Surprise Vet Bills Hit Before a Diagnosis Even Exists

“Hi all, I'm not sure if this violates the rule on veterinary treatments or not... apologies if so. I'm just confused and hoping for some clarity. To make a long story short, I have a neutered, FIV+ male cat. He's got a big frame, and he's around ~15 lbs, about 7 years old. He's always been extremely food-motivated, and he's always been a bit overweight, according to his past vet. We had settled on 1/2 cup (1/4 in the morning, 1/4 at night) of a dry food which lists the kc”

“Hi everyone! For the past couple of days I have been feeding a stray, and yesterday, I finally managed to take him home, get him vaccinated, chipped, and put onto the system. He has seemingly been really healthy so far, and was checked at the vets and they said he seemingly has no issues and is healthy other than his malnourishment. I have been feeding him every time he screams for food, as I am worried about him being as skinny as he is, and I mix wet foods, dry foods for kidney health, and pro”

“Hi there. My 11 year old mini poodle who is still so full of life has been throwing me curveballs left and right. Throwing out all the data I have below so you can see how all these things have been driving me crazy as I’ve been trying to get to the root cause. History of b2 stage heart murmur that is being managed impressively well with Pimobendan with an echo last week to confirm Timeline: -2 months ago TCC bladder tumor removal was a success and follow up urine tests confirmed no cancer left”

“He has been acting completely normal, eating, drinking, playing and using the litter box as per usual. Do i need to take him to the vet or just continue to monitor him? The last time i called my vet because he dry heaved one time and they told me to take him to the ER! I insisted i bring him to them instead because the ER is very expensive. They checked him out and said he was fine. I understand being cautious but Im also certain he has consumed carpet fiber from time to time, perhaps part of a”

“Hey, my cat threw up a diluted red liquid, Im assuming it is blood. He is fine, playing and eating and not doing anything out of the ordinary at all. The emergency vet said to monitor him over the phone but no concern unless he becomes lethargic or stop eating. He didnt eat or drink anything red so this is most likely blood, wondering if this could be some sort of mouth or throat wound? https://imgur.com/a/SGPBLUk The cat is a 9 year old male, Im located in Ontario, Canada submitted by &#3”

“So, my 22 week non vaccinated (not by choice I just obtained her) chihuahua has parvo. She started losing appetite two days ago, vomiting yesterday and into this morning where I rushed her to vet. $1,000 later she got the** **Monoclonal Antibody, nausea meds, IV fluids, anti diarrhea, anti bacterial meds. And I got sent home with more doses and even fluids. I couldn’t afford the stay but I could do the at home treatment. She never developed bad diarrhea. Just horrible uncontrollable vomiting. Bu”

“I'm looking for veterinary opinions because my vet is somewhat stumped at this point and I'm feeling really overwhelmed. Signalment : 2-year-old male Pembroke Welsh Corgi 35 lbs Fully vaccinated Normally healthy, very food motivated, lots of energy Timeline : ~2 weeks ago: We moved from an apartment in Ottawa to my in-laws' house in a rural area. Within a few days of moving, he started having diarrhea. This was before the suspected foreign body. During that time he also: Drank from a”

“* possible emergency * I’m at a loss on what I should do about my sick pup. Please help before I lose my mind 😭😭 Bronx, 1.5 yo neutered male UPD on all vaccines Stomach is not distended, tender, etc. Symptoms started Friday evening / Saturday morning The night before last, I was up with him multiple times during the night for him to use the restroom outside. Half of the time it was semi soft stool, the other half he was attempting to munch on grass. Besides the urgency, he was acting totally n”

“This morning my cat (5 years old, female, spayed, vaccinated, etc) puked up her undigested dry food in small piles, about 5-6 times. 5ish hours later I gave her another small serving of dry food and about 15 minutes after that she puked up yellow, liquidy, slightly foamy bile. She’s puked up her dry food before but usually I think it’s just from eating too quickly, and after she does it, she’s fine. I’m mainly worried that she puked bile up so quickly after eating. Should I take her to the vet?”

“My 9 month old puppy is being neutered at a separate vet than his regular one, as it’s lower cost. My fiancé dropped him off and for some reason told him he has no vaccines, so they’re going to give him four shots. I’m sitting on hold but it’s going to be like 45 minutes to an hour before they pick up… will he be ok after receiving a double dose of all the puppy shots?! He literally didn’t need ANY OF THEM!!!! He has a monthly pet plan! I’m so furious right now submitted by /u/Accomp”

“About a week ago, our cat was shot by someone with a pellet gun. The pellet passed through her back leg and entered her abdomen. Luckily, it didn’t hit any major organs or blood vessels and there is no free fluid in her. The emergency vet sutured the entry wound on the outside as well as the inside on the leg, however she left the pellet inside her. She said that this is very common around our area and that a lot of the times they’ll leave the pellet where it is if it doesn’t look like it will b”

“Hi all! I have a 5 year old female Great Dane who is spayed and up to date on all of her vaccines. In September of last year my girl began having bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. It was about time for her annual check up so we went to the vet and found her ALT levels were elevated (over 800). I changed my girl to a hydrolyzed diet using Purina ProPlan HA Salmon and started her on Denamarin. The vet also ran a test checking for Addisons disease which was negative. At her recheck in October her lev”

“I’m On a road trip in the PNW so can’t take her to her usual vet. She’s a 55 lb xolo dog, very active, often gets bumps on her feet, but I noticed a sore a few days ago and have tried to just keep it clean. The sore looks like when you bite the inside of your cheek. It is located between two digits on the back right paw. Doesn’t seem too painful, but def uncomfortable when I clean it. It looks less red and inflamed, but the sore is still present. No odd behaviors, no vomiting, no diarrhea, eatin”

“My 4 years old kelpie ate a bone and developed severe constipation. He was hospitalized, his bowel was cleared, and X-rays showed no obstruction, but the vet said his stomach was enlarged. After coming home, he regurgitated/vomited every time he drank water overnight. Today he is keeping water down a little better but still refuses all food. He seems very nauseous, keeps pacing, stands with his head down, swallows and licks his lips, then eventually lies down for a while. He was prescribed predn”

“My 13 year old, 68lb pitbul mix has always had allergies and breathed heavy. All past test and grays showed no issues. Yesterday I noticed his breathing was slowing down during sleep, his gums were losing color, and he was coughing till liquid came up. The vet said congestive heart failure after xray revealed an extremely enlarged heart touching 5 ribs. He sounded optimistic about meds, but everything I reading online it sounds like he is stage 3 or 4. I have a check up in a week to see if meds”

“So my dog seems to have allergies and has been licking her paw and has irritation around her mouth. I’ve been giving her Benadryl and local honey from a pet shop made with local wildflowers that is supposed to help the allergies and for a few days I was rubbing coconut oil on her mouth and it helped a bit but she kept licking it off and rubbing her face in the grass which may have made the irritation worse. It was a little better for a few days but now her mouth seems irritated again. Other than”

“Creat: 1.7 (it had been like that for the last 3 years, as he’s a 6 kg muscular male cat) BUN: 27 Normal CBC He got vaccinated, took the deworming pill, and that was it. The next day, my wife and I went on vacation, leaving Bloom with my sister-in-law. He likes her and he’s used to staying with her. 2 days after we left, she told us that Bloom was refusing to eat and was a little bit depressed. We thought it might be due to the vaccination, or that he might be sad because we left (we rarely leav”

“I've been feeding my 4 month old frenchton purina puppy tender and crunchy beef. She recently started choking on it to the point of vomiting. Which she eats like a hog and gobbles her food quick. I found her some iams small breed puppy to try her on that is chicken. This is day 2 of trying it & while it's helped with the choking she now has TERRIBLE gas & soft but still firm poops. She had gas on the beef but NOTHING compared to now. Should I keep giving it to her to see if it cl”

“Thank you for the reassurance. Very sad how someone could do that, but we’re so grateful she’s still with us”

“very common!! it’s sad but a lot of people have animals with pellets in them and never know”

“Thank you for the response! Is it recommended to bring her back in for a follow up xray down the road? Or just monitor her behavior for the next few weeks and if no issues then it’s fine?”

“This is very common! Sometimes animals are filled with numerous pellets (or birdshot) and it is often left in place until/unless it becomes problematic. We usually see it incidentally when x-raying for other issues. There’s no need to open up an animal and dig around under anesthesia when they can be perfectly fine with the pellet staying inside them.”

“Purina and IAMs are the worst kind of mass produced dog food owned by Nestle and Mars. If you can afford it look into some other brands.”

“Yes definitely get a slow feeder I just mix it up in a bowl for one of my dogs that needs it, and then I just dump it in over top of the slow feeder bowl. You may want to also ask your vet to make sure there's no issue with his saliva / dry mouth that makes it difficult for him to swallow.”

“One of my dogs will choke himself on dry food. For all of my dogs, I float their food in enough water to cover it. You can let it soak in some, but I just put it down right away. It slows them down and adds moisture to the very dry kibble.”

“As for the fast eating, we adopted a four month old pittie mix and she would eat so fast, too, when we first brought her home. I ended up buying a slow feeder for her and now, a little over a month later, I can feed her without it and she takes her time. I would definitely recommend trying out a slow feeder for a while!”

“So far her stools haven't been loose. Just soft. I'll keep trying her on it for a about another week and see if it improves if not I'll try something else. Luckily I know she does good with beef so regardless I can stick with that. Unfortunately most formulas I've looked into even though it says lamb or beef it still has some chicken add in.”

“She does good on the beef but still has gas & the pieces are big so she chokes. The iams is smaller but chicken & I'd figured I'd give it a shot. She loves it but the gas is gag worthy. How much longer should I continue to try her on it before I know if it could be an allergy? I'm going to look into a slow feeder for her.”

“A lot of dogs have food allergies to chicken. Both my dogs cannot have chicken-based foods. So it could be due to adjusting or due to a chicken intolerance. I think two days in is a little too early to tell. We have a slow feeder for our pup as she also scarfed her food. She’s now on Purina pro plan sensitive stomach salmon and rice and has fixed her loose poop situation wonderfully.”

“I've been mixing about 2 tablespoons with her purina each day. I knew swaping without a transition would be bad on her gut. I'm definitely going to look into a slow feeder for her.”

“If she's eating too fast, feed her in a slow feeder bowl or a toy so she can't gobble it down. Don't change her food. If you ever do need to change her food, you should do it slowly, giving her a little of the new food alongside the old food, and slowly changing up the ratio. A sudden change can lead to bowel issues - although chicken is known to be a problematic food for many dogs.”

“I'm definitely looking into a slow feeder. I was wanting to try the purina one puppy but it's chicken as well. Once she's old enough I wanted to do either purina one small breed (lamb) or purina one small bites (beef but has chicken add ins). So I'm not sure. I thought about trying a lamb formula to see if that changes anything.”

“Purina pro plan is a high quality and vet nutritionist formulated line that I’ve seen really help with gas and digestive issues. In my experience the cheaper dog foods cause more smelly gas bc of higher filler ingredients that don’t digest as well. If you are going to switch I would try slowly going to a higher quality food and a slow feeder as others have suggested!”

“Try slow feeders, treat dispencers with regular food inside (mine has this bowl which she rolls around the house), putting food onto a towel and rolling it up, or just give her food with training. All that should help with fast eating without chaning the food itself.”

“I didn't switch cold turkey. I've been mixing about 2 tablespoons of the iams with her purina once a day. I knew going straight in without transition would definitely cause an issue but it's been 2 days of mixing and the gas is horrendous 😫 I'll definitely be looking into a slow feeder for sure as she loves the beef but eats it so fast & chokes.”

“The gas and soft poops on day 2 of switching to the IAMS are almost certainly just her gut adjusting to a completely new protein source, especially since you switched cold turkey instead of blending the old and new food over 7 to 10 days. Give it another 4 or 5 days and it should settle. The choking issue with the Purina tender and crunchy is a separate problem worth addressing though, frenchtons have short snouts and bolt their food, so a slow feeder bowl is genuinely a game changer.”

“You can buy those slow feeders on Amazon for cheap. They are pricy from the pet store.”

“I've only been mixing about 2 tablespoons in with her regular food once a day. I'm going to look into a slow feeder for her.”

“You've got to transition dog food gradually over a couple of weeks, to avoid digestive impacts. Buy a maze bowl to slow down eating and choking.”