days, she looked completely normal. We continued with Pantoprazole (for stomach acid) for three weeks and then discontinued it. Everything seemed fine.  Her appetite was great.

 5. A week ago, her eye started watering a bit more. We bought some eye drops, but they didn’t help much. Then, suddenly, one morning she refused to eat. However, when we gave her another brand of food, she ate normally. The next day, she refused that brand too. I bought a third one, and she ate well. The following day, she didn’t want that one either, so I boiled some chicken, and she ate that well.

 All this time, I thought she had somehow become spoiled, so I wasn’t particularly worried. The day after that, however, she refused the chicken as well. I bought a new brand of food; she ate a little and later threw up in the afternoon (that was on Monday).

 On Tuesday, she ate a little, then refused everything, and later in the afternoon she ate two spoonfuls of the 100th brand of food I had bought and ate a bit more late in the evening. The vomiting did not happen again.

 She comes into the kitchen, seemingly interested in food, puts her head in the fridge, meows and... nothing. She sleeps, uses the toilet, purrs, comes to me, makes biscuits, and even plays with a piece of string. Everything seems completely normal if it weren’t for the fact that she refuses to eat. Oh, yes, she may be drinking more water but not a lot more.

 I’m taking her to the vet tomorrow, but I’m at the end of my wits with worry. We love her dearly. She is the sweetest, cuddliest cat, but I am emotionally exhausted, and we are financially exhausted as well. I really don’t know what to do.

 If anyone can offer a piece of advice, share some thoughts on what this could be ( her eye problem included....oh, yes her eye seems to be watering more after eating), or suggest anything we could ask the vet to look into, we would be incredibly grateful. We just want our cuddly cat with a great appetite back.

 Thank you in advance.

So a month or two ago I found a small marble sized lump on my cat. It feels soft and slightly squishy, and doesn't seem to cause him any pain when I touch it. Due to this, I waited until his appointment for his updated shots last week and asked my vet to check it out.

She wanted to get a sample of it to look at under the microscope to see if she could see any cells that may indicate cancer, but said it was most likely fatty because it was soft.

After getting the sample she said she could only see fat cells and wanted to send the other slide to a local college to have them review as well because they are better equipped.

We got the results back and the lab said they only found fat cells as well.

My vet is recommending we remove it because she said when she got close to the center of the growth she felt that it was more hard there which could indicate cancer. She also wants to do X-rays of his chest prior to see if there is anything additional in his chest.

Total estimate is about $3k worse case to do the x-rays and remove the lump.

I love my cat obviously but I also don't want to put him through all that for no real reason.

I guess my question is, it seems unreasonable to do all that if both her review and the lab review said it was just fat. Does it seem reasonable to do all this to him (and spend a lot of money) if its more than likely just a fatty lump?

I'd just like some opinions on the situation.

3 year old fixed male, healthy weight 45 lbs, no other health problems. Has been eating Purina Pro Plan for years and has Bernie’s Perfect Poop every day. Once or twice a month he has a very gurgling stomach, isolated vomiting or diarrhea, then seems fine. Thinking about switching to Hills Perfect Digestion or Wellness Core Digestive Health.

My 19 year old yorkie chihuahua mix was diagnosed with a liver problem at 4 years old. He would throw up bile sometimes and act afraid and like he was hallucinating at times. Finally after many ER trips and bloodwork etc and 4 vets, finally found one who did a bile acid test and he failed. He was put on a hepatic diet and did great all these years.

Fast forward to 6 months ago. I always titer him and we only get vaccines when necessary, if his immunity is low, which has been very few over the years. Well 5 months ago he had to get the d2app vaccine and ended up having his first ever seizure ever as a result. He temporarily went blind and I.rushed him to our vet who gave him a strong long lasting steroid shot that caused extreme muscle wasting and bile puking again for the first time since puppyhood. Then he was given metronidazole and ended up having toxicity from it or something because he walked like he was drunk and could barely stand. Once he stopped taking it he got some strength back, gained 1 pound (he went from 9 to 6.5 during all of this) and I cant get him past 7.5 which is still a little underweight.

Since that seizure and all the meds and trauma after it is a nightmare getting him to eat what he needs!! 6 months of playing doggie chef and begging him to eat and feeding him smelly mush by hand and when he refuses he ends up puking and I AM TIRED AND LOSING MY MIND!! It is so frustrating trying to find the right combination to convince him to eat every day and night and it changes each time. I am wasting so much prescription food too! I crush hard food and put it on the wet food, warm the wet food, soak his hard food in warm water and mix that in, add parmesan cheese on top, etc etc!!!! I have burst into tears or erupted with frustrating anger over stupid food more times than I want to admit!! He will smell it and walk away. Smell it and walk away ugh!!!! Any tips on what I can do to fix this problem?? I already give him slippery elm to coat his stomach in the morning since he won't ever eat breakfast which helps him not puke bile but then there is that stressful timer knowing if he doesnt eat within 5 or 6 hours he will be sick!!!

Please help this exhausted mama! This boy is my soul dog and I would do anything for him, but my life has become timers and measuring and charting food intake and making and cleaning plates and starting over all damn day and night!!!

Thanks for any help!!!! I am not sure why the steroid seemed to cause this and if he will go back to how he was before or if we can fix it somehow!😭

She is a 10yr old tortie. I noticed this patch on her back today, I'm sure it was not there yesterday. There is no redness or scratches or bleeding. Just a patch of hair loss with black tiny dots. She is flea-free as she takes the flea drops regularly. Is this ringworm? Should I take her to vet immediately or observe for a few days?

Species: Indian Domestic Shorthair Age: 10yrs Sex: Female (spayed) Weight: 4kgs

We took our 9 year old Female Bug to the vet last Wednesday for daily, morning vomiting and weight loss. She never throws up food, only bile and foam. Blood work was taken and came back normal and we were advised to start her on 10mg of Prilosec before bed which we started that day. We were encouraged to try and keep a little food in her tummy as much as we can throughout the day but she has no interest, I'm assuming due to nausea. Before even going to the vet we researched and suspected it might be bilious vomiting syndrome and had been giving her bits of boiled potato before bed and in the AM but it doesnt really seem to be making a difference. I know its only been a week but there's been no real improvement.

We will be taking her back on Thursday but I'm looking for insight in the mean time on any ideas on what else it might be. Would pancreatitis or something more severe show up on basic blood work?

My cat, unfortunately, is very well known at my vet office. She is an absolute psycho. I have to give her 4ml of gabapentin before bringing her to the vet to get sedated. I have been taking her to the same vet clinic - a local Banfield (I know people have opinions but I truly love my local clinic and I have a wellness plan, so her sedation and dental cleanings are covered) - since she was a kitten, and trust me, she has put them through hell and back and I feel awful about it. Before we figured out how psycho she is, I often would have to go to the back of the clinic, where regular people are not allowed, to grab her from her cage.

I take her for yearly checkups and whenever I need to, but I know that her presence causes them to have a bad day even though she is asleep for the entire appointment lol. I want to bring them some snacks, like maybe a mixed bag of candy and Red Bulls or something (since I always see them drinking energy drinks) and a thank you card for always managing her well and helping me be a good cat mom.

Would this be frowned upon? I don’t want to be the weird patient or overstep or anything.

I have a seven-year-old labrador retriever who tore both of her CCL’s a month ago. She has already had TPLO surgery on one leg, and I am waiting to secure the funds to have it on her second leg.

The surgery itself went well, but she had some gastrointestinal issues related to the medicine afterwards. I am seeking a natural supplement that will be easy on her tummy, but also help with future arthritis concerns as well as aid her in conservative management with the leg that has yet to be operated on, until I can afford the procedure.

I welcome any and all advice.

Hello everyone

Last post: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskVet/s/A05h0NXv3P

We consulted with a specialist on soft tissues. He was very kind and lifted our mood. He is very experienced with these kind of surgeries.

She had another ultrasound. The left kidney looks done, it even looks like a bladder. The stone is in left ureter. We don't know if the stone blocked the way or the kidney lost its function long before.

Tomorrow she will undergo a contrast enhanced CT scan under anesthesia. We have three scenarios. If the kidney still functions even a little bit, stent If the kidney functions but the ureter is too narrow for stent, removal If the kidney doesn't function, removal In any way she will have the surgery right after scan.

She unfortunately has another stone in her right kidney. The vet found the kidney smaller than usual. We don't have any plan for this stone right now. He said it could move anytime to the ureter, we can't know. It scares me a lot. But she will be on urinary and renal cat food.

He was very surprised that she is still very active. He said she must be in great pain, unable to jump but when we returned from the vet she jumped to catch a fly. She is still fine but eats less in the last days.

I don't know which one could be better, her body produces stones a lot or her kidneys don't work. I'm very scared. Surgery in 15 hours. Please send her best wishes.

I contacted my vet to get preventatives since we've been going outside a lot more and when I got there they gave me stuff for tics. When I asked does this work for heartworms they just told me "cats dont get heartworms".

I've googled this alot and almost every vet website says yes they do get it, but it's different than dogs.

Just wanted to opinion of other vets.

My wife and I adopted a 12 week old puppy last week and just found out she's got coccidia... We also have a 4 year old, both female. Understanding is non - zoonotic so no issue for humans or cats in the house?

She's been doing a great job on potty training and 99% pooped outside but i had not been picking up after each one.

We're getting her a course of medicine but my understanding is older dogs generally fight it off fine - more worried about reinfection of the little one. I'll give her a course if the vet recommends.

I can steam/ bleach the house, but what can I do about the yard other than pick up the new poops? A lot over the last couple days were liquid so I'm not even sure what to do about those in the future either?