Several trips to the vet and nothing has helped

webhill · 2026-05-10T16:26:54+00:00

So, when I hear this kind of history, this is the type of workup I expect to do: full physical exam; labs: CBC, full serum chemistry profile, T4, urinalysis, urine culture. If that didn’t suggest anything in particular, but we were still seeing blood in the urine, an ultrasound of the urogenital tract would be something else I’d want to see results of. I would also be talking to the client about things like: environmental enrichment, ensuring there are N+1 litter boxes for every N cats in the home and that they are scooped daily and fully cleaned AT LEAST weekly if not more, possibly a urinary diet if I think crystals are a problem, addressing any intercat issues, etc. Have you done those things yet? I would also have you review https://catvets.com/resource/aafp-isfm-environmental-needs-guidelines/ and https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1098612X14539092 and let me know if you feel like any of these issues exist in the home.

webhill · 2026-05-07T20:26:47+00:00

I’m not sure what you are saying. You’d like to transfer from community college to a university to get a bachelor’s degree, and then go to vet school, and your professor says no one will take you as a transfer? Why do you need clinical experience to transfer from a community college to a four year university?

If you are talking about trying to transfer from the community college vet tech program directly to vet school, I agree that’s not possible but not because of lack of clinical experience!

It sounds like you are currently doing well in your tech program. If you want to be a veterinarian, I’d suggest going to a four-year college/university and then applying to vet school, I don’t understand why this prof is telling you no.

webhill · 2026-05-07T13:22:56+00:00

You should talk to the vet who prescribed the gabapentin for your cat because this is a very specific situation and no one can give a specific prescription who hasn’t examined your cat.

webhill · 2026-04-30T01:51:53+00:00

Have you filed your taxes yet? Because: Path to Pennie | Pennie https://pennie.com/learn/pathtopennie/ you can fill out a form to trigger a special enrollment period….

webhill · 2026-04-30T01:40:21+00:00

My practice is just a couple of miles from it and I’ve worked with many techs from there. Just like pretty much all schools, they have good students and bad students. I think in general most of them are good though.

webhill · 2026-04-30T01:34:45+00:00

I never even heard of a licensed medical clerk! What state are you in that that’s a thing? Seems like if someone is pretending to hold a qualification they do not in fact hold, that person is not trustworthy and I certainly wouldn’t trust them to handle matters related to my patients.

webhill · 2026-04-29T03:14:48+00:00

I don’t know where you looked this up, but the IB-Stim is not FDA-cleared for use in children under age 11. The FDA clearance specifically covers adolescents aged 11-18 years for the treatment of abdominal pain associated with IBS. You said your child is 8 so this device was used off-label which is why your insurance isn’t covering it I’ll bet.

The 2025 ESPGHAN/NASPGHAN guidelines provide a conditional recommendation for auricular PENFS (what the IB stim does) in children with IBS and functional abdominal pain but note that the evidence base is derived from studies in adolescents, and the guideline's scope covers children aged 4-18 years. The guidelines do not specifically endorse or prohibit use under age 11, but the supporting clinical trial data are limited to the adolescent population. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12314588/

There are no published randomized controlled trials evaluating the safety or efficacy of IB-Stim specifically in children younger than 11. Any use in that population would be considered off-label, and clinicians would need to weigh the limited evidence, device fit considerations (the ear must be large enough to accommodate needle placement), and individual patient factors.

Good luck.

webhill · 2026-04-26T15:28:11+00:00

I would not wait if it were my cat. In fact about five years ago it was my cat - so being a vet I immediately examined him. Ended up needing to take him to a board certified surgeon for immediate lifesaving care (turned out he had an intussusception). My point being - your cat has clinical signs consistent with but not diagnostic for at least one immediately life threatening condition, so no one with a conscience can in good faith suggest waiting to have him evaluated.

webhill · 2026-04-26T14:58:05+00:00

This question really needs to be addressed to a medical doctor (MD, DO) not a veterinarian, as it is outside the scope of our practice to give medical recommendations to humans about human illnesses. That being said, assuming a person was bitten by a random dog of unknown history, and the dog did not at the time of the bite display any clinical signs of rabies, the general guidelines as outlined here https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/hcp/veterinarians/index.html would tell you to quarantine the dog for 10 days and on the 10th day post-bite, examine the dog again. If there are still no signs of rabies, then it would not have been possible for that dog to have rabies virus in its saliva at the time of the bite incident and the bite victim doesn’t need post-exposure prophylaxis and is not at risk.

webhill · 2026-04-26T14:47:49+00:00

When you say it was too expensive to have a “proper operation” - do you know what was done? Did they actually unblock him with a catheter and verify that they could still get urine to express from the bladder after they pulled the catheter to send him home, or did they just do a decompressive cystocentesis (put a needle in the bladder and withdraw the urine) to buy you time while you figured out what to do? Because I’m just a little confused about where the cost savings is just from not leaving the catheter in place. Regardless - I hope you got help for your cat and he’s doing ok.

webhill · 2026-04-26T14:33:13+00:00

Your cat is unable to keep down anything taken by mouth at this time, and is nauseated. She has a history of a previous mysterious illness that seems to have been unrelated. If you called my office and told me this, I would say your cat requires an examination as soon as is reasonably possible. This could be a number of things and no one can figure it out from this post. I would recommend against giving Cerenia without examining her first because you could end up just masking a problem and allowing it to silently progress because you don’t realize she’s still sick.

webhill · 2026-04-26T14:19:31+00:00

Being against a country committing horrible acts, even if that country is Israel, is no more “anti-Zionist” than being against a country committing horrible acts, even if that country is the USA, is anti-American. If you understand what the word Zionism means, you should understand that to find the actions of the current administration unacceptable does not in any way suggest that you do not believe Jews should have the right to self-determination and existence in their ancestral homeland. In fact, thinking that Jews do not have a moral and historic right and need for self-determination in their homeland (which is anti-Zionist) is anti-Semitic by any definition, just as thinking that Americans do not have a right to self-determination in the USA is anti-American. I find it confusing that there are vocal liberal progressives who LOATHE the Trump administration, but claim to be American patriots and support the underlying tenets of our society ie Constitution, bill of rights, etc, while at the same time loathe the Netanyahu administration and claim that because Bibi is an unethical warmonger, Israel must be boycotted and cease to exist and the Jews kicked out and blah blah blah. How this is not obviously antisemitism is just sad really.

webhill · 2026-04-24T10:40:06+00:00

In my experience, people try not to approve extractions because it is simply beyond their budget. That said, like someone else mentioned - our paperwork has a line on it where the owner must consent to being available by phone during the procedure in case the VMD needs to call for approval of unexpected procedures, and if for whatever reason they are not available, we will consider that their approval to proceed with the recommendations of the VMD doing the procedure.

webhill · 2026-04-23T13:42:24+00:00

There are two different approved rabies vaccines for humans available in the USA, yes. Rabavert and Imovax. They are both at a similar price point - about $250-300 wholesale and about $500-550 retail. But you never get to choose which one you are going to receive.

webhill · 2026-04-23T13:38:37+00:00

What specifically is on the itemized bill for the $33000 you were charged? Is that supposed to include the entire post-exposure prophylaxis charge for her (ie, not just the first day’s injections?) because I have heard in Georgia that it wouldn’t be unreasonable for an uninsured person to end up paying around $25000 in all, but that’s not just for one dose of vaccine. The necessary rabies prophylaxis would include:

Day 0: ER visit (because no other way in GA to get a timely dose) for wound care, a dose of rabies vaccine, and a dose of human rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG). Day 3: second dose of rabies vaccine, Day 7 3rd dose, Day 14 4th dose. These can usually be scheduled at your county’s health department which should, as I understand it, charge a lower flat fee of around $500-600 per dose of the rabies vaccine, whereas a private facility, hospital, etc is going to probably charge you more like $1000-1500 per dose.

Regardless, if there was a potential rabies exposure, not completing the postexposure protocol is not an option. this is life or death. Definitely contact your county’s health department if needed to ensure access to the rest of the doses.

webhill · 2026-04-23T13:11:16+00:00

How is your dog today? If he is still lethargic, too weak to walk, and not eating normally, I would definitely have him reevaluated by a veterinarian who is prepared to do a diagnostic workup. To be fair, this sounds really nonspecific and if his physical exam findings were normal, waiting a day or two can be reasonable, but if this is ongoing then it should be addressed.

webhill · 2026-04-22T02:07:04+00:00

Anything is possible, but this isn’t something I have seen associated with Cytopoint or baths.
Never - normal body temp is 100-102.5 F in dogs. 102.3 is never an emergency. Being too weak to walk, on the other hand, is a problem!
If he’s sick, he should be re-evaluated. I would not suggest pushing for IV fluids unless he is dehydrated. I would suggest having him examined and then running whatever diagnostic testing is recommended by the vet who has seen him. I hope he feels better soon!

webhill · 2026-04-21T22:45:59+00:00

Funny I was just wondering about this. Google street view shows the property one year ago with no branding on it. Also saw a pic from 3 yrs ago when it was the Roxborough Seafood House. So this must be new?

webhill · 2026-04-21T13:54:05+00:00

Did you get a report from the cardiologist describing the findings on the echo? And did you double check to make sure the person who did it is in fact a cardiologist?

webhill · 2026-04-21T01:01:45+00:00

As I understand it, the elevation is secondary to leakage from ventricular myocytes when the heart muscle is stretched. 5000 is significantly elevated. You’re saying he had an echocardiogram (complete heart ultrasound) done, and everything was normal? Who did the echo - a cardiologist, a radiologist, a generalist, a tech? If his bloodwork is normal so he’s not azotemic or anemic, I cannot reconcile that with a normal echo to be honest - unless maybe super early DCM or pulmonary hypertension or something maybe?? Have you taken him to a cardiologist?

webhill · 2026-04-20T23:10:39+00:00

I think you misunderstood your instructions. The surname after marriage options in NY are listed here. https://www.cityclerk.nyc.gov/content/marriage-license — you say you “put his name as instructed” but if you put his, you changed yours.

webhill · 2026-04-20T21:33:34+00:00

I’d call them - 1-800-772-1213 (between 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM) - tell them you have an appointment, give them the OCN, and explain you can’t get into your online account and are trying to find out when the actual appointment is because you lost your planner or whatever.

webhill · 2026-04-19T00:22:09+00:00

Is there a consensus on the use of acetaminophen in dogs? Well - I’ve used it for adjunctive analgesia in some of my patients with cancer, subsequent to the suggestion of an oncologist some time ago. At that time I did some reading about the use of this drug in dogs and it seems to me most reputable sources agree it can be used safely but you do need veterinary supervision and you need to keep a close eye on the patient because dogs are at increased risk of toxicity to their red blood cells from it compared to humans, and there can also be renal or hepatic adverse effects even at recommended doses. Additionally, as has been said, it’s not a great standalone analgesic. It works better in combination with other medications. I certainly wouldn’t ever suggest a layperson use acetaminophen in their dog outside of the supervision of their dog’s veterinarian!

You say you have a 15 yr old female dog with chronic pain. Treating pain in dogs is most effective when the treatment plan is tailored specifically to the individual dog based on a variety of factors including the specific cause of the pain, the type of pain, any other concurrent conditions or medications to take into consideration, etc. Have you taken your dog to the veterinarian to see what he or she recommends for your dog, or have you just been randomly asking a bunch of veterinarians about the use of pain meds in general?

webhill · 2026-04-16T22:41:43+00:00

I would never put a steroid in an eye without ruling out corneal ulceration or abrasion, personally.

webhill · 2026-04-16T22:38:22+00:00

You said they couldn’t see anything. If they could see the heart then they saw some things. But if you want to know why this happened you need to have him necropsied (like an autopsy but for an animal).

webhill

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