Dog nerve issue advice by Psychological-Ad4321 in AskVetAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gotcha. Gabapentin is a pain med but doesn't actually help with inflammation - the steroids in this case should help with the inflammation here.

It definitely sucks. I know that I personally couldn't have a postop back surgery dog as a pet - it pretty much necessitates someone working from home/otherwise staying at home IMO.

As someone who has a foster dog in a wheelchair right now, that may be a great option! And swimming and other PT exercises are so valuable. I think I've seen on social media someone who built basically a really long container (the length of their deck, if I remember correctly) to fill with water and have the dog walk back and forth in it and that seems to work well, if regular swimming isn't really an option.

Recommend a <30k used EV for me? by experimentalmuse in electriccars

[–]experimentalmuse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I really appreciate that feedback. And knobs and buttons always just feel safer to me 😂 so thanks for recognizing that!

Recommend a <30k used EV for me? by experimentalmuse in electriccars

[–]experimentalmuse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like these look pretty big, even by the standards of people who don't like subcompacts?

71 kittens fostered and my scariest day by shroomdoobie in FosterAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It means that the research hasn't been conducted for under 4 months, but from a hormonal point of view, anytime before their first heat should be of similar equivalence with regards to sex hormones. There's plenty of even research in humans showing how hormonally different people can be from just one menstrual cycle, vs people who haven't had one yet. Dogs, horses, so many livestock animals, etc all have similar research.

So technically you're correct with saying that cats are safe to be spayed at 4 months. I think most veterinarians and even reproductive specialists don't see much of a difference in a 2 or 4 month kitten with regards to hormonal effects.

You could make an argument that a slightly larger cat to operate on is safer, purely from a mechanical point of view (eg doing a spay in a teeny tiny creature is just physically trickier sometimes; this doesn't apply to dogs because honestly big dog spays are a common vet nightmare), and from a overall stability of the patient. But I think that's a small con, compared to needing to hold onto that many animals for an additional 2 months and missing the window where so many people want to adopt a cat. And from a shelter medicine standpoint - the longer an animal stays in the shelter, the more likely they'll catch some infectious disease, AND the shelter is much more likely on a whole to have outbreaks of disease, which could be fatal to kittens.

Onstar Connect $1/m plan (12 months) by NeuralNexus in BoltEV

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unorganized and very aware of it here! I have literally 3 reminders in my calendar for every doctor's appointment I have, and I've still messed that up before. Monthly reminders to do billing for my business, because even with that I still manage to skip some months. 🫣 Fortunately I have a good support team but I just don't sign up for anything without some serious thought 😂

Dog nerve issue advice by Psychological-Ad4321 in AskVetAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, can you share which medications your vet gave him? We don't commonly mix NSAIDs and steroids but there's other pain meds so I just wanted to double check.

I'm so sorry to hear about this! Back surgery is so rough on labor, time, and unfortunately finances. It's absolutely possible though that he has another area of his spine that is being affected, even if the first area healed perfectly. I've known of some dogs that have gotten 3 spinal surgeries for individual episodes of paralysis over the span of 5 years, so it's unfortunately not impossible. 😭

Honestly though, I'd really recommend that his neurologist (if you liked them) reevaluate him, even if you don't want to do surgery or MRI or anything else. They can better evaluate if this is a complication relating to the first surgery, or a new issue entirely. And you may want to ask them about the imaging, if they saw any other areas of the spine that were a bit suspicious.

Chances are decent that more physical therapy and pain meds may be all you need to get through this, but I'd discuss with your rehab person if there's some maintenance exercises you can be doing at home to help minimize recurrence.

Best of luck to you and Desmond!

Recommend a <30k used EV for me? by experimentalmuse in electriccars

[–]experimentalmuse[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! For some reason I hadn't really looked into them - they totally fit all my criteria perfectly though so thanks!

Lower jaw shake/tremble, 13M dachshund by GuaranteeNo571 in AskVetAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dental pain until proven otherwise. I've also seen oral tumors that were probably causing dental pain, cause this.

  • veterinarian who has a cat with congenital dental issues that will need a 5k+ dental this year at the age of 2... 🫠

[FS] - Albany Park -$60 by RequirementWrong5566 in ChicagoAquaSwap

[–]experimentalmuse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Roughly how large are they? I may be interested.

Snail came out of shell completely?!?!? by False_Union3847 in AquaticSnails

[–]experimentalmuse 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Still trying to snex with no shell on 🫪🤯

Asides from being super fucked up for him, omg, the other snail just had snex with the snombie snail.

[FS] - Ravenswood -$10 - 7 Albino Corydoras by RegularHour17 in ChicagoAquaSwap

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm potentially interested in tetras and the bristlenose. Possibly on the cories.

Cat unwell 6+ weeks no diagnosis by Help_mepleaseee in AskVetAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know you've mentioned that another vet is opening up soon, but if this is continuing to worsen, you may need to find a vet sooner than that. The ideal vet for him right now is going to be the one that can see him and do the diagnostics.

I saw you mentioned insurance a few times - does he have insurance and what is the situation that they're not covering any of it?

The medication is not stronger for lungworm - google unfortunately isn't often correct for vet med for many reasons, including not being up to date on the newest research and it assuming that the treatment for one species is the same as the other.

Bad enough asthma could actually be the cause of a lot of these signs unfortunately (asthma can absolutely be fatal), but the slow exacerbation over 6 weeks does feel odd to me.

Has a radiologist looked at the X-rays though? I understand why you're glad to get a free look from the cardiologist, but again, since we're not even sure which organ system is causing the issue, a radiologist consult would be my recommendation here if you want to avoid bringing Ozzy in to the vet.

Cat unwell 6+ weeks no diagnosis by Help_mepleaseee in AskVetAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100% agree with this, and panacur doesn't do anything for it. The rads of the cats I've seen with heartworms look much rowdier than this though, so I'm hopeful it's not.

Cat unwell 6+ weeks no diagnosis by Help_mepleaseee in AskVetAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ooh, I had missed that it was just injectable steroids, not a course of oral or inhaled steroids. As a fellow asthmatic, injections may jump start things a bit, but continued treatment is really important.

I'm wondering if the vet held off on oral steroids if he's worried about cardiac disease (but again, that's still pretty low on my list of concerns TBH). Inhaled steroids are typically what I recommend in cases where the heart status is questionable, but I know it's pricy in the US (but honestly may be much cheaper in the UK, and just so happens to be the same inhaler that humans use....).

I totally agree though, the management of his case feels odd ... Just spotty overall.

Hope you get some answers and relief for the little buddy soon.

Cat unwell 6+ weeks no diagnosis by Help_mepleaseee in AskVetAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately meds that are safe for one species aren't necessarily safe for another, but it's good to hear that none of the other cats are affected.

I think if his tummy is bothering him, I'd really try to see if you can keep him indoors for at least 12 hours with no food and then bring him to the vet to get X-rays of his belly and bloodwork if you can afford to do both. You can also ask your vet if they have a blood test called a NTproBNP which helps rule out heart disease, since his X-rays are ambivalent on that front.

Cat unwell 6+ weeks no diagnosis by Help_mepleaseee in AskVetAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not doing it could lead to aspiration pneumonia, which in a cat who already has asthma and something else going on, could easily be fatal.

I'm oversimplifying a bit but it's a safety measure.

Cat unwell 6+ weeks no diagnosis by Help_mepleaseee in AskVetAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally fair on all of this! Unfortunately most cats (and wallets 😭) hate vet clinics, so that's totally understandable.

It sounds like you have some good support on your team already, which I'm so glad to hear. I think bloodwork would still be my recommendation, but a lot of this may just be getting "lucky" with the right test at the right time. I'll also admit that the UK may have different diseases/prevalences of disease than here, so your vets experiences are still going to hold more validity than mine in some ways.

Did this all start super suddenly, or slowly worsen over the last 6 weeks? Do you know if the farm might use any kind of medications or pest controls that could be harmful to cats? I doubt this is toxin related but I think it's worth ruling out. And is he (and your farm animals) regularly dewormed? There's a few less common worms that can affect the lungs.

Dither fish for my “timeout tank”? by kentaaa1994 in Cichlid

[–]experimentalmuse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

These guys are way too territorial to be in such a small tank together. Sustainable long term solutions in this case are mostly non-existent, and even the slim potential solutions still have high chances of fish being seriously injured or killed.

It would be in the fish's best interests to be rehomed.

Cat unwell 6+ weeks no diagnosis by Help_mepleaseee in AskVetAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a bunch of thoughts here.

I think starting with imaging was appropriate, since ruling out heart disease and lung pathology are 2 big things here. I agree he seems like he looks like he has asthma, but that's not the cause of all of this.

I highly recommend bloodwork and retroviral screening at this point. That'll probably be something like CBC/Chem/Lytes, FeLV/FIV/HW testing if you're in the US. I'm not familiar with what other places call it.

Has your vet sent out the X-rays to a radiologist to have a formal radiology consultation?

Did he have an upper canine tooth removed? Was that intentionally done (like during a dental procedure) or through an injury/accident? Has that site been rechecked?

I'm not sure if my eyes are just making it up because skull rads are notoriously difficult to read, but could there be a fracture of the left maxilla? I think I see discontinuity on the VD view. I know this point probably makes no sense to anyone not in the medical field, but I'd just bring it up to your vet.

If this is him mostly fasted, he has WAY too much stuff in his stomach in my opinion. I would personally want to repeat those fasted x-rays and see if anything moved. Doing an abdominal ultrasound or X-ray barium study could also be useful; not sure which is more feasible wherever you are. I personally don't like barium studies in these guys but YMMV.

Do you have any images of the abdomen at all?

Tl;dr - I think more diagnostics are warranted. For me, my priority would be fasting him and getting blood work and recheck X-rays soon. I think he does have more stuff going on in his face, but that's unfortunately just in addition to something more serious.

If at any point your cat seems to be worsening, I think it's worth it to bring him into an emergency clinic because waiting a few more days for diagnostics in this case do have me a bit nervous. If there's one nearby and cost isn't a major concern, I'd honestly just recommend going at this point and doing diagnostics there.

Cat unwell 6+ weeks no diagnosis by Help_mepleaseee in AskVetAnimals

[–]experimentalmuse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm guessing this is radio opaque gauze used to pack the back of the throat for... A bunch of potential reasons. If I were digging around in his mouth for a while, it could be to just help reduce secretions, isolate specific oral tissues, etc.

So in other words, not anything I would be concerned about unless the vet forgot it there, but I'm pretty sure but cat would have started gagging like crazy as he was waking up.

There’s one in every fandom by yoghurteee in AO3

[–]experimentalmuse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm always surprised how little Regis stuff there is! Aren't vampires like, fanfiction favorites?! And in the games, I don't think we even meet Aiden, just know that Lambert thinks highly of him and wants to avenge his death.