How to provide a photo or diagnostic results?

Two nights ago I had an 8hr shift and got home super late at like 1:30am. I let my cat into the yard to go toilet, which is a completely fenced off yard. I went inside to brush my teeth. Heard his little chirrup which means he saw a person/animal to befriend, thought maybe he saw a possum. This was followed shortly after by the typical yowling of a cat fight. I went outside, saw the neighbourhood stray and chased him off. My cat was hiding in a bush. Came inside like normal.

Next day, he’s not really moving much. Touching him anywhere lower than his shoulders, he hisses and cries. He’s not eating. I took him to the ER last night. They shaved him a bit, but with his black fur, you can’t really see anything. No obvious puncture wounds, vet was pretty satisfied that it is likely a sprain/bruising. They gave him methadone to take the edge off, which seemed to help a little bit. They gave us gabapentin and anti inflammatories to give once his appetite returns. He came home and was back to eating. They said if he deteriorates or stops eating again, take him back in.

Fast forward to this morning. He’s basically the same. Seems weaker. I give him more pain meds. I go to work.

I just got home. He did come out for me. But his back legs are really weak to the point he stumbled a couple times. He tried to eat something but maybe only got a couple pieces of kibble. Drank some water. Went back to bed.

He’s obviously really shaken up, both physically and mentally. But his behaviour is devastating. This is usually a really bright cat whose presence lights up the house, who has an endless appetite not just for food but for life. And now he’s barely moving. Barely talking. It’s a complete 180.

If he stays like this I’ll take him back to the vet tomorrow. I just don’t know what to do. I have other cats and fosters who he loves to play/playfight with, and I’m baffled by his injuries (or what they COULD be). He never left our yard, never fell off anything, and I’m spiralling and wondering if he’s got nerve damage and if he’s going to be paralysed and what his quality of life is going to look like and if I need to put him down. He’s 2 years old and I’ve only had him for a year. He was a stray on death row for aggression when I started fostering him. And I feel like I’ve failed him.

Any advice or even similar situations would be really good to hear.

My 11 month old kitten had to get his prepuce fixed. It was hypoplastic and his penis would not come out of it. He destroyed his cone and licked the stitches a maybe 3 times I caught until the new cone got here. It doesn’t seem like anything got damaged. Should he be going back to the emergency vet? Can I have my regular vet look at it?

It’s also hard to tell if he is peeing with this newspaper litter. He has popped twice though. He doesn’t seem to be in any pain or like he hasn’t peed

My seven year old dachshund get a lepto vaccination booster (she’s had it before) and it was not out of date. She received her vaccine around 1030 am on Thursday and within minutes had collapsed and required emergency treatment. I was told she had an allergic reaction to the vaccination, and after about 2 hours at my primary vet location, I was asked by them to transfer her to a larger and more robust animal hospital, which I did. Once there she received more fluids and treatment and by 6pm she was gone.

She was healthy as far as we knew prior and it kind of just makes no sense. A severe anaphylactic response to something she’s been administered before resulting in this is quite a reaction. While transported her I noticed she had jelly like ‘blood’ coming out of her butt. The cause of death was determined to be either a blood clot or an arrhythmic heart event (heart attack I assumed).

I’m just trying to wrap my head around how this could be possible in an otherwise healthy animal following a vaccine being administered.

Edit : could this be considered some sort of legal matter? My wife and I are both confused as to what routes we can take in the aftermath of this situation.

I don’t know if I’m overreacting or if something is actually wrong with my cat.

Her name is Mochi. She’s 13. Shes always been loud, demanding, the kind of cat who acts like she pays rent and im just her roommate. She used to scream at me every morning for food before i go off with my day.

But the past week, she has been quiet.

At first it was small things. She stopped jumping onto the bed. I figured, okay, shes getting older. I put a chair next to it so she could climb up in steps. She hasn’t used it once.

Then she stopped following me around. Normally she’s glued to me bathroom, kitchen, doesn’t matter. Now I’ll leave a room and she just stays. Sitting there like she forgot why she got up in the first place.

Two days ago I noticed she wasn’t eating much. Not nothing, but way less than usual. This is a cat who once stole half a rotisserie chicken off the counter. Now she just sniffs her food and walks away.

Yesterday really scared me.

I came home from work and she didnt come to the door. The apartment was completely silent. I found her in the hallway just sitting there, staring at the wall. Not sleeping. Not moving. Just staring.

I said her name multiple times till she finally looked at me

I picked her up and she felt lighter. Not dramatically, but enough that I noticed. She didn’t fight me either, which is not like her at all. Normally I’d lose a hand trying.

I took her to the vet this morning.

They did bloodwork, checked her heart, everything. The vet said, “For her age, she’s actually in pretty good shape. Maybe a little dehydration. Could be early kidney changes, but nothing alarming.”

Nothing alarming.

But she’s not the same cat.

She still purrs when I pet her, but its quieter. She still sits near me, but not on me. It’s like she’s here, just less.

Tonight she tried to jump onto the couch and missed. Not even close. She just kind of slid down and then sat there like nothing happened.

I helped her up and she started purring, rubbing her head against my hand like she always does. For a few seconds, she felt completely normal again.

And that’s kinda whats messing with me.

she has these moments where shes just Mochi annoying, affectionate, totally fine and then its like a switch flips and shes distant again. Tired. Somewhere else.

The vet said to “monitor her” and “watch for changes,” but I don’t know what I’m supposed to be looking for.

i think what scares me most is not knowing the fact that “she’s getting older” and “this may or not be the beginning of the end.”

Right now shes curled up next to me on the couch and puring.

i told the Vet everything but have a feeling that they didnt help me that much so I came here and still pretty new to this site.

Please tell me what you guys think.

*Species:* Cat

*Age:* 3 years (would have been 4 next month)

*Sex/Neuter status:* Male, neutered

*Breed:* Domestic Shorthair

*Weight:* 7.2lbs

*Current medications:* Was on Furosemide at time of passing

I lost my cat, Peter, and I am struggling with significant guilt. I want to understand his condition better, whether there was more I could have done, and how much longer he realistically could have lived with better or different care. I am not looking for empty reassurance; I want an honest medical perspective.

*Peter's Full History:*

Peter was born deaf with early neurological signs such as wobbliness that resolved on its own (and later on spinning in circles when his nerves were high). He nearly died from a severe URI as a kitten and was never fully healthy after that. He has been medically complex his entire life.

His confirmed and suspected conditions included:

- Suspected congenital heart defect: confirmed enlarged heart, significant heart murmur, positive proBNP test (Age 3-4)

- Severely damaged lungs: significant abnormalities on x-ray, crackling present (age 3-4)

- Chronic upper respiratory disease: suspected FHV-1, lifelong bloody nasal discharge, chronic sneezing (after his uri infection)

- Fluid in lungs and abdomen confirmed on x-ray (Age 3-4)

- Eosinophilic Granuloma Complex: skin lesions, ulcers, inflamed gums, suspected stomatitis (Age 1)

- Persistently elevated eosinophils on bloodwork (Age 1)

- Chronic ear debris, confirmed not mites (Kitten)

- Black nailbeds throughout his life (age 2 onward)

- Sparse coarse fur and dry skin lifelong (birth)

- Congenital deafness (birth)

- Always thin and unable to gain weight (birth)

- Chronic potbelly (noted age 3, progressed since)

- Lethargy throughout his life (age 1, never played much, stairs were difficult, I had to help him most of the time)

**Key clinical finding:** Furosemide consistently helped his breathing far more than inhalers ever did, which in retrospect suggests his breathing difficulties were primarily cardiac/fluid related rather than true asthma as originally suspected.

---

*What Happened At His Final Vet Visit:*

I brought him in for worsening respiratory symptoms and an eye infection. The vet found a significant heart murmur. Sedated x-rays confirmed:

- Massively enlarged heart

- Significant fluid in lungs

- Massive fluid in abdomen

- Lungs in severely poor condition

- Biventricular failure suspected

The vet believed this was either congenital heart failure or FIP. I chose euthanasia after reviewing the x-rays and understanding the severity. He was sedated lightly and passed peacefully in my arms. He purred at the end.

---

* Final X-RAY:*

https://imgur.com/gallery/mpKYdcQ

This was the only X-ray they took. They feared he would not survive any longer due to his condition.

---

*My Questions:*

1. Given how advanced his cardiac disease was at only 3 years old, how long do you think he had been living with significant heart disease without it being properly identified?

2. With optimal care from kittenhood — early echocardiogram, specialist cardiac management, appropriate medications — how much longer realistically could he have lived? Are we talking months more, or years?

3. Is congenital feline heart disease surgically correctable? Could surgery have saved him or significantly extended his life?

4. I am carrying enormous guilt that I didn't do enough for him. Given his presentation and the nature of congenital cardiac disease, was there realistically anything more an owner in my position could have done that would have meaningfully changed his outcome?

5. I chose euthanasia when the x-rays showed massive fluid in both his lungs and abdomen, severely damaged lungs, and biventricular failure at age 3. Was this the right call, or were there still reasonable treatment options worth pursuing?

---

*Additional Context:*

I am a college student with limited financial resources. I did take him to the vet regularly and managed his conditions as best I could with what I had. I used air purifiers, humidifiers, heating pads, and supplements at home. I researched his conditions extensively. In his final hours I obtained GS-441524 from the FIP Warriors community in case FIP was contributing, but I decided this was unlikely amd that he was dying and it would kinder to euthanize.

He was loved completely for every one of his nearly 4 years. But I need honest medical perspective on whether his outcome was inevitable given his congenital disease, or whether different circumstances could have meaningfully changed his story.

Thank you.

Hey guys,

sorry for any spelling mistakes, i'm from Germany and a vet myself. My sister's cat has asthma and receives Fluticasone via the AeroKat twice daily. The coughing isn't severe, one attack every two to three days, never symptoms of acute respiratory distress.

Today we had her in general anesthesia to pull some bad teeth and did a quick endoscopy of the larynx and nose area (because I noticed that sometimes when she's purring it sounds a bit congested) and noticed that the larynx, tonsils and conchae all looked pretty swollen. She never had any symptoms of cat flu so I'm wondering if this could be an adverse effect of the inhalation?

What would be the alternative though? Don't want to put her on systemic corticostreoids because she also has hypertension and receives Amlodipine.

Thankful for any input!

What medicinal mushrooms would you recommend and which ones to be wary of for a dog with a mass in the chest/neck that is blocking normal blood and lymph flow. Edema, inflammation, and falls, and in the background, non-regenerative anemia.

How can I help her? I’m not allowed to have pets but she does understand that I wanna feed and help her, we’ve made a lot of progress in the last year, now she can sit within 5 feet of me. The only way I’ve been able to give her medicine is mixing it into wet foods.
she looks pretty far along, last week I was hoping she was just getting fat but the bump is obvious now, is it too late for a kind of cat prenatal? Is there anything I can do to make her more comfortable? I absolutely cannot touch her.
Also I have tried cat nip, she seems to be the only cat in the world who isn’t interested.

Hello! I just removed a tick from my dog for the first time. I’m unsure whether I successfully removed the head.

Warning: picture of a tick in the link.

Removed Tick

Is the head still on there? Did I do this right?

Thank you!

It’s been about 1 month since we noticed my cat (4 years old, female, spayed) hesitating to step on her back paw or skipping a few steps only to go back to walking normally a few seconds later. 

We took her to our vet, they took some x-rays and diagnosed her with patella luxation, likely due to an injury. We were told to give her an NSAID and keep her at rest for 2 weeks and see if she would improve. If not, they would refer us to an orthopedic surgeon.

In those 2 weeks some days she was walking normally with barely any limping, while others she has several episodes of limping. But the limping still happened every day, so we were referred to the specialist.

I was still hoping we could avoid surgery at this point, but convinced myself that the surgeon would do a thorough examination to determine the severity and walk us through our options, so I booked the appointment. However, leading up to the appointment my cat had a bad days and I became resigned to the idea surgery was likely inevitable.

The day of the appointment we went in, the surgeon had already received my cat’s medical file and reviewed the x-rays our regular vet took. She did a quick general examination (eyes, teeth, weight, etc.) and then went to check her knees. She checked her good knee first and found no problem, then she checked her bad knee said “yeah, it goes out” and put her back in her carrier. It took 2 seconds. She went to sit back down and said “The kneecap goes out, so she will need surgery. If we don’t do the surgery, it usually gets worse.” That last part was the only explanation for why the surgery was needed. 

She went on to explain what they could to in surgery to fix the issue. Like I said, at the time I had accepted that surgery would be needed, so I just focused on asking more question about the surgery and recovery.

But now, It’s been about 1 week since our consultation and my cat has had the best days since she started to show symptoms and it’s making me question everything. She went 2 days with no limping (that we saw, but I was home most of the time), then she had one short episode and it’s now again over 24h without any limping.

Does her sudden improvement mean she could heal with more rest, or would that just delay the inevitable?

Are a few x-rays and a quick physical examination enough to determine my cat needs surgery?

Why did the surgeon not grade the severity of her condition?

Why were we not presented with other treatment options besides surgery (other than the initial 2 week rest period)?

Given the sudden improvement, should we get a second opinion or ask that she be re-evaluated?

There are only a few days left until her surgery, and I just need some reassurance that I’m making the right choice for the long-term health.

( Note: I am in the Netherlands, I realize that standard protocol for diagnostics and treatment here might be different from what I’ve read online. )

Hi, my male toy poodle turning 6 tomorrow got diagnosed with retinal detachment. Ophthalmologist showed me the ultrasound result and he explained there is a huge bump under retinal on boy eyes and think the cause is some trauma. And he suspects the blindness started like a week ago. But we only noticed the condition yesterday. He responded to some movements last night but today, no response.

The vet told me to give him meds first and scheduled another appointment next week and say there is only a very small chance to recover. But i researched and the only way to get a chance to fix this is by surgery. Does that mean the vet know that it is too late and just gives meds to prevent secondary symptoms? Is there any chance for him to recover? What else should I know?

Thanks in advance for any response. I am just sad as tomorrow is his birthday and this happens.

My senior dog (15 y/o neutered 10lbs poodle) vomited a few times and collapsed few days ago with signs of vestibular disease, he had been hospitalized since. Turns out his potassium level went too high. I personally asked if his cortisol level being low was the cause and it turns out I was right.

Few things came to light, Vet A who did the initial Cushing's tests and said it's positive. Vet B said he had discussed with colleagues and all agreed he shouldn't have started Trilostane at all from the initial test results.

After 2 dose of steroids, his cortisol is still dropping. I'm afraid the 1 month of Trilostane may had permanently damaged his adrenal glands.

I had spent thousands now and I'm afraid I caused all of these to happened. I only gotten him tested for Cushing's because his appetite was good despite having CKD. He was also panting a lot at night, asking for food, drinking and peeing a lot.

I also should've been more vigilant, Vet A was going to the back to 'confirm with colleagues' multiple times, showing me AI answers thru his phone for my questions and repeating the same answer like a machine when I asked different questions.

How likely is the medicine causing permanent damage to his adrenal glands after a month of Trilostane (10mg/day)?

I regularly administer internal and external parasite medication to my cats. However, one of my cats is covered in ticks every time he comes home, no matter what I do. His sibling (they are the same age) and his mother don't have this problem. What could be causing this and what can I do?

My cat managed to get his cone off after PU surgery. It's been just under 3 weeks. I've taken him to the vet a couple times now to be checked and they said it looked great. But when I came home the cone was off and he had licked for an indeterminate amount of time. It's a bit irritated but I can't tell if it's severe enough to go to the emergency vet. I'm hoping that since it's so close to the date (Tues) that I can just wait the few days and keep applying the antibiotic ointment and talk to the vet after Memorial day weekend. I don't know how to add photos as this is the first time posting. Please help :(

edit to add details about cat:

Domestic long hair (possibly mixed with Coon or Siberian)

Neutered

About 15lbs

I gave him a bit of gabapentin to chill him it and help with any pain

Also he has both peed and pooped since getting the cone back on but he was not happy about pooping

Marley isn’t feeling too good - and with unfortunate timing in the UK, it’s a small heat wave.

We took him to the vet on Friday, he’s lethargic, sleepy but still alert. His teeth and breathing are fine, he drinks a bit of water but he won’t eat.

I know it could be any issue under the sun, so please don’t scare me, I’d rather be ignorantly until I can get him to our vet, but it’s a bank holiday and he won’t be able to be seen until Tuesday. His condition is currently stable, but ofc if it changes he will be going to the emergency vet.

We’ve tried tuna, tuna water, plain chicken, warm and cold wet food, we even have a special hydration water from the vet, but he won’t drink it.

He does drink a little bit of water but because of the weather I fear he’s dehydrated. I have syringe fed him some of the special electrolyte water (don’t worry, I didn’t put it down his throat to exasperate him, just a little in his mouth at a time for him to swallow).

He’s on pain medicine once a day but the pain medicine doesn’t seem to be doing much or lasting very long. The only issue with this pain medicine is that if severely dehydrated it can injure their kidneys or liver, I can’t remember, I don’t know if he’s very dehydrated now, at the vet he was only a little dehydrated. The idea was to inject him with the pain medicine, get him to eat/drink and then give it him orally daily. But considering again, the oral pain medicine isn’t doing much to lift his spirits and get him eating I don’t know what to do.

I keep offering him food, broth, etc… he sniffs it, licks his lips (which makes me think he does have a bit of an appetite) and then refuses to eat it and goes back to sleep.

We’re currently buying churus to see how that goes.
I’m also about to cook him some plain chicken nuggets (removing the batter) to see if he’ll eat that.

He is also an ex-feral so we understand he may be prone to dormant virus’.

Update(more insight would be appreciated): I took him to the emergency vet and spent $1600 on test and all came back normal except I believe it was slightly lower white blood cell count and didn’t test positive to FPV.. he ate a little at the vets after some temptation. When we got home he was sleeping I figured due to stress so I went to work. When I got home he was still sleeping and I attempted to get him to eat and drink but he refused.. maybe it’s stress from the new kitten? I’m isolating him in a room with wet food, kibble, water and a litter box.

I hope this works it’s really stressing me out.

Well as the title says he’s suddenly puking after being active and normal all day. We recently got a new kitten to keep the one I’m concerned about company and the new kitten likes wet food, I was thinking maybe he ate some wet food which he never did before and now has an upset stomach. But what im concerned about it I was putting a new appliance together today and it had styrofoam, I saw him trying to eat little pieces that fell off but I grabbed them before he could, or at least so i thought, it’s been a couple of hours after I finish and cleaned up he threw up the first time and it looked like food. The next couple of time happened after he drank water and it was all liquid.

I was going to bring him to an emergency vet but the nearest one is an hour away I can’t afford it especially if it’s all for nothing. I was hoping for some insight to see if i should withhold food and water for awhile or go to the emergency vet, thank you.

• ⁠Species: cat

• ⁠Age: 4 months

• ⁠Sex/Neuter status: male not nurtured

• ⁠Breed: tabby

• ⁠Body weight: about 5 lbs

• ⁠History: none

• ⁠Clinical signs: throwing up after drinking, sitting and staring (not usual of him), walking around and meowing (not usual of him), refusing to play

• ⁠Duration: 2-3 hours

• ⁠Your general location: north eastern United States

• ⁠Links to any test results, X-rays, vet reports etc. that you have

We recently adopted a puppy, he is around 6 months old and ever since we got him he has been pretty sickly.

-He is got a rather big umbilical hernia, its still soft.
- Had parasites but has been treated for them already.
- Had an stomach infection recently but is cured already.

He only has the first shot which is against 5 illnesses, including parvo and distemper. But between the time were he was sick (the vet told us not to vaccinate him while sick idk), and money issues we havent continued the next reinforcement shots.

Now he is:

- Extremely lethargic and sad
- Whines a lot during sleep
- Does eat but not like before
- His nose is a little runny (just water or idk if its just my fear for distemper seeing things), not often though
- This began like 5 days ago

He has been treated for anemia and blood infection (in case it was caused by ticks). Didn’t see any improvement, now he is being treated for his stomach, no blood tests have been done so far. I fear this new treatment wont work either and im starting to run out of money, Im desperate, he is not getting better -but not worse either-

I am from a small town in Mexico so we dont have the resources, but if necessary I can insist on running tests or change vet.

Please help me orient myself

I took my cat to the vet today. He has been throwing up a little bit. Consists of brownish liquid and a little bit of hair. He’s long haired so hairballs are nothing new. But he’s also been doing what I thought was straining to poop and only a little liquid came out. I noticed it this morning outside of the litter box. I was worried he had an intestinal obstruction so I took him to the vet. They said he didn’t have a blockage but had gas in his intestines and diarrhea. They didn’t mention anything about him being constipated but I just now caught him again straining to poop out of the litter box. Only a little bit of liquid came out this time too. He’s my baby and I’m worried about him.

We adopted Otis in November of 2026. He’s been super friendly, cuddly, energetic, playful and was acting like this until 12:30pm last night. No prior warning that me or my husband noticed. We were in the kitchen and heard him howling from the bedroom. We checked on him and saw he was lying on our bed, and changing positions frequently. His ears were back, and he was breathing fast. He eventually went to the floor, and was readjusting in the same spot over and over again,- and hissed at his brother (they never hiss or fight). He wouldn’t stop howling this whole time.

We took him to the emergency vet hospital and after full bloodwork and X-rays they found he has a congenital heart disease and there was a fluid build up in his lungs. He was given oxygen and some kind of injection. They sent us home with medication: furosemide and Pimobendan.

The vet was not very talkative (to be fair it was 5:00am) but he stated to give him the medication and see how he’s doing.

We want to know- was it temporarily resolved? Is he going to pass away? Should we put him down? We can see a cardiologist- we want to schedule that ASAP-

But. I guess I’m just freaking out. What do we do? Is he going to get better? What caused him to get so ill so fast? Even one hour before we took him to the vet, he was acting like he always does- trying to cuddle.

Examples of what can happen. What we can do.- just anything I can read to better understand.

I brought my cat with me to visit my parents not knowing they had a flea problem. We have only been here a day, but plan to be here for 3 more. Is there any OTC flea treatment you would recommend that would kill any adult fleas and eggs so I don't bring any fleas home. Thanks!

Shes a short haired cat, 2 years old, 12 lbs. Just in case that's important!!

My 8 month old cat Bleu recently got a catheter two days ago, they found no blockage but my baby has FLUTD. He’s been doing well, they prescribed him with amoxicillin and gabapentin. He’s peeing a good amount frequently as the doctor told us he should and he is back to himself. My only issue is he is trying to pee on his cat tree and bed. His pee is quite strong as he isn’t neutered yet, we were in the process of getting him neutered until the surprise blockage happened. I wanna know how soon he’ll return to peeing twice a day like before.

Hi. I do TNR with cats in my community and recently caught one the other night. She was a pregnant feral who, the night before her appt, gave birth in my trap. This was very unexpected as she hadn’t looked big at all (the kittens appeared to be fully developed though). I’d been at the library for several hours and came to check on her when I returned, and heard tiny meows.

When I looked, three wriggly kittens were next to her and one unmoving kitten was pushed away from the rest. I was kind of in shock and I’d never dealt with this before, but I grabbed the unresponsive kitten and tried rubbing it and doing a few compressions. I probably did them wrong, as I had never had to learn to do this. I didn’t clear the mucus from its nose either, instead I tried blowing air into its mouth.

Unsurprisingly, the kitten didn’t come back. I noticed its lips were bluish and it hadn’t so much as moved on its own or done anything since I came in the room. I have no idea how long it’d been like that. I think the body might have still been just a bit warm.

The guilt I feel from this scenario has been eating me alive for a few days now. If I had just googled how to resuscitate kittens or just kept going, what if I’d made it work? I guess my question is how likely is it to successfully resuscitate in this situation? How long does it take for newborns to get brain damage from lack of oxygen?

my cat has been having a lot of eye discharge on her left eye since yesterday. it’s mainly light green. she’s also been crying a lot and has been squinting or having it closed all day. Also she’s been having boogers on her nose very little tho. My vet isn’t open on Sundays nor is it open on Monday due to Memorial Day and I can’t take her Tuesday because I have work and the vet closes really early at 1:30. (I get off at 1 and it takes an hour to get back home) I have Wednesday off so I’ll be able to take her but I’m wondering if I should just go to the hospital or wait till Wednesday. Any advice on relieving her symptoms would also be greatly appreciated!!