Possibly that was a real reflection of actuality. Our canines recurrently romped via Prospect Park in Brooklyn, swapped germs with playmates and scarfed down rogue rooster bones, whereas our cats lived cosseted, indoor lives.
Now I think that we might have missed indicators of sickness in our cats. I had apprehensive that we had been overreacting after we took Olive to the vet for seeming possibly, barely, kind of not herself. In truth, she was critically ailing.
Certainly, cats are proficient at masking their signs, which can additionally current otherwise from these in canines, specialists advised me. Arthritic canines usually develop noticeable limps, that are simply noticed on walks, whereas many arthritic cats present no apparent indicators of lameness, Dr. Perry mentioned. They may simply leap onto the sofa much less usually or appear crankier when being dealt with.
“On condition that cats are sleeping so many hours a day, and house owners are typically solely round them for just a few of these hours, it’s a lot simpler to not understand that your cat is steadily altering over time,” Dr. Perry mentioned.
On reflection, it appeared possible that Olive had been quietly declining for weeks.
Ultimately, vets concluded that her immune system was destroying her crimson blood cells. However they couldn’t say what had triggered it or discover a medicine that helped. Lastly, as one thing of a final resort, an internist advised that we may take into account eradicating Olive’s monumental spleen, which was most likely the place her crimson blood cells had been being destroyed.
I emailed one other veterinarian for a second opinion. “Splenectomy is just not the worst possibility,” she wrote again, noting that it was a longtime remedy for human sufferers with related circumstances. “We simply don’t have information in vet med,” she added, “particularly in cats.”
