Perhaps that was a real reflection of actuality. Our canine commonly romped by means of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, swapped germs with playmates and scarfed down rogue hen 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, form of not herself. Actually, she was critically unwell.
Certainly, cats are gifted at masking their signs, which can additionally current in a different way from these in canine, consultants advised me. Arthritic canine usually develop noticeable limps, that are simply noticed on walks, whereas many arthritic cats present no apparent indicators of lameness, Dr. Perry stated. 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 homeowners are usually solely round them for a couple of of these hours, it’s a lot simpler to not understand that your cat is step by step altering over time,” Dr. Perry stated.
On reflection, it appeared probably that Olive had been quietly declining for weeks.
Ultimately, vets concluded that her immune system was destroying her purple blood cells. However they couldn’t say what had triggered it or discover a remedy that helped. Lastly, as one thing of a final resort, an internist steered that we might think about eradicating Olive’s huge spleen, which was in all probability the place her purple blood cells had been being destroyed.
I emailed one other veterinarian for a second opinion. “Splenectomy isn’t the worst choice,” she wrote again, noting that it was a longtime therapy for human sufferers with related situations. “We simply don’t have knowledge in vet med,” she added, “particularly in cats.”
