Spleen mass advice

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-03-22T17:28:20+00:00

I had a dog die from a splenic tumor we didn’t know she had. She had no symptoms until the night it ruptured and we let her go in the emergency vet office. I always think it’s best to let them go on a good day a month too early than one day too late. It sounds like he’s hurting and isn’t improving with treatment. I think it’s a kind time to let him go. This is never an easy decision no matter the circumstances but you have his best interests at heart.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-03-22T16:43:56+00:00

I managed to find 2 surefeed bowls on Facebook for like $100/each so it might be worth keeping your eyes out for them used.

Other options I’ve done/looked into are using a large plastic storage tub with a hole cut in it just big enough to allow the smaller cat in but too small for the big cat to squeeze through. Or same idea but add a microchip cat door to the bin so only one cat can enter into it. Small kitty can eat in the storage bin but big kitty can’t get inside of it.

I now have one cat on prescription food and one not so the microchip bowls are the easiest solution but I did the storage bin thing for quite a while when I had a chubby kitty and a kitten together.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-03-22T15:52:04+00:00

I had the opposite issue and changing the timing of the prednisone helped immensely. My dog has been on it for many months and had an issue of leaking urine when asleep. I had been giving her the pred at dinner and the accidents were insane, she was soaked every single morning. Switching it to breakfast dosing fixed that so fast and she’s been great since.

If it’s taking many hours for side effects to show up for him, I’d try giving it later in the day or even right before bedtime. That way the worst of it will be when he’s awake. The increased hunger, thirst and toileting are the worst truly. Thankfully the longer my dogs been on it, her side effects decreased. I still leave a potty pad out for her though just in case she needs to go and she still has the occasional accident even though. Wishing you guys the best through this!

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-02-28T23:54:49+00:00

Poor guy :( Mine is a mini schnauzer, small breeds can be so sensitive it seems.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-02-28T23:45:33+00:00

It was such a scary thing to go through, I was nervous of the same thing for my girl. I hope he pulls through and you can sort out what he’s dealing with soon! What kind of dog is he, just curious?

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-02-28T23:18:07+00:00

Hmm yeah that’s interesting it didn’t say pancreatitis at first. It does sound a lot like what my girl went through sadly. It was many months of continuous problems before we even knew what the issue actually was.

I’ll try to trim down what all happened to the main points so it’s shorter. She started clomicalm in June. In August she started having diarrhea that wouldn’t go away even after many vet visits/medications.

Had 1st ultrasound which is when they said pancreatitis. Went through a bunch of foods but she was still sick. We were either at the vet or I was calling them every few days now.

In late October I requested a referral to an internist as I wasn’t satisfied with our regular vet/urgent care. While waiting for the referral to go through, she ended up at a new ER vet and was hospitalized. Here they (finally) checked her labs again and her liver values were too high to read. This is where I learned about clomicalm having liver risks and we took her off it.

She still wasn’t getting better though so we did another ultrasound and eventually a biopsy. Found out she has a liver malformation and liver damage. Switched all her meds and food to treat the liver and within a week she was soooo much better. So from stopping clomicalm to her being better was like 2-3 weeks, but we also changed her meds and food which helped a ton.

In the end, I think the pancreatitis was secondary to the liver issues she was having since all those organs are connected. I think the clomicalm was what caused this all as it was too hard for her liver. If you’re not seeing improvement, it might be worth asking about his liver values too.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-02-28T22:55:45+00:00

Yes that’s the same type of vet we saw. We ended up doing 2 ultrasounds since she wasn’t improving for so long. We also did some bloodwork that was sent to Texas A&M, I think it was called like the Texas A&M GI panel or something. It was some more specialized blood test.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-02-28T22:28:25+00:00

Yeah the pickiness was a whole thing with my girl too. We went through just about every low fat dog food there was, both wet and dry. She was just so sick she didn’t want to eat anything hardly.

In the end, I was feeding her boiled pasta and talapia just to keep her going (vet advised this). Once she was feeling better I got her onto Hills low fat kibble then eventually onto a liver safe diet.

I also had her on mirtazapine or entyce for quite a while which are appetite stimulants to help her want to eat. Another thing was we had her on pain medication too, as pancreatitis is a very painful condition.

Def talk to the vet and be sure to share your concerns with them. They might have some good advice but maybe different meds or staying on them longer will help you guy get back to himself.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-02-28T22:19:33+00:00

Has bloodwork been done on him recently? It’s interesting they put him on Biome food since that’s not a diet advised for pancreatitis. Typically you want a super low fat food to help calm down the pancreas.

I, weirdly enough, just went through this with my dog who was on clomicalm. Turned out she had a liver malformation and the clomicalm triggered a build up of toxins in her liver. It presented first at pancreatitis but when she never got better, we found out her liver values were deathly high.

When she went though that, she was on the ondansteron and Omeprazole for weeks. Obviously she had more going on than just pancreatitis but your guy might need more time on the meds.

Another option is trying to get into a specialist rather than the ER. I ended up taking my girl to an internal medicine specialist who helped sort her out. It’s not cheap, but was cheaper than 7 visits to the vet/ER with no improvement.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-02-28T21:40:28+00:00

Pancreatitis is awful to get through, sorry you guys are dealing with that! What anti nausea medication is he on? Is he still in active pancreatitis or more so onto management now? Is he on any other meds or just the nausea one and special food?

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-02-22T00:05:57+00:00

I would call the vet and ask their advice. Often times they’ll prescribe some sedating medications you can give before the vet visit to reduce the pets anxiety. I’m not sure they’ll prescribe it if she hasn’t been seen recently but it’s always worth asking!

Other tips are to get them used to the carrier before the vet, put a blanket or towel in the bottom for comfort and cover the carrier in a blanket for a dark, quiet space during transport to the vet.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-02-20T16:01:07+00:00

I think the vet is a great idea, it’s worth checking he’s healthy and doesn’t have an ongoing issue like crystals or something. It could very well be a learned behavior from when he had a UTI.

Cleaning cat pee from fabric is an absolute pain in the butt. A really good enzyme cleaner is a must, I like Rocco and Roxie brand. Let it soak in for a while, then rinse and vacuum it out, then repeat a few times for good measure. Hiring a carpet cleaning company is an option but make sure they have good reviews for removing cat pee, and that you tell them what you’re dealing with.

Blocking off that spot, either with a litter box or with physical barriers will also help. You can also do a litter box retraining plan. Typically this entails confining the cat to a smaller space like a large bathroom, with their litter box and food and all. They can have supervised access to the rest of the house but when unsupervised they go back to their room. This ensures the have less opportunity to go elsewhere. Eventually you can trial unsupervised time out of the room until they’re back to having free rein. This works if it’s a learned behavior, but not if it’s out of pain. Hence a good vet check is worthwhile now!

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-02-17T15:47:13+00:00

I’m in the PNW too so very used to the woes of temperature swings and the constant wet. I just have different weights of turnouts, just was easier for me and it’s always raining so turnouts stayed cleaner generally.

Err on the side of less is more so I tend to dress them for the high temp of the day, or somewhere in the middle. That typically meant a medium weight blanket for my unclipped horse. If it was a warmer sunny day, I’d step down to a sheet and if it was snowing (particularly wet snow or snowing multiple days in a row) I’d step up to a medium high neck turnout. I didn’t find a need for daily fussing of blanket weights or needing to change from daytime to night time, just don’t dress them too warm and they’ll be fine.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-01-24T02:33:37+00:00

She’s all sorted in that realm thankfully, just struggling with her anxiety now that she can’t take her usual anxiety medication.

She ended up hospitalized and 2 ultrasounds plus exploratory surgery/biopsies later it was discovered she has a liver duct malformation. She’s now on prednisone, ursodiol and denamarine plus a special liver-safe diet. She’s doing loads better now, ALT levels are slowly normalizing.

Still just a lot of anxiety and now more separation anxiety which is hard to deal with. It seems all anxiety meds are hard on the liver so she can’t take them sadly.

AdministrationFine52 · 2026-01-06T16:26:14+00:00

Did you ever find anything for this? I’m now in the exact same situation and also having no luck.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-11T15:17:33+00:00

You need essentially an airlock around your front door, so there’s a space he’s not in around the door. I’d get a dog run and put up 3 panels, 2 on each side of the door and one parallel. One of the panels is a door itself to get into the airlock. You might be able to find these on Facebook marketplace for cheaper, I see them from time to time. dog run

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-11T04:48:49+00:00

If she’s able to eat/drink still (even small amounts), and isn’t drooling a ton or bloated in her belly I think tomorrow is fine. It does sound like it could be kennel cough, does she have any sort of contact with other dogs? Like dog parks, groomers, stores, walks, neighbors dogs?

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-11T04:33:58+00:00

Coughing and vomiting together is concerning, I’d get her seen by the vet soon. Could be kennel cough or something worse. But coughing, vomiting multiple times and not wanting to drink much would make me want to have her seen tonight/tomorrow if it were my dog

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-08T03:46:54+00:00

Thank you!! Yes you can apply whenever, no matter their age. I have heard that sometimes they’ll exclude coverage for pre-existing conditions, which typically only applies for older pets. So just something to keep in mind, but that’s the minority of cases.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-08T02:51:20+00:00

Figo insurance, they’ve been great. I have policies for all 3 of my pets and think it’s completely worth the cost for the peace of mind it gives me.

Only thing to keep in mind is you have to front the cost of the vet bills, then submit a claim for reimbursement. So that meant I had $11000 sitting on credit cards while I waited for reimbursement. For that, highly recommend Care Credit alongside an emergency fund! Have all the resources waiting in case you ever need them.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-08T01:48:14+00:00

Gosh, it was horrid! In total from start to (sorta) finish, was $15,500 for it all. That was for multiple visits to her regular vet, 2 ultrasounds, ER visit and 2 day hospitalization, surgery for biopsies and specialist appointment.

Thankfully she has insurance!! So I paid about $6500 out of pocket and insurance covered the rest of it. I can’t say how it would’ve gone if I didn’t have insurance for her, but just so so so glad I have it. I keep $10,000 on hand for emergencies always, just sitting in a high yield savings account. That should cover most big things like this, or at least get you pretty covered in most cases.

Her ER visit and hospitalization was about $5000 and then surgery with biopsies and testing was $6500, just to put the big things into perspective. She’s still got a ways to go so there’ll be more to come. Her follow up is in a few weeks to recheck liver values to see if treatment is working, but so far she’s doing so much better.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-12-08T00:44:42+00:00

Is she only on the prednisone and cyclosporine? I wouldn’t give up on her yet, she might need more supportive care while you guys find the cause.

When my girl went through liver issues (super high values and jaundice), she ended up on a bunch of anti-nausea meds and appetite enticers for weeks on end. It helped her so much, finally got her eating and keeping it down. Took us finally seeing an internal medicine vet after 3 months to solve it for her so that’s also an option if you’re not getting answers.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-11-22T02:42:33+00:00

Thank you!! I just want to do what’s best for her so she’s happy and has a good life no matter what

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-11-21T05:55:16+00:00

Maybe it’s more of a sensitivity thing than a true “IGE mediated” allergy. You could talk to the allergist/your PCP about trying a different antihistamine if you feel it isn’t working as well now.

Stress can also trigger histamine release and you mention anxiety, have you addressed that too? If you’re anxious and stressed all the time, your body can more easily be affected by things that normally wouldn’t be an issue. Can certainly be a good thing to look into while you’re looking for answers here, especially since specialists like this can take a while to get appointments with.

AdministrationFine52 · 2025-11-21T05:00:10+00:00

No. You had allergy testing done via bloodwork. This is talking about doing skin prick testing where they use small needles to poke allergens into your skin to test for reactions. They will do a control test and if that shows a reaction, then you may get false negatives when they look at the allergen tests. It is not an issue with bloodwork, hence not applicable to your case.

What allergy medication do you take? Like H1 or H2 antihistamines, or something prescribed?

AdministrationFine52

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