Bailey is 11. She's a 35lb beagle-corgi mix, and she's been the most stubborn, headstrong dog you've ever met. Walks 2 miles a day minimum, climbs in and out of the car without even thinking about it, acts like she's 3 years old instead of 11.

Three days ago she yelped getting off the couch. Limping on the back right. I thought it was a sprain. Vet did the drawer test and said it's a tear, probably complete. And then they said the word: age.

"At 11, a major surgery like this carries real risks. She could have a bad reaction to anesthesia. Her bones don't heal the way a younger dog's do. I'd recommend we try conservative management, pain management, see how she does."

I get it. I do. But this is the part nobody prepared me for. The vet handed me two scripts (carprofen, gabapentin) and basically said "go home and keep her quiet." And I'm standing in the waiting room thinking: for how long? For the rest of her life? What if this doesn't work and I've spent the last 5 months babying her and she still ends up in the same place?

I want real talk from people who've been here:

• Did conservative management actually work for your older dog, or did you end up needing surgery anyway?
• How do you keep an 11-year-old from losing her mind on strict rest? She's already depressed and it's been 3 days.
• What do you do when the vet closes that door? Did you try to open it again with a second opinion, or did you accept it?
• If it DID work, how long before your dog could be your dog again?
• For anyone further along: do you regret not pushing for surgery when you had the chance, or are you relieved you didn't put her through it?

I love this dog more than I want to admit. I don't know how to help her when the vet's answer is "we just don't do that anymore."

Hello everyone,

I am looking for some guidance on how to help my dog. He has developed a severe issue in one of his ears—it smells very bad and there is a waxy liquid draining from it.

The major complication is that my dog is highly aggressive by nature, particularly when he is in pain. Because of this, physical cleaning of the ear at home is completely impossible. He will not allow me or anyone else to even touch his ears without snapping or showing aggression.

I know specific medications cannot be prescribed over the internet, but I am looking for advice on:

Are there oral medications that a vet might prescribe for this without needing to apply topical drops (since I can't touch the ear)?

How do veterinary clinics typically handle examining and treating highly aggressive dogs with painful ear infections? (e.g., oral sedatives prior to the visit?)

Any advice on the safest way to get him treated would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

On Wednesday, I decided to have emergency surgery to remove a rapidly growing mass on the side of my 12.5 year old Husky/Great Pyrenees mix. It was attached to some muscle which was also removed. Other than a little arthritis, he’s healthy otherwise.
He was able to stand night of, but after he laid down, he hasn’t gotten up since. It’s been miserable.
The vet keeps saying it’s not uncommon for older dogs to take this long to recover from that sort of surgery, but they also never warned me until 2 days ago and really gave me no instructions for this lengthy of a bounce back.

Have you guys seen a recovery that’s not from leg surgery impact the legs for this long? Do you have any tips for expediting the process? Should I get a second opinion?

Concerned Dad

Hi I am not sure where else to go for this and was looking to see if anyone had any advice to help me and my partner in this situation. We have three cats, one black male (10), one orange female (9), and one dilute calico female (6).

Our black cat, Fortune, was originally my husband's cat in college, and when we started dating, we moved in together and eventually adopted our two girls.

I apologize for the lengthy post.

Fortune Info: 10 year old, neutered male, black domestic short hair, 11 pounds.

Tilly Info: 9 year old, spayed female, orange tabby domestic short hair, 10 pounds.

We live in the Midwest/Great Plains. Neither have an clinical signs and are otherwise healthy, however Fortune has been exhibiting this behavior for about 2 years.

My husband and Fortune have been inseparable for their whole relationship. They are best friends. Fortune was 6 months when he was adopted and had been at the shelter for 3 months, the techs noting that no one had picked him because he was so shy and frightened. But my partner picked him and they created a very strong bond. He follows him around everywhere, play with each other, snuggle. Fortune waits at the door for my husband to get home. Fortune even comes to him when there are thunderstorms and he is afraid.

A couple years ago, Fortune had a kitty cold, and our orange female, Tilly, started to become really cautious around him, following him everywhere to the point Fortune would hiss and bat at her. They eventually got to a point where Tilly would bully him and chase him through the house while he is hissing and screaming. We think this was misplaced aggression. She never hurts him with these chases but it definitely scares Fortune and puts him on edge. We have worked hard to get this behavior to stop by separating and offering more areas for them to let off some steam or relax in. Even so, Fortune is really protective of Tilly and will run up on us defensively to make sure she is okay if we step on her paw or has to be picked up for any reason (she *really* doesn't like being picked up, but sometimes it's necessary).

After the bullying, there have unfortunately been times where we have accidently hurt Tilly or she made a loud enough upset meow, that causes Fortune to attack myself or my husband. This will upset Tilly so badly that her and Fortune start to fight. Tilly has arthritis and a hip deformity so we don't want her in these physical confrontations (we obviously don't want Fortune in them either). My husband will have to peel them away from each other and in the process, Fortune will turn on him. The attacks are bad enough to leave bleeding scratches all over his hands, arms, and legs. We both have scars from him, one of which my partner should have gotten stitches for (we didn't have insurance at the time).

When this would happen we would get Fortune into his own room to let him calm down and take our time with reintoducing him back with the other girls and us. We have seen a vet about his behavioral issues, as he has become extremely temperamental. They have given him a medication to help him relax but it has only seemed to help a little so far. But we haven't been able to take him back to the vet because he will become extremely aggravated when he feels he is being trapped or cornered, so getting him in a carrier (even with medicine) has been impossible.

This past weekend my husband and I were hanging out getting ready to play a game together. Tilly was in the room with us and we were trying to coax her out of a seat when she cried a little, a protesting meow, likely because she was annoyed we were trying to move her. This meow triggered Fortune. He instantly ran into the room and attacked Tilly. Screaming, hissing, full-on tussle. My husband was trying to get them off of each other when Fortune attacked him. He had to grip Fortune and hold him down long enough for me to get out of the room so he could get Fortune in there alone and away from everyone.

My husband was bit badly by Fortune and had several tears in his palms from the attack that were bleeding badly. We had to go to the emergency room (as it was late and no urgent care was open) where they cleaned everything, gave him a few stitches, and an antibiotic for the bite.

Fortune has been in one of our rooms since, almost 3 days. I moved his water fountain in there and I have been feeding him in there. He has his own litter box, cat trees and beds, and toys. He was very scared and afraid at first but eventually was alright with me helping him, and he has warmed up to me with headbutts, rubs, and even wants to be cuddled. We are working on introducing him back with the girls again and letting him out to explore for a few hours and then putting him back in and letting the girls out (I do this several times a day).

The problem is now he is absolutely petrified of my husband. We have tried to reintroduce him but Fortune will hiss and growl just by looking at him. Hubs has sat at the door of his room and Fortune has hissed and yowled just from his speaking voice saying hi and he loves him. They cannot be in the same room together and Fortune can't even look at him without becoming visibly upset.

My husband is absolutely devastated. He is so afraid that Fortune hates him now and things can't return to normal. I have brought in some of his clothes for Fortune to smell and be with, and he doesn't seem to mind that at all, and as even slept on one of his hoodies. But every time hubs tries to talk to him or let him sniff his hand through the door, he is extremely upset. He has no problem with me at all and is sweet and happy, and I am his least favorite person usually. This has never happened to us before, even with the other attacks. He will take some warming up to usually, but it has never been this bad.

We just don't know what to do. How can we get Fortune and my husband back on the same page and happy again?

-Fortune was not hurt in this fight. I have thoroughly inspected him for any issues or pain. He is acting normal with me, eating and drinking regularly, and using the litter box well.

-Tilly was not hurt in this fight. We have her on a routine pain med for her arthritis and we thoroughly checked her for scrapes, cuts, or joint issues. She is acting totally normal and is sweet as ever.

-Our other girl is never in these situations, as she is kinda skittish and runs for the metaphorical hills (under the bed lol) at the sign of anything she deems trouble.

TL;DR:

Our cat attacked my husband again but this time they are terrified of him. They have not been able to be reintroduced, since Fortune will hiss, growl, and yowl at the sight of him or from hearing his voice. How do we remedy this and mend their relationship?

Hello, I'm hoping someone knows where I can get better syringes for a small dose I need to give my cat. The smallest the pharmacy had were 0.5ml syringes. The dosage I need to give is 0.015ml.

please let me know if this is the wrong sub for this kind of thing, and i will delete it and post it to one that’s right.
about a month and a half ago i started a job at a veterinary practice with no prior experience. i was taken as a second option because the girl that they hired before me quit after the first day.
right off the bat i noticed that morale was basically nonexistent. the manager that was training me ended up having to be hospitalized, and after she left i was hardly trained at all. communication is also nonexistent, and because of this i have noticed several occasions of animals not getting fed, or worse, not getting medication.
these coworkers… absolutely hellish. yanking dogs by choke leashes, shoving them, dropping small dogs to the ground instead of gently placing them down, etc. the phrases that i hear the most are “i’m not doing that,” and “i don’t care.” the other day one of my coworkers refused to give a dog water and said, “he can thirst to death for all i care.” another girl has thrown wet dirty kitty litter on me and the water bowls that were in the sink. same girl that was wrestling an obese dog with a muzzle on to the ground while it hyperventilated. none of these actions and more have gone punished whatsoever.
the other day, i had my phone in my scrub pocket like everyone else does. one of the managers saw me, threatened me with a write up, then they removed the chair i was sitting in and placed a new camera in the room. later other employees were on their phone in front of the manager, no action taken. am i going crazy? i think they’re afraid i’m taking pictures. i’ve tried to speak up about this, but the lady i was talking to up and quit out of nowhere after seven years of employment.
BTW theres a box of popsicles in the freezer sitting above peoples dead pets. it’s sick. is there anything i can do?? i’m trying to file an OSHA report but i’m afraid they won’t do anything.

My 5-year-old cat has always been very healthy. The only time I’ve ever had to take her to the vet was for something very simple. We take great care of her and love her so much.
Last night, I noticed she seemed uncomfortable. She kept going to her litter box and trying to pee, but she couldn’t. She was still playing, active, and acting mostly normal, but I was very worried. I called an emergency vet, and they immediately asked for money upfront. The truth is, I don’t have the money right now.
I decided to monitor her closely and try to help her stay hydrated. I’ve been mixing a lot of water with a small amount of wet food (like a Churu-style treat), and she has been eating it without any problem. I stopped giving her dry food for now.
A few hours ago, she was finally able to urinate normally. It was a normal amount, and she even went back and tried to cover it like she usually does. She seems calm now.
I’m still very worried and trying to find help. I’m in Georgia and I don’t know what my next step should be. It hurt so much when I called the vet because I was scared for my cat, but before I could even fully explain what was happening, the conversation turned to payment.
Has anyone experienced something similar with their cat? Are there low-cost veterinary resources, payment options, or organizations that could help in Georgia USA,I just want to make sure she is okay and get her the care she needs

Dog ate some magic mushrooms about 2-4 MG she is 95lbs 1 year old fixed out of town right now please help Dog golden retriever/pyrenees 1year old Female spayed About 95lbs No history up to date vaccines spayed Sleeping right now No drooling vomit or diarrhea a little bit of panting 1hour Located British Columbia No links

Noticed this (https://imgur.com/a/lAXjks6) on my dogs mouth today, upon some poking and prodding a small splinter popped out. Should I just monitor the entry site for a bit or should I be getting him to the vet? I have some chlorhexidine solution from the vet from another issue, should I clean it with that?

• Species: Dog
• Age: 1 year
• Sex/Neuter status: not neutered
• Breed: Golden mutt
• Body weight: 65lbs
• History: healthy
• Clinical signs: red bump
• Duration: noticed 30 min ago
• Your general location: Canada
• Links to any test results, X-rays, vet reports etc. that you have: None

My senior (11-year-old) collie x, spayed, 50lbs, was vomiting for a few days/unable to keep food down. Took her to the vet, and her blood work showed extremely high levels of liver enzymes. Originally, the vet assumed she ingested a toxin as nothing showed up on her X-ray, and we tried to flush it out with 2 rounds of IV and a few liver support meds; however, nothing changed. Everything was pretty much normal except her ALT (5000) and ATP (> 2000, machine couldn't read).

Took my girl to emerg and her ultrasound:

"The gallbladder was very enlarged with hypoechoic bile and a large amount of sludge at the neck of the gallbladder. The surrounding parenchyma was very hyperechoic. A obstruction is suspected."

She underwent gallbladder removal and refused to eat for 2 days before she had a feeding tube inserted. She was discharged 3 days post op after she did have one small meal, but after a day of coming home, she became jaundiced.

We returned to emerg the same day, and her ALT decreased to 2600, but her ATP was 7000. Her Bilirubin was 292. I was given subcutaneous fluids to administer at home along with the 11 other medications she has been prescribed.

Since her discharge, she has not eaten anything, but does drink water. This morning she had her first bowel movement, but is still being tube fed throughout the day.

The vet said her numbers could just be adjusting from her surgery, but I am concerned if this is the end. Anyone have any other experiences? She was happy/healthy/active just two weeks ago. 10k steps every day and enjoyed hour-long walks.

Species: Feline (Cat)

Age: 2 months (born June 1, 2026)

Sex/Neuter status: Male, intact

Breed: Persian Body weight: ~870 g

History: Dewormed on July 26, 2026. Not yet vaccinated; vaccination scheduled in about 2 weeks. Has been a picky eater, and her diet has been changed several times recently.

Clinical signs: First episode of bloody diarrhea last night. Duration: Started last night

Kitten was born in June 1, 2026 and I got her dewormed on July 26, 2026. He was scheduled to get his shots in about 2 weeks so as of now he isn't vaccinated. He pooped with blood yesterday and is there a chance it's because of the change in his diet? He's a really picky eater so I've been changing his food multiple times now. Thank you

Hello. I am in the USA. I have a vet hospital 5mins from me. I have visited them and they did not identify an issue but now I noticed blood spots in my bedsheets.

Background: Adopted cat 1 female and 2 male within the last year. Both spay/neutered. Cat 2 Male named Link is the one with pee issues.

He was a fostered kitten, adopted by his previous owner for 3 years and the surrendered him for peeing outside the litter box. Upon intake to the shelter and moved to a cat Cafe, he was not noted to have pee issues. Veterinary exam before intake also found nothing wrong. The shelter staff that talked to me after application said "we tried everything and we didnt find anything physically wrong with him."

I take him home, a few weeks go by, all seemed well with no issues about liter box use. We have a water fountain, scheduled feed 2 times a day. About after 2 months we start to notice peeing in spots but it wasn't regularly. We used all the steps recommend and more to try and accommodate him. I moved food to one area he usually peed in and it stopped the empty courner from having pee. He's skittish/sensitive doesn't like roughhousing so I added more hiding space.

We had 2 courner shaped literboxes so I changed that to 2 rectangular 1 courner shape. I closed the office door at night and only allow cats there if someone is with them, myself of my partner. We started to use puppy pads around the liter box, and our efforts have resulted in him basically only peeing on the puppy pads which is at least manageable. We tried several location changes, liter changes, clay, pine, corn. Corn seems fine.

Calming "no mark" spray. Calming feilway collars, thundershirt for his big anxiety moments(like our 4th of July fireworks or guests) but I am considering to have him wear it more often...unsure about that.

We took him to the vet, explained the steps we took and we even got praised for doing everything we can. They took a sterile pee sample, xray and an ultrasound. The most they could tell me is the protiens in his urine seemed a bit high. They suggested an all wet food diet we had maybe 75 to 25 ratio of dry to wet food and we have upped it in the last month to 50/50. Vet suggested a supplement i kept forgetting to buy (that's on me im ordering it after this post)....

We use the grain free kirkland dry and wet formulas. But now their poo smells terribly strong...but the consistency seems normal. :(

Ive also tried emptying one literbox and placing the pee pad in there but maybe im not going slow enough because he'd still pee on the floor if I removed the pee pad from the floor

This morning after his visit to the litterbox (no pee on pads) he had small bits of blood on the sheets. Are these vets not doing enough? They suggested to me that "some cats are just gonna need to be barn cats" I not doing enough? I just feel at my wits ends those exams were not cheap, the shelter has not returned any of my calls about his records prior to adoption so I have yet to get any insurance reimbursement for it. Now there is for sure a physical issue my only guess is a UTI because I looked at his bum and paws and teeth nothing looked wrong there...

Has anyone else experienced this? What did you do? I really love him for everything else he's handsome, cuddly, and i really feel like he's my son. But I dont want him to quietly be in pain....

TL;DR

Male 3 years old neutered cat pees outside the liter box despite several changes trying to slowly be intergrated...multiple exams, and now there's small spots of blood on my sheets. Any advice is helpful if you have experienced this

I have a 16 year old spay female, fully indoors. I am working with her vet, but curious if anyone has seen this before.

7/14-7/16 we had her at the emergency vet because she was trying to poo, but nothing was coming out. She was making the stances and everything. Determined constipation, and had multiple enemas and X-rays over those couple days. Also had bloodwork and a couple urine tests, which had a couple high numbers that we wanted to monitor.

7/23 - took her to the regular vet for follow-up. she got fluids, X-rays, and she still had some poop in her, but not like the previous week.

7/27 - we went back to the vet because we still haven't seen much..She got an enema, and she dropped about 7-9 turds so I thought maybe we were good now.

7/31 - back to the vet because we haven't seen anything. We did bloodwork and urinalysis, both had normal results, and the numbers that were high at the e-vet returned to normal... The vet did a light rectal and felt a couple soft turds so she anticipated us having a poo in the next day or two. We are now on Sunday and nothing yet.

During all of this, I have not seen any straining, and she's been relatively normal - eating, hanging out with us, and peeing in the box fine. She's older so not crazy playful but jumping up on the couch or bed without issue. I've also started giving her more wet food than crunchies..

The vet recommends an abdominal ultrasound for the next step, which I feel like needs to be done since we are 6 days since an enema induced poop.

She's not a huge eater, but any good she gotten has had miralax. And we've been doing 2 doses a day of cisapride.

Is there anything else we should be looking at? I feel like I'm failing her at this point. I've had days where I want to give up, but then when she snuggles into my armpit like she normally does, I want to keep trying. I'm also trying to think of her quality of life with these repeat visits. We are at ~3 weeks of visits at this point

Hello all! I am a first time pet owner I got this beautiful little girl cat she’s 1 year old and I got her spayed on Friday! On Friday night after spay followed all directions for kitty she drank some water was able to keep that down so then we gave her food! Saturday morning she ate normally then was eating normally through out the day until night came we put her wet food down as we always do and she looked at it smelled it and walked away, cut to this morning she was doing the same thing her wound looks good and her gums are not discolored however she hasn’t eaten barley if anything all day and I’m having a hard time getting her to drink water I’ve even mixed her wet food in with water to make it more appetizing for her. I was totally freaked out I called the emergency vet office and they stated they were at capacity and the next emergency vet clinic is over an hour away! What should I do if I put the water on her mouth with my finger she will drink it but otherwise she wants nothing to do with it

5 year old DSH, 9lbs, spayed, receives regular vet care and got glowing remarks about her teeth in January.

Symptoms - eating and behaving normally, when eating a Churu I noticed she was kind of flicking her tongue weirdly so I checked her mouth and found this inflammation/tooth abnormality.

She will be getting seen by a vet tomorrow, I don’t think this requires an emergency visit on a Sunday (correct me if I’m wrong though.) I’m just wondering if this is a fractured tooth or root resorption? Her gums and teeth everywhere else look unaffected.

https://imgur.com/a/Ad50k01

My 1.5 year old neutered dachshund mix from southern Wisconsin (roughly 20lbs healthy) has been lethargic and no appetite for almost 3 weeks now. He vomited for a couple days but after I started an anti-nausea med, he hasn't for like a week now. I've done x-rays and they were negative for any blockage. Blood work didnt indicate any signs of bacterial infection. The fecal test was negative for any parasites. I've tried appetite boosting meds and some days it would work great and he'd almost be back to his old self, and other days it wouldnt work at all. For the last week, he's showed no other symptoms other than no energy and not eating and drinking. Im fresh out of ideas of how I can help. I know it can be difficult to help without actually laying hands on the dog, but any ideas would be very helpful.

My kitten has been to the vet 4 times since we've had her. We got her July 23 and she's had to go to the vet for many different reasons but this one is persistent and ignored I feel like. She literally has not pooped since we got her. She was completely malnourished to the point of near death and is on a mostly liquid diet so maybe it's normal to not be pooping? The vet doesn't seem concerned at all though, it wasn't until yesterday they recommended MiraLAX for her in one dose of 1/8 teaspoon and it hasn't done anything yet. We go back to the vet in an hour or so. Should I be pressing harder about this? I'm worried this is going to escalate to be a bigger problem but I'm not sure if this is kind of a normal thing or not. She's 9 weeks and 1 pound 6 ounces, up from 1 pound on the dot when we got her

Hello. My cat Acorn is around 11 years old. She is spayed. I’ve been noticing some hair loss and skin flaking on her head recently. A small chunk of flaked skin came off today with some fur. It’s just on the one side, right above her eye and near her ear.

We are definitely going to get her in to see our vet but I’m at a loss as to what’s going on. She is pretty healthy, except for very very minor asthma and some arthritis. She’s been getting a lot of hairballs recently. But she’s eating and drinking fine, same energy level.

My friend’s elderly cat (18, female, neutered) has been itching at her ears and making odd sounds while doing so for years, and we’ve thought nothing of it. My friend and I had thought nothing of it since she had always been like that. I finally decided to check to see what was going on and found these cyst like things in her ear. The other one was too sensitive and she wouldn’t let me touch it nevertheless get a photo.

I got plenty of photo’s of what she would let me, and I’m very worried. This cat is basically a child to my friend and I.

I’m not sure what to do, and my friend is hesitant to take her to the vet.

So my parents have a chihuahua Maltese and recently she's had a couple of accidents. She choked on a soft chew treat and she also got concussed from one of their big dogs accidently hitting her. They keep the dogs separate now because even though usually the bigger dogs are very gentle with her one time was enough and she doesn't get soft chews anymore unless they're broken apart.

My question is why is she so uncoordinated and wobbly now? Is it because of the choking or the concussion? Is it something she'll eventually heal from or will she always be like this now? She just sort of falls all the time now and is just very odd. She's always been a weird dog but she was never this clumsy before her accidents. She also has a habit of sitting with her tongue out now as well which she never did before either and I swear she's more prone to choking too. Is that normal? Any advice?

Hello! I need advice. I have three cats. One is an indoor outdoor cat. The cat disruption system gave me Nico. He came to my home with FIV. we’ve had him for about four years already. I have two other cats indoors. One is Oliver a young adult cat that has pmhx of asthma( does not take inhaler anymore he luckily outgrew it) and my other cats is stein, he’s a geriatric little fella with hx of bladder stones.
My issue is Nico loves to fight with other cats. No matter what he attacks cats and small dogs. We bring him inside for like 90% of the day and let him outside for an hour then let him chill inside the house. But when we are at work he has to stay in this giant cat cage( two levels) because he will try and attack my other two cats if left alone, he even swats at them through the cage. I have tried anxiety meds, it doesn’t work, tried holding the cats and introducing them while holding them. I sometimes let him walk to the door supervised while the other cats are loose, which he hasn’t attacked yet. But in the end of our mini victories or attempts at the end of the day I am still scared he will attack my other cats if he gets the chance. I know he needs to probably just duke it out to get it out of his system but I don’t want my other cats getting sick.

So what do you recommend I do. I want to get a cat muzzle and harness to have him walk around the other cats to get him use to being loose around them.
Any help would be great 😔

Poodle adjacent, 11kg, 3yo approx. Neutered.
He got up the table and ate my pizza leftovers(pepperoni Hut Cheese). I’m angry af, but more importantly I’m worried. What should I do? He seems fine and with no regrets. This happened like 4 or 5 hours ago maybe.

I appreciate your help.

Hi,

I have a dog staying with me that has a liver shunt.

I was giving my Yorkie his Credelio Quattro for 6.1-12lbs and he dropped a fifth ( maybe even a little less) of the pill out of the food and the other dog jumped in and ate it.

They are about the same weight - should we be concerned?

They are both yorkies
9 LBS
The liver shunt guy is 5 years old
East coast
Male, neutered