Troubleshoot your pet’s symptoms

FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS

May 02, 2018

Often pet owners and veterinarians will contact me to find out what is physically wrong with an animal. It may have some strange behavioral problems, be limping or panting, but no one can figure out the cause of the issue. Other times, an animal may have a diagnosis and be in treatment, but it is still not thriving. While I cannot diagnose an illness, I can determine exactly how an animal is feeling and where. I can relate that to other animals and what their diagnoses were. Oftentimes, this information will help veterinarians know where to look in the body and how to better treat the animal’s symptoms.

Dane, a shepherd mix, was a seizure alert dog who suddenly stopped alerting his person to her seizures. No one could figure out why. When he spoke with me, he told me that he had a deep pain in his left ear. It caused him so much pain that he had a hard time concentrating. The veterinarian looked in his ear and found an infected ear drum. Once that was treated, he started to alert again.

A cat named Lilly told me she was biting her people because she had a sharp pain in her neck and head. Whenever her people went to pet her, she would lift her head up higher and it would pinch a nerve. Because she was overwhelmed with a feeling like an ice-cream headache, should would bite her people out of intense fear. Lilly was adjusted by a chiropractor and put on a natural anti-inflammatory herb. Once the pain was gone, she stopped biting.

Pablo, the quarter horse, started to refuse jumps and buck his rider off. The trainers swore it was behavioral, but his person felt differently. Pablo told me that his new saddle hurt his back; it pinched at his withers and came down hard on his back when his rider would sit deep. They got him a better-fitting saddle and he never refused a jump or bucked his person off again.

Mable the cat, who was acting lethargic, told me when she breathed it felt like cold, shallow air. My experience told me this could be a heart problem or something going on with the lungs. I urged her people to take her to the vet. After an ultrasound, they found lung cancer.

So do you need to be a pet psychic to figure out what your animal is feeling? No, I don’t believe you do. But I do believe you have to be aware and you have to be in tune with your own body. Oftentimes, animals will tell you how they feel. They will send you their own feeling and you might pick up on that feeling in your body but think the feeling is your own.

For instance, a dog may have a hurt shoulder and his human may intermittently start complaining about shoulder pain. A cat may have an infected tooth and the person may find himself rubbing his own jaw. If left alone, it can get much more serious, where we take on each other’s pains and illness. A cat that has kidney problems may have a human with a kidney infection.

If you suspect your animal has an issue, ask it to over exaggerate where it hurts or how it is feeling so you can know what is going on. Tell your pet that you want to know and to please show you with its behavior.

You can also tell your pet to send you the feelings it has in its body. Tell your pet to concentrate on being clear and then send you exactly how it feels. The feeling may not happen right away, but pay attention throughout the day. There is high probability that you will feel your animal’s issue. If you do feel something different, ask yourself, “How long have I been feeling that? Did I injury myself? Eat something? Is this mine? Or is this my animal’s?” After a while, you will be able to know very quickly if they are your feelings or if you are being empathic to your animal or even to the people near you.