Ask the Veterinarian!

[Xana44]

CLOSED

Hi! My name is Xana and I am a small animal (pet) veterinarian who putters around on Gaia.

I have been answering questions on the Ask the Vet Tech thread and in the Furry Critters Guild.

But I thought I would start my own thread and see how it goes.

Unfortunately, since I cannot see or touch your pet, I cannot make a diagnosis or prescribe medications. But often there are things that can be done at home to help your pet. And I can advise you on what to ask your local vet about. I can also advise you if it is a problem that needs to see a vet.

PLEASE DON'T BE SILLY! IF YOUR PET IS INJURED OR ILL, SEE YOUR LOCAL VET NOW!

I will be checking this thread daily for any new posts or questions.

Any gifts will be gratefully accepted and appreciated, but by no means required.

Please do not spam this thread. You will be ignored!

Unfortunately, Gaia has infected my computer with a severe virus and until I get the 'puter fixed, I cannot be here. Sorry!

[underweargnome]

Yay =3 we needed a new one of these threads, and not simply that last one

[Jamie_667]

Actually I do have a question. This might sound silly but really I'm serious. My 2 year old fed my bunny goldfish crackers a few hours ago. I don't know how many or if he ate any before I caught her (it wasn't more than a couple of 2 year old handfuls in his cage).
Will this make him sick? Is there anything I can do?

[Amarene The Falling Star]

It's funny; the thought was actually crossing my mind to look for a thread like this tonight.

I have a question about my cat actually. She's usually pretty much to herself most of the time (except in those few instances where she wants attention), but ever since yesterday she won't do anything but follow me around and mew insistently, like way more than usual. She will also do nothing but try to sit in my lap all day (which is unusual for her) and when I laid down she laid beside me all night, which is also quite unusual. She's also scarcely touched her bowl much today; she did eat and drink a little, but only when I was over there with her. She also keeps crawling into my face when I'm talking, standing on her hind legs. This is also behavior I haven't seen her do before.

Even now she's just sitting in my lap, staring up and me and mewing. I have no idea whether she's trying to tell me something or not. Do you think I should go to a vet?

[Jamie_667]

Jamie_667

Actually I do have a question. This might sound silly but really I'm serious. My 2 year old fed my bunny goldfish crackers a few hours ago. I don't know how many or if he ate any before I caught her (it wasn't more than a couple of 2 year old handfuls in his cage).
Will this make him sick? Is there anything I can do?

Oh well, He seems to be ok. His droppings and everything are normal.

Amarene, I hope your kitty is ok!!

[Xana44]

Jamie_667

Actually I do have a question. This might sound silly but really I'm serious. My 2 year old fed my bunny goldfish crackers a few hours ago. I don't know how many or if he ate any before I caught her (it wasn't more than a couple of 2 year old handfuls in his cage).
Will this make him sick? Is there anything I can do?

This should not cause your bunny any problems. I would not make it a regular part of his diet wink , but occasionally should not be a problem. I had a bunny patient who would only take his meds when on a potato chip.

[Xana44]

Amarene The Falling Star

It's funny; the thought was actually crossing my mind to look for a thread like this tonight.

I have a question about my cat actually. She's usually pretty much to herself most of the time (except in those few instances where she wants attention), but ever since yesterday she won't do anything but follow me around and mew insistently, like way more than usual. She will also do nothing but try to sit in my lap all day (which is unusual for her) and when I laid down she laid beside me all night, which is also quite unusual. She's also scarcely touched her bowl much today; she did eat and drink a little, but only when I was over there with her. She also keeps crawling into my face when I'm talking, standing on her hind legs. This is also behavior I haven't seen her do before.

Even now she's just sitting in my lap, staring up and me and mewing. I have no idea whether she's trying to tell me something or not. Do you think I should go to a vet?

That is a difficult one. Changes in activity can certainly be a sign of problems and I never like it when cats don't eat. But I have checked out a bunch of cats "not being themselves" and not found anything.

How old is your kitty? Is she using her litterbox? Have there been any changes in the household?

She should go see a vet if she does not eat well for more than two days or if she is not using the litterbox regularly.

Good luck and keep me informed on what she is doing. Thanks

[Xana44]

Jamie_667

Jamie_667

Actually I do have a question. This might sound silly but really I'm serious. My 2 year old fed my bunny goldfish crackers a few hours ago. I don't know how many or if he ate any before I caught her (it wasn't more than a couple of 2 year old handfuls in his cage).
Will this make him sick? Is there anything I can do?

Oh well, He seems to be ok. His droppings and everything are normal.

Amarene, I hope your kitty is ok!!

Sorry I did not get to your post sooner!

[Phatts McDangle]

I've got a question about my cat. He's about 2-3 years old. He's a great cat and has a great personality, very friendly and affectionate, and he's very well-behaved almost all the time. However, there's one thing he does that's unacceptable, and I don't know what to do about it. It's his play-aggression. He'll act ingratiating as if he's trying to get me to let my guard down, and as soon as I start to turn away, he'll pounce on my legs, claws out, and bite my kneecap or my thigh! He doesn't bite hard enough to break the skin, but it hurts, and his claws have drawn blood a few times (I know I need to trim them).

The interesting thing is, it always happens at predictable times. Like when we go upstairs into my bedroom at night, and I'm about to go into my bathroom to brush my teeth. He'll race up the stairs ahead of me and wait for me in my room, and when I try to get past him to go into the bathroom, that's when he mostly does it. I can't figure out what it is that he hates so much about me going into the bathroom! And he KNOWS he's doing something he's not supposed to, because as soon as he does it, he often attempts to run away and hide under the bed.

Sometimes I can distract him before he attacks, by throwing a toy. Other times I point a water gun at him, and that keeps him at bay. But I can't always be carrying a toy or a water gun around my house! When he does pounce on me, I've tried hissing and/or yelling at him, but it doesn't faze him. I've also tried "scruffing" him, but that also doesn't seem to affect him. Maybe I'm not holding him down long enough? The only thing that gets to him is squirting him with a water gun, which makes him run away. He never learns his lesson though, because he'll still do it again the next day.

I'm pretty sure he was separated from his mother and siblings at a very young age, so maybe he never learned the proper limits for aggressive playing from other kittens, or something like that. I love this cat. If it wasn't for this one behavior problem, he'd really be the perfect cat. If I could only break him of this one thing. I appreciate any suggestions you can give me!

[Xana44]

Phatts McDangle

I've got a question about my cat. He's about 2-3 years old. He's a great cat and has a great personality, very friendly and affectionate, and he's very well-behaved almost all the time. However, there's one thing he does that's unacceptable, and I don't know what to do about it. It's his play-aggression.

Play aggression is very common among cats. As you suspected, it is usually associated with inappropriate socialization at a young age. It can be tough to treat. You are doing many of the right things already.

1. Try to wear him out before the times he typically "attacks". Engage him in a play session starting about 1 hour to half an hour before bedtime. Be sure to use toys that don't get him too close to you (i.e. a fishing type toy or a laser pointer). This will make him less likely to attack you and will teach him how to appropriately direct that play energy.

2. Cry like he has really hurt you when he pounces you, even if it does not hurt. This is how sibs and his mom would teach him not to do this. But we take it a step further by exaggerating the response to teach him that no pounce is acceptable. Practice those wounded puppy cries (yes I know he's a cat, but same principle).

3. If all else fails, get him a buddy. Direct the agression towards a more appropriate play subject by getting him a cat buddy that will like to wrestle. I would recommend a 6-9 mo old neutered male for him.

Look at www.indoorcatinitiative.org for some other good ideas on how to entertain an indoor cat so he will be less focused on you for all his play needs.

[Shaviv]

One of my dogs has a sebaceous cyst on her tail. The vet has suggested that if it becomes infected and cannot be treated with antibiotics, the tail needs to come off. That bothers me, of course, but if it's necessary...

...well, is it? Here's what I'm thinking: you could anesthetize the dog, give her antibiotics, shave the tail area, open the cyst, drain it, debride gently, pack the wound lightly with antibiotic-infused gelatin or something like that, pull the incision closed and suture it, bandage it, wait until the drugs wear off, send the dog home with a bandage, a set of spare dressings and topical and/or oral antibiotics and an Elizabethan collar.

No?

[Xana44]

Shaviv

One of my dogs has a sebaceous cyst on her tail. The vet has suggested that if it becomes infected and cannot be treated with antibiotics, the tail needs to come off. That bothers me, of course, but if it's necessary...

...well, is it? Here's what I'm thinking: you could anesthetize the dog, give her antibiotics, shave the tail area, open the cyst, drain it, debride gently, pack the wound lightly with antibiotic-infused gelatin or something like that, pull the incision closed and suture it, bandage it, wait until the drugs wear off, send the dog home with a bandage, a set of spare dressings and topical and/or oral antibiotics and an Elizabethan collar.

No?

Without seeing the cyst it would be difficult to tell. The problem with mass removals on the tail is lack of free skin. Cyst and mass removals always have to remove more skin than one might think they would. And without enough skin to close, an amputation is often a better alternative. If the incision is too tight, it can cause more damage to the surrounding skin and tissues.

It is hard to keep a dog away from an open wound on its tail. It tends to get banged around or the dog rubs the edge of the E-collar on it. They are also extremely difficult to keep a bandage on.

If you are concerned, I would recommend getting a second opinion with another veterinarian or surgeon in your area.

If you could post a picture, that would be helpful to me in making a judgement.

[EnviouSPoppeT]

Ok I'm officially Subscribing to your thread! rofl

Hello EVERYONE I am EnviouSPoppeT, mostly known around gaia as PoppeT.
I am Xana's Veterinary Assistant (yes, we do work together in real life).
I am currently getting my Vet. Tech. schooling out of the way 3nodding .

So If you have and questions for me as well I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge.
However keep in mind like Xana mentioned before, since we are unable to see your pet, and based on the information you provide us with we can't always make the right diagnose.
If you have an emergency please contact your Veterinarian and make an appointment.
Also if it's something that needs immediate care(your pet got into something they shouldn't have) your Veterinary clinic should be able to give you some free advice mrgreen , on how to proceed with the situation.

[Sweetpea The Tigress]

Hi Xana, biggrin
Hi EnviousPoppet, biggrin

I got a new kitty from my sister. The kitty is about 4-5 months old, and she has some mutations, and I'm wondering if that means that she will go deaf or have internal mutations that will effect her health.

Her face is a little funny- she's got a small brow ridge, her forehead between the eyes is wider than normal, and her eyes are smaller than normal.

She's also got funny paws with extra toes- the front paws have an extra claw, then a regular-looking extra toe, then an extra pad with no claw. Her forearms are a little thicker than normal. Her hind feet each have a normal-looking extra toe.

Also- she's a white cat with a gray cap, and I've seen a lot of those- but she has like these odd fawn and salt and pepper stripes in her cap which I have never seen before...
Does any of this indicate health problems for her? neutral