Know the signs
before it's an emergency.
Symptoms, illnesses, and home checks for dogs and cats — written from real rescue experience, checked against veterinary sources. Search a condition, or run the symptom check to narrow down what you're seeing.
What's in the file right now
Every entry follows the same field format: symptoms, causes, home checks, when to run to the vet, and real prognosis numbers — not guesses.
Where to start
The full library
All documented conditions, filterable by body system and urgency. Good for "I know what this is, tell me more."
Symptom check
Not sure what's going on? Select what you're seeing and get a ranked list of possible matches to investigate further.
Emergency signs
Jump straight to conditions flagged as true emergencies — the ones where minutes matter.
Meet your guides
Recently added to the file
Chronic Rhinitis / Rhinosinusitis in Cats ("Chronic Snufflers")
This is the condition behind a cat who seems to have an endless, on-and-off "cold" — one that never fully clears with antibiotics and keeps coming back.
Tooth Resorption (FORL) in Cats
Feline Tooth Resorption — historically called Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions (FORLs), and also known as "neck lesions" or "cat cavities" — is the most common dental problem in cats.
Common Poisoning & Toxicity in Cats
Cats are uniquely vulnerable to poisoning for a few specific reasons: they lack certain liver enzymes humans and dogs use to safely process many substances, they're fastidious groomers (so anything on their fur or paws often gets ingested), and their small body size means even a "small" exposure can be a large relative dose.
Toxoplasmosis in Cats
Toxoplasmosis is a common parasitic infection that gets an outsized amount of fear and misinformation attached to it — especially around pregnancy.
Constipation & Megacolon in Cats
Constipation is common in cats and usually manageable, but when it becomes chronic and severe, it can progress to megacolon — a serious condition where the colon loses its ability to contract normally and becomes permanently enlarged.
Hepatic Lipidosis (Fatty Liver Disease) in Cats
Hepatic lipidosis is the most common, potentially lethal liver disease in cats — and it's referenced as a risk throughout several other articles in this library, because it can develop dangerously fast whenever a cat stops eating.