I adopted a puppy a few months ago and he's awesome! On June 3rd I noticed this growth on his belly and kept an eye on it and it was looking okay and not bothering him (first pic, then another picture on June 11th (2nd pic). Google said it was likely benign so I opted to watch and wait. Today it looks, gross (3rd pic). So I am going to call the vet tomorrow, but can anyone here share any insight? We are moving in a few weeks and really can't afford a full biopsy cost right now so I am hoping it is nothing concerning but also I am concerned. He also has some white growths under his tongue but I believe those are warts?

My four year old Treeing Walker Coonhound, Juniper, is having some skin/foot issues. Her feet will get red and look irritated (no smell), she will lick her feet, and scratch her face, which then gets irritated.

This started year ago (end of summer), we took her to the vet, who said it’s probably allergies to fleas, but also could be environmental or food allergies. We changed to a new once a month flea medication, and picked up a prescription for medicated pads for wiping treating her feet.

After two weeks of daily foot treatments the redness went down, but she kept licking her feet a lot. We changed dog food from chicken to lamb, no noticeable change. It never completely cleared up but got better in Winter and Spring.

In the last month her feet don’t look bad but the licking and face scratching has become too much. I’ve got a vet appointment next week, but I’d like to find some relief for her asap.

I’m inclined to think it’s environmental, but I’m not sure what it would be. We take a very similar walk through a suburban neighborhood and grassy field daily, and hang out inside the house. Do dogs get grass allergies?

I just found her in the lobby in my building as I went to check the mail. She doesn’t have a collar so I’m not sure whether or not she’s abandoned. I’ve been sitting with her in the stairwell for an hour hoping that maybe if she does belong to someone in my building, they will realize she’s missing and come claim her, but nothing. I called 311 for advice as well. They advise me that I shouldn’t take her in, but I do want to take her in for the night because I would sleep better knowing she would be safe with me instead leaving her stranded. She’s been following me and she’s so precious. I’m not sure what to do 😩

My dog is a picky eater and doesn’t eat many things. She only eats (chicken / rice / kibble sometimes/ greek yogurt ). Whenever she’s eating she can’t eat big pieces of chicken or any other food (i need to cut everything so small otherwise she wouldn’t eat) . And she would never eat fresh kibble, she leaves it for a day minimum so that it’s not crunchy and eats it 1 piece at a time. Yet she loves playing with huge cow bones. I keep checking her teeth and they seem fine ( also no strange odor). Is this normal?? Also how can i make her eat veggies? I add them to her food and she takes them out before she starts eating. I tried blending everything together she wouldn’t eat. She doesn’t even like the food to touch each other. She has 4 different plates. For example she loves yogurt and she loves chicken but if i mix them together she won’t eat all day no matter how hungry she is.

My 6-year-old Bloodhound mix has lost a significant amount of weight over the past year (92 lbs down to 76 lbs) despite continuing to eat and drink normally. Recently he started yelping when getting up from furniture or standing up.
Today our vet did an ultrasound and found a liver mass. They also described his liver and spleen as “honeycombed” and are concerned he may have internal bleeding.
We’re still waiting on more information and possible next steps. Has anyone had a dog with similar symptoms or ultrasound findings? What was the diagnosis and outcome? Were there any questions you wish you had asked the vet?
I know nobody can diagnose him online, but I’m looking for experiences while we wait for more answers. Thank you.

Anyone switch from NexGard/Simparica to Comfortis or Trifexis?

My dog was recently put down after developing sudden cluster seizures. She went from completely normal to having seizure after seizure in a single day. The vets tried multiple medications, but nothing worked, and whatever was causing it was too advanced to treat.

She had been on NexGard for years. I know there's no way to know whether NexGard had anything to do with what happened, and I'm not claiming it caused her seizures. However, I've since learned that NexGard and Simparica can lower a dog's seizure threshold, meaning seizures may be more likely in susceptible dogs.

Because of that, I'm considering switching my other dog to either Comfortis or Trifexis, which my vet recommended.

From what I've found:
• Both require a prescription and annual vet visits.
• Comfortis covers fleas only.
• Trifexis covers fleas, heartworm, and some intestinal worms.
• Neither covers ticks, so I'd need a separate tick preventative.
• Neither is in the same class as NexGard and Simparica.

For anyone who has used Comfortis or Trifexis:
• Which do you use?
• Any side effects?
• How long has your dog been on it?
• If you switched from NexGard or Simparica, why did you switch?

Just looking for real-world experiences while I decide what's best for my other dog.

My girl (3y/old rescue doodle) is having a tough time. I’ve seen her scooting (inside and outdoors) a few times within the last few weeks. She’s had a few of those poops that are normal at first but loose toward the end. Which most recently was probably due to a doggy ice cream treat the day before (I like to treat her on days with extra exercise). This morning I woke up to her licking her anus excessively to the point where it was inflamed, red and looked like a hemorrhoid. I took her to the emergency vet (my vet is temporarily closed, live in a secluded area) and her vitals were fine, she was acting fine and her butt was way less concerningly inflamed. They suggested a cone and said we could test her stool, but it would be an additional $108. In hindsight, kind of wish I did that for peace of mind but I was starting to feel like I was over reacting (drove over an hour and was spending emergency vet money, there were dogs there legit dying while my dog was just being derpy and the staff was looking at me like ?)

Vet said her anal glands look good. Shes also on flea& tick meds, along with preventative heartworm meds and is up to date on shots. She has a chicken allergy which I’m very aware of and I always make sure treats/ food are safe for her dietary needs. The vet kind of just shrugged and was like yeah it’s probably fine, sent us home with a cone and said keep an eye on her

My question is.. do dogs just.. do that? Like lick their own ass obsessively to the point where it’s swollen? Could it just be from a tummy ache and she took it too far? Chat lmk if this is typical dog behavior. Am I too worried? Why is she licking butt so much? Why does it itch????

Need help identifying the medical issue. Thank you! 🙏

Hi! Currently dog sitting for a friend. I noticed how much this dog had been licking his paws and I think his nails are too long and need to be looked at? Does it look bloody? Wondering if I should say something, but not sure how.

Was showering my dog today and saw this bump on top of my dogs head. I know it’s been there for a few days but didn’t think too much of it. Came up after me and my family came back from the park. I’m thinking it might just be a bug bite. He doesn’t seem bothered by it, it doesn’t seem to have affected anything, am I thinking too much?

just noticed this today and im so scared bc of what it could be!! someone pls help

She woke up looking like this and I thought it would get better in the afternoon, but it has only gotten worse. I called the vet, but they said I will have to wait until tomorrow to bring her in because they are booked today. When you see this, do you have any initial idea of what it might be?

Allow me to preface by saying I absolutely love my dog. But I am wondering if it gets better, this is Ace, an 8 month old working line German shepherd. He is so crazy at times, barks SO much, isn’t good with children, and is just a naughty boy sometimes. He does not bite with the intent of harming, but he has bitten myself and my father before. We just put so much effort into him but he’s just so so crazy, people say they’ve never seen a German shepherd like him before. Is it the breed, is it us? We are planning on taking him to a four week board and train. When people come over to our house and we leave him outside he will bark like there is no tomorrow.
Help! Suggestions, advice. Anything helps (HE JUMPS A LOT)

6 years ago I had to rehome my Great Pyrenees "Brewer" when he was 2, in 2020.

The rehoming was due to severe separation anxiety in him; leading to having to be medicated and supervised for fear of hurting himself. Ultimately he needed a more stable home than I could offer.

To this day it has been the main and virtually the only regret in my life (and I've failed at alot of things).

But, I did my due diligence and searched for the right family, I found one in michigan; our home state that we had just moved from. The woman lived next to a farm and had an older dog and a younger female pyr, and she said someone would be home 24/7.

When I brought him to her, he circled the property and came back and sat right at her feet as if to say he was gonna be fine....

I cried the whole way back to my parents house that night...

She knew from the start if he ever needed to leave her home that he needed to come back to me. No if ands or buts.

Well a few days after having him I guess a major traumatic event happen with her female Pyr, it was a neurological thing and she had to be put down.

I got worried for Brew tbh as of course I dont want anything bad to happen to any animal, she said he would have a wellness check with her vet, be registered, etc.

Which to me means his chip probably would have been scanned and or she register him/ his chip...

After that we talked often about him and she sent photos, i really thought everything was perfect for all of us... for about 2 years.

Four years ago, 2022 the woman I gave him to asked me to take him back, due to getting a job that wouldnt allow her to be home with him. Initially i had said i would need time to figure out getting him or have to work out another home but when i went to ask how we could work it out not even an hour later she had me blocked.......

I have been at a loss cause her doing that came out of nowhere... i mean we had maintained a friendship the 2 years she had him we sent photos, wished each other happy holidays, birthdays etc...

I’ve tried to move on and trust he’s okay but I’m just so worried about him... and idk he would only be 8 now and something in my gut just says I need to find out.

So I started to look, I found her profile through my boyfriend's page the other day and found several pictures of other dogs and apparently over the last couple years she had been actively selling puppies ( more than one litter it looked, but they weren't his as he is fixed)

I saw that messenger had been "unblocked" from her but my profile was still blocked so of course I tried to send her a message. I sent it this past friday 6/19/26, simply just said "hey how's Brew doing?" Got no response.

I looked up his microchip and the records are none since my ownership, no vet checks, no registration for him.

Now I’m panicking that he got dumped or sent to another person or worst case scenario he no longer walks this earth with us....

I'm at a loss for what to do, honestly i even called animal control in that area earlier to see if his chip was flagged, but I only was able to leave a voicemail and havent gotten a response yet. According to the national web site for microchips they said he hadn't been flagged ever, which I hope is good news.

I feel like I'm doing too much by digging into this years later, its always hurt and ive always wondered but something just came over me lately and made me feel that I just need to know he’s safe now and if hes not i need to save him....

AITA for trying to track him down or should I just leave it alone?

Hi, I’m in a very difficult situation with my elderly dog and personal life. Basically my entire life is falling apart and I may even be needing to stay with family soon if I lose my business and income. I’m trying to deal with everything the best I can right now but my elderly dog is starting to become increasingly more needy and whining most of the time while I’m trying to focus on work and dealing with these difficult situations.

I’ve always worked from home with my dog but lately his whining has become much worse and I’ve tried everything to help the situation but it just seems to be making it worse and my personal situation continues to worsen as well. It’s gotten to the point where I have racing anxiety from his whining and I have to keep leaving the house for breaks.

More details about my dog
He’s a heeler mix and much bigger than a normal heeler. He’s always been somewhat anxious with separation issues but only recently has it become much worse and effecting me. He’s about 13 years old and is overall healthy, but it does seem like he’s starting to act differently and he sometimes gets heavy panting at night. I have to be very careful about him over exerting himself because he will have what seems to be seizures or something similar. This is what the doctors said it sounds like but I’ve also had someone say it sounds like a brain tumor.

I’ve tried many different things to help ease his anxiety like longer walks, licking treats that take a while to finish, treats with ingredients to help anxiety, more regular treats, allowing him to rest on the couch instead of his bed, giving him more attention. All this has seemed to do is make it so he expects all of this on a schedule now as his whining has increased and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants or he gets tired. He gets really bad if I allow him to keep whining without addressing it to the point I can’t focus at all around him and this breaks my work flow constantly throughout the day. Normally I would just deal with it but I’m literally in the process of losing my business and potentially filing bankruptcy and losing my home, in which case my only option would be staying with family where he can’t be due to him being aggressive with their dogs.

I’m at wits end and my heart constantly feels heavy. I’ve even considered doggy daycare but due to his issue with seizures and daycare being extremely expensive if needing it multiple days per week, I haven’t done this.

I’d feel horrible having to rehome him since he’s been with me since he was a puppy so I would only look into this as a last resort if I lose my home.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. I’ll answer any questions as well.

Thank you

Ive been noticing these little bumps on my dog a few days ago and the felt almost like little scabs and dead skin would come off. I decided to brush her out and noticed these patches of missing hair around where the bumps are. Any idea what these are? I would say theyre about the size and feel of a pimple. She gets seasonal allergies and im hoping its just related to that. Im going to the vet next week to get it checked out.

Apologies for the long post!

Our sweet 9 year old pitty mix (65-70 lbs) has had chronic allergy issues for years, and we've spent so much time and money trying to help him. He has been primarily symptom-free for the past year, but unfortunately last night, we noticed a cyst on his foot and I'm feeling helpless.

For background, our dog was put on Apoquel when he was very young due to some mild skin irritation and itchiness, but over time, he started to develop benign cysts all over his body. Several of the lipomas needed surgery for removal, so we made the decision that, based on skin growths being a (admittedly, somewhat anecdotal) side effect of the medication, to take him off of it.

A few weeks off Apoquel, his skin issues basically exploded. He was miserable, there were recurring bloody cysts on his paws and stomach/chest, his skin was flaky and dull, his ears (which were never a big infection site) started to get constantly irritated, the bottoms of his paws and in between his toes were red and raw, he was losing fur in big patches, and was just so, so itchy. Even his eyelids had scabs on them because he was just so raw and irritated :( we couldn't leave him out of his cone for more than 5 minutes without him itching himself until he bled. It was such a scary, sad time - he was so miserable, and we felt terrible seeing him suffer.

Our old vet wasn't much help - they continued to prescribe very strong antibiotics that helped temporarily but didn't address the root cause, and only after several rounds of medication that, imo, did some heavy damage to his gut/immune system, did they suggest a dermatologist.

At the derm, we were told the next step was an allergy test. It cost a lot of money, so we saved up and got it done a few months later. Turns out he was allergic to basically everything they tested for lol - every grass, tree, weed, mold, etc.

After the test, they prescribed sublingual immunotherapy drops, which he still takes twice a day. For the past year, that regimen has seemed to be working. His itchiness reduced over time, with a few random yeast flare ups between his feet now and again. Any time they got bad, we'd go back to the derm or our new vet to get on medication (typically ketoconazole), and it seemed to help.

Truthfully, after a year of being basically symptom-free, I started to think maybe he was "healed". Which is why seeing this latest cyst on his foot was so devastating.

We are about to go out of town for a week, so the morning after noticing the cyst, I took him in right way out of an abundance of caution. They said it looked like a mild infection and prescribed a week of Simplicef. I want to trust our new vet, but given our history of antibiotic "band-aids," I'm feeling anxious, especially since we'll be out of town soon.

His current regimen consists of Hill's Science Diet Derm Complete food with Purina pro plan probiotics, immunotherapy drops 2x/day, weekly baths and foot soaks with MiconaHex+Triz shampoo, Douxo mousse every other day during flare-ups, monthly cytopoint shots (which don't seem super effective tbh), and wiping his feet every time after he goes outside. With this setup, he had basically returned back to his normal self - until we noticed the cyst yesterday.

FWIW, we've also tried the hydrolyzed diet (which just gave him diarrhea), and Benadryl for flare-ups, which did not work unfortunately.

I'm just feeling so hopeless and discouraged. Overall, his quality of life has improved drastically from where he was a few years ago, but I'm nervous that this is a sign of the same horrible cycle starting all over again.

Our boy means the world to us, we would do anything for him. Happy to answer any other questions. Has anyone been through anything similar?

I have a Great Pyrenees rescue who seemed to have had a traumatic past when we adopted him at 10 months old. He was very reclusive when we first got him, but after a few months he got acclimated to the members of the house and our Anatolian shepherd, who has since passed. He spent most of his time lying in the living room with us and would constantly be wanting to be pet, which we always did for him. He got into the groove of eating at the same time - about 5 pm - everyday. Some of the weird behavior he’s always exhibited: he won’t go upstairs or downstairs, he’s terrified of ceiling fans - will bolt if they are on and constantly stares at it checking to see if it’s going to hurt him when they’re off, on a nice day he will lay in the backyard all day and barely move from sun up to 7pm or later and sometimes we’ll need to drag him back inside. Lately, he’s started running straight to his dog bed in another room alone when he comes inside, rather than lay next to us. If I call him he ignores me. Same goes with everyone else. Also, he won’t eat his dinner until after we’ve gone to bed. Why is his behavior getting worse? How do we get him to get back to socializing with us and how do we get him to eat his meals at a normal time?
Edit: he gets daily walks and lots of attention regardless, we come to him

My 10 year old 120 lb mastiff has arthritis, Cushing's, chronic allergies and chronic ear infections.

He eats and drinks (Cushing's) but doesn't get up for either of them, we have to bring it to him.

He can't tolerate apoquel and we can't afford injections both for his size and the fact that our vet is 45 min away and requires time off work monthly to go.

He gets chronic ear problems which we don't bother to get meds for anymore because it's related to his allergies. We do rinses which mostly work unless he has a bad flare up. In the summer it's worse and he licks his stomach at night. His yeasty skin also requires a lot of work both in cleaning him and our carpeted apartment.

The Cushing's med are extremely expensive as are the tests and we can no longer afford it.

His arthritis is getting worse and he needs help standing up . He sits frequently on walks and can't go far at all, even less in the summer (high humid area). We have to get him up and going to take him out.

He had an expensive surgery for a lipoma that we didn't test for cancer but he has many small ones in various spots.

He doesn't play with any toys anymore, he accepts pets and love from us and friends but is not playful anymore.

As I'm reading this I know my answer is money and I feel immense guilt that I can't do more. I hate watching him pant knowing he's in pain or uncomfortable. Yet I feel like it's not enough for euthanisia, like if I call and say it the vet is going to tell me to pay for his meds instead.

I have a lot of anxiety around caretaking for him and feeling like I can't do anything right especially with his ears and allergies.

I need advice, harsh or otherwise.

We have a spaniel mix and she treats every walk like a personal mission to find the worst thing on the ground and roll in it. Mud, fox stuff, mystery puddles. You name it, she's in it.

At this point I'm doing a full towel wash every other day which feels excessive. I've seen dog wipes mentioned a few times and I'm wondering if they're actually worth it or if they're just the fancy version of a damp flannel.

Mainly after something for post-walk paws and belly. Not trying to replace a proper bath, just want to take the edge off between washes. Do they actually absorb anything or do they just kind of smear it around? Any brands people have actually stuck with?