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Paintball gun for the cats?
Naah would get in trouble for that I suppose.
I just shoot the strays, the pound won't accept adult cats and I will not become a cat haven.
All mine (4) are fixed and I will accept no more.
I can get away with shooting them because the nearest house is at least 1/4 mile away.
I regret shooting each and every one of them and curse whomever dumped them in my area.
Paintball guns!The neighbors would be greatly displeased.
So about a month ago, Penny went a-chasin' those damn stray cats that are roaming around. I let her out at least three times on Friday or Saturday chasing the damn things. A few days after this her nose got swollen, on the top center (behind the black nostril part) and on her right side, up just a bit from her nostrils (next to the bump on the top of her nose). It got swollen pretty good but we didnt' take her to the vet because she's done this before and it always resolved itself. Two weeks later she was still sounding 'stuffy' so we took her. He gave her antihistamine to dry things up, ointment for the outside part (there were two scabs, the bump on the side of her nose turned out to be scabbed over but we thought it was dark fur) and a shot of cortizone. The shot lasted 4-5 days and during that time her nose sounded fine.
Well here we are three weeks later and she is still sounding 'stuffy'. Took her (along with the sick boy) to the vet. After an extremely lengthy wait the doc finally saw her. He examined her (although not nearly as thoroughly as the first vet, imo). He looked up her nose with a flashlight and you can see on her right nostril the part that is a bump-out of nose (on the inside of her nose) is bigger than the same one on the right. He said it could be 1) a localized infection; 2) a fungus infection 3) a bacterial infection or 4) a tumor. His inclination is tumor (wtf?) and he was suggesting the $2,000 'anesthesia, scope, biopsy' procedure done by a specialist 45 minutes away that he would refer us to.
I said 'you think it's a tumor, rather than the fact that she banged her nose'? Yup. 'You don't think she just really traumatized it and that's more likely why it's swollen or it's a localized infection'. No, he thinks perhaps a tumor in her nose and it 'popped' through to the outside of her nose.
I came home an googled. This dog is portraying zero signs of a tumor and blood work is what I am reading as the first step in determining what further procedures are necessary, not the scope procedure he is for.
I asked him about several courses of treatment, including an antibiotic for a localized infection (which is what we are doing). After it was obvious that I wasn't signing on for any expensive treatment (I wouldn't do that without talking it over with the family but didn't tell him that), he was fairly quick in getting me out of there.
We're going to give the antibiotics a shot and see what happens. I'm no vet but I can tell you that my gut says he is wrong about her nose, I believe she badly banged it (the air flow in her right nostril is restricted) and it's inflamed from that. He says no, it was too long ago it would have resolved. He thinks her banging it is just a coincidence but that there is 'something' there.
Suggestions/advice?
Ok, she's been on the anti-biotic for 2 1/2 days, five pills into her. She's still breathing loudly but . . . she is getting snot bubbles coming out of the right side of her nose. That's the side that is swollen. I'm thinking this is a good thing? Also, I'm concerned about the swelling and we had leftover Deramaxx, an anti-inflammatory, that was prescribed for her. I just gave her a dose of that to see if it eases the swelling any, thus making her breathing less loud. Yes, I'm playing doctor because . . . grrrr, I'm still freakin' annoyed at the vet because I don't think he did his job well enough . . . I don't know. I don't understand why I take my dog to the vet and he goes from step one to step five, skipping steps 2, 3 and 4 in trying to figure out what the problem is and why can't he scope her well enough to tell me what might be wrong; he suggests a 'specialist' to do that. Isn't being able to scope a dog's nose part of what being a vet is (rather than having to go to a specialist)??
Ok, she's been on the anti-biotic for 2 1/2 days, five pills into her. She's still breathing loudly but . . . she is getting snot bubbles coming out of the right side of her nose. That's the side that is swollen. I'm thinking this is a good thing? Also, I'm concerned about the swelling and we had leftover Deramaxx, an anti-inflammatory, that was prescribed for her. I just gave her a dose of that to see if it eases the swelling any, thus making her breathing less loud. Yes, I'm playing doctor because . . . grrrr, I'm still freakin' annoyed at the vet because I don't think he did his job well enough . . . I don't know. I don't understand why I take my dog to the vet and he goes from step one to step five, skipping steps 2, 3 and 4 in trying to figure out what the problem is and why can't he scope her well enough to tell me what might be wrong; he suggests a 'specialist' to do that. Isn't being able to scope a dog's nose part of what being a vet is (rather than having to go to a specialist)??
it is rather standard now to send pets to specialists. Most regular vets wont have the right specialized equipment AND they don't want to be sued for malpractice. And yes that happens quite often.
Hugs, I know you love your dog.
Has the vet drawn blood for analysis? Is Penny running a temperature? Surely, they can determine an infection with some simple diagnosis.
Has the vet drawn blood for analysis? Is Penny running a temperature? Surely, they can determine an infection with some simple diagnosis.
No, which is why I'm going to another vet.
The vet service I've been going to for years has many different docs and you get who you get. Her second visit (this past Monday) was by a different doc. Imagine my suspicions when he spends 5 minutes with the dog and suggested a $2,000 scope/biopsy test from a specialist. Um . . . really? No blood work, no needle aspiration? The dog isn't displaying symptoms of a tumor and yet that's what he thinks it the problem? Even after I tell him she was fine until she did something to her nose? It's like we tried step one and then he went to step five . . . without trying steps two, three or four. First appointment they didn't take her temp, second appointment they did. She didn't have a fever.
The vet service she's going to this afternoon only has one vet. Our neighbors go there and have had very good experiences with him.
Has the vet drawn blood for analysis? Is Penny running a temperature? Surely, they can determine an infection with some simple diagnosis.
No, which is why I'm going to another vet.
The vet service I've been going to for years has many different docs and you get who you get. Her second visit (this past Monday) was by a different doc. Imagine my suspicions when he spends 5 minutes with the dog and suggested a $2,000 scope/biopsy test from a specialist. Um . . . really? No blood work, no needle aspiration? The dog isn't displaying symptoms of a tumor and yet that's what he thinks it the problem? Even after I tell him she was fine until she did something to her nose? It's like we tried step one and then he went to step five . . . without trying steps two, three or four. First appointment they didn't take her temp, second appointment they did. She didn't have a fever.
The vet service she's going to this afternoon only has one vet. Our neighbors go there and have had very good experiences with him.
Is that that vet service through one of those big pet store chains?
Just got back from the new vet. He spent a good 1/2 hour examining her and talking to me.
He said the most likely problem is also the most obvious, in that she suffered some trauma to the nose and that is what is causing the loud breathing/low air flow in her right nostril. He said that yes, tumor is always likely but that is last on his list, as it's obvious she did something to her nose and then the problem started. He thoroughly examined her nose, pushing all over the place, really looking at her teeth to make sure it wasn't an abscess or something. Penny didn't mind and it's obvious that she's in no pain.
He doesn't think it's infected (but we're going to finish the meds just to be on the safe side). His thoughts are that either something got stuck in there . . . but that would more than likely set off an infection which she doesn't appear to have or, more likely, that she fracture or broke some of the turbinate bones. A cat scan is the best way to determine what's going on in there. He said she isn't in any pain, it is causing some air flow restriction but other than that she seems absolutely fine. He said that the test is in the $1,500 to $2,000 range and that was just for the test. If surgery was an option to fix something that would be another $2,500 or so. He said if it was his dog he wouldn't know what to do because it's so costly and she appears totally fine, other than the air flow. If we don't do anything she will likely just be a louder breather but he said she will not suffer from it at all. They could scope her but that wouldn't necessarily reveal a broken bone. Same with an x-ray. Oh, he also said that it is possible that her nasal passage may shift some and open up more. Probably unlikely though.
We don't have an extra $2,000-$4,500 laying around. I do feel totally reassured that she's basically ok. She sounds snorty now. Fuckin' damn stray cats.
Whew! Good to know that its not cancer and that she is just fine.
Whew! Good to know that its not cancer and that she is just fine.
Indeed!
I'm truly frustrated that the cost of a more conclusive test is out of our range right now, but at least I know she's basically ok.
Sounds like one of those stray cats swatted Penny across the snoot! Were there any other marks on her nose? If it was a stray cat, I think it's a localized infection.
Nosmo, that was my first thought when we first took her. Her fur is white but underneath is black so what was some kind of scratch (the vet on the first visit removed the scab) we thought was just black fur.
Here's a pic taken awhile back . ..
. . . and two I just took. You can see the pink colored part . . . that is where something happened.
There wasn't any blood to speak of when this happened, the swelling is what we noticed.
I'm really perplexed to think that this vet's (he's not the one who saw her initially) first response leans towards some kind of tumor in her nose. I mean, if he had said something in there like a splinter or like you said, a cat swatted her I'd agree with but . . . he's going to the extreme diagnosis and test first.
you need to take some weight off ginger....dachies have a horrible back problem and weight will cause the spine to have problems......expensive ....so get the weight off her...and dont let her jump down from anything.....she shouldnt be jumping at all...
you need to take some weight off ginger....dachies have a horrible back problem and weight will cause the spine to have problems......expensive ....so get the weight off her...and dont let her jump down from anything.....she shouldnt be jumping at all...
She's really not fat. I think it was just the angle in that top pic. Look at the bottom one and you can kinda tell.
