Animal Illness

All of us who live with animals have had the experience of going through an illness or injury with them. One of the most challenging things to deal with in such a situation is understanding what is wrong, and how the animal is feeling. We often have clients tell us that they had no idea their pet was ill or injured, until it was too late to easily deal with the situation. We have had that happen with our own animals as well. Often animals will deliberately hide an illness or injury for various reasons. One reason is instinctual – sick or injured animals in the wild are a liability to the herd or pack, and are often ostracized to insure the survival of the group. Aging, ill, or injured animals lose their rank in the herd or pack. Another reason animals will mask illness or injury is that they feel ashamed that they can no longer do their “job” for their family.We have seen examples of these situations with our own animals. When Rusty, our aged horse started to decline due to severe arthritis and blindness in his remaining eye, our other horse began to drive him away out of a sense of self‐protection. Our dog Bear, who is our “watcher”, is becoming blind and deaf with age. She is very worried about no longer being able to do her job for her family. We recently had a burglary in our home, and Bear was extremely embarrassed that she did not prevent it. To her credit, she stayed with the house and did not run away. We praised her doing a good job of taking care of the house in that way.Often animals can become ill gradually over time. Ben, our 13 year old cat, was diagnosed with diabetes two years ago. We had noticed that he had slowed down, was sleeping more, drinking and urinating more, and just seemed less active in general. He also became much more insistent about food. We assumed that it was just his age catching up with him. Ben did not complain, and in fact continued to bring us wonderful gifts such as baby squirrels on the bed at 4 a.m.! He began to lose weight, so we increased his food (much to his delight!). The weight loss continued, so we took him to the vet who determined that he was diabetic. Ben tells us that he had been sick for a long time prior to his diagnosis, and he also indicated that it was genetic. He is great about taking his shots, and he loves his new all‐protein diet. He continues to insist he is “fine”. We have noticed, however, that his hunting has slowed to just an occasional mole…I’m sure most of you who live with dogs or cats have experienced the “cone”…the plastic cone collar they place around your pet’s neck after surgery to prevent them from licking or disturbing the surgery site. We have had a recent experience with this as well. Our Basset Hound Lukas recently had minor eye surgery. He came home from the vet with the dreaded “cone head”. Why dreaded you may ask? Basset Hounds view cone heads as battering rams. They will walk up to you, bump the cone into your shin or the back of your leg and PUSH. Bear and the cats quickly learned to run when they saw Lukas coming towards them. It was quite comical to see Lukas try to sniff Ben’s rear end with the cone on. Needless to say, Ben was NOT amused!Lukas made it through the dog door with his on within 5 minutes of arriving home from the vet. Having had prior experience with Basset Battering Rams, I quickly got out the duct tape and tried to repair the thing. Our rule of thumb is, duct tape the cone until it falls apart or the dog cannot see out of the it any more. Two weeks later and with his third cone almost entirely gray with duct tape, Lukas FINALLY got his stitches out and all is well once more!The point we’d like to make is this – since animals often mask illness or injury, it’s important to pay close attention to any changes in behavior, appetite, weight, hair coat texture, and general demeanor. Err on the side of caution, and take your animal to the vet should you notice any of the above. Most veterinarians would far rather tell you that the problem is minor or simple to remedy than to tell you your pet has a serious, untreatable illness. An animal communicator can help you understand how your pet is feeling about their illness or injury. We can also help you understand how much discomfort they may be feeling, and help the animal understand what is happening to them physically. Animal communication also helps you to know what your animal wishes for themselves. Sometimes decisions about what the best course of action is for our beloved animal friends are very hard. Understanding what it is they wish for themselves helps make those decisions a little easier.Happy Spring to all – the peeper frogs are singing now, so it won’t be long!