r/AskVet

My husband was holding our little almost 12-year-old baby while walking downstairs. He fell. The dog went up in the air and he caught him. But his arm slammed onto the stair, and it broke the dogs sternum and three ribs. The dog didn’t yell or cry at all. Air started leaking into his skin. The vet said it would be extremely hard for him to recover from this. His body temperature was dropping which she said was very concerning. The air was filling up his whole body under his skin. He was alert the whole time. She said she was surprised he was so alert. She told me it was best to put him down. I feel so guilty because he was so alert and I don’t know if I made the right choice. When she brought the syringe over to him to put him down, he even sniffed it.

hello. i have three cats and one of them recently got diagnosed with FIP, and we've known that they all are covid positive (two strays and one rescue) since last year after a full check up. he's in relatively good condition but is been so depressed since i moved him to my room. we separated him from my other two cats on our vet's advice but i couldn't help but think if isolation is necessary since they too have covid and as far as i know FIP is not contagious to other cats like covid is. this question might come out ignorant but right now I'm on my last leg trying to understand this disease, thank you 🙏

11 year old spayed wheaten terrier presented with rapid breathing 5/14. vet appt 5/16, potentially late stage metastatic cancer that had spread to her lungs (but no tumor on x ray or physical exam) or fungal infection. appt with internal medicine, they run ultrasound and needle aspirate a nodule on her lungs , see that it’s abnormal cell growth, but there’s also a lot of inflammation so it’s kinda hard to tell. saw mass deep in her liver, not possible to access without putting her under anesthesia. they gave her days-weeks.
breathing has become more labored over the course of the (albeit stressful, 5 hour vet for her) day. not wanting dog food but still eating chick-fil-a nuggets and other special treats, still drinking, peeing, pooping (little bit of diarrhea after lots of chick-fil-a nuggets today), able to settle and relax. started panting a few hours ago. gums still pink.
how will i know it’s time? do i take her to an emergency vet, or cuddle her until she passes? if she’s struggling to breathe, do i drive the 20 minutes to the emergency vet, or just… ? i have no idea what to do. she hates going to the vet and i want to do at home euthanasia if possible. what do i look for? what do i do?

so we got a puppy in march and it seems to be stressing our cats out. i’ve noticed within the past week someone (we have 4 cats) has been pooping blood. it went away for a few days but i just noticed it came back and now its diarrhea (before it was just loose stool that had mucus in it, not completely liquid) with a tiny amount of blood. i’m taking it in for a fecal tomorrow to see if it’s maybe worms or parasites, i’m not sure. they’re indoor cats and have all been treated for worms so i highly doubt it’s going to be a parasite.

i work with dogs at a boarding facility and i see blood in poop on a daily, and it is ALWAYS stress related. i’m assuming that’s what’s going on with my cats. we have the pheromone diffusers but that doesn’t seem to be doing anything. does anyone have a good stress relieving treat or cbd oil or anything that i can get for these cats to have them calm down.

i have checked all of their gums and no one has pale gums, everyone is eating and drinking and they are all acting normal other than being pissed off at the puppy.

all advice is appreciated!!

Please read with kindness. This is one of the hardest things we’ve ever had to face as dog owners.
After a recent serious incident involving our 3 year old, 30 pound blue nose pitbull mix, we’ve come to the heartbreaking realization that we may no longer be the right environment for our dog. She is deeply loved, affectionate with us at home, and this entire situation has absolutely crushed us emotionally.

Recently, she broke free from her lead and attacked another dog. During the incident, the owner was also bitten while trying to separate them. We understand the seriousness of what happened and are not minimizing it in any way. While she has generally not shown aggression toward humans, we fully recognize that this incident changed everything and must be taken incredibly seriously.

Right now, we are searching for experienced behavioral guidance and, if appropriate, a safe and responsible rehabilitation or placement option with someone truly qualified to work with dogs who have reactivity and aggression histories. We are committed to being fully honest about her background and doing what is safest and most compassionate for everyone involved, including her.

For those commenting, please understand we would never hand our girl over to just anyone. We are doing extensive research, speaking with professionals, and trying to make the most responsible decision possible. We understand the severity of this situation and are taking it very seriously.

Before considering behavioral euthanasia, we want to explore every possible safe option through rehabilitation, structured management, or qualified placement. Behavioral euthanasia has now become a very real and heartbreaking conversation for us, and we are desperately trying to make the most compassionate and responsible decision possible.

Please keep comments kind, constructive, and helpful. We are navigating an unimaginable situation and simply trying to move forward with honesty, responsibility, and love for everyone involved.

I have a ~6-7 year old coconut lorikeet who has been sick for almost 2 weeks now with vomiting. Details:

Started after he was given french fries (a family member has a history of giving inappropriate food like egg and fried/oily food).

Diet his whole life has been limited: baby formula (rice/pumpkin) with honey, soaked toast, occasional fruit. Refuses lorikeet nectar/pellets.

This is vomiting, not regurgitation. It's not the controlled head-bobbing courtship behavior. It's true vomiting, and the episodes are usually long, around 20 minutes. During this, he would vomit on empty stomach. More recently it has shifted to immediate vomiting right after eating, every time. He's hungry and wants to eat but can't keep anything down.

Weight: was 148g, now 135g (148>139>140>142>135)and dropping.

He also does a cough/head-shake "clearing" motion that sometimes leads to vomiting.

Started compulsively chewing wood right when the illness began. This is not normal beak sharpening. He bites an actual piece off and then chews it until it's almost gone. We've removed all wood for several days now with no change.

He is still playing, active, flying, vocalizing and seeking his person, but he gets tired earlier than he used to, and each day he is visibly getting weaker.

Vet situation: There is only ONE avian vet in the entire country. She refuses X-rays and bloodwork (says unnecessary/stressful). Her only treatment is a once-daily injected antibiotic (enrofloxacin/Baytril). He improved on the injections but relapsed when we switched to oral (he refuses all food when medication is mixed in). No emergency vets, no other avian vets, no diagnostics available. Neighbouring countries also have no avian vets or extremely limited access, and travel isn't possible.

I'm not looking for a diagnosis from strangers. I just need advice or any experience from people who've dealt with something similar, especially under limited vet access. Any ideas on getting nutrition into a bird that vomits everything, managing this without diagnostics, or anything that helped your bird, would mean a lot. He's still fighting and I'm trying everything I can within these constraints.

My cat has severe kidney disease and she hasn’t eaten almost anything for a week, only drinking water. We know she won’t survive much longer, but we are trying to do what we can. I wanted to know if there is any way to get her to eat something. We have tried so many things (even special soup for cats), but she will only agree to drink water. Is there perhaps something odorless we can add to her water that she might agree to drink?

I’m looking for honest opinions from veterinary professionals because I’m struggling with whether my experience at a vet clinic was handled appropriately.

I brought my dog for a follow-up appointment regarding an eye injury. During the appointment, the focus shifted toward vaccines and the veterinarian made me feel like a terrible owner for not being on top of my pet’s vaccine. I repeatedly told her that I did not believe my dog’s records from previous vets had fully transferred yet and that I was pretty sure he was not actually due yet, which was true cause later we found out he was not due until September.

Despite expressing uncertainty multiple times, two vaccines were still administered. Afterward, my dog became lethargic and physically unwell enough that I contacted the clinic in distress. The clinic later confirmed in writing that those vaccines were actually not due until late September, which is four months later.

What upset me most was that when I contacted the clinic afterward simply to provide feedback, the response focused heavily on “consent” being obtained, even though I felt pressured during the appointment and had repeatedly voiced concerns about incomplete records.

My questions are:
Is it really acceptable practice to proceed with vaccines before records are fully confirmed when the owner is expressing uncertainty?
Would most vets normally wait for verification first in this situation?
Am I overreacting for feeling really uncomfortable with how this was handled?
And if you have any recommendations for animal loving, compassionate veterinarian recommendations in Toronto, me and my fur babies would truly appreciate it.

I genuinely want professional perspectives because this experience completely damaged my trust in the clinic and I’m trying to understand whether this was normal or not.

Hello, so my poor baby fell in our new pool and thankfully got out. He’s a German Shepard pitbull mix about 60 pounds, 4 years old. A couple days later he got an ear infection and while he scratches it he yelps in pain. He is also shaking his head, tilting it, and it’s red inflamed and oozing. It happened very quick at night so I did a Televet appointment hoping the meds would be quick to get. They prescribed Mometamax through Amazon pharmacy and it won’t be here for a whole week. He needs medication now. I’ve called EVERYWHERE to try and fill it somewhere else and was eventually told there’s a warehouse issue with it right now. Is there anything I can give him in the meantime to help him? I don’t want it to worsen.

EDIT to add: he is also very aggressive at the vet and has to wear a muzzle. I hate stressing him out but if I have to take him I 100% will

I just wanted to ask if I’ll probably just drop him off in the morning then pick him up in the afternoon. Like is it gonna take over six hours? I’d ask our vet but its closed and im too impatient bc i need to plan something else on the same day.

I am looking for any and all advice on managing this condition with my cat. This is a long description and I apologize in advance but I want to give some history.

She is female, around 8 years old. Her first UTI happened around 4-5 years ago after my partner at the time and I took in a kitten. He was incredibly too rough with her and my other older cat at the time and I ended up having to rehome him only a few months after taking him in. Since this point she has had recurring UTIs and bladder inflammation on and off. The household was unstable for a while, but last year that partner and I split up and they moved from the home. She has known this person her whole life, we had been together since she was a kitten. I knew this would bring her stress but it also brought a lot of peace to the house as well. She has been struggling almost nonstop since this point though. She would have a good month or two and then be back to the vet with another flare up. The vet will give her an antibiotic, some gabapentin and send her home. She was prescribed Prozac and has been on it for about 2 months now. She was in the midst of a flare up when just about a month ago, the other older cat in the house had to be put to sleep. He was 18 years old, she had also known him her entire life. He was diabetic and declining rapidly. I knew this would bring her a great deal of stress. I'm wondering how much stress it was bringing her if she knew how sick he was as well. She has progressively gotten worse since then. I took her to a different vet and they sent me home with the Hills C/D multi care stress diet and a steroid. She seemed sicker every time I gave it to her. I took her back to her regular vet and they seemed baffled that the other vet would give her a steroid. They gave her an antibiotic and gabapentin and sent her home again. My head feels like it's spinning. I don't know what is right and now shes been force fed medicine for almost 3 weeks straight and I feel like THAT is causing her stress.

This started with her peeing outside the box or pooping outside of the box occasionally as a flare up would begin. She is now at a point where she is just peeing on herself almost as if she doesn't know it's happening. She will pee laying down and not even get up. She will pee and turn around and look as if she didn't know what happened.

When she was at the vet last week, we did X-rays, ultrasound and urinalysis. X-ray and ultrasound look fine besides the inflammation but urinalysis shows lots of blood in the urine and some protein. No crystals this time, but she did have crystals a little over a week ago at the previous vet. No bacteria any of the times she has been this year.

I keep as regular of a schedule as possible. I clean the box morning and evening and sometimes if I see her go I'll just go scoop it immediately. I have 5 litter boxes currently because I haven't tossed out the extras from when there were two cats yet, which I kept that many before because of this issue so she had options but she only uses 1 of the boxes. I run a feliway diffuser at all times 24/7. She is on prozac, she is on the CD Diet.

I just want to provide her some relief and I don't know how I'm worried we are missing something medically that's causing her stress. I'm considering rehoming my rabbits even though they have a room to themselves but she is afraid of them and I'm worried they could be causing extra stress. I just don't know what more to do and the vet doesn't seem to either and I just want her to not be in pain anymore.

My cat has been diagnosed with GI SCL and was prescribed chlorambucil. Our oncologist told us to keep it refrigerated, but unfortunately tonight after giving him his dose, I accidentally left the medication outside for around an hour. It is currently nighttime, and the temperature is around 20 degrees C.

My question is, is the chlorambucil still safe to use? Should I replace the medicine, or is it still ok to give him and not worry?

Hi vets!

I have a 6 year old GSD, he is a massive baby. In the past when he accidentally gets hurt, he usually puts his ears back and melts right into our arms and wants attention.

About a month ago I stepped on his paw by accident (we were in the woods on a walk and he was quite overstimulated already) and he started barking at me quite aggressively and jumping on me. My boyfriend grabbed him and calmed him down asap.

Today, my mom accidentally stepped on his paw and he did the same thing, he was PISSED. Started barking at her and was growling, and she started hugging him apologizing and he kept growling. I told her to backup and gave him some space.

This is pretty unusual for him, usually he would never bark and act like that with the people he loves. I brought him home and put his muzzle on and bent his wrists back and fourth and poked around his paw pads and he seemed completely fine with no pain.

Is it possible hes just getting a little grouchy with older age??

My vet wants me to give my cat 400mg in 12 hours before his next appointment and he's only 9lbs. Is this concerning or no?

I adopted my cat from a shelter about a month ago. He went in for his first vet visit right after I adopted him. Today was only his second visit at the vet and I couldn't go back with him. He was supposed to get a vaccine and bloodwork with the technicians. Apparently he flipped out. They want me to give him 4ml of 50mg/ml gabapentin 12 hours and 2 hours before the next visit. This seems like a lot to me but maybe I'm just too new to cat parenting.

They’ve been prescribed apoquel for maybe 3-4 months now and I haven’t seen any difference in their behavior. What are some other options? And specific diets that can help?

Hi all, in desperate need of some reassurance or guidance because I feel like the shelter botched my baby.

This is my first time owning a cat as an adult in going through the typical process of adoption.

Just got my baby back from the clinic where I adopted him and to me the blood just seems excessive. His whole backside is red, not dark red but bright red, and he’s tracking on my bathroom tile.

Is this normal? Because from what I’ve seen it doesn’t appear to be? No dripping blood or puddles, just swipes as he sits down.

Don’t know how to add photos so here’s a link to a Google Drive folder :((

kitty :(

UPDATE: he’s okay now! Took him back to the shelter and they helped clean him up, said everything looks in order. They also offered to help cover his brothers vet bill (we adopted two cats together last Friday, one of which very soon got sick). So this is great news too as the bill was $800, hopefully they can contribute anything since he’s still legally “theirs” until he’s fixed. Thanks for the help!

Am I being cruel that I want to get my cat’s teeth removed? For health reasons of course!

My poor cat Sakura is ALLERGIC to her teeth!
Steroid shots helped for a while, but they sadly stopped work. Then came the dental cleanings. The last one ONLY LASTED for a week. Then she was crying and screaming in pain again…
I asked my vet if they could just them because I can’t afford the $800 dental cleanings every two weeks!
They said “we look to see if they need to come out.” …that’s all great and dandy, but she’s in pain. I want her pain to stop and so she can actually eat food! And honestly the vibe I was getting from them was so judgmental.

Should I just find a different vet to get her teeth pulled? Idk what to do. I’m fine with feeding her wet food 24/7. That’s not my issue.

Help 😭 advice

my sweet girl passed away in october from a osteosarcoma. and i was cleaning and found the pain medication she was on. they all don't expire until 2028 and i would hate to throw them out.

my fear is if i post them in the buy nothing group some dumb human being is gonna either take them or give them to their yorkie or something (my girl was a 70 pound pitbull)

should i call the vet to ask? or hold on to it for my other big dogs? idk it feels weird to have medicine and she's not here to take it anymore.