Vets Miss Kidney and Neurological Diagnoses Until Too Late

“Hey guys, so 3 days ago my frenchie sunny had started losing the ability to use his back legs, since then he now can’t use the bathroom on his own and has no use of his back legs anymore. He’s been taken him to an emergency vet yesterday and they told us to take him to a neurologist. we are urgently trying to get an appointment now! My question is has this happens to anyone else’s frenchies/dog submitted by /u/AdministrationNo1482 [link] [comments]”

“My dog is a almost 14 yr old Border Collie mix who, up until last night, was doing perfectly fine. He's had a few surgeries to get rid of some lumps (not cancerous) but other than that, he's recovered just fine and was doing really well. We got him back from a doggy daycare on Tuesday and he was acting just fine, albeit upset at us for leaving him for a week for a vacation. I let him outside to use the bathroom one last time before bed and I saw that he was struggling to poop. This has h”

“So my dog recently had pyometra surgery. She was doing really well post op and would go on morning walks to pee. On day 5, she refused to get up and would not pee for me. Apparently when I went for the pyometra surgery I hadn’t know that the vet had informed me of this issue. When taking an x ray for pyometra, the vet told me they say something on the spine from the x rays. (Again I was completely focused on the pyometra that I had no idea this conversation was even happening.) Now while she’s i”

“Hi everyone, I'm here crowdsourcing options to discuss with the vet for a friend of mine. My friend's golden retriever developed a right side facial droop, inability to blink or move lips on right side, and weakness on front right leg back in July. After an emergency trip to their regular vet then a meeting & MRI with a veterinary neurologist at a very prestigious veterinary hospital, it was determined to be idiopathic. No sign of a stroke. No tumor/ mass or spinal injury present. No”

“Hi all, I'm looking for some professional insight into my cat's case. My 11yo cat became very unwell after her second vaccination. I am not claiming the vaccine definitely caused this, but the timing was shortly afterwards and everything seemed to go downhill from there (2.5 weeks ago). Since then she has experienced: persistent diarrhea / loose stools and vomiting ( vomiting is now under control). She had abdominal X-rays taken, and I was told that her colon looked abnormally large — de”

“I’ll keep this as short as possible, but I woke up to my baby dead. (12.5 years old, Boxer mix) Tongue blue, bowels released, but still warm. So happened recently upon waking up. I didn’t hear a struggle. I know I would have. (Having guilt over that) She didn’t have a huge decline. Her prednisone was helping and she was still eating, walking fine and taking walks. The night before she was so full of energy. The day of she seemed a little more tired, but thought the weekend company and the compan”

“I’m seeking opinions on my bizarre medical mystery cat. He’s seen 4 vets in just the past 5-6 weeks and has been seen about 6-7 times. Short story — hes holding his urine for upwards of 90 hours at a time and has constipation. He is not blocked. No straining for poop or pee. Hes on every laxative you can think of. Eating and drinking fine. No relevant vomiting. Long story — He had PU surgery in 2023. He had a couple UTIs since and last fall, was holding his urine for upwards of 2 days. Ended up”

“Looking for ANY information or experience with a brachial plexus tumor in a dog I’m desperately hoping someone here has experience with this because we are struggling to find information about what our boy is going through. Our 7-year-old Labrador/Redbone Coonhound mix has been dealing with progressive lameness and muscle wasting in his front left leg. We originally thought it was a shoulder or joint injury and took him to one of the best orthopedic veterinary specialists in our state. Unfortuna”

“Last Friday, I took my 13 y/o yorkie to the vet because he wouldn’t eat anything and threw up bile. The vet told us he had stage 4 kidney disease (kidney failure) and pancreatitis. He had to be hospitalized for almost 5 days. Fortunately, he had been responding well to the fluids and I was finally able to bring home today, but once we got home, he started losing his balance and bumped into things as if he couldn’t see. I called his vet and told her how he was acting but she didn’t have an explan”

“We’re seriously wondering: do vets genuinely care about their patients and worry and want to help? We have a senior cat who was just diagnosed with a serious cancer and we’re trying chemo. Our regular vet acted upset and like she wanted to help support us even though the majority of what we do now is through his oncologist. But each time we reach out to our regular vet we get what comes across as unhelpful, uncaring responses and it’s frustrating. I keep wanting to get a new vet because it makes”

“My grandpa's dog is suffering from a compressed disc in her spine for the past few months (I think its been around April/May since we found out), but things have been looking kinda bleak and I'm getting really worried. We have no idea how the compressed disc happened, but she's in a lot of pain when laying down in certain ways (usually when she leans against a bed/couch then slides down), but she uses the bathroom outside without an issue at all. She cant run anymore, although the pa”

“Hey vets, I could really use some help here if anyone can offer it. https://imgur.com/a/1WzSOZB On Wednesday 8/19, my cat (6yr, F, Spayed, 6.35kg..yes she's on a diet and exercise routine and I know that likely contributed to the problem) was limping when my husband and I woke up. We aren't sure exactly what happened as she was fine when we went to bed but when we got up she was favoring her hind left leg and keeping it completely elevated. We took her to the vet and they did rads and sa”

“My boy (11, neutured DSH Cat) was just diagnosed with cancer after a year of treating asthma and I'm still reeling, desperately hoping it's something else. Obviously I trust my vet and the radiologists that have looked at these but I'm desperate for extra confirmation before I can say goodbye... I know I'll likely get the same answer of cancer, but maybe it'll give me more relief in letting him go. One xray is from february and the other is from last week. The other less like”

“this is bad ya’ll. i need advice. my vet’s procedure is to do blood work before undergoing a surgery to make sure her kidney values are at a good value and THEY FORGOT. she said they did blood work after the surgery and her values were extremely elevated. which means they could of been elevated before the surgery and if they were they wouldn’t have proceeded with the surgery. i’m terrified. she apologized to me 3 times on the phone and said i don’t have to pay for any of the dental extractions t”

“I’m really hoping to get some clarity. My 11yo chow GSD mix has had 2 masses removed over the past 3 years. Vets said they weren’t an issue and getting them to take it seriously has been a years long thing. She has another that’s recently gained a cauliflower appearance and is open. It’s quite large and I was told repeatedly it was just a hot spot. She’s had diiarrhea, vomiting, stomach issues, she already has Benadryl daily. She’s had blood in her stool and just discomfort. I know they’re looki”

“My dog had blood tinged diarrhea followed by foamy hematoemesis on Monday so I took her to the emergency vet. She received metronidazole and we completed her antibiotic course a day ago. At the time of being brought in to the vet, she was not eating or drinking and wouldn’t even take treats. The vet suspected that my dog is under a lot of stress as we moved two weeks ago and the diagnosis was hemorrhagic gastroenteritis secondary to that stress. She has not had any formed stool this week, but he”

“Hi all, My boy is 7 years old and has no other health issues except blockages. He blocked twice in less than a week. He was able to clear up quickly but the stress of the vet visit would set him off again. He fights his meds, we are currently using gabapentin and lorazepam but I don't think they are working for him. He's also on weekly fluoxetine. Prazosin definitely isn't working for him. We are considering PU surgery however... my cat HATES strangers. Doesn't trust them. The ve”

“Seeking input from vets who have experience with this type of cancer. This is long, but we need help deciding on our approach to this tough situation. Our 11 year old GSP, Ruger, nearly died three and a half weeks ago from hemorrhagic pericardial effusion with cardiac tamponade. They drained 120 mL of blood from around his heart, and he recovered really well afterward. Cardiology then found a very small cavitated mass during his echo that appears to come from the right auricle/right atrial appen”

“I brought my dog (nearly 12, was a pitbull/boxer mix) to the vet mid March for what I thought was a simple limp. $1300 later through bloodwork, X-rays, and an additional heart xray since he also had a heart murmur, the vet said there was inflammation and it was arthritis. We treated him with meds and anti inflammatory, I was also giving him fish oil supplements. nothing worked. I then was prioritizing just giving him pain meds. He declined so quickly over the next 3.5 weeks. He eventually refuse”

“Hi all, I've opened this new account since I don't remember my old one (been off the site for a while). I'm concerned about my family dog's health and was hoping for some guidance from people who are more knowledgeable than me. Dog info: One of our family dogs is named April. She is a Maltese/Poodle mix (Maltipoo). She's a neutered female and is around 1 year 6 months old (so quite young to develop these kinds of problems imo). Symptom info: 8/14, she peed inside, but we thou”

“Male scruffy rescue dog 25 pounds about 11? I don’t know his age. Neurogenic bladder, second trip to the er vet in in 2 months. He takes bethanocol and prazosin 3 times a day, I definitely slacked on a middle dose regularly for about a week. He’s having a hard time releasing still after the ER vet. The catheter definitely irritated him this time and he’s wearing an e collar. I just don’t know what to do, any vet experience with flaccid neurogenic bladders would be appreciated. submitted by”

“This is a longstanding urine leakage issue that has in recent months gotten worse and my vet doesn't take me seriously. Sorry for the long post, I am adding all details I think might be relevant. My dog is a 4.5 year old neutered border collie / lab mix. I noticed last summer that sometimes his penis would leak urine, just droplets, typically when he was laying down. When this happens he licks himself so he knows it is happening. Usually a pale yellow colour. Timeline: Last summer was the fi”

“Sorry for long post. Please read, advice needed 🙏🏻 Sunday my cat had an unexplained medical emergency. She was crying and panting, clearly in pain. I rushed her to the ER vet. As of today I’m still not sure what caused it. Her breathing was elevated, and X-rays (top and bottom) showed nothing conclusive. I don’t have money (I support my whole family alone) so I opted for the most important test for heart disease. No signs of that or a blood clot. I think it’s her back legs as even the ER vet n”

“Hi, i'm away from home with my dog and there has been some weird blood in his last two poos. I'll attach a picture. I've never seen this before and its got me really worried. His last two stools were loose, but other than that I haven't noticed anything unusual about him. But i'm panicking. Its the middle of the night and I can't call anyone. Can anyone look at the picture and tell me if I should be worried? He is a 9 year old cavapoo for reference submitted by &#32”

“Update on my kitty Jimbo. He went under anesthesia just a couple weeks ago on 7/30 for CT, bronchoscopy and BAL. The BAL fluid had chunks in it! Bacterial culture came back negative but the fluid analysis says there was bacteria seen in the background. Still awaiting fungal results. He had an echo to follow up on radiology report concerns of cardiomegaly and pulmonary hypertension, echo revealed no abnormalities so his heart is just fine! Previous posts: https://www.reddit.com/r/VetTech/s/qKGzNS”

“The vets have found a tumor in my dogs neck that has spread to his spine, most likely will have to be put down. He's had issues with his leg, severe issues for a while no, past 6 months or so. How did they not find the cancer earlier if they were doing constant checkups? Is this is a mistake or not using the right equipment or is this incompetency? I've had a lot of bad experiences with doctors, none so far with vets and I do hope it isn't their fault, but I wanted to check. su”

“I have a four year old male Ragdoll cat. He has gotten his rabies vaccine every year without issue. Last month, however, he had a severe vaccine reaction and had to be hospitalized with a fever of 101 Fahrenheit. He recovered quickly after being given an IV and, besides diarrhea for a few days after treatment, has otherwise been fine. Last Friday I noticed a small lump on his right hind thigh/leg, near his rabies vaccination site (I do not know the exact site, only that it was on the same leg).”

“We haven’t done muscle biopsy, but based on his symptoms the vet i’m working with suspects polymyositis. It took about three months worth of symptoms to get any idea at all, so very late to be “diagnosed”. He’s been on prednisone for a few weeks and we are tapering his dose now - he’s doing very well! He acts just like himself again, however he is still negative 20lbs of muscle. He was once 95 in his prime, now he’s 74. He’s been steady at 74 for a couple weeks, but looks like he’s starved. He g”

“Hello, I have a 9/10 year old dog who is neutered, he is a mixed breed about 22 pounds. I rescued him in 2019, and until recently he has been pretty much healthy with no major issues. In February of this year I noticed he had a lot of hair loss and brought him to the Vet where he was diagnosed with hypothyrodism and placed on a very low dose of soloxine. He seemed to be responding well, where his only symptom was hair loss, and it seemed to not be getting any worse. Fast forward to July my dog b”

“hi all, my dog recently had a visit to the vet 2 days ago as he seemed to be quite flat, low energy and shivering. he's usually a very energetic boy. he ate chocolate 2 days prior to the visit so vets ran some tests and thankfully there was no damage found from the chocolate but turns out he has an infection which the vet did not specify what. we were given amoxyclav 500mg to give him twice a day for 10 days. he's been able to take it for 3 days now with peanut butter but otherwise he&#3”

“New post because this is a different issue from my last. Bad News update on Sunny, my 2 year old orange cat who went to the hospital for obstructed urethra. We picked him from his local vet and they advised they were able to drain some of his urine they then told us to go to COVE pet care for hospitalization with a catheter. On the way over he seemed more stressed than usual- glossy eyes, shallow breathing, a few sad cries that sounded like he was in pain then immediate deep slept, was very stil”

“My dog was diagnosed with cancer 2 days ago which was a massive shock the vet couldn't even believe it. I really want to take her on a trip it will be around 5 hours driving (obviously I can stop frequently) but I don't want to be selfish. I just want to add if for whatever reason we need to stay in when we get there that is fine, she will never be left alone and of course we can access a vet anywhere we go. She is also very well used to driving around and has done a lot of travelling. T”

“My dog has a mass on his neck, which has been causing him pain. Began with X-rays (needed sedation) was told it was a salivary gland issue and was given antibiotics and nsaid and gabapentin. It got bigger and more painful (size of a cherry tomato) took him back to vet and did CT scan (sedated again) and aspirated the mass. Waited days for results. Results came back as a mass and the radiologist recommended core biopsy. Mass now size of an egg (this is now going on three weeks). Mass is in a “lik”

“What did the doctors say about the bloody stool? Any other symptoms? What did the vet say about the pets almost dying? What were the symptoms, what was the diagnosis? The whole home humidifier and all the home’s ductwork are likely culprits if it’s mold or legionnaires. Maybe putting 1000x too many ac cleaning tabs in the humidifier, or using them in the softener could cause health issues. Or just the wrong chemical in the softener in general. Another thought is what if their home is hooked up t”

“Hello- For the last few weeks, our senior dog stopped eating and was more tired than usual. First we thought he had become more picky with his food but then took him to the vet. We got his blood work done and his numbers increased but the vet told us to come back in another month and get his blood work done again. This week, he was very lethargic and we took him to get a scan. The vet told us he has a mass on his spleen and fluid in his stomach. She thinks it is cancer of the spleen and thinks i”

“Took my baby void into the vet and they found a lump so we did xrays and ultrasound and I'm being told it's pretty much a done deal. We have a test on Wednesday I can't remember the name of it but they're sticking a needle in it to see what type of cancer he has. I'm not ready to lose my baby yet I'm trying to get second opinions. Does anyone have some reassurance or am I just coping. Sorry for the limited details I'm tying my best. X-rays submitted by /u/”

“I’ve had my Yorkie/Shih Tzu mix since she was a puppy. She’s 12 now and was always healthy until recently. She started smelling really bad. We thought it was just that we weren’t bathing her enough, but it wasn’t. The vet said it was a yeast ear infection (Malassezia). They cleaned her and gave meds and it eventually cleared up for a bit, then came right back worse. Went to another vet, spent $350 on more meds that did nothing. Still stinky and uncomfortable. My mom and I are exhausted. Feels li”

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“his UREA is 335.61, BUN is 157.74. I'm really scared. is this recoverable? other reports are normal. My country vets are weak. Please someone tell me if anyone's cat gone through similar problems which was overcomable. I jist got the report and vets are closed right now. I do not know what to do. submitted by /u/FineCut7655 [link] [comments]”

“I asked a question on here and got a few replies, but I just wanted to say thank you to the vets and techs and staff. We just went through stage four kidney failure and subcut hemangiosarcoma with my two dogs. We set them both free, together, this morning. All of the teams we worked with along the way were so gracious and kind and SMART. I just want you all to know that your hands and your minds make a huge difference. We got more time with them than we could have hoped for, and then got to let”

“The vet we went to was not much help. In fact, they told us he needed an X-ray and then he never went over the actual X-ray images with us. My cat is 13 years old and neutered. Starting yesterday morning he was having trouble breathing and threw up.The night before he was completely himself, playing with string, and getting pets. He is lethargic and has vomited yesterday and once today. He has also been breathing fast with high respirations. We did start an antibiotic for pneumonia, but unsure i”

“Hi everyone, I'm posting this because I'm completely heartbroken and want honest opinions from people who have experience with similar cases. My 10-year-old male Labrador (~35 kg) was eating well until about a week ago. Last Monday he suddenly stopped eating. Over the next few days he became progressively weak. He vomited once or twice (mostly yellow mucus), had one stool with some mucus/blood, but continued drinking water and urinating normally. He already has hip displacia and can'”

“Hi everyone I have a situation where my corgis back legs have stopped working on the 29th. I just don’t know what the issue is and he’s currently at the emergency vet being closely monitored for the past 4 days now. They’ve taken two mri scans one result came out to be he has inflammation in his hip joints but nothing can lead to his motor functions slowly not working. The radiologist told me this morning it could be a sign of a neurological disorder forming called Polyradiculoneuritis. I just h”

“Hello. I am in the USA. I have a vet hospital 5mins from me. I have visited them and they did not identify an issue but now I noticed blood spots in my bedsheets. Background: Adopted cat 1 female and 2 male within the last year. Both spay/neutered. Cat 2 Male named Link is the one with pee issues. He was a fostered kitten, adopted by his previous owner for 3 years and the surrendered him for peeing outside the litter box. Upon intake to the shelter and moved to a cat Cafe, he was not noted to ha”

“Hello, So Thursday night my cat suddenly became paralysed on both back legs, due to thrombosis. We are now fetching her from the vet with little to no improvement, I didn't wait long enough to verify what she was able to feel or not. I live in a tourist town so the vet hospital is very overwhelmed and although they are doing the treatment, it's always a different doc and you can see they aren't able to keep a proper eye on her evolution. She can feel her paws if you squeeze really ha”

“One month ago we took our 14 year old boy into the vet because we found what looked like a tumor on his back. An aspirate sample was taken as were chest X-rays. The X-Ray she said showed a pretty non remarkable “area of consolidation” that she couldn’t really make anything of, and the sample came back indicating "cutaneous basilar epithelial neoplasm" which our vet said is rarely malignant and she wanted to focus more on identifying rapid weight loss (down almost 1 pound in roughly 6 m”

“My senior 14-year-old dog had an episode of incontinence following pet boarding so we brought him to the vet, they did a urinalysis and saw bacteria so he was treated with amoxiclav. After starting the antibiotic, he deteriorated, refused food for a few days, even his favorite treats (he is very food motivated so this is unusual). But he would reluctantly eat when we hand fed him, small amounts. We rushed him to the vet twice to check about what to do - under the vet’s advice we stopped the anti”

“Hello i need some help. So I took her to the vet Friday morning because of vomiting blood. She stood over night there because she was extremely dehydrated. They ran all kind of test said she was for the most part health. But was having diarrhea at the hospital and developed a bad rash. Fast forward today. She seem to be getting better but this morning severe diarrhea. So took her bad to vet. They shaved her private area to reveal how bad the rash is. So we left with more meds and creams. So the”

“She has a hard lump, and fluid-like swelling around the lump. She has been limping since this morning, she's had another bump that looks like a dime sized histiocytoma on that same leg for several months, but this hard lump is behind her fibula. The soonest vet appt. is until 2 days. - she looks sad and is not walking around the house like she usually does - she's 7 yrs. old, has a history of food allergies to human food especially white bread, which she ate recently and usually causes h”

“My primary vet diagnosed my dog with IVDD yesterday. I’m in shock because he’s not showing any outward signs of pain or limb weakness. We just lost our older dog last week, and I’m devastated by this new diagnosis. We’re waiting to get an appointment with a neurologist, but if someone could take a look at his x-rays I’d really appreciate it. Species: Dog Age: 3 years Sex/Neuter Status: Male, neutered Breed : Boston Terrier Weight : 20 lbs History : Took dog to vet after several days of severe di”

“I live in a small town - the only 24/7 vet is across the border in Mexico. I came home at 8 at night and realized my cat was not able to sit up or walk at all. I have no idea what happened or how long she was like that. I freaked out and was eventually able to drive her to Mexico where they told me that the prognosis was not good bc she had no feeling in her back legs and that they would need to do a MRI but couldn't give a timeline. Eventually over the course of multiple days, she slowly re”

“Can someone help me understand how corticosteroids use can be detrimental to dogs and cats and what happens if the medication is stopped abruptly. submitted by /u/Global-Painting6154 [link] [comments]”

“Honestly just looking for advice/comfort. Found out today our 9 year old corgi has stage 3 metastasized liver cancer (some large and some small) and something caused a bleed inside his belly area near his liver (how we found out about the cancer) The vet is wanting to keep him for a couple days to see if the bleeding will stop and then wants to biopsy it to see what kind of cancer it is. They can’t cut out one of them because it’s on his liver and has a 40% chance of death on the operating table”

“Hi, first time posting here. I had to say goodbye to my 12 year old dog earlier this week :( and I’ve been going down a rabbit hole trying to understand what happened. Back in May I brought her to the vet to talk about arthritis meds and asked about meloxicam/Metacam. She seemed to be pretty healthy aside from arthritis and dental disease. They did bloodwork and a urine test before starting it. Her kidney blood values were normal: Creatinine: 97 µmol/L BUN: 5.99 mmol/L Her urine had a USG of 1.0”

“My cat’s CMP came back with high calcium so we went back to have a more complete calcium panel completed. I didn’t hear back from the vet for 4 weeks and finally they called to say that the original lab didn’t do that test anymore and they were going to submit it to another lab. I asked if they needed to draw the blood again, but they said they didn’t and that the sample was good for up to 2 months. As a nurse that seems wild to me that it would still be good that long. Is that normal? sub”

“My dog vomited about 20 times the night of 7/21 and about 7 times during that day, wouldn’t eat his food and was very lethargic. I brought him to the vet the following day she gave him a physical exam and then an X-ray. She ultimately said he had nothing unusual on the X-ray and sent him home with prescription food and administered an anti-nausea med with some sub-q fluids. Two days have passed since his appointment and he has eaten none of his prescription food and has only had a few table scra”

“TLDR: my 3yr old male cat most likely has HCM (with a case of saddle thrombosis/throwing a clot already or possibly a stroke) and diabetes and I'm kind of spiraling over what this diagnosis means for him (and me and my other cats). I have an asthmatic cat already so I'm not new to giving medication but all my research is telling me this is a lot of pills and monitoring and special food and constant testing which is making me worried I can't give him that when I live alone and work, a”

“My close friend who does not have a Reddit account has been having a reoccurring issue with her dog. The vet is stumped and is having difficulty treating him. -dog is 9 year old, neutered male, black lab, living in the northern central Maryland. -no other underlying conditions, is up to date on shots and vaccines. -dog is active and given moderate exercise -dog is not left unattended -5 year old child and senior cat in residence -dog is considered a healthy weight and energetic for his age Gener”

“My dog been limping for the past 3 days and it's worrying me. I took him to the vets yesterday, and she said she can't see anything wrong with his back leg. Fast forward to yesterday, and his back leg was bleeding, I presume due to him licking it. I ordered some dog socks to stop him from licking his paw. Any advice ? Should wait to see if it heals or should I go to a different vet ? submitted by /u/frankiewalsh44 [link] [comments]”